Best Loudspeakers of AXPONA 2023 Show Report

[shadyJ]

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Axpona couldn’t have picked a nicer day to launch in 2023 with an uncharacteristically sunny 80-degree day in April in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Audio Expo North America, shortened to Axpona, broke new records in attendance and is doubtlessly the premier audio show in North America these days. Audioholics was there, of course, and we did a comprehensive tour of the show. In this article, we will identify just a few of the highlights that we saw this year. This is just a sampling, and there were a lot of outstanding audio exhibits at Apona this year, so don’t consider this to be a list of the only neat or interesting hifi demonstrations at the show. A full list of everything that impressed us would be impractically long. In this report, we will focus on loudspeakers, because loudspeakers have the most visually pronounced differences in design, and I think that makes them the star of the show here. Read our report to see some of the cool speakers we heard at Axpona 2023...

READ: Best Loudspeakers of Axpona 2023 Show Report

 

[ryanosaur]

I love it when you can say that it is some of the more down to earth and affordable gear that impresses most at a show like this.
Great write up Shady!

Anything else strike your fancy while you were there?

 

[eddie]

So, I guess you guys have a policy to not mention Emotiva? They had their full speaker and electronic lineup there, but no mention of the speakers in Mr. Larson's article.

 

[MrBoat]

Glad to see that JBL did well. Still my first choice for speakers when I can't demo in person.

 

[shadyJ]

So, I guess you guys have a policy to not mention Emotiva? They had their full speaker and electronic lineup there, but no mention of the speakers in Mr. Larson's article.

I peaked in the Emotiva room, but most of their stuff was on passive display. In the past, they have had very impressive Axpona rooms, but it looks like they scaled it back this year. We have nothing against Emotiva; in fact, I have an Emotiva amp that I use regularly which I am happy with.

 

[shadyJ]

Anything else strike your fancy while you were there?

Some of the higher-end rooms sounded nice. Dynaudio, YG Acoustics, Magico, all pretty nice. The Borrensen room was quite good, but it had better be for $280k. The Dutch&Dutch room was fine, but they had the system a bit too loud for my tastes. I liked the Polk room, they had some R200s playing in there, simple yet good.

 

[gene]

So, I guess you guys have a policy to not mention Emotiva? They had their full speaker and electronic lineup there, but no mention of the speakers in Mr. Larson's article.

It's a big show and James is one person.

 

[JGonzo]

Some of the higher-end rooms sounded nice. Dynaudio, YG Acoustics, Magico, all pretty nice. The Borrensen room was quite good, but it had better be for $280k. The Dutch&Dutch room was fine, but they had the system a bit too loud for my tastes. I liked the Polk room, they had some R200s playing in there, simple yet good.

The Borresen room with the flagship speakers was indeed impressive, but I was more floored by the room up on the 16th floor with their new "entry level" ($11,000) speakers. They were far and away the best speakers I heard in that price range.

Lower down the price ladder, the CSS room with the Typhon speakers (voiced by YouTube's Jay's Iyagi) and driven by Thomas and Stereo's Galion integrated amp was quite excellent.

Finally, I thought the Treehaus Audio room's open wood slab baffle speakers sounded fabulous, especially on their phyically impressive 8wpc 300B SET amp.

 

[Danzilla31]

View attachment 61495​

Axpona couldn’t have picked a nicer day to launch in 2023 with an uncharacteristically sunny 80-degree day in April in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Audio Expo North America, shortened to Axpona, broke new records in attendance and is doubtlessly the premier audio show in North America these days. Audioholics was there, of course, and we did a comprehensive tour of the show. In this article, we will identify just a few of the highlights that we saw this year. This is just a sampling, and there were a lot of outstanding audio exhibits at Apona this year, so don’t consider this to be a list of the only neat or interesting hifi demonstrations at the show. A full list of everything that impressed us would be impractically long. In this report, we will focus on loudspeakers, because loudspeakers have the most visually pronounced differences in design, and I think that makes them the star of the show here. Read our report to see some of the cool speakers we heard at Axpona 2023...

