Florida Audio Expo 2020 Show Report
Florida Audio Expo 2020 Show In Tampa, Florida.

Endow Audio
Plus VAC, Hegel, iFi Audio, Audio Envy, and Qobuz.
Report By Steven R. Rochlin

  Stepping into the Endow Audio room at Florida Audio Expo 2020 I was warmly greeted by Tim Strunk. His innovative speakers are far from those typically seen, as they feature a multi-driver array for midrange and highs. Their motto is "The Sound Of Live Performance", and when one considers that when enjoying live music the sound is bounced and reflected from the hall's surfaces.... Keeping that in mind, Endow Audio's special Point Array on their new model T35 ($19,000) features nine 3" full-range drivers, an 8" loading driver, plus a 12" spec'ed 8 Ohm woofer for bass.

Best thing is to quote their website so I don't make any mistakes or misinterpret things of this unique design. Endow Audio says, "The Point Array can be powered by the same amplifier as the 12" Woofer, or separately, depending on preference and/or room size. A very large space could call for a dedicated 300 Watt amplifier for the Point Array, while a 10 Watt tube amplifier powering the Point Array may be appreciated in a smaller listening space."

Other bits within their system was a solid-state hefty and excellent Hegel H590 300 Watt stereo amplifier, VAC's incredible Sigma 170i that produces 85 Watts per channel stereo, and a very good iFi Audio Pro iDSD DAC. The VAC was for bi-amp'ing, with the VAC powering the top and the Hegel powering the woofer. I heard the Hegel only configuration. More on that below.

For source, they were using a MacBook Air paying glorious true lossless Hi-Res Music files from Qobuz. Cabling was by Audio Envy and the set-up looked clean and neat. Giving diversity the nod, there was a variety of configurations, and admit I did not hear them all. Here's the list of setups you could choose from within Endow Audio's room.

My listening notes via set-up A say imagining was very natural, not overly artificially overly pinpointy. Wide and deep soundscape, plus harmonically very impressive too. In hindsight, truly wish I'd have stopped back to hear it with the VAC vacuum tube amp to make a comparo, as am sure it would have slightly tweaked the upper frequencies with a slight bit more harmonic richness (which admitting I tend to prefer, yet not overly rich 'n creamy as there is a balance!). Hegel makes spectacularly accurate amps, which also work great within many systems, yet there are times (especially during shows, frankly) where a bit of added richness sooths my ears. Those who have attended shows can probably relate. As this is my ~150th show....

You can look for a review of the Endow Audio T35 speakers within Enjoy the Music.com's Review Magazine in April 2020.

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