AXPONA 2018 Show Report -- Audio Expo North America

AXPONA 2018 At The Schaumberg Renaissance
This year's Audio eXPO North America was utterly amazing, and on so many levels!
AXPONA Show Report By Greg Weaver

   GTT Audio & Video exhibited yet another slight variation on their world-class system in suite 1627, just down the hall from where Magico was engaging crowds with the A3. The room was an undeniably synergistic partnership, effected by GTT's Bill Parish, Audionet's Robert Hagemann, YG Acoustic's Dick Diamond, and Kubala-Sosna's Joe and Greg Kubala, and Howard Sosna. LPs were transcribed by the Kronos Limited Edition Pro Turntable ($48,000), with Kronos SCPS 1 Power Supply ($13,500), using the Kronos Black Beauty tonearm ($10,000) fitted with the flagship Air Tight Opus 1 Cartridge ($15,000). The phonostage was the Audionet PAM G2 ($10,100) with the Audionet EPX Power Supply ($10,100).

Digital playback was handled by either the Audionet Planck CD Player ($18,800), with Audionet Ampere Power Supply ($11,200), or the Audionet DNC Streaming DAC ($10,100), with the Audionet EPS G2 Power Supply ($4,050). This show marked the US Consumer premier showing of the Audionet Stern Linestage ($45,000) and the Heisenberg Mono Amps ($105,000/pr.), which came straight from my listening room (review to appear in another journal) to this event. The speakers were the YG Acoustics Sonja XV Jr. ($189,600), and the whole rig was wired with the latest Realization series cables from Kubala-Sosna.

YG Acoustic's Sonja XV Jr., with the new Audionet Heisenberg monos

The full version of the Sonja XV is a four-way, 20-driver-per-pair, four-tower system, that stand 70" tall. The Sonja XV Jr. is differentiated from the full XV by the omission of the optional bottom-most modular driver to each of the four separate columns, making it a four-way, 16-driver-per-pair, four tower system, some 51" tall.

The Audionet Stern linestage

I've heard numerous variations of this system, the first of which was in the much bigger room at GTT's Long Valley New Jersey showrooms in September of 2016, when YG Acoustics introduced the Sonja XV to mark their 15^th anniversary. At that showing, the amps and line stage had been the previous Audionet flagship electronics, and my current reference, the Pre G2 Linestage and MAX monoblocks. And, I've had the pleasure of hearing the new Audionet Scientist Series Stern Linestage and Heisenberg monoblocks on several occasions prior to having the good fortune of having them in my reference system just prior to this show.

Handmade in Berlin, beyond their benchmark setting performance, these electronics boast beautiful industrial design conceived by the legendary German designer Hartmut Esslinger. The Stern earned a National Design Award and is now on exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Gallery, while the Heisenberg's were granted a global patent on their floating panels that allow for ventilation and light.

Heisenberg's, up close and personal

The combination of world-class sources, electronics, and loudspeakers made for one of the most life-like listening experiences I've ever had at a show. To say this room sounded great would be like saying it gets cold in the Arctic in winter. The question was, just how good was it?

This systems ability to accurately and artfully combine delicacy with power, focus with bloom, resolution with body, detail with texture, and clarity with expressiveness is breathtaking. The immediacy, resolution, transparency to the sources, and natural, honest sense of body and space put me in mind of being in a small, intimate, jazz club, like Dizzy's in San Diego. And as a side note, to my ears, the contributions of the Audionet Stern and Heisenberg's establishes a new benchmark in amplification electronics.

So yeah, this room could be Best of Show... I had narrowed it down to this and one other possible room, and at this point, it was close... On to the other contender.

The Audio Company of Marietta, Georgia was up to their old tricks, and by that, I mean running a show-stopping system in the Euphoria Room. The Audio Company is Keith Sequeira, Gordon Waters, and Jim Kumpe. For just over the past year, they have been teaming up to show with VAC's Owner, President, and resident tube guru, Kevin Hayes, his charming wife Darlene, and Von Schweikert Audio's CEO, Damon Von Schweikert, and VSA partner and V.P. of Marketing, Leif Swanson, to suspend disbelief.

Kronos analog, the Pro table, with SCPS1 power supply, Black Beauty Arm, and Air Tight Opus One cartridge

Here again, the LP analog front end was the award-winning Kronos Limited Edition Pro Turntable ($48,000), with Kronos SCPS 1 Power Supply ($13,500), using the Kronos Black Beauty ($10,000) tonearm fitted with the flagship Air Tight Opus 1 Cartridge ($15,000), or a J-Corder rebuilt Technics 1520 Reel to Reel ($14,000). Digital was provided by an all Esoteric system, the Grandioso P1 Transport ($35,000), a pair of Grandioso D1 Monoblock DACs ($36,000/pr.), the G-01 Master Clock ($18,000), and the N-01 network player ($20,000).

