The AXPONA 2023 Chronicles: Part 3
Fascinating audio gear on the 14th floor.
Audio Expo North America 2023 Show Report By Rick Becker

Krell Industries
It was a pleasure to meet Rondi D'Agostino of Krell Industries for the second time — the first being at the TAVES show in Toronto in 2016 when she told me about the new models they would be coming out within the next few years. Now, seven years later, they are still coming out with impressive designs. The KSA-i400 stereo power amplifier ($36k) was seen here above a matching preamp.

The iBias circuitry of this amp allows it to run in Class A up to its 400 Wpc rating without generating the high amount of heat typical of traditional Class A designs. It doubles its output down to 4 Ohms and again to 2 Ohms. It will also drive 1 Ohm speakers (if you can find one) and it delivers a peak current of up to 62 Amperes. Weighing 145 pounds, it will easily control the bass of the most power-hungry speakers and it had no problem with the Magico A5 in this room. AntiCables were used throughout the system here.

The music here during my brief visit was a Spanish singer in a holographic soundscape with lots of air and high resolution.

Audio Note UK
Reviewing Audio Note rooms is always difficult. Their many models of different components all look pretty much the same and their speakers are always boxes placed in the corners of the room. To make matters worse, they all sound pretty much the same, which is to say that have a definite house sound. With shows being weeks or months apart makes no difference. You can never remember the sound of a room long enough to say this one is better than the last when they all sound pretty much the same with Audio Note.

The good news is there are lots of people who love this house sound and buy into the brand, crawling their way upward through the various price points until they finally say "That's enough!" and become eternal music lovers rather than audiophiles seeking of state-of-the-art, or at least as close to State of the Art as they can afford.

Everybody should stop into the Audio Note UK room at a show because it gives them a benchmark against which they can praise or deride all the other rooms. With Audio Note you can simply listen to music and be happy for the rest of your life. It's that good, but it's also no guarantee that you won't become an Audio Note UK cult member.

For those Audio Note UK fanatics who must know, the rig here included the TT Two turntable ($4,287) with IQ 3 MM cartridge ($1,248) on the Arm Three/II tonearm ($2,465). On the digital side, there was the CDT One/II transport ($4,978) feeding the DAC 2.1x Signature ($6,662). Amplification was the Meishu Phono Tonmeister 300B Integrated amp at $15,740. And the speakers were the AN-E/SPe HE at $12,450. The wood rack was from Box Furniture and the four-shelf version is $2,210.

A tip of the hat to the folks at Audio Archon in Libertyville, IL. Good show, gentlemen!

Analog Matters And Plinius Audio
I owned a Plinius SA-100 early on in my audio adventure. I sold it when I discovered tube gear. Plinius evolved after that and then withdrew from the US market. They are back again with all-new models that carry over many of their design elements. Steve Davis at Analog Matters is spearheading their return. (Yes, he is that Steve Davis, who founded AXPONA back in 2009.) And I was told by Ralph Abramo, who is now the Plinius Distributor, they still offer repairs and modifications on the vintage SA-100.

On the rack here, from the top, was an Acoustic Signature Typhoon turntable ($18k) with their TA 5000 tonearm ($7895) fitted with a Grado Aeon 3 cartridge ($6k). Below that was the Plinius Koru phono stage ($4620) followed by the Plinius RM 10 preamp at $19,250.

The next item down was an Esoteric Audio K-01XD CD player/DAC at $24k. Below that, on the carpet, was one of two Puritan Audio [PSM 156 ($2300) and PSM 136 ($1800)] power conditioners. The rack was a Solid Tech Rack of Silence at $5609 with shelves. Their amp stands were $2429 with shelves. Cabling was by IKIGAI with interconnects at $3500, speaker cables at $8800 for 2.5m, and power cords at $3300 for 1.5m.

The loudspeakers were Alta Audio Adam speakers in Beech at $18k which were driven by Plinius RA 150 Class A monoblocks at $15k each. They were streaming music I was not familiar with, so it was hard to form an opinion here, but in the past year or so I've come to appreciate the quality of Alta speakers. Keep an eye out for reviews of the Plinius gear.

Pass Labs
The last time Pass Labs had a space here at AXPONA, they were in one of the large Schaumburg rooms on the first floor with gear on silent display only.

They did a little better this year with an active display with an OPPO CD player feeding an INT-60 integrated amplifier ($9450). That's a Monster Power HTPS 7000 power conditioner between the two in the photo above.

With 60 Watts per channel, probably a fair amount more in reality, was plenty for driving the GoldenEar speakers here. While the GoldenEar is not an especially difficult speaker to drive, I knelt to feel the temperature of the INT-60. While warm, I could hold my hand on it indefinitely. It was nowhere near the reputation I've harbored about cooking eggs on Pass amps — not that I'm saying they don't need those heat sinks on the side, but unless you're cranking your tunes loud through a difficult speaker load, you won't cook your cat.

The speakers were likely the Triton Reference model with active woofers driven by a built-in 1500-Watt amp. The rest of the speaker has an efficiency of 93dB with a recommended minimum power of 20 Watts into the 4 Ohm load. So the Pass amp was not working hard at all.

On a side table was a Pass INT-25 integrated amp ($7600) for people with efficient speakers or second systems in bedrooms or home offices.

Kanto Audio
Kanto is into small speakers plus an obligatory subwoofer if your application requires one.

Coming out in the fall will be the little ORA ($349, including stands). I took a listen and found it suitable for computer use on a desktop, but others in their lineup will likely do a better job for audiophile ears.

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