READ: Best Loudspeakers of Axpona 2023 Show Report

My boy @shadyJ hyping up my JBL 698's!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you know why I've been so hyped about these!!!!!! 3 of them in my bedroom baby!!!!

P.S. could you please tell JBL to start shipping out more of the wood finish Lol. That finish is gorgeous but I had to go with the dark wood because it's so hard to find the wood finish in stock!

 

[Eppie]

The Borresen room with the flagship speakers was indeed impressive, but I was more floored by the room up on the 16th floor with their new "entry level" ($11,000) speakers. They were far and away the best speakers I heard in that price range.

Lower down the price ladder, the CSS room with the Typhon speakers (voiced by YouTube's Jay's Iyagi) and driven by Thomas and Stereo's Galion integrated amp was quite excellent.

Finally, I thought the Treehaus Audio room's open wood slab baffle speakers sounded fabulous, especially on their phyically impressive 8wpc 300B SET amp.

I watched Jay's video on the development of the Typhon speakers. There are some sound principles in the design. It ended up costing more than he first envisioned but will have some tough competition at the $5500 price point. I'm curious whether the adjustable tilting mechanism actually helps for different listening positions or is just a gimmick?

 

[shadyJ]

I watched Jay's video on the development of the Typhon speakers. There are some sound principles in the design. It ended up costing more than he first envisioned but will have some tough competition at the $5500 price point. I'm curious whether the adjustable tilting mechanism actually helps for different listening positions or is just a gimmick?

The tilt mechanism isn't a bad idea, but it would be better to just have a wider angle of vertical dispersion. If your design must necessarily have such narrow vertical dispersion, then yes, the tilt design solves that for lower-height listening positions. They could also have just mounted the tweeter below the midrange woofer instead of above.

 

[lovinthehd]

Just looked at the stacking thing on those Typhon speakers, looks like a stack of pucks you can change height with...

Can't imagine what Jay brings to the table, that guy's a kook.

 

[utopianemo]

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did you get to hear those Parts Express Orians? They look good on paper but I haven’t heard anyone’s firsthand accounts as to how well they perform yet.

 

[shadyJ]

did you get to hear those Parts Express Orians? They look good on paper but I haven’t heard anyone’s firsthand accounts as to how well they perform yet.

The room was a bit too busy for me to get a good listen, sorry.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Re the Wavelet, DIRAC also does time domain correction and the price of admission is considerably lower.

 

[utopianemo]

The room was a bit too busy for me to get a good listen, sorry.

Haha no worries! As was mentioned elsewhere, you’re just one dude! I guess I’ll have to try them without hearing them.

I’m trying to find a kit with huge dynamics that’s also not a horn-loaded affair. I’ve also been hesitant to buy Parts Express kits because their overall performance seems to be a step down from other DIY design companies, even other designs that use Dayton parts (pretty happy with my UM18’s tho ).

 

[Mc-ornell]

It's a big show and James is one person.

Yeah, that’s understandable….a lot to cover for one person. Still, it would have been nice to hear about the debut of KLH’s Model Seven.

 

[Cos]

I will say a major disappointment for me at the show was the GoldenEar T66. Claimed better build quality and subwoofer amps, but it did not seem to help. I had the chance to demo, the room conditions were not ideal, but still was not very impressed.

I agree with your other comments, I now understand the hype around the Perlisten towers, they did sound amazing, even in the even in a poorly treated hotel room. Nothing gave me the itch to upgrade, but they came close.

Paradigm's presence was week with only their Founder 40b in the demo room. I was impressed with their XR series subs. There was definitely no placebo effect when they played with and w/o arc room correction.

There was a lot to like about the show, except my fear of getting covid lol

 

[gene]

Here is James Larson's 2024 AXPONA Show report that highlights some of the best and unusual loudspeakers he saw at the show:

The Best & Most Unusual Loudspeakers of AXPONA 2024

Axpona 2024 was an avalanche of high-end loudspeakers and we saw some of the best systems from the best manufacturers. Here's a few of the loudspeaker highlights for us in our coverage of Axpona 2024.

www.audioholics.com

 

[gene]

and here is our 2024 Axpona Youtube discussion video: