AXPONA 2022

The MoFi Distribution classic gear fun continued in Suite 346, with two pairs of Wharfedale Heritage Linton speakers ($1799/pair), stacked, with the one on top inverted so that the two tweeters were in the middle. One Wharfedale Linton stand ($399/pair) supported each side's stack.

MoFi showed so much that it'd be nearly impossible to cover it all, but I want to mention a few new introductions from Suite 346. I wrote about the MoFi Electronics x Fender PrecisionDeck turntable ($3495) in the December 2021 issue's Industry Update, and I had seen photos of it, but the limited-edition 'table was more striking in person. Its Fender-made plinth is made from an unlikely audiophile material but one that's desirable for electric guitars: swamp ash, waterlogged wood culled from swamps. Time submerged makes the ash porous—nice for guitar sounds. But the swamp ash needed to be "deadened" for this hi-fi application. "Fender USA sourced, milled, and finished the blanks of swamp ash into a familiar Fender finish: three-color sunburst," I wrote in Industry Update (print only). "Principal Master Builder Yuriy Shishkiv of the Fender Custom Shop (FCS) designed the PrecisionDeck's shape. MoFi designed and built the PrecisionDeck, which shares parts with the UltraDeck": 1.3"-thick Delrin platter, 10" MoFi Ultra tonearm, isolated 300RPM AC synchronous motor, Cardas wiring, and HRS-designed anti-vibration feet. Here at the show, the turntable occpied the top shelf of a Solidsteel HF5 modular equipment rack ($4499).

BAT—Balanced Audio Technology—presented a preproduction prototype of their latest flagship solid state stereo amplifier, the Rex 500. From within its hefty, capacitor-loaded chassis, the new Rex puts out 500W/channel into 8 ohms, 1000W/channel into 4 ohms. Consistent with the BAT design philosophy, it's fully differential with no global feedback and only two gain stages. It's also true dual-mono, with independent power supplies for the L and R channels and separate power cords/IECs. It weighs 140lb. Expected in market this summer, anticipated MSRP is in the $22,000 range, but the price is still to be determined.