Who was the Stand Out? | AXPONA 2023 Show Report
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- Tom Martin, joined by TAS newcomer Cynthia Blankenship, review their favorite rooms, discoveries, and stand outs at AXPONA 2023.
More show coverage coming soon!
About Tom Martin:
Tom is a long-time audiophile. He began his reviewing career after acquiring the The Absolute Sound magazine in 1997 and then hi-fi+ magazine in 2002. He has worked closely with Harry Pearson and Robert Harley at TAS and with Roy Gregory and Alan Sircom at hi-fi+. Since Tom and his teams expanded the TAS and Plus platforms in the digital domain, he has served as Chief Content Officer.
About Cynthia Blankenship:
Cynthia converted to audiophilism 5 years ago when she first heard a pair of Magnepan 3.3Rs playing Die Moldau from Smetana's Ma Vlast. The ensuing journey would have her be a recurring guest on the Audiophiliac's channel, a Magnepan 1.7i ad in The Absolute Sound magazine, and shadowing Alan Sircom of hi-fi+. With what began as a hobby with a focus on human interest stories, 5 years later she will now be delving into the world of audio gear reviews for The Absolute Sound, HiFi+, and her own channel @TheAudioBelle
What Is The Absolute Sound?
The Absolute Sound magazine has been a leading publication in high-end audio since 1972. Since the early 2000s, The Absolute Sound has expanded to include web, newsletter, digital magazine, social media, CZcams and Substack platforms. The Absolute Sound platforms have a global audience of over 500,000 audiophiles.
Shot and edited by TAS Digital Managing Editor Charles Kinder
For more show reports, expert reviews, features, and commentary subscribe to our newsletter at: www.theabsolutesound.com
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Substack: theabsolutesound.substack.com
#hifi #audiophile #theabsolutesound
00:00 -05:16 Cabasse Standmount
05:16 - Diptyque Planar Magnetic Loudspeakers
09:17 -11:21 A Thought on Demo Tracks
11:21-14:13 Perlisten R210 + Sub
14:13-18:36 YG Acoustics Peaks Series
18:36-20:25 Atohm Bookshelf
20:25-23:04 Aretai Standmount Speaker
23:04-26:43 GoldenEar Loudspeaker
26:43-29:37 Luxman Turntable
29:37-32:23 Odyssey's Room
32:23-35:37 Linkwitz Reference Speaker
35:37- Ergonomics & Cables - Zábava
Glad to see a young woman in audio circles. We old men have had this hobby to ourselves too long.
@@Zenos174 Really? I say something nice and you make it about - I don't know, what are you making it about?
Thanks, Cynthia and Tom! 🎵
Thanks! That was great!
You and the Audio Belle are a great team!
Love your show coverage.
Tom, love everything you do and this post is no exception.
A fun overview of things that caught your attention. Thank you. Even as a CZcams visitor to this show, I felt that audiophiles are having fun more than being neurotic. Good.
We would like to thank Cynthia "The Audio Belle" for taking the time to stop by our room and listening to the Atohm GT series speakers with the Atoll electronics. We are happy she enjoyed listening to the GT1 powered by Atoll's IN100 amplifier. I especially enjoyed the track from Pentatonix that she requested. We at (Music For Pleasure) have been proud to represent both Atohm and Atoll going on 8 years now and feel they are hands down some of the finest products on the market today regardless of price. Thanks to The Absolute Sound for working with a refreshing young enthusiast that brings another valued perspective to our fun industry.
@dwayneboyer6883,
And it was a pleasure meeting you guys as well! Also, glad you enjoyed the Pentatonix song. You were a fun bunch.😄
---Cynthia, The Audio Belle
New subscriber here, LOVED this...happy to see a new generation learning like the rest of us!
Tom, from your first video you have improved so much , maybe just being yourself . Good to see a women reviewer .👏
Great convo…Lovely to see Cynthia and Tom together…thanks!
I'm waiting for your full review of this wonder. Sig Linkwitz is long gone but his genius survives in the Lx521 for all of us to appreciate.
Hi Ron, Tom's review is coming next week! Stay tuned...
