Capital Audiofest 2023 Show Report / Chronicles Part 4
The 7th Floor Part B
CAF 2023 Show Report By Rick Becker

Suite 750 Audio Group Denmark
Audio Group Denmark has switched gears here to promote some of their more affordable products. The Axxess line will eventually have speakers, electronics, and cables. On the top shelf was the Forte 2, a streaming amplifier from that line. Below that was their Power Switch and on the bottom shelf was a Mainz8 power distributor.

The speaker is the Borresen X2 with a Borresen planar magnetic tweeter that goes down to 2500Hz. The middle driver is a 4.5" bass/midrange driver and the bottom driver is a 4.5" bass driver. Sensitivity is 88dB/W/m and impedance is >4 Ohms. The overall frequency response is 40Hz to 50kHz. I came away with the impression this lower-priced gear had the same house sound as Borresen / Aavik / Ansuz and that the difference in sound quality was a lot less than the price difference. The people at Next Level HiFi near Chicago who import this gear should be very happy to have this lower-price gear to sell — and more is in the pipeline.

Suite 751 Playback Distribution
In the first of four Playback Distribution rooms, Vienna Acoustics Concert Grand speakers ($16k) with the flat speaker cone technology were driven by Advance Paris amplification including the X-P700 preamp ($2k) with dual-mono construction, DAC with multiple inputs, MM/MC phono stage, headphone amp, and unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR inputs and outputs. The X-A220 EVO Class AB monoblocks ($5k/pr) are rated at 220 Watts @ 8 Ohms, 350 Watts @ 4 Ohms, adjustable VU dimmer, and a high bias circuitry.

This is the new French line designed in Paris and built in China that presents some fresh styling with large meters at more modest prices than the sound heard here would suggest. The Vienna Acoustics line has been one of my favorites for decades. The Grands will play a lot louder from ~50Hz to 23kHz than their trim lines suggest.

Esprit Cables from France included 3m Eterna series speaker cables ($3399), 1.2m XLR interconnects ($2800), and 1.5m power cords ($1100). An Esprit Volta 5 power distribution unit was $2k.

At the side of the room was a wall of amplifiers all lit up because... well, they could. I saw Advance Paris gear on silent display, along with several similarly styled integrated amps at the Toronto Audiofest. You can expect to be reading more about this brand in the future.

Suite 752 Playback Distribution
Here, an Advance Paris A 12 integrated was used to power PMC twenty5 floorstanding speakers. Again, Esprit cables were used.

The A 12 integrated amp was a hybrid design with 200 Wpc in Class AB with built-in DAC and Phono stage, unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR inputs, dual subwoofer outputs, and more. There is also a smaller A 10 Classic and a whole page full of integrated amps in multiple series on their website.

Room 753 Playback Distribution
In the third Playback Distribution room PMC floorstanders were driven by the A 10 integrated from Advance Paris which puts out 130 Wpc in Class AB and many of the same features as the A 12. Here again, Esprit Cables linked everything together.

Room 755 Playback Distribution
I'm not sure this room had a demonstration at all but it was listed in the program.

Room 757 Nordost
Nordost had a nice rig with Dynaudio Confidence 20s stand-mounted monitors, a Dan D'Agostino Momentum integrated amp, a dCS Bartok DAC, and lots of their cables and ground system spread out on the floor. Unfortunately, the other visitor was obsessed with locating a particular piece of music on Qobuz and the host was having a hard time finding it. After a few minutes, I snapped a couple of photos and moved on. It happens.

The audio rack was from Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS) which comes in many configurations and can be re-configured if your needs change in the future. That's a Nordost Q Base 10-outlet AC distribution device without power filtration of any kind on the bottom shelf. On top of the D'Agostino amp was a Nordost Network switch and under the dCS DAC was Nordost Sort Kones. JS Audio in Bethesda, MD, was a co-sponsor of this room.

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