AXPONA 2019 Show Report -- Audio Expo North America
AXPONA 2019 Coverage By Rick Becker -- Part 7

The Expo Hall
With about a half hour to go I made my way to the Expo Hall to look for a few spaces I had highlighted on the floor plan. At the Canadian shows the rooms tear down immediately and I expected the same here. As I read in the press, it seems some rooms stayed active a couple of hours past closing.

Charles Kirmuss of ultrasonic LP restoration fame is fast becoming one of the Men in White of High End audio, at least on the analog battlefront. Ever the educator, it was hard for me to get a question in edgewise.

If you come up short for one of the $60k racks in the Nirvana room, these guys make a very nice substitute at a more affordable price.

And if you're too busy or don't have enough LPs to justify your own record cleaning machine, Perfect Vinyl Forever has their system down pat and will take good care of cleaning your most treasured records. Steve Evans is the go-to guy there who has developed their lab and shipping system & materials to make it all happen smoothly. I was very impressed.

Mag Lev Audio showed off their turntable whose platter "floats".

Meet Bob Sattin of Bob's Devices, maker of high value step-up transformers to help you graduate from moving magnet cartridges to the ethereal realm of moving coils. Bob would be another of the White Coats who is very friendly and very knowledgeable.

When your significant other puts you in the Dog House, you might want to consider these speakers for your back yard.

Wynn Audio of Toronto, Canada created this magnificent kiosk for viewing and listening to the Crystal Cable Arabesque Minissimo Diamond speakers ($20k) and CCI integrated amplifier ($20k). On the pedestal was the Kalista Dream Play One CD player ($43k), and all the cables were Crystal Cable Future Dream series which is a limited edition that combines mono-crystal silver and silver/gold alloy. It was amazingly quiet once I put my head under the hood, except for the music, which was excellent. If you're one of the Big Dogs, perhaps you have one of these in your back yard?

Crystal Cable, a very elegant and expensive line was presented in a case fit for a jewelry show. The Future Dream series uses mono-crystal silver and silver/gold alloy conductors to achieve a warm, yet transparent sound. It was shown here by Wynn Audio.

Jeff Tien of Tien Audio in Taiwan manufactures this very interesting turntable with a small footprint and a "tri-torque stabilizer". The L, M, and H settings on the small dial are low, medium and high torque for the three-motor drive. He claims that "by decreasing the torque of the turntable motor, the cartridge tractability will be improved." I'll let someone who knows more than I handle that claim. The larger dial sets the speed (33, 45, 78rpm) as indicated by a light.

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