LATEST ADDITIONS

Florida Audio Expo 2024
Fine Sounds America: Pro-Ject, Sumiko, Rotel, Sonus Faber, and Cardas
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 20, 2024  |  4 comments

A simple, well-tuned system can outperform a megabuck system that's poorly set-up. That's easy to notice at a hi-fi show, where you frequently walk straight out of one room and into another. Do that enough times and you gain a powerful appreciation for the importance of effective setup and system tuning.

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
House of Stereo: Focal Aria Evo X No. 4, Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition and Scala Utopia EVO, Naim New Classic 300 Series
Mark Henninger  |  Feb 20, 2024  |  1 comments
At the Florida International Audio Expo 2024, the Focal and Naim suite presented an opportunity to experience two stereo systems that merge Focal speakers with Naim electronics in one of House of Stereo's numerous outstanding rooms at the show.

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Revinylization
Revinylization #51: ECM is Back in the Vinyl Game
Robert Baird  |  Feb 19, 2024  |  2 comments
Given his seemingly endless stream of ideas, virtuoso instrumentalism, and considerable wealth of recordings, Keith Jarrett is a creative universe unto himself. He began his recording career on Atlantic Records and recorded for several labels, including Impulse!, along the way, but it was on Manfred Eicher's label ECM that he first broke through to worldwide fame in 1973, with the 3-LP set Keith Jarrett, Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne. Considering its landmark status, it's fitting that the album is among the first releases in ECM's new Luminessence vinyl series, reissued in its original triple-vinyl form.
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Florida Audio Expo 2024
Metaxas & Sins
Mark Henninger  |  Feb 19, 2024  |  4 comments

Showing in the US for the first time in years, Metaxas & Sins by Kostas Metaxas offers audio gear that straddles the line between technology and art. The company refers to its components, justifiably, as "high-end audio sculptures." The aesthetic is unique.

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
Room 403: Innuos, Volti Audio, Triode Wire Labs, BorderPatrol Audio
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  1 comments

In the room shared by Gary Dews's BorderPatrol Audio, Greg Roberts's Volti Audio, and Peter Grzybowski's Triode Wire Labs, music flowed, immense of stage, fast of delivery, with heart-arresting texture, visceral verisimilitude, and dynamic fireworks.

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
Another House of Stereo Room: T+A (Now With Video)
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  0 comments

In House of Stereo's Room 716, T+A's Chief Executive Office of North America, David Nauber, played the brand new, barely off the airship, T+A R 2500 R Integrated Multi Source Receiver ($18,880). A VPI Avenger Direct Turntable with FatBoy Gimbal tonearm ($36,000), DS Audio Grand Master EX System cart ($22,500) and phono stage ($45,000), T+A PSD 3100 HV DAC/PRE ($22,000), T+A A 3000 HV Power Amplifier ($24,275), T+A PS 3000 HV Power Supply ($16,695), and T+A Solitaire S430 speakers ($29,900) completed the setup. Cabling by WireWorld.

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
House of Stereo: A Stenheim Debut, T+A, Etc.
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  3 comments

Jacksonville, Florida, dealership House of Stereo occupied eight (!) rooms at FLAX. Room 709 debuted Steinheim's 2.5 Alumine Two.Five loudspeakers ($23,500/pair), accompanied by a bevy of refined products that kept the room packed to overflowing. Several were from Germany's T+A ("Engineering emotion"), including the SD 3100 HV Reference Streaming DAC ($32,387).

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
In the Bayshore Ballroom: Technical Audio Devices
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  0 comments

Japan's TAD had two rooms at FLAX, including the large Bayshore ballroom, which itself contained two systems, each with two pairs of speakers. Both systems wowed me.

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
The Scott Walker Audio / Synergistic Research Room Featuring Ideon, JMF, and Estelon
Ken Micallef  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  1 comments

Dealer Scott Walker Audio, which has showrooms in Anaheim, California, and Keller, Texas, and Synergistic Research presented several new products at FLAX including the Synergistic Voodoo streamer erver ($14,995); the PowerCell 8 SX conditioner ($3495); and SRX USB ($5995), Ethernet ($5995), and XL Power cables ($13,000).

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Florida Audio Expo 2024
Suncoast Audio on the Tampa Terrance: MBL's New Cadenza C41 Network Player
Mark Henninger  |  Feb 18, 2024  |  4 comments

MBL is best known for its striking Radialstahler omnidirectional speaker systems, first introduced in 1979, but the company has made electronics to accompany its speakers since 1986. On the Tampa Terrace at the Florida International Audio Expo, MBL showed off a system featuring the new Cadenza C41 network player ($11,100).

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