AXPONA 2019 Show Report -- Audio Expo North America
AXPONA 2019 Coverage By Rick Becker -- Part 6

Madisound had one of the most unusual speakers at the show, the LX Mini which they sell in kit form for $415, plus plans for an additional $105. The kit, designed by Sigfried Linkwitz Labs, includes a pair of Seas 6" aluminum cone woofers, a pair of Seas 4" curve cone full range drivers, a preloaded miniDSP processor and some Acousta-Stuff internal damping material. Plastic pipe comes from Home Depot, et. al., and it was shown here with a faux carbon fiber vinyl wrap. Very cool looking and good sounding as well. They offer a kit for the sub, if you're so inclined. I'm told the kit has been on the market for a couple of years now, so it is time-tested. It is interesting to scan through their website and learn what the cost of various drivers amounts to, though many speaker companies spec variations of the standard drivers. (Room 378)

Immediately next door in room 380 were these two SB Acoustics speakers. The orange one I heard playing was available from Madisound in kit form for $400 and it sounded especially good, as small 2-way monitors often do. SB drivers are all available through Madisound. They are designed in Denmark and produced in Indonesia. The second speaker shown here is actually much larger than the little orange guy and is seen in part just to the right of the orange speaker.

Salk Sound showed their Song 3 BeAT floorstander in a gorgeous wood veneer that looked somewhat like spalted maple, driven by a rack full of Schiit Audio electronics and a Sol turntable in prototype form on the top shelf estimated at $700. The tonearm looked unique, to say the least with its unipivot design, 11" carbon fiber arm and on-the-fly VTA adjustment. Eric Clapton and BB King singing "3 O'clock Blues" sounded great, but were sourced from the digital front end. The BeAT version of the Song 3 with a Beryllium tweeter and upgraded midrange driver starts a little higher than the standard Song 3, at $4500, but expect to pay a bit more for a custom veneer such as this one, maybe $5k.

These guys offer an amazing variety of veneers and finishes, and they are truly masters of their acoustic and woodworking crafts. Salk also made the Streamplayer Gen III streamer ($1695) that was used here along with a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC ($2399), Schiit Freya preamp ($699), the Schiit Mani phono stage I recently reviewed ($129) and Schiit Aegir power amp ($799). With a digital source, this rig sounded much better than the roughly $10k price tag (without the vinyl playback). Scary, indeed. (Room 384)

The wall of Esoteric gear looked impressive and what immediately caught my eye was the downward firing blue lights on components that didn't have a screen for data. You can see what I mean on the lower shelves where power supplies and amps do not have blue bulbs staring you in the eye — a very welcome touch. The big news here was the new Grandioso P1X transport ($50k) with a completely new VRDS SACD transport for this new flagship transport.

Years ago I saw exposed versions of their transports and they were built like precision medical instruments — far superior to anything else in the industry at the time. The new flagship D1X monoblock DAC ($50k/pr) follows a trend in Europe to completely separate the left and right channels of a DAC, just as you would with monoblock amps at the other end of the chain. The DAC uses their proprietary design featuring 64-bit processing, claiming more than 250 billion times more resolution than their 36-bit D1 DAC. (Where's my fact-checker when I need it? ...Cortana?) Other components were not quite so expensive, but still upper tier. N-03T Network Audio Transport ($11k), Master Clock ($26K) Line stage ($38k) and stereo power amp ($27k), for example.

The speakers were the Avantgarde Uno XD ($32k) from the lower end of the Avantgarde line, but fully appropriate for the size of the room and revealing of the extraordinary resolution of their new DAC and transport. I heard segments of classical guitar and acoustic blues which justified calling this one of the Best Rooms at the show. We'll come across more Esoteric gear in Part 7 in the coverage of the big rooms at the Renaissance. (Room 388)

MoFi Distribution had a modest but very effective rig in room 390 featuring a Dr. Feikert Analogue Volare turntable equipped with an Origin Live Silver Mk 3A tonearm at a package price of $3499 which is just what you need if you play 78rpm records as well as 33 & 45. It was equipped with a Koetsu Black Goldline cartridge (normally $2495, but $1995 with a turntable purchase. The separate phono stage was a Primare R35 ($1995, estimate) from Sweden that was so new it had to be smuggled into the country in a suitcase for the show at the last minute. It handles MC and MM with adjustable gain and balanced outputs.

It was on the lower shelf in black, but will also come in titanium like the rest of the Primare line. A Primare I 25 Prisma integrated amp ($3995) with 100 Wpc and a built-in DAC and a variety of wireless connection capabilities formed the heart of the system. It features an upgraded version of their special UFPD class D topology. The speakers were Falcon Acoustics LS3/5A stand mounted BBC monitors ($3250 as shown in rosewood, $2995 standard). With Cardas Clear Sky speaker cable and interconnects, and 3 Isotek Premier power cables (only $149ea) the rig topped out at $20k. Very nice.

Playback Designs from California specializes in digital playback and were introducing their new MPS-8 integrated SACD player and D-DAC ($25k) with a streamer option ($2400). The IPS-3 integrated amplifier used here ($14k) appears to be discontinued, but it was driving the Verity Audio Parsifal Anniversary speakers ($25k) very well. Verity has made a very strong showing with several rooms at this show all sounding very good. Note, they feature rearward facing woofers. Kubala-Sosna Fascination speaker and power cables were combined with the higher series Emotion interconnects. The Lateral Audio Stands from Great Britain looked attractive and well-built for those who don't care for the metal look. The four-tier stand was $4100.

Room 304 featured Roksan electronics which I typically cover in my Canadian show reports, but unfortunately, I missed this room at AXPONA. It is good kit, and reasonably priced.

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