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly with Thomas on cable size, complexity, IN-flexibility and last but not least . . . SNAKE OIL CLAIMS MATCHED WITH ABSURD COST . . . it is Absolute (pun intended :-) LUNACY to have cables that DO in fact look like pythons AND not at ALL necessary !!! REALLY enjoyed watching this video - entertaining and informative. THANK YOU !
P.S. Cynthia's take on all things audio is a really welcome breath of fresh air - a sensitive ear mixed with a nice gentle humility.
Great decision to add Cynthia's voice into this Axpona standout. Good variety of perspectives. Well done!
Luxman turntable is to die for. Heck, all their stuff.
I loved the Odyseey room! Atmosphere makes a HUGE difference in a listening experience.
You're definitely right - It's impossible to see everything! It was still great getting to show off our Bravura sound system and meet you guys! 😊
Odyssey’s room looks like the way I set mine up with candles and lava a lamps. Awesome
Magnifico.👑👑👑👑👑👑
Golden Ear uses a powered woofer...that's why they have so much slam. Might want to point that out.
Excellent recap! The Atohm speakers were quite impressive. I'm hoping to aquire a set this year.
James Blake - Limit to Your Love… a fun little track to demo speakers with. A little vocals, a healthy amount of bass, fun dynamics, some synth. Glorious.
Thanks!
I built a set of LX521s in 2014 and upgraded to the MGs and Precision ASPV2.0 last year. I owned a series of Sonus Faber and Vienna Acoustics prior and was pretty familiar with Magnepan and other high quality speakers. As far as I'm concerned, these are my forever speakers.
Yes ,regarding phase and eq with subs . This is where pro audio and high end can meet.
I loved the Aretai room
Really great back and forth. Nice video.
KSA i400 is the highlight for me, Class A with all the latest advances in technology!
Great recap. Loved the dialog.
Thanks for watching! Be certain to subscribe if you haven’t already.
Peter Breuninger would be proud🙏
RIP legend :/
Hello Tom, thank you for the informative video, please include more women into the high end community. Cynthia, thank you for joining the audiophile community, your are great inspiration to other half of the population. I have only one comment to make please show the picture of product more when you are discussing about the product and less of the reviewers. After all we are here to discuss and discover more about the new product offering. Thank you.
The complex song is Limit to your love by James Blake.
BTW, I like you intro and outro music. Nice tone. 🎵
I've subscribed to The Audio Belle's channel for some years now. Great to see TAS take her on in a professional capacity. Congrats Cynthia!
@redstarwraith,
Thank you!!
---Cynthia, The Audio Belle
The Newest Linkwitz LX521 Reference Speakers produced a soundstage more remarkable than any other speaker I have heard when I listened to them being demoed in Don Naples home. I will look forward to your in-home review!
Excellent
The Linkwitz speakers are truly remarkable. He is not exaggerating the soundstage comments. It is not gimmicky. It’s impressive per Tom’s comments. However I have heard heard these at the last two axpona shows, I just find they have a slight rubber/plasticky sound quality that sounds weird to me. Wonder if anyone else had that experience. Or perhaps it’s just the recordings I heard in brief listening
Audio Belle! Haven't seen her in forever! ❤
i agree with the un complex music selections. I would leave a room if the music was boring or they were playing a jazz classic I have heard a thousand times.
Re: the Diptyques, there are six models from about 6,000 on up to the reference model you see here. They are also available on special order in about 200 RAL colors.
Well done. Nice video. Definitely Bel Canto Design electronics should be given some of the credit for the sound in the YG Acoustics room. As well, it's very possible that the Bel Canto high and low pass filters were employed which could be a positive factor in the excellent sub integration.
Very much looking forwards to the subwoofer set up video. While there are several out there already they tend to be from manufacturers not hobbyists.
Concur with another commenter that you are getting better at doing videos. The Diptyque piqued my interest some months ago when I discovered them on various CZcams videos, but I was under the impression from earlier information that their top model was cheaper than the price revealed at this show. I suspect they are pricing in the US higher than in other markets.
