I measure loudspeakers in our living room. I move the furniture to the sides, place the speaker on my computer-controlled Outline turntable, raising it so that the tweeter is midway between the floor and ceiling, and fire the speaker along one of the room's diagonals. That maximizes the anechoic time window before reflections from the room boundaries arrive at the microphone. However, I was unable to lift the heavy Canton Reference 5 as high off the ground as I would have wished. I therefore measured the response and dispersion with the microphone at 1m rather than…
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Technics Spins, Weiss Decodes, Fern & Roby Delivers—with Network Acoustics, ModWright, and Black Cat
At this year’s AXPONA, Christopher Hildebrand of Fern & Roby introduced a new system that combined striking design with serious analog and digital performance.
A Technics SP-10R and SME M2 12" tonearm were mounted to the new Fern & Roby Richlite-and-walnut plinth ($22,500). A ModWright PH 9.0X phono stage ($4750) and Miyajima Carbon cartridge ($2999) completed the analog front end.
Digital gear included a Weiss Helios DAC ($21,995); a Network Acoustics Origin 5V PSU and DAC cable ($2100); a Muon Pro streaming system ($2620); an Eno2 streaming system ($1610); and…
For me, Volti Audio systems from Greg Roberts have become perennial standouts at audio shows. Their purity, vivid dynamics, and—perhaps most important—their rich, natural tone create an immersive presentation in which all types of music truly swing and sing.
This year’s AXPONA was no different. Roberts officially debuted his new 104dB/W/m, 20Hz–25kHz Vittora loudspeaker system, which includes two main Vittora loudspeakers, two ELF12 subs, two ELFamp amps, and one ELFpre ($50,000 for the lot).
The chain featured an Innuos ZENith music server ($6699) feeding a Mojo Audio…
In room 1521, I caught up with Wayne Colburn—longtime preamp wizard for Pass Labs (and Threshold Audio before that)—and Kent English, the company’s veteran head of sales. Colburn was debuting his new 85lb XS Pre 2 line-stage preamp ($55,000), which he called a step up from the XP-32.
Colburn doesn’t consider the XS Pre 2’s design “excessive,” despite its name. He noted that the preamp uses separate boxes for the left channel, right channel, and power-supply/display, and described it as “more resolving, with a lower noisefloor. It sets a new standard for us.”
The power…
Refined Audio’s room 688 featured an almost entirely new system, with the exception of Dave Slagle’s familiar EM/IA gear. (Slagle, co-founder of EM/IA and a specialist in transformer-based designs, is known for his minimalist, high-purity audio components.)
At AXPONA 2025, Refined Audio’s Jon Ver Halen and Steve Dear, together with Vladimir Bazelkov of Audio Mirror, assembled a system that blended high-end analog and digital components.
Starting with the vinyl playback system: a Jan Allaerts MC1 Boron cartridge (approximately $4000) was mounted on the US premiere…
Steve Jain of Fidelity Imports seeks out high-quality audio brands poised for greater recognition. While some, such as Wilson Benesch—now distributed in the US by Fidelity—are already well-established in the industry, Jain’s commitment is evident in his support of respected manufacturers like Perlisten, Knosti, QED, Unison Research, and Audia Flight.
Fidelity Imports brought so many rooms to Chicago that Stereophile’s show reporters had to draw straws to divide them up. I landed in Fidelity Imports’ Room 1210, which held an AVM Rotation R 5.3 MK2 turntable ($8999) and three off-camera…
Pushing through the AXPONA crowd, fueled by caffeine and the ambient buzz of the show floor, I made my way toward the Klipsch room, where the newly revised Klipsch La Scala AL6 was making its debut. Also featured was the Unison Research S6 integrated amplifier, which I lauded in a recent Stereophile review.
System One employed a Roon Nucleus One streamer ($499) and a TEAC UD-701N USB DAC/network player preamplifier ($4299) feeding a TEAC AP-701 stereo power amplifier ($3999). The amp drove Klipsch La Scala AL6 three-way, fully horn-loaded loudspeakers ($14,998/pair) via the Klipsch La…
At the same time that Ryan O’Connor, president of Revox North America, was pitching the reel-to-reel revival to dealers, Revox Deutschland—the brand’s German distributor—unveiled a slate of new products, including two that are Alice Cooper–branded. No, seriously. Swear on my eyeliner budget.
The all-premiere system included the new Revox B77 MK III Stereo Tape Recorder ($19,950); a Revox B77 MK III Alice Cooper Limited Edition Tape Recorder ($9950); a limited-run Revox T77 Turntable Alice Cooper Edition ($5550); a Revox Studiomaster T700 Turntable Black Edition ($2364); a 180Wpc…
Once again, my time in the Vandersteen room provided copious pleasure. Plus, it came in two installments: listening time in the inner sanctum, and chat time with Richard Vandersteen and Brad O’Toole in the entrance chamber. If that sounds rather exotic for a two-room hotel suite, you needed to be there.
We began with “Louis Collins” from the formidable duo of Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman. Colors were superb—a bit more vivid than in the Pass Labs room—with a most gorgeous midrange and a very fine top. The sound of Grisman’s mandolin was worth queuing up for. I thought the Lyrita recording…
Jon Baker, co-founder of Monarch Systems Distribution in Englewood, Colorado, assembled a striking system built around B.audio electronics from France, a British-made SME turntable, and Italian Chario loudspeakers.
The Diamond Series Synergy turntable—with an SME Series IV tonearm, Ortofon MC Windfeld Ti cartridge, built-in Nagra phono stage, and Crystal Cable wiring—is priced at $51,999. Its signal flowed into a B.audio B.dpr EX preamplifier ($24,400) and then to a pair of B.audio B.amp power amplifiers ($34,400/each), driving the Chario Academy Serendipity loudspeakers ($57,000/pair…