AXPONA 2019 April 12 - 14

Discussion in 'The Meeting Place' started by dubharmonic, Mar 24, 2019.

  1. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I'm a 5'11", fairly wide half-asian with glasses and a grey hoodie near ZMF.
     
  2. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Well, despite announcing to the world that I was "done" with the hobby, Axpona reminded me that I don't know what I'm talking about. I was able to do some decent listening at Zach's table before it got too crowded or noisy and discovered the Aeolus with velour pads. I liked it better than the Verite (ting-y treble) and even the Auteur (slightly less bass and midrange fullness). It sounded like Sennheiser to me but less laid back and with better bass. I took it over to the Schiit table where they had a Vali 2/Modi Multibit like I have at home and they sounded just about perfect to me. The only thing it is lacking (as just about all headphones do) was a wide open soundstage like the HD800. I have learned to stop chasing that with headphones and will focus on speakers.

    Which led me to the Madisound room where they had some LX minis hooked up. Talk about a wide, diffuse soundstage! My new apt is small and in a 100 year old brick house with a narrow profile with weird bumpouts everywhere which makes both large speakers and ones sensitive to the room (most?) problematic. Apparently Sigfried Linkwitz (RIP) designed these for people like me as they sounded really good to me in a small hotel room, backed up against a window with no room treatments. Plus, at about $700 to build (not including 4 channels of amplification) they are quite affordable. Super bonus that they are really slender and unobtrusive so my GF actually liked them (she has given me a hard no everytime I talked about 15" or even 10" open baffle speakers like the PAP designs).

    Unfortunately, my time was very short and I didn't listen to anything else. Each time I went to try the Rag 2 someone was there.
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2019
  3. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    LX minis are pretty decent at that price point. Pick up the pass active analog crossover from the DIY Audio store for a good upgrade (buy them without crossovers).
     
  4. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I was eyeballing that kit. You think it would be a lot better than the mini DSP based crossover that comes with the Madisound kit?
     
  5. dBel84

    dBel84 Friend

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    Per the folk on DIYA, the NP LXmini crossover improves the sound but by how much is most likely user dependent
     
  6. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I've used both with my OB setup and the miniDSP sounds muddy and unresolving for me. YMMV with the LX Minis but I have had a good experience.
     
  7. dubharmonic

    dubharmonic Friend

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    It was great to meet you guys IRL!

    The Ragnarok 2 was paired with an Ether 2, which made getting an impression difficult. After 3 years of trying to understand what Dan is going for, the MrSpeakers planars have always felt unengaging to me regardless of what they’re plugged into.

    The Abyss AB-1266 PHI TC paired with an Eleven Audio XIAUDIO 'Formula S' High Purity amp had amazing bass texture, but I can’t imagine using it every day. Too intense.

    MrSpeakers VOCE on a Blue Hawaii was a highlight for me. I heard this exact setup last year, but it didn’t grab me like it did this time. So clean and clear, and the sub bass is incredibly satisfying.

    [​IMG]

    The purple anodized aluminum looks even better in person.

    Didn't spend much time at Zach's table, as I had heard everything 2 weeks ago. My Auteur has continued to improve as it burns in!
     
  8. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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  9. ogodei

    ogodei MOT: Austin AudioWorks

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    Sorry to have missed everyone except @maverickronin, I was there Friday and Sunday.

    I listened to a lot of 2 channel stuff and ended up with a show discounted Trio15 Voxativ AC-PiFe, although they are shipping me mostly new parts for it. I haven't had too much good two channel gear, these sounded really good to me.

    @maverickronin sent me up to listen to the Sander Sound Systems Model 10 electrostatsm which I think is their only speaker. This is one of those setups where you sit in a prescribed place and it sounds amazing, you start moving your head side-to-side and the image skews incredibly. Great sound, incredible imaging, perhaps a bit sterile.

    Biggest surprise for me was the Benchmark HPA4 headphone amp which was very, very good with the Focals. Was sort of giving up on 'neutral' SS amps, this may pull me back in.

    I totally missed that Mytek ad. She looks like she should be crushing his nads with those heels and he should have even more joy on his face because of it. I can just see a dominatrix standing there over me with the Abyss on as part of the get-up.
     
  10. Elmer Danilovich

    Elmer Danilovich MOT:Earmen, HeadAmp, Bricasti; AKA:MShenay

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    Sorry to have missed you all, I was there

    SR 009 all black was quite exceptional with the HeadAmp Blue Hawaii something to save up for

    Ether 2 was much better than I expected, I don't usually like anything "musical" as they [Andy... or Allen] described it, either way if that's what Mr.Speakers considers "musical" then I can 100% see the appeal of that kind of tuning. As typically I usually don't like anything even remotely associated with "musical" or "musicality" it always seemed like a nice way to say something was really warm and kinda of smoothed over

    An again, I didn't feel like Ether 2 was too excessively warm and it certainly wasn't smoothed over

    The new Benchmark System was very nice also, likely the most transparent solid state set up I heard there. Though I preferred the Bricasti M3 presentation a little more, as I really felt more low frequency spectra from that set up. It more so than a lot of what I heard there really conveyed the power and texture of those sub sonic frequencies, you could say maybe it's a bit emphasized/forward so maybe not as "transparent" as the Benchmark units, but to my ears it's low frequency presentation seemed much closer to reality.
     
  11. rrwwss52

    rrwwss52 New

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    Did Mr. Speakers have the new removable pads (versus old pads) on the Ether 2 for a comparison. I purchased my Ether 2s in January and really enjoy them. Using with a Benchmark DAC 3 HGC/Amps and Sound Encore. Wondered if the new pads make much of a difference. Thank you.
     
  12. Elmer Danilovich

    Elmer Danilovich MOT:Earmen, HeadAmp, Bricasti; AKA:MShenay

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    It's possible, I know they were switching between three different systems to showcase how much the sound and thus the headphone's presentation changed. It's possible they were showcasing different pads as well but I do not know for sure
     
  13. zonto

    zonto Friend

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  14. Greg121986

    Greg121986 Almost "Made"

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    I remember hearing something from Sonner at Axpona 2018 and I quite enjoyed it. I don't remember exact details, but the memory immediately resonated when you posted the link! There was not much at Axpona 2018 that excited me, but I do recall a room with Sonner speakers was one of the few that stood out.
     
  15. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Emailed Sonner. Looks like they were released at Axpona in 2018, the ring radiator tweeter is a heavily modified Scanspeak, and Seas makes the mid and woofer (some of custom to their specs). Looks like my favorite local dealer sells them, so I'll try to make it up soon and compare to my other favorite floorstanders (Aerial Acoustics 6T/7T, another local-to-me company).
     

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