AXPONA 2026: Benchmark Audio & ALCONs Speakers

[amirm]

Had great reception from John Siau of Benchmark and DreamScapes A/V:

The ALCONs are pro speakers and look it:

Classic demo track. Sounded superb. Incredible detail and imaging.

Yes. this track was getting fair amount of play at the show. It showed incredibly clean bass and highs.

Paloma Chesky (his daughter?). Incredible vocals and imaging.

Another popular track at the show. Very dynamic and amazing bass.

Super clean.

 

[xanalog]

Nice collection of music, thank you!

 

[Ruediger]

Love the understatement. Others bring in the huge bricks. Benchmark barely populates one rack.

 

[Frank Dernie]

The power amp looks like just on display on the table.
I presume the Alcons were using their own ALC amplified loudspeaker controller?

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

Love the understatement. Others bring in the huge bricks. Benchmark barely populates one rack.

We care only about performance, and the Benchmark AHB2 is a giant killer. They certainly bring out the best from our Alcons, Aretai, Krix, and other speaker lines we've paired them with. The Benchmark amps also run very cool and are extremely reliable. We've integrated them into many of our Best-of-Show winning 2-channel and theater rooms at CAF, FLAX, and AXPONA. We will likely also do something at SWAF (in addition to an ALCONS Experience Room with an 11.8.6 theater and 2-channel setup and a Theory Audio Design media room).

 

[Frank Dernie]

We care only about performance, and the Benchmark AHB2 is a giant killer. They certainly bring out the best from our Alcons, Aretai, Krix, and other speaker lines we've paired them with. The Benchmark amps also run very cool and are extremely reliable. We've integrated them into many of our Best-of-Show winning 2-channel and theater rooms at CAF, FLAX, and AXPONA. We will likely also do something at SWAF (in addition to an ALCONS Experience Room with an 11.8.6 theater and 2-channel setup and a Theory Audio Design media room).

My interest was piqued by the ALCONs speakers and I sought out their web site and read about them.
It wasn't that explicit but the implication was that they could be 2-amp active, with passive crossover between mid and treble, or 3 amp active both using versions of their ALC amplified loudspeaker controller, which I presumed includes the active crossover.
Are you bypassing the amplifying bit of the ALCONs ALC and just using the active crossover with the Benchmark AHB2s?

 

[Grotti]

We care only about performance, and the Benchmark AHB2 is a giant killer. They certainly bring out the best from our Alcons, Aretai, Krix, and other speaker lines we've paired them with. The Benchmark amps also run very cool and are extremely reliable. We've integrated them into many of our Best-of-Show winning 2-channel and theater rooms at CAF, FLAX, and AXPONA. We will likely also do something at SWAF (in addition to an ALCONS Experience Room with an 11.8.6 theater and 2-channel setup and a Theory Audio