JBL Classic
JBL's AXPONA presentation began with a nod to the iconic "Blown Away Guy" tape ad for Maxell featuring the original JBL L100 speakers.
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LATEST ADDITIONS
Tom Waits's Island Records Reissues
In 2022, Tom Waits decided it was time to remaster the albums he made during his stint at Island Records. The Waits classics Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), Franks Wild Years (1987), Bone Machine (1992), and the Waits (with Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs) musical fable The Black Rider (1993) are the first new remasters to be released.
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Remastered from the original tapes (except one, for which a digital source was used), all five are available on LP and CD as well as streaming and download.
High Water Sound Earns High Marks with TW-Acustic, Fuuga, Cessaro, Alieno, Dalby, Stein, ADD-Powr and more
When everything arrives intact and Jeffrey Catalano has the time to create a set-up as stunning visually as it was aurally, High Water Sound’s systems invariably earn accolades as a Best of Show. This one certainly won my vote, as well as my applause and heart.
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The Forever Half-Life of Quadraphonics
The popular history of quadraphonics (4-channel sound from LP records, tapes, and radio broadcasts) chronicles a spectacular failure. The major record labels, led by CBS/Columbia and JVC/RCA, invested millions in ill-fated schemes to convince music lovers to ditch 2-channel stereo for 4-channel surround sound. The concept was killed, so the story goes, by competing and incompatible LP formats, high prices on the better-sounding discrete-channel reel tapes, and a collective shrug by the buying public.
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That story is mostly true, though the format thrived for a while in Japan and Germany, and it never fully died. Now, modern tech has made possible rereleases of 1970s quad albums on relatively common formats: multichannel SACD and Blu-ray discs (BD). No more "meh" LP formats, no more fussy 1970s-tech decoders.
Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblock power amplifier
For reasons that have as much to do with why the creek does or doesn't rise as anything, almost all the UK-manufactured electronics I've reviewed over the years were from dCS of Cambridge. Through 2023, no electronics from Linn or a host of other UK-based companies have crossed the threshold of my music room.
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That situation changed when, soon after New Year's, a pair of Linn's 60lb Klimax Solo 800 monoblock amplifiers ($90,000/pair) arrived from Scotland. Right away, they delighted me with their ease of maneuverability, handsome, uncluttered look, and relative compactness. Given their impressive power output400W into 8 ohms, 800W into 4 ohms, and a whopping 1.2kW into 2 ohmsthe Klimax Solo 800s set a record for highest price per watt and per pound among class-AB monoblocks I've reviewed.
MoFi, HiFi Rose, Piega, Leak, Wharfedale
I counted more than 40 audio products in the MoFi Distribution Schaumburg B ballroom. How to cover such a cornucopia? Making my job easier was that only eight of them were hooked up. The others were there to be oohed and ahed over, perhaps prodded and poked, but they’d (re)produce no music at the show.
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Fidelity Imports, the Listening Room, Diptyque, Audia Flight, Titan, and QED
High-flying Fidelity Imports occupied seven rooms at AXPONA 2024—probably a show record. Since starting the company in 2018, industry veteran Steve Jain has signed up a bevy of brands from Italy, France, England, Japan, and beyond.
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Linn, Linn, and did I say Linn?
It was great to finally meet Joe Rodger, a member of the young Linn team with whom I coordinated my review of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks ($90,000/pair) that appears in the May 2024 issue
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Bayz Audio, Chord Electronics, Aurender, Shunyata Research
Going to an audio show is a bit like being a finalist in that old Monty Hall show where your prize is behind one of three identical doors. At AXPONA, there are more than 200 identical doors.
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JMF Audio, Ideon Audio, Stenheim, and ictra design
Audio Skies and Fidelis AV teamed up to present some of my favorite emerging stars of the Audio Highlands. It was a joy to re-experience some of the special sound I heard in my music room when I reviewed JMF Audio monoblocks.
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