The AXPONA 2023 Chronicles: Part 1
Sensational sound on the 16th floor.
Audio Expo North America 2023 Show Report By Rick Becker

Rethm And Phasemation
Imported from India, this is the Maarga model that I saw last year at Capital Audiofest. It is available in three wood finishes to fit your décor. Rethm speakers, featuring wideband drivers, often reinforced with horn loading of some type, tend to have unique styling, working with wood, metal, and cloth. The Maarga here was refined and very listenable, with four 7" bass drivers in isobaric configuration powered by a Hypex Class D amp. The wideband driver is very efficient and requires only a two-Watt amp so 2A3 tube fans, take note.  For those who don't require deep bass or wish to break a lease, these are well worth a listen.

You buy factory direct and their prices include delivery right to your home. The Maarga sells for about $13k. They were driven by Phasemation tube monoblocks which resulted in fine resolution and excellent transparency. At the risk of stereotyping this brand, I'll suggest that with its superb resolution and transparency, it would be an excellent choice for listening to the sitar. It sounded very good with Western music, too.

Bob Carver Company
The Bob Carver Company seems to be on track with its new direct marketing program. They showed with ELAC Andante speakers and ELAC subwoofers.

The rig here was wired with ArgentPur.audio cables and stacked in a nicely designed, but modest rack.

The amps were shown with copper trim which I thought was eye-catching and a very nice design element, but production models will have silver trim.

The Bob Carver Corporation is following in the footsteps of LessLoss in Lithuania by offering a significant discount for pre-orders. The RAM285 will be out in a month while the RPM V12 preamp is scheduled to ship in December.

Avantgarde/Phasemation, dCS Electronics, American Sound, And Transparent Cable
Angi Lisi of American Sound in Toronto was holding court in the Alexander Suite as usual. Featuring a more modest Avantgarde speaker than last year with the huge subwoofers along the side wall, the sound was probably better, if memory serves me.

The speaker was from the new G3 series which offers the option of being fully self-powered, not unlike their Zero models. The current line-up, which still includes the huge Spacehorn and Zero TA models offers a lot of flexibility for different rooms and circumstances.

The G3 series comes with powered bass units and is also offered as fully active speakers. The back side is more complex than a REL subwoofer, but the modular design allows you to use the amplification of your choice for all but the bass frequencies.

Angi was tickled pink to show me the new Esoteric turntable she had purchased for herself, along with a top-of-the-line Phasemation PP 5000 cartridge making for a $100k present.

The design of the turntable went very well with the HRS stand on which it was mounted.

For a phono stage to match the stature of the turntable, they selected the Phasmation system which totally separates left and right channels, as well as separates the power supply for the signal path. This diversification is more prominent in Europe than among North American manufacturers and adds considerably to the cost.

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