Forums https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1713193529 Message started by 1stwattlife on 04/15/24 at 16:05:29

Title: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by 1stwattlife on 04/15/24 at 16:05:29 OK Here I go. My focus here is on speakers. The conversation on amplification can go on and on if we wanted it to, and source conversations can go even deeper than that. I try to not jump to conclusions. I go out of my way to not use terms like 'always' and 'never'. However, when I do find a thing that shows itself as definitive I will stand steadfast on that until proven otherwise, if it is warranted... I am pretty sure my Decware soap box is indestructible. I have been actively/ critically listening to Decware setups for a year and a half. Immediately it is clear that you are experiencing something special. But, I have never heard a $100,000 system ( I have heard a $50k setup fairly recently) , let alone $1M+ system, so saying that we are solidly competing against them would have been more talk than anything. This is no longer an issue. Fortunately I was able to walk around and experience many millions of dollars worth of some of the finest equipment in the world all in one place. Even giving that none of these spaces  are prime for audio, credit where it is due... There were only maybe 10 rooms that could even compete with a Decware system.  Some of these were electrostatics or planar to which we do not even have a direct competitor to... I would still compete with what we have laying around and it would be a tight competition. Maybe we loose... I have no problem with that, credit where it is due... but, this is without trying. I am confident that if we TRIED to best a particular big dog... we would. A lot of you old school Dec-heads already knew this. I knew this in my heart, now I know it for a fact... First watt life. All in. I could go on about specific issues, or how how our approach and practices best the most complicated mathematical theory and manufacturing advancements, but I would just be tooting a horn that we all here have already heard tooted many times before. The one thing that I really enjoyed was meeting the folks from other boutique American Made manufacturers. The one that sticks out at the moment were the folks from Sota turntables. They have about a dozen employees, like us, and are from the Midwest, as are we. They have some very nice tables with good build quality, some have the vacuum feature, and also have wood outer casing that very closely matches our Contemporary amp bases, in case anyone was looking for a sexy match for your Dec-gear. ;) There will be more to add to this for sure, and I would be happy to jabber about my impressions of things more specifically if anyone has any questions. There is just so much that was taken in in such a short amount of time that I am still mentally sifting through it all. I just needed to get this initial posting in as it is fresh. Thanks for taking the time to read my rants. Cheers, happy Monday!

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by 1stwattlife on 04/16/24 at 17:54:46 Post script- With all of the intense and insane setups around the show two of them stick out in my mind at this point. They occupy completely opposite spaces in the field, but both are memorable. The first one was recommended to me by my co-worker, Tim. He and his cousin hit the higher floors before I had and he mentioned to not miss the Perfect8 room... I almost did. I believe the floor standing model they were showing is not even on the website yet... I would love to know the price... It was impressive even considering the room issues. Using a glass enclosure is fairly bold I would say... Secondly, I will say that as far as presentation and a bit of upsetting the apple cart... the Elac room was killing it! I would have to imagine that their setups had to be in my category for affordability... given the competition around them. I did not even get to check it out for very long, but I bet if I were counting, they would have been in the top ten of the rooms. What an interesting scenario at a place like that... just... what an intense experience. From now on I think I will just stick to Decfest. I like it there much better.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by Dave B.S. on 04/16/24 at 18:17:42 Thanks 1stWatt!  I really appreciate you adding your voice to the Decware forums.  I appreciate that you have insider knowledge about Decware, but also that you bring a fresh and open minded spirit to this hobby.  And, as someone who has never been to an audio show, it is helpful hearing about your experience there. Keep up the great posts! Dave

