AXPONA 2022 Show Report
Second Floor Spectular At Audio Expo North America 2022 Show Report
Show Report By Rick Becker

  Prominently displayed and commanding rapt attention was their new Valor speaker ($86k) with a unique coincident midrange/tweeter. The bass drivers were active with 2750 Watts so your regular amps just drive the midrange on up. Bill Dudleston worked with Bernt Böhmer, of Böhmer Audio, Sweden, who developed algorithms to remove room reflections and improve sound field construction in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions with the use of onboard computers.

No wonder people were paying such close attention. From what I heard in the next room, this Legacy speaker doesn't give up anything to the Focal speaker, earning a Best Rooms designation.

Legacy was an early adapter of using veneers creatively, perhaps inspired by the fine Amish furniture manufacturers in Indiana. Below the i.V2 power amp was the Legacy Wavelet DAC / preamp / processor with a digital 2 / 3 / 4-way crossover and room correction. And below the Wavelet was an OPPO disc player.

In Utopia B the Focal/Naim presentation involved headphone listening and silent displays at the front of the room while the main presentation was further back. It was not unlike what I saw in Montreal in March with the big Naim amplifier, barely discernable below the black diffuser on the wall, driving either the Maestro Utopia Evo speakers ($75k) or the tall black in-wall version against the front wall. The in-walls were not quite as good as the freestanding Maestro, but they reminded me of the popular Martin Logan presentation of a similar speaker on the 6th Floor. As at Montreal, this was another of the Best Rooms at the show.

Walking into the Wynn Audio room in Nirvana C I was stopped in my tracks by the new Kalista Dream Play Twenty-Twenty turntable with tonearm ($54k). Stunning, but at 88 pounds, it is too heavy and too large for my wall-mounted turntable shelf. Still, it is lighter and smaller than many of the flagship turntables available today and I dare say more elegant. Designed in France with parts manufactured in numerous European countries. And unfortunately, on silent display. It features a copper alloy platter, magnetic suspension, and the tonearm has a removable headshell to facilitate the use of multiple cartridges. It scores very high on my lust meter.

Further into the room, lime green Vimberg Mino D loudspeakers ($58k) grabbed my attention and everyone else's, too. This is not your father's Oldsmobile.

On the Critical Mass Olympus racks were the Karan Acoustics PH Reference phono stage ($27k), LINEa preamp ($41k), and POWERa monoblocs ($106/pr.) The faceplates on the component in the upper left with the raised center section are the older style. The newer components have streamlined, flat faceplates for a cleaner look.

On top of the left rack is the Thales Compact II turntable ($15,530) with the Thales Simplicity II tonearm ($9450) fitted with an X-Quisite Fire titanium bodied cartridge ($11,140) that has been heat-treated, giving each cartridge a unique iridescent coloration. On top of the right rack is the Kalista Dream Play X CD/SACD transport (($68,800) looking as enticing as their turntable. Wynn Wong told me there is a new model 'Dream Play XC' coming out, similar to the transport, but with a built-in DAC and digital preamp. To the right of the racks was a Metronome AQWO CD player ($20k) that was used only as a DAC in this system. And the wood box to the left was the Entreq Olympus Hero, their flagship grounding block ($18k) with nine binding posts. (Entreq ground blocks start at $400 with a single binding post.)

The cables used here were all Crystal Cable Art series, including Monet, Van Gogh, and Da Vinci. What, no Warhol? Seriously, this was another of the Best Rooms at the show. Wynn Audio is in Richmond Hill, Ontario, near Toronto, if you're out that way.

In the final room on the 2nd Floor, Utopia D, the Danish speaker manufacturer Dynaudio collaborated with Octave Audio, a German company that specializes in vacuum tube and hybrid design electronics. Mathew Bond Cables tied it all together. At play here was the Dynaudio Confidence flagship speaker, said to be revitalized with new materials, techniques, and technologies. It seems to have retained its handsome, now classic styling. It was immediately recognizable, looking both formal and masculine in its black finish.

Seen above were the reference preamplifier, the Jubilee with a slate center section behind the volume control — again, a very elegant, yet masculine style. The style was matched with the Jubilee SE monoblocks that put out 400 Watts into 4 Ohms from an octet of KT120 tubes. The Dynaudio Confidence speakers did not want for power at all. I expect the red readout on top was for adjusting bias, as a screwdriver is supplied for that purpose.

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