Florida Audio Expo 2024

Just Audio's Lenny Florentine presented two rooms at the show, one jammed with components at all price points (including Luxman, inspiring that company's VP of Sales John Pravel and myself to reminisce about 1970s hi-fi sales), the second with more affordable but no less listenable alternatives. Room 806 offered two systems in one.

Another heavy hitter, showing in five rooms with multiple product lines, was Rob Standley’s Playback Distribution, featuring equipment from TEAC, the new-to-me company Advance Paris, PMC, Amphion, Vienna Acoustics, and a heaping helping of Esoteric.

When some folks think of Audio Note, they picture of low fog over English lakes, Earl Grey tea, The House of Commons, and Big Ben. Tubes for sure. Likely, Classical music. Well hold on to your remote control, 'cause this latest sighting of Audio Note, at the Florida Audio Expo, was more drum'n'bass than Dvorák, more techno wampum than Die Walkure.

As Stereophile managing editor Mark Henninger and I scurried up and down the Hilton halls, fulfilling our tasks as intrepid reporters, we had little time to compare notes. But we agreed on one room, Axiss Audio. In a room filled with exceptional gear, Axiss's Cliff Duffey and TJ Goldsby had set up a fantastic rig, well beyond the norm, which overachieved and set my ears afire. (Not literally.)

Steve Jain's Fidelity Imports held fort in six rooms at FLAX, crisscrossing lines that included Perlisten, Primare, Michell, Unison Research, Diptyque, Opera, Soulnote, Gold Note, Q Acoustics, and more. Room 1016 was co-hosted by Chestertown, Maryland, dealership The Listening Room.

There's something about Black Ice Audio (formerly Jolida) that puts me in the frame of mind to enjoy some great tunes. It could be CEO Jerred Dunkerson's welcoming demeanor, or it could be the way the company's tube-centric gear renders smooth, eminently listenable sound without costing a fortune.

Suncoast Audio, a Sarasota-based dealership, was new to me, and boy, did it deliver: Four rooms, and each had serious buzz. Michael Bovaird, proprietor of Suncoast Audio and a cofounder of the Florida Audio Expo, put together rooms that played music that kept the room full, with knowledgeable support personnel (including Nordost's Seth Snyder) to answer questions.