Jeff Joseph's room is the hottest ticket at every show. Securing a seat is a yearly battle, driven by the sheer, undeniable magic of his and Nick Doshi's reel-to-reel system.

In one of Joe Parvey and House of Stereo’s five rooms at FLAX 2025, the Jacksonville, Florida dealer presented horn-loaded speakers and tubed electronics. Be still my beating heart!

Ofra Gershman brought an exceptional system to FLAX 2025.

Franck: Symphony In D Minor, Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande, Berlin Philharmonic/Daniel Barenboim; L'Arpeggiata: Terra Mater, L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar, cond.; Malena Ernman, mezzo-soprano; Robert Simpson: Chamber Music, Volume One, The Tippett Quartet; Emma Johnson, clarinet; Raphael Wallfisch, cello; others.

The Cure: Songs of a Lost World; Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes; Father John Misty: Mahashmashana.

Out Of/Into: Motion I; Ambrose Akinmusire: Honey From a Winter Stone; Lars Danielsson/Verneri Pohjola/John Parricelli: Trio; Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message; Arild Andersen: Landloper.

"That's pretty odious," Andy Summers says to me. "An odious comparison." His blueish eyes darken. Roughly an hour into our 90-minute face-to-face interview, I'd asked if it bothers him that in terms of reach and staying power, his solo oeuvre will never match his work with The Police.

To me, the observation seemed factual and uncontroversial, like saying that the sun rises in the east. The Police sold more than 75 million records and played some of the largest venues in the world. The night before our interview, I'd watched Summers perform a show in a 400-seat theater in rural Waldoboro, Maine.