To my delight, the 107s indeed played low frequencies as if there was a subwoofer somewhere in the room. I didn't have the time for a proper show report then, but…
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Two months ago, at the audio expo in Tampa, I stumbled upon a pair of most intriguing French speakers. The $8000/pair Diptyque 107 is a medium-sized planar magnetic whose designers, Gilles Douziech and Eric Poix, make no secret of their love for Magnepan. All the same, the duo has sought to improve on that company's famed panel technology, mostly by addressing a perennial shortcoming of such dipoles: their lack of deep bass.
If you're like me and the topic turns to active speakers, you'll probably think of affordable products. Maybe the mighty $649 Vanatoo Transparent One Encore comes to mind, or the sub-$1000 powerhouse that is a pair of SVS Prime Pro wireless speakers. The KEF LS50W is a strong contender even at $2800, and if your budget allows, you might consider Buchardt A5s ($3900/pair).
Beyond that, my sense is that most red-meat audiophiles are going to spring for multiple separate components, despite there being something vaguely masochistic about that often prolonged ordeal of trial, error, and…
As I think I wrote somewhere, it's one thing to hear equipment at a show, another thing to hear it at home. I meant to imply that, of course, at home is the only way to truly hear a piece, in your reference system.
But at AXPONA, where George Counnas (center) and Carolyn Counnas (right) debuted their new Zesto Audio Eros 500 Select KT-150 equipped, class-A monoblocks, with Zesto Audio's Leto Ultra II preamp, which I reviewed in January 2021, I was flummoxed at the beauty of sound, extravagance of liquidity and detail, and nearly spiritual physicality the system endowed to a variety of…
I'm an unabashed Audio Note fanboy. You got a problem with that? Audio Note lives deep in not only my sonic soul (an Audio Note M2 Pre was my first serious hi-fi purchase), but those of colleagues Herbert Reichert and Michael Trei, Audio Note distributors back in the 1990s, when tubes were cheap and the only thing Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal sold!
Audio Note returned to AXPONA with nothing to new to spring on the hungry (really) crowds, only the same consistency of sound major domo Peter Qvortrup has offered for decades.
Room host, Adrian Ford-Crush, pointed out that the…
At AXPONA 2023, Luxman America's Jeff Sigmund and John Pravel brought serious sonic finery from Luxman Japan with the same gracious, enthusiastic, generous manner they've extended for years.
Luxman Corporation has deep roots in the Japanese audio industry, beginning in 1925, the dawn of radio broadcasting. It's traversed decades of audio history, experiencing its trends and overseeing its innovations, a legacy brand whose name typically equals excellence.
Assured of their success and devotion to audio brilliance, the Luxman house look remains unchanged, its brushed…
On the Renaissance hotel's 16th floor, in the room occupied by PureAudioProject, folks were utterly baffled. Also, occasionally horny.
Apologies. The fact that I'm away from home for four, five days to cover AXPONA means I temporarily don't have my teenage offspring to mortify with dad humor, so now I'm inflicting it on you. PureAudioProject, you see, makes open-baffle speakers. Some have horns. There's a reason I write for Stereophile, not Saturday Night Live.
Israeli proprietor Ze'ev Schlik (above) had brought his Trio15 boxless speakers, plus a playlist full of fine tracks to…
Industry legend Paul Barton (above) has been designing speakers for more than half a century. He's also quite the speaker himself.
I'd sauntered into the Lenbrook room to check out Barton's new PSB Synchrony T800 floorstanders (PSB is a Lenbrook brand). My visit was serendipitously timed. Not only was the man himself present; he and I, along with the gregarious Joe Corona of Chicago retailer Saturday Audio Exchange, were the only ones left when the doors closed at 6pm. We settled in. Corona provided slices of coffee cake, and Barton supplied wisdom and bon mots.
For a very…
Børresen has sprung a welcome surprise on audiophiles. Long known for its expensive loudspeakers, Michael Børresen's Danish speaker company has launched the X3 loudspeaker ($11,000/pair). Exhibited by Next Level HiFi, which sells products from Audio Group Denmark, the speaker excelled in a snappy yet pleasing three-dimensional presentation, highlighted by the company's fabled huge soundstage.
The X3 includes a scaled-down version of Børreson's ribbon planar tweeter with a smaller motor system, and a new midrange and bass/midrange driver that include two layers of spread-toe carbon fiber…
With the assumption of audiophile Cliff Duffey (above) as President of AXISS Audio USA (aka AXISS Distribution Inc.), and the addition of T.J. Goldsby as Vice President of Sales and Dealer relations, the company has added more lines than can comfortably fit into a headline.
One of their large suites in the Schaumburg Hotel was brimming with some of those lines and several debuts: the North American debut of the new Accuphase A-300 class-A monoblock amplifier ($65,000/pair), created for the company's 50th anniversary, which delivers 125W into 8 ohms and up to 1000W into 1 ohm and…
While audiophiles kvetch over the future of this thing we love, rest assured, young audiophiles are growing in number, evidenced by AXPONA halls streaming with under-30 types. Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal, one of the savviest of distributors, introduced me to his young Analog Manager, Kat Ourlian, who discussed specs and brought two terrific-sounding LPs to play on a tricked-out PrimaLuna/Tannoy system.
While a US debut pair of Tannoy Sterling III LZ loudspeakers ($12,500/pair) sat statically in another Upscale Audio room, Kat spun vinyl on a system that included a Dr. Feickert…