AXPONA 2019 Show Report -- Audio Expo North America
AXPONA 2019 Coverage By Rick Becker -- Part 5

  Scott Bierfeldt of Verdant Audio is the new importer of Art Audio amps from Great Britain. This was a brand that I greatly admired back in the late 1990s and maybe into the 2000's, but kind of faded away from our shores due to the illness of the previous importer. Art Audio, which has been going for 31 years now, is a smaller company that offers a lot of flexibility. They can take a power amp and turn it into an integrated, for example. They also do monoblocks. The blue chimneys and chrome chassis you see here are kind of their signature look, but I think they can do other finishes.

Shown here are the Quartet monoblocks that put out 45 Watts in "push-pull triode" (?) with a pair of 845 tubes each ($14k, standard; $17,199 in chrome with lums & lights). The other amp is the Carrisa Copper Reference stereo amp (That's a preamp on the shelf below it in the photo.) that puts out 18 Watts of SET power per channel with a pair of 845 tubes. It starts at $8499 but is $9,099 as shown with lums and lights. (Lums and lights are the way to go with these amps — they are soooo classy.)

Verdant Audio showed their Blackhorn monitor ($7499 in black) with a carbon fiber cabinet and magnesium composite cone drivers with a ceramic-magnesium tweeter. A Silver Reference upgrade package is another $2000. On the right was their Nightshade 1 stand-mounted monitor with a phenolic resin and fiberglass cabinet. Their drivers are ribbed paper cone and silk dome on the tweeter. It's priced at $4000 and a Silver Reference upgrade package is offered here, too, for another $2000. (Room 466)

Moving on to the Bluebird Music room (470) my eyes quickly picked up on the Chord Hugo TT2 DAC ($5800) sitting atop a matching upscaler ($5000), the SME Synergy turntable with external power supply and Spendor speakers, all from Great Britain.

Room 478 was apparently the Underwood Hifi room with several of their house brands: Core Power Technologies (affordable power conditioning), Emerald Physics (speakers and amps) and LSA (speakers), a line which they've recently revamped. They showed the two prototype speakers seen here which are now shipping as an internet direct product only. The LSA-10 monitor is available as a Signature version in satin finish ($2495) and Statement version in gloss rosewood ($3495). The LSA-20 floorstander is available as Signature version in satin finish ($3995) and Statement version in gloss rosewood ($5995). Both models incorporate rear-facing passive radiators to give enhanced in-room performance.

I also admired the Emerald Physics 200.2 SE integrated amp that puts out 200 Wpc into 8 Ohms and doubles down into 4 Ohms at $3495. The press sheet called for the new Emerald Physics EP100.2SE 100 Wpc hybrid amp ($2195), but perhaps that was swapped out for the 200.2SE at the time I visited the room. As a retail store, Underwood Hifi carries a lot of brands besides those they own.

Fidelis Distribution put on a very nice display with a low-power Unison Research Little Italy tube integrated amp ($2995) with EL34 tubes and a remote control driving the 94dB/W/m efficient Unison Research Max 1 speakers ($7995). The top horn in the speaker conceals a 1" titanium compression driver and the lower driver is a 12" bass driver. Tube gear rules! I've seen this often at Montreal.

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