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Exasound products have always been the source—literally, they make front end equipment—of good sound when I've heard them at audio shows, and this time was no different.

Exasound was sharing a room with Muraudio and Constellation—a constellation of three companies, if you will. The trio's setup included the Muraudio SP1 speaker (US$19,500/pair), an electrostatic/dynamic hybrid that radiates sound 120° horizontally and 16° vertically, a pattern said to prevent soundwave interactions with the floor and ceiling to achieve better imaging and bass.

If an audio company is in a position financially and infrastructurally to build components to make a complete system, it probably makes sense to do so, especially when it comes to mid-priced gear that isn't necessarily audiophile oriented. A lot of people who like music and want quality sound, without feeling the need to go overboard in that department, want to be able to buy a turn-key system from a reputable company so they won't have to worry about finding components from separate companies that'll work well together. This same-brand system philosophy also makes sense for us, the audio diehards, because it serves our industry to have people want to join the good-sound crusade and support hi-fi companies in general, rather than completely avoid getting into quality audio because it's just too complicated and fiddly to do so.

It's why Moon by Simaudio launched its Voice 22 standmount speakers ($3800/pair, optional stands $500 extra).

There is something ancestrally earthy about the sound of Acora speakers that is hard to pinpoint. Sure, the fact their enclosures are made of stone might have something to do with the Stonehenge vibe I'm getting from them, but once you hear Acora speakers, I think you'll get a glimpse of what I'm talking about. They sound timeless and wise, like musical sages from another time. They convey the earth-bound existence of artists before they died like few other speakers do. They conjure the essence of music, back to when cavemen tapped sticks on stones.

I heard some very nice sound in retailer Toronto Home of Audiophile's room, whose system included the Gershman Grande Avantgarde speakers ($16,995/pair), a perennial favorite of mine at shows because they always sound good, hooked up to a Pass Labs XP22 preamp ($14,400), the Pass Labs X150.8 amplifier ($10,500), a source combination of a PS Audio DirectStream Memory player ($9500) and a Roon Ready Weiss DAC 501 ($12,495), another product featuring room EQ. Cabling was all GutWire: interconnects, digital cable, speaker cables, and power cables, with a GutWire power conditioner.

It's the first music I heard in the morning and the last I heard come evening, after doing my last round of the day of room-to-room visits: Pink Floyd, courtesy my neighbor, two doors down from me in the Crown Mountain Imports/Audio by Mark Jones room. I like Pink Floyd, so it was all good. And it's not like my neighbor only played Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd just seemed to bookend the listening days there, probably to provide both a boost of encouragement and a respite for the host. I was also intrigued by the sound in that room, because even though I'd only heard the music it played through my wall or from the hallway as I scurried by but slowed down just enough to steal a peak inside my neighbor's room, it always somehow sounded better than I thought it should.

The Anthem/Paradigm system may have been simply assembled, but don't let that fool you into thinking it wasn't sophisticated technologically or sound-wise. The Anthem STR integrated ($6000) outputs 200Wpc, comes with a hi-rez DAC, a USB audio input that supports up to 32/384 PCM, a pair of MM/MC phono inputs, and offers room correction. The speakers being fed by the Anthem were the fancy-looking five-driver, 95dB-sensitive, class-D bass-amplified Paradigm Founder 120H speakers ($11,000/pair; review to appear in the December issue of Stereophile).

The speakers on display in the Kennedy room included two pairs of Focal 926s, one of which, standing higher than the other, were threaded with IsoAcoustics Gaia ll feet, the other with the stock feet. Electronics included a Naim ND5 SS2 streamer ($5540 US), which comes with four 24/192 digital inputs, and a 70Wpc Naim Nait SX 3 integrated amp ($5540 US), while cabling consisted of Kimber Kable's Carbon series.