The electronics chain was all Kevin Hayes' Valve Amplification Company Statement series, including the Statement Phono Stage ($80,000), the Statement Line Stage ($75,000), and two pair, that's right campers, four, count ‘em, of the Statement 450 iQ mono Amplifiers ($120,000 a pair, or $240,000 for the quad set), used to bi-amplify each of the newly updated Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11 loudspeaker ($295,000/pr.), with a set of VSA Shockwave V12 subwoofers ($12,500) employed near the rear of the room to provide active room correction. Finally, everything rested on Joe Laverncik's Critical Mass Systems Maxxum Racks, and it was all connected using a full loom of MasterBuilt Audio Ultra cables ($400,000 worth).

Critical Mass Systems Maxxum Racks loaded with Esoteric and VAC

The Ultra 11 is as visually impressive as it sounds, once you've heard its sonic gifts, especially in the stunning blue finish they chose for this show. Standing 90" tall and tipping the scales at 850 pounds each, it is a six-way, 14-driver system. The front face of the cabinet uses four 9" reinforced ceramic midbass drivers, two 7" reinforced ceramic midranges, two beryllium tweeters, and a 5" aluminum ribbon super tweeter, in a concentric array.

A pair of 15" sealed subwoofers, one at the top of the enclosure, the second near the bottom, each powered by its own 1,000-watt amplifier, are found on the rear baffle. Below the upper subwoofer is a suite of controls, with individual adjustability for each of the two subwoofer's level, frequency, and phase, the two front tweeters level, the front super tweeter level, and the rear ambience driver array level control.

Situated immediately below those controls we find the ambient retrieval array. Centered on the rear baffle, the array uses a pair of horn loaded Magnesium tweeters (selected for their ability to operate at significantly lower frequencies than the Beryllium tweeters on the front), one above, and one below, a second ribbon super tweeter, identical to the one used on the front baffle. This flexibility allows for virtually seamless integration into any room, allowing for compensation and discriminatory tuning for any physical surface type, furnishing, room loading, or most any other room challenge.

All muscle, the 14-driver-per channel Von Schweikert Ultra 11 loudspeakers and four of the Statement VAC 450iQ mono amplifiers

Yes, I did say updated Ultra 11's. This latest iteration employs an entirely new Accuton 7" midrange. As with any driver change, this drove a redesign of the entire dividing network, which was further modified to enhance overall coherence, and to allow the rear ambient retrieval system to be active down to 2kHz, dropped from its original 5kHz roll-off.

I had the good fortune to be in the room Thursday night, before the show opened, as the Air Tight Opus One was being dialed in on the Kronos, and final room setup being settled upon. I must say that in this iteration, and I've heard variations in four different venues now, including twice with the four Statement 450 iQ mono amps, offered more notable resolution, clearly refined pitch definition, greater transparency, and enhanced spatial and imaging characteristics than I recall from any previous showings.

Heavy lifting, 1800 watts, or 2.42 horsepower!

Because of the success of an impromptu late-night LP listening session held at the Capital Audiofest last November, where I had been graciously allowed to play all my chosen LPs, they asked me to DJ another session Saturday night. While the crowd was much bigger for this session, we managed to get under way about 8:30 after a great meal and some wonderful conversation.

First up was my MFSL copy of Traffic's "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys," featuring a then 22-year-old Steve Winwood on vocals. This sounded very natural, and in fact, the hand clapping in the title cut had some listeners unfamiliar with this recording asking who had been clapping up in the front of the room. But it seemed to me that we were missing a bit of fine layering, detail, and resolution that I had noted during our later sessions on Thursday night. It seemed as if there had been a slight loss of transparency as well as a slightly elevated noise floor.

Next up was my original 1969 Apple copy of Abbey Road. This LP seemed to be a crowd pleaser. But again, I felt that there was some loss of low-level resolution and fine detail. Further, some of the more engaging texture and vibrant tone from this LP was, well, just not fully developed. Again, what I felt we were missing pointed to an elevated noise floor, and I was beginning to wonder what was going on.

The Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 11, showing the front face with 9 of its 14 drivers

Next, Damon spun the 12" single of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)," [MCAT 770] the David Bowie / Giorgio Moroder collaboration from the 1982 film of the same name, an LP that I had turned them on to during our Capital AudioFest session. All I can say is, wow! Just about the time the tempo really kicks up on this track, the system suddenly seemed to soar!

Now, though we were just about an hour or so into our session, this system was once again sounding like the living, breathing being I had gotten a glimpse of in our Thursday night sessions. What had just occurred? Why did the system suddenly seem to have more transparency, greater resolution, better pace, more engaging rhythm, a much lower noise floor, and bolder, richer texture? More on this soon.

Next up would be one of the Rock world's perfect LP sides, with Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits, Love Over Gold, side one [Vertigo]. While far from a perfect recording, for a Rock masterpiece, it is eminently well done.