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by ArtMan on 04/16/24 at 19:21:01 Agree with Dave. Your perspective is one we rarely get to hear.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by GroovySauce on 04/16/24 at 20:21:41 Thank you Phil! Please write as much as you want about the experience. I enjoy real peoples reports of shows and gear more than the give us advertising money and we will promote your products model of the magazines.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by 1stwattlife on 04/17/24 at 04:36:04 Post Post Script- SAY NO MORE!!! Thank you for the comments. It's Terrific Tuesday now. Listening night at the shop. We nearly had to cancel for reports that a major storm may roll through... schools sent kids home early in some places. 'Tis the season. It's not just any old Tuesday though. It's post Axpona Tuesday. Time for a badly needed ear massage from all that uneasy listening. I was too kind earlier. I have just been reminded just how much better it can be. I was showering that expo with more benefit of the doubt than you could fit in a medium sized country. The vinyl tonight was glorious. Steve had managed to procure a vinyl copy of an album he liked from streaming. I think the first I had heard of it was streamed in the shop maybe two or three weeks ago. Since then I have played it several times at as well. The apartment is nowhere near as polished as the Dec-cave, but it is listenable while I finish tuning and getting things together. The album is Mr. Machine by Brandt Brauer Frick for those of you who would like to follow along at home. I suggest you do. Streaming this album on the Headwreckers was fantastic. It elicited resounding response when Steve said" I think I'm gonna try to find this on vinyl." Thank goodness he did. It was the perfect salve for my injured ears. It sounds like I am describing the condition of my ears for dramatic effect, but I assure you this is only partly in jest. The show was tough, my ears were not ringing but were just a bit throbby and fuzzy through Monday. I think it was just overstimulation instead of the typical distortion related ringing that I am so sensitive to. Regardless... I could tell instantaneously that it was going to be a good night. The needle drop sounded good. No joke. The very instant the music kicked in I was back in the bubble. It's kind of like you would think the cockpit of a flying saucer may be... the space of maybe a 30 foot diameter sphere is completely owned by the system ( not the amp, the speakers or the room, but all of these things- the whole system). It is fluid, thick or maybe viscous with details that NEVER collide or walk on each other. This sounded like a whole different album. Come to find out that this is not a sampled electronica album with some live tracks layered in. Every noise is live and from an instrument. Who knew this was actually an Avant Garde-esque jazz recording. Weird huh!?! The ability to zero in on particular instruments or tracks and follow them through the entire song is truly uncanny. The fact that at the same time you don't loose the ability to follow other tracks and you can switch at random... this kind of listening usually takes a lot of effort. I have to get through it though or it drives me nuts. Seven Minute Mind from The Bad Plus took at least 30-40-listens before I got through the whole thing and could listen casually. When I started to listen to jazz some years ago Take 5 from the Dave Brubeck quartet took MONTHS AND MONTHS! This information is so fast, present, and organically cohesive that you hear all of it, and process it as qick as if it were just natural sound in the room with you without respect to even if the sounds are acoustic or digital. Truly astounding. The second album was Infected Mushroom. I won't fill in the details here as the are the same as the first album having equally good but differently flavored engineering behind it... as they do. The mushroom guys are ahead of their time in electronic music production IMO. Oh... yeah, then there was a bit of a tape session. But, I am tired and need to get some rest for work tomorrow, and you all probably don't want to hear about that anyways... ...night all!

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by JBzen on 04/17/24 at 13:06:21 Good Morning Phil! Well some of us would like to hear about the tape session. Have a good work day :)

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by 1stwattlife on 04/17/24 at 15:41:11 Keep an eye on the tape forum.. something MAY come up over there ;)

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by LiquidBlue on 04/17/24 at 21:58:19 1stwattlife, I’ve been enjoying your posts here. I hope to be able to make it out for a listening session at the “Dec Cave” someday. Thanks for the recommendation for Mr Machine. I had a late night listen and before it was done, I had found and ordered the record. Interesting recording and different from anything in my collection.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by 1stwattlife on 04/18/24 at 02:40:29 That's the spirit Liquid! You are gonna love that vinyl!

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by Palomino on 05/07/24 at 12:59:21 I have attended Axpona for most of the last 7-8 years.  Missed during covid.  Its always good to attend and then come right home and listen to some of the music I picked up via Shazam at the show. Its hard to do an apples to apples comparison given how limiting most of those rooms are (although sound treatements are being used more there) but  I always feel good about my investment.  Particularly when I total up my system cost and find it to be less than the cost of some of the pre-amps or amps cost. I listened to most of the OBs at the show and liked the Linkwitz most, followed by the one with a F15 on top and the W15 on the bottom (sorry, lost brochure - Macaria?) and the Caladan. Oh, and I heard the Pure Audio Project OBs again, and liked them this time, however I found them to be song dependent.  Some songs they sounded thin while others sounded rich and full. Here is the playlist I assembled from songs I heard.  Pretty eclectic combineation of a lot of different types of music, but some songs that are now in my regular rotation: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/24c095d0-aa4d-49a6-a137-1ced7206da5e Maybe Groovey or someone else can convert to Qobuz or other services.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by S of T on 05/07/24 at 13:59:53 Palomino hello; stone of tone here.....now S of T. You've got me in a Ben Webster mood....Chelsea Bridge (on your Tidal List). Remaining portion of my SDFB, comes today!

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by Palomino on 05/07/24 at 14:44:52 I haven't been around the forum as much.  Glad to see you are back.   That Ben Webster track was actually not from Axpona.  Vinnie Rossi played a track by the same name but a different musician in his room and I couldn't find it on Tidal.  But I did find that Ben Webster gem so I added it to the playlist.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by S of T on 05/07/24 at 15:06:31 Cool. Bens a favorite. Ah yes, Vinnie Rossi, I keep up on his designs. I was wondering where you were. Glad to be back. I enjoy your posts. You help me maintain my education on streaming. I've yet to plunge into. I'm a Redbook stalwart. However, I stream everything else. It will happen eventually (Qubuz I think).

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by Palomino on 05/07/24 at 15:44:16 Vinnie does a good job of matching his gear to speakers.  I can't recall what he had paired this year, but I head the same speakers with other gear in another room and it was night and day. I have to give the edge to Qobuz in SQ.  I just got started with Tidal, have playlists built, etc.   I tried Qobuz later and did A/B tests and Qobuz won, but they just didn't have all the songs I listen to.  That was a couple years ago so maybe they have caught up. They were certainly a lot more prominent at Axpona.

Title: Re: Monday Musings- Axpona 2024 edition Post by Palomino on 05/08/24 at 12:21:09 These are one of the OBs that I liked at Axpona this year.   At first I thought they were just built with stock F15/W15 but they are custom drivers built by Lii. I do think there is something to baffle thickness/material and the granite ones I heard sounded very good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1a4H8XT9hY

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