Totally agree about the 3rd part. There are lots of the demo music in AXPONA this year tends to be really simple (a popular track that I heard over and over in different rooms are low register male vocal almost like narration, aka very limited range, with simple instruments on low end as well) which makes it hard to judge how the system performs!
My best audio friend has a Pass Labs tri-amped Linkwitz system. Never heard anything, regardless of price, that comes close.
Those French planar magnetics are a patented, push pull with the voice coil traces on the front of the membrane, perpendicular to the traces on the backside of the membrane. Joppe Peelen's channel, a gentleman that builds his own planar drivers/loudspeakers and illustrates his techniques mentioned these planars a while ago. Very interesting concept.
Wish you would have had more complete specs on the equipment: size, price, efficiency,power, etc.
Q sound. Used in the 90's. Extends the sound stage outward quite a bit. Linky is the real deal. Downside is Ugliness and it takes over the room. Need a bigger room to optimize. 5 amps may slow your enthusiasm. But there is nothing like it. Get Chesky Jazz Vol3 track 46.
That’s the one.
WAY too many rooms to see in the 2 days that I had ... Next time I am coming for 4 days. =)
A sleepy little show, oh, those good old days !
Anybody demo with a recording of a symphony orchestra? A pipe organ? A large choral group like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?
Personally I think the prices are obscene.
Yes. Some of the rooms had rare classical on vinyl (VTL, Air Tight, Linkwitz and many others). And all had streaming for classical requests.
Congrats to the audio bell joining the absolute sound. I had to snicker a bit when hearing yg acoustic speakers being talked about with their budget line. None of their stuff is budget to most normal folks in the hobby. Guessing much more than a nine average sedan with a subwoofer. At those prices it shou,d be professionally setup by a dealer like Wilson does. Interesting the price was never mentioned. They ,and great speakers but $$:$$. Thank you for your coverage.
0.5% THD on any subwoofer, THX or not, would be a ground breaking result and it's not 5% either, the best in that respect hover around 10 with the majority close to 50% by the time they hit 20Hz.
Thats was. What im worryin bout Freedom to listen fidelity anywhere anyone. Are we hurtin the music industry or its okay..peace!
Not being critical here but has she (Audio Belle) not heard of Appogee speakers? Her first product mentioned reminds me of the Divas. BTW that is one dirty ass record on that Luxman turntable!
Luxman turntable at $ 12,495 and the dust cover is optional does sound rather off putting . Nice look table and a SAEC 10 inch arm thou.
Agree. Take a look at the specs, material, and technology used in the Luxman turntable, there is nothing really new, proprietary or unique. Tonearm is off the shelf, and worse still they use so much rubber for vibration management, which is a very simplistic and outdated way of doing so. Someone should teach Luxman engineers modern engineering practices based on latest understanding of material science. You don't just slap on rubber and think that now vibration problems are now all gone. Doesn't work that way.
This table should have been $5 - 7k max. I don't see any reason for a non-Luxman owner to be interested in this. At this price, you can get a VPI Avenger which makes this table look like a toy! Anyone who picks this Luxman over the VPI must be out of their mind.
Update: just found out that indeed these cost 7k in the japan domestic market, which really should have been the right price.
Agree….what a waste of money for such an inferior medium.
Decent review of stuff that NOBODY cares about !!
Let her talk !
Also noticed this
She really wasn’t saying much…that’s why he kept weighing in.
Luxnan, u must b joking. How much did Luxman paid U?
Luxnan pay me top dollar!
Tom bring on tracking ur so uninteresting.
Sorry you didn’t like it.
Yeah while it’s “nice” to see young reviewers, in all honesty the “Audio Belle” really offered no real insight into the equipment she referenced. For the Absolute Sound having a reviewer that didn’t know Subwoofers could be THX certified pretty much whitewashes their credibility. Talking about how “pretty” and the “slam” a loudspeaker has, doesn’t tell us anything about the frequency response or it’s sensitivity, much less the materials or special design elements. It became a bit embarrassing to watch as Thomas kept having to weigh in on her bit to actually talk about particulars. I would expect more professionalism from AS.
Bump up the volume on Cynthia's mic next time. She's great.
''kind of ...kind of.........kind of like...kind of? Zzzzzz!