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In the late 1960s and the early years of the next decade, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, like many of his contemporaries, was listening to such albums as Miles Davis's Filles de Kilimanjaro and Miles in the Sky and pondering what it meant for his music. During this period, for better or worse, the rhythms and aggressive approach of rock music, including the use of electric rather than acoustic instruments, were mixing with jazz and giving birth to fusion. In hindsight, it seems inevitable that these two vital genres, both of which prize improvisation—be it on electric guitar or tenor…
On the 12th floor of the Schaumburg Renaissance hotel, visitors found a cluster of Fidelity Imports rooms that highlighted one strong foreign brand after another.
To my eye, the most unusual newcomers in the diverse collection were three Ruark products. Beyond a small single-cube wireless speaker (the R1 Mk4 Bluetooth Radio, $399), there was a hefty-looking unit that approached the size of a small desk. Dubbed the R810 High Fidelity Radiogram ($3999), its form calls to mind stereo consoles from the 1950s. Sitting on tall polished-chrome legs, the R810 gives off that popular…
Magico turns 20 this year, but founder and chief designer Alon Wolf isn’t the type for gauzy remembrances. In Magicoland, looking ahead beats looking back, so we’ll have to marvel some other time at how the Californian brand has shot to the top of the high-end heap.
At this year’s AXPONA, Magico introduced an upgraded S5 speaker—the S5 2024 ($74,500/pr)—but while it was present for close-up inspection, it wasn’t hooked up to anything. Wolf had decided that the standard hotel rooms he’d been able to rent weren’t large enough to do the new S5s justice sonically.
On paper, the…
Rhythm Distribution’s Craig Hoffman teamed up with Garrard, Goldmund, and Tannoy to unveil a beautiful-looking, primarily analog rig at AXPONA. Kat Ourlian—Global Head of Sales and Marketing for SME—was on hand to spin vinyl; she had Room 660 rocking from the first needle-drop with selections from Morphine, War, Jaco Pastorius (playing Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee”), and Massive Attack (“Angel”).
What was she spinning vinyl on? It wasn't just any turntable. It was a Garrard 301 Advanced ($54,900)—an SME-rebuilt 301 that Garrard calls "the ultimate and most advanced Garrard…
First-time AXPONA exhibitor Sierra Sound was founded in 2020 as a distributor for strictly analog hi-fi equipment. Rather high minded, wouldn’t you say? Personally, I’m all in.
With their minds on a new music direction, Sierra Sound hosted Friday and Saturday "metal nights," but I was holed up in my room writing, with copious quantities of English breakfast tea and peanut butter. But I greatly enjoyed their room during daylight hours.
Sierra Sound boasted the world debut of the AMG Giro MK II Wood turntable. Also in room was the semi-new to the USA, ViV Lab tonearm; ViV Lab has…
I typically attend Audio Note (UK) rooms not just to listen, but to learn.
At Capital Audiofest, Audio Note (UK) owner Peter Qvortrup was reading a book about economics: Limitarinism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, which calls for caps on the individual fortunes of the super wealthy. I bought it. At AXPONA, Qvortrup carried another massive tome everywhere he went.
Noting my curiosity in the Audio Note (UK) room, Qvortrup gave me an audio test CD, The Likhnitsky Files (Audio Note), by Anatoly Markovich Likhnitsky. After telling Peter how fond I was of John DeVore’s room playing…
Legacy Audio of Springfield, Illinois featured not one but three systems at AXPONA including three show debuts.
I’m an old school, analog, tube-loving, horn-speaker–espousing kind of guy. I'm not against, but I'm largely uninterested in, most new technologies. But when I sit in front of a streaming, active, class-D powered, DSP-enabled Legacy system, I never fail to relax. To feel engaged, alive. And charmed. I don't want to get up. I don't want to leave. I don’t know why Legacy founder and president Bill Dudleston’s systems sound so good and make me feel so good, but they always do.…
Benjamin Britten: Violin Concerto, Chamber Works
Isabelle Faust, violin; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůa, cond.; Boris Faust, viola; Alexander Melnikov, piano
Harmonia Mundi HMM902668 (CD, reviewed as 24/96). 2024. Sebastian Braun, Julian Schwenker, prods.; Schwenker, Klemens Kamp, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Isabelle Faust, violin; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůa, cond.; Boris Faust, viola; Alexander Melnikov, piano
Harmonia Mundi HMM902668 (CD, reviewed as 24/96). 2024. Sebastian Braun, Julian Schwenker, prods.; Schwenker, Klemens Kamp, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
I sat mesmerized when I first encountered a recording of Benjamin Britten's early Violin Concerto from 1939 (revised in 1958) at an audio show exhibit sponsored by High End by Oz. Ever since I heard those portions of Linus Roth's…
Affable speaker designer Andrew Jones held court in room 334, explaining the details behind his new SourcePoint 888 floorstanding speakers ($4999/pair), an AXPONA world premiere (review forthcoming). Unfortunately, he couldn’t play his speakers due to the hotel’s intermittent Wi-Fi, which plagued many rooms.
MoFi's System 1, in this hotel suite, included a HiFi Rose RS150B network streamer ($4995), HiFi Rose RA180 integrated amp ($6995), IsoTek V5 Titan line conditioner (in for review, $4995), Solidsteel HW-2L rack ($1699), and Cardas Clear Beyond speaker and signal cables.
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Sinatra said it best: Regrets, I have a few.
On Sunday morning, the final day of the show, my main regret was that I hadn’t made it to the fourth-floor Alta/Infigo room a day or two earlier. If I had, I would have encouraged everyone to go listen. Are audio writers supposed to burn with evangelical zeal? Probably not. But the combo of the just-introduced Alta Aphrodite floorstanders (starting at $50,000/pair depending on paint job) and the recently overhauled Infigo Method 3 monoblocks ($55,000/pair) inspired a tendency to grab friends and strangers both by the collar and drag them to…