With the opening track, "Telegraph Road," the delicacy of the decay of instrumental trails (you could almost "watch" them dwindling, they were so well demarcated), and the musical nuances, heightened by the apparent space and subsequent interaction between the guitar and piano, was revelatory. To say this was spellbinding reading of this LP doesn't begin to cover what we were hearing.

During "Private Investigations," the crucial importance of the "space" in this recording, especially notable when the glass shatters and the pieces skid left deep into the stage, as well as the intimacy that it adds to the integral interplay between the guitar and percussion, was strikingly apparent.

The back of the VSA Ultra 11 and a loom of MasterBuilt Ultra cables

One of my touchstone classical LPs is the MFSL two LP remaster of the 1972 Solti / CSO performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 'Choral' [MFSL 2-516]. The power, scale, and layering of the orchestra, combined with its timbral purity and the palpability of the locations of the performers, especially the entrance of the remarkable bass solo by MarttiTalvela some six and a half minutes into the 4^th movement, the "Ode to Joy," make for not only sublimely beautiful music, but for a telling and revealing recording as well. That night, in that room, it was taken to a new height.

I heard more than one startled gasp in the room when the previously mentioned Bass soloist appeared, almost literally, out of nowhere, taking up a solid, palpable location on that stage. The contribution and power of the massed voices were made stronger by their heightened individuality, and during a part of the movement when the quartet and chorus were all singing, it became clearly apparent that the Tenor and Soprano had a difference in height of about 8 or 10 inches.

We played more selections, but the results were the same; unencumbered music. With this most recent version of the system I was hearing denser, more complete tone color and fidelity, harmonic texture, lifelike bloom and body, and overall, an even more spatially accurate presentation. Bass pitch definition was exceptional, with superbly articulated weight and attack during even the most torturous drum or bass tracks.

As much subtlety and fine shading as this spectacular rig could expose in the microdynamic realm, we were literally knocked out by its recreation of macro dynamic events, where it rendered the best I've yet heard in terms of definition, weight, and impact. And one area where this system leaves all other contenders wanting is with its ability to accurately recreate the representative scale and power of large performances.

Where the Kronos, Audionet, YG Acoustics, Kubala-Sosna system in room 1627 had the power to convince me that I was actually in a small club, this system took me to a world-class concert hall, like Leighton Hall, at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

After that apparent improvement about 9:30 or so, transients became faster, more distinctly defined, and more cleanly delineated; so much so that we were informed as much by the silence between musical impulses as by the effortless drive and pace of the musical gestalt. This system now spawned a sonic representation so noise free, so immediate and palpable, so vivid and articulate in detail, so resolute and transparent, so utterly correct in voice, and so overwhelmingly organic in nature, I fear that you simply must hear it to understand.

This systems ability to render such stark transparency to the recordings, to reveal nuance in detail or scale, to uncover minute inflection, to render this degree of musical relevance, all speak to the higher level of resolution and transparency that this version of the system had accomplished. In my estimation, the bulk of the improvement we were hearing that evening came from both the significant changes made to the new Ultra 11 loudspeaker, and the enormously relevant contributions of the remarkable Kronos/Air Tight analog front end.

More than any other system in my experience, including all the earlier iterations of this one in its other venues across two continents, I was more convincingly transported into the recorded events by its comprehensive and effectual fabricated deception, allowed to witness the sensations, feelings, and emotions that the artist/s in play were sharing in that recorded moment, than I have been moved by any other system to date.

In terms of creating the illusion of living, breathing musicians in a real space, having that inexplicable ability to foster the complete suspension of disbelief, of permitting the listener to completely forget that they are listening to a recreation, a total deception, a reconstructed sonic event, this system would appear to have no equal. It left us all unaware that the time and space of the events unfolding before us were merely auditory illusions generated by a complex reconstruction engine, a conglomeration of electro-mechanical devices. It more effortlessly and emotionally engages listeners with the message of the music under its consideration than any other system in memory.

In conclusion, what was it that had happened about an hour into our listening that Saturday night that ratcheted up the performance so exceptionally? I approached Keith about it the following day, asking, "Did you notice a significant improvement in the system about 9:30 last night?" Keith just smiled, and before I could ask him about my suspicion that it may have something to do with either the quality of the power (after a certain time, demand and the load on the hotel grid drop significantly), or if something had finally taken that enormous step when it finally settles and has run in, he said, "...we've been watching it. We noticed it too, and it is definitely the power."

And so, my Best of Show for AXPONA 2018 goes to The Audio Company, and the wonderful team whose efforts allow us to experience such a magical and engaging presentation. To Keith, Gordon, and Jim, to Kevin and Darleen, and to Damon and Leif, my heartfelt thanks for allowing me the opportunity to revel in the fruits of your dedicated and tireless efforts.

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