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Axpona 2026: April 10th through 12th
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Once upon a time we had excellent photography of High End exhibitions by e.g. @VintageFlanker and @amirm, at some point including listening notes ... The Times Are A Changing...
Had I taken my Canon R5 Mark II with me, I could have posted better photos than those I have posted in this thread. I had not planned on taking any photographs. While at the show, it occurred to me that it might be nice to offer a glimpse of a thing or two at this year's Axpona, even though I had just my mobile device to capture images.
MattHooper
Grand Contributor
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Did anybody who attended listen to the Orchestall speakers?
It’s a design I’ve always been fascinated with (especially having done a little bit of experimenting augmenting the number of speakers for stereo). Plus, I happen to have a bit of a fondness for the SEAS drivers.
Apparently, they can be particularly impressive on orchestral music. This is a shot from the current AXPONA of show;
It’s a design I’ve always been fascinated with (especially having done a little bit of experimenting augmenting the number of speakers for stereo). Plus, I happen to have a bit of a fondness for the SEAS drivers.
Apparently, they can be particularly impressive on orchestral music. This is a shot from the current AXPONA of show;
In what way, do you think, this will work 'coherent'?
Wow. Would love to see how seating was arranged for this!
tineared
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Agree on the Seas drivers.
My NHTs have 1" and 4" Seas drivers for the tweeter and upper midrange and the highs are magnificent from rock to Bach
MattHooper
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It’s one of those ideas that could be the category “So crazy it might work.”
From my own experiments adding more speakers to two channel stereo signal playback, I found the results very intriguing.
Adding more speakers tended to increase the sense of scale, and density, and heft of the sound. As well slight timbral mismatches seemed to actually augment the sense of timbral variety to the sound, which was especially effective for orchestral music. There seemed to be more variation in the timber of the orchestral instruments, whereas it seemed a bit more homogenized when switching to only two stereo speakers.
So that is one reason a design like this has me intrigued.
I’m sure the designer has gone to whatever length he could to mitigate the liabilities of this design. Maybe one ASR member would immediately zone in on the liabilities when listening, and maybe another (probably someone like myself) would zone in on the added compelling sonic qualities brought by the design. Just a hunch.
Anyway, I’ve seen plenty of comments from listeners who were very surprised at how good the speakers sounded. In fact, I’ve seen them ranked best of show or among best of show by a number of audiophiles.
This even bigger system got good notices at AXPONA 2022. I would love to have heard it:
OP
- Thread Starter
- #50
Definitely thinking about doing it. Hopefully we will have enough production by then to be demand limited.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #51
You will have it again! Didn't have time to do it during the show. Will start posting tonight or tomorrow.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #52
You are doing great! Thanks a bunch.
MattHooper
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Agree on the Seas drivers.
My NHTs have 1" and 4" Seas drivers for the tweeter and upper midrange and the highs are magnificent from rock to Bach
*bro fist
My first encounter with speakers using the SEAS magnesium cone drivers were my Hales Transcendence T5 speakers and later my Hales T1 monitors and large centre channel which I still own, and which use those drivers.
At the time it was just about the smoothies and most grain free and tonally beautiful sound I had heard. I still feel that way.
Later when I encountered Joseph speakers they struck me the same way… a particular level of smoothness and lack of etch or grit or grain. And it turned out they used the newer SEAS magnesium drivers.
And now since I own both, there’s a real family resemblance to the sound.
I’ve always been sceptical at the idea that drivers “ have a sound” and so I wouldn’t go so far as to make such a claim. But I sure seem to perceive a certain Sonic character to speakers using these drivers (including some other speakers, I’ve encountered using the drivers). They also seem to be used in speakers that produce really clean waterfall plots for whatever that’s worth.
Midwest Blade
Senior Member
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Anyone attending Sunday afternoon, how’s the showroom traffic?
If you stopped by room 705 or 502, I would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
Room 705 - Philharmonic Speakers
PecanPi+ Streamer Premium
Starkrisomson 25 Mono Premium
Room 502 - Magnapan Speaker
Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium
Room 705 - Philharmonic Speakers
PecanPi+ Streamer Premium
Starkrisomson 25 Mono Premium
Room 502 - Magnapan Speaker
Starkrimson Mono Ultra Premium
I heard them at AXPONA. They definitely are NOT coherent, resulting in diffused sound field. This is likely why they sound good for orchestra, where you cannot locate individual sound sources.
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I was in that Magnepan room. I liked Quad ESL better than any other planar speakers at the show
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Nice to see some pics. I was out of town this year. Not looking for gear, but would have liked to check out D&D, Radiant, & Sigberg for fun.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #59
Looks like whatever bug I picked up is staying with me. Woke up with headache, and stuffy head. I will post as fast as I can but harder to do.....
PristineSound
Major Contributor
I went to two audio shows in the Northeast last year. Both times, I brought with me something easy to slip on and off my hands, which I used to open doors handles. I applied hand sanitizer every 45 mins or so. I tried to avoid rooms when it's too crowded and come back when there are less people.
I just didn't want to get sick because I have too much family obligations waiting for me at home and I didn't want to get anyone else sick.
I managed to slipped by unscathed both times, knock on wood I stay this way with future shows and conferences.
