Jason Victor Serinus

Munich 2015

Munich High End Beckons

Jason Victor Serinus May 15, 2015

As soon as one arrives in the Munich airport, days before the start of High End 2015, posters announcing the event are visible. This is no marginal show, with expectations of appealing only to a fringe group of dying, gray-haired audiophile fanatics. Rather, it is a major event, with an appeal that extends far beyond a set age group, as well as national and geographic boundaries. Extending for four daysthe first day of the show, on Thursday, May 14, is open only to the trade, which means dealers and press from all seven continents of the world are here...

AXPONA 2015

AXPONA/Audio Con Chicago 2015: A Major Success

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 29, 2015

How do you measure success? Some show promoters count the number of lanyards they've given out and call those "attendance figures." According to Liz Miller, AXPONA/Audio Con Content and Marketing Director, “We sold 5137 tickets, an 18% increase over 2014."

AXPONA 2015

Day 3: Countdown to the Finish

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 29, 2015

After happily discovering that there were only three rooms to blog on floor 2, first up was the huge exhibit from one of the most dedicated dealers in the business, Doug White of The Voice That Is. Doug showcased a not-too-shabby system that included several premieres...

AXPONA 2015

Sunday Dawns on AXPONA

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 29, 2015

As I was leaving the room shared by Daedalus Audio, ModWright Instruments, and WyWires, a couple sat down and said to Lou Hinkley, Dan Wright, and Alex Sventitsky, "This is one of the rooms we had to come back to hear again."

I can understand why...

AXPONA 2015

AXPONA's Day 2 Kept on Going

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 28, 2015

Using Vivid loudspeakers, Richard Rogers of Shunyata and Bruce Jacobs of Stillpoints conducted a very convincing demo in which they began with stock power cables and no room treatment. First, they switched from stock power cables to Shunyata's Venom digital power cable ($395) and Venom High Current power cable ($295). Next, they added Stillpoints Ultra 6 equipment supports under equipment where there had been no supports before.

Finally, they added at least six Stillpoints Aperture acoustic panels to the sidewalls and horribly reflective glass windows behind the speakers. Each change elicited more depth, air, believable timbres, midrange, bass, vibrancy and substantiality to the sound...

AXPONA 2015

Day 1 Ends and Day 2 Starts

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 26, 2015

What, Jason, you're still on the 5th floor? How are you ever going to get all the way down to sub-Lobby Level, let alone be able to make some "Best of Show" calls, when you're only doing 18 rooms per day? Get a move on, Serinus! Such thoughts crossed my mind as Day One was drawing to a close, and I still had a few rooms left on the second of AXPONA's seven, not six, floors. But what is there to do but simply go with the flow, even if there's little flow left to go with at day's end?

AXPONA 2015

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Westin O'Hare's Floor 5

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 25, 2015

People were going gaga over the Gibson Les Paul Reference Monitors, which debuted in the Gibson tent at CES before debuting at NAM and Frankfurt. In their US Consumer audio show premier, which celebrates the Les Paul Centenary, the GSLP 4" ($1198/pair), GSLP 6" ($1598/pair), and equally poetically-titled GSLP 8" ($1998/pair) displayed their pedigree as reference monitors suited for both home and studio. I found the balance a bit bright and sharp for my taste, but there was much to admire in the sound...

AXPONA 2015

AXPONA Opens Strong

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 25, 2015

Yes, I too noticed the signs, liberally distributed around the baggage pick-up area at O'Hare, that welcomed visitors to four shows other than AXPONA. "AXPONA 2015 NOT WELCOME IN CHICAGO!" quipped Michael Fremer in his first show blog for AnalogPlanet.com. Judging from the comments so far, it's clear that some readers forget that behind Mikey's New York outrage lies a seasoned stand-up comedian...

AXPONA 2015 News

AXPONA Chicago Set To Wow Friday–Sunday

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 20, 2015

In the consumer audio show arena, the newly rebranded Audio Con (after Comic Con) from AXPONA Chicago seems on course to claim the crown as one of the three top high-end shows in North America. Taking place April 2426 in the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, the show is prepared to welcome a significantly larger number of visitors (pre-registration is up 30% 11 days before show opening) to 105 active exhibits (two-channel and multi-channel), plus an entire ballroom's full Ear Gear Expo (participation is up 50% from last year) and a sizeable marketplace area (displays up at least 30%).

News

AVI's Grand Opening in Marin

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 06, 2015

Yet another Bay Area audio retailer has defied industry trends by moving from home-based business to a storefront and simultaneously revamping its product line. Audio Video Integration (aka AVI Marin) celebrated the Grand Opening of its new San Rafael 6000ft² retail store and 3000ft² warehouse on April 2, 2015 via a ribbon-cutting ceremony officiated by San Rafael Vice Mayor Andrew McCullough. Even before the ceremony got underway, and for several hours thereafter, a host of loyal customers, friends, and well-wishers began to ogle the store's capacious layout and multiple audio and AV installations, enjoy food and drink, and discover anew the glories of high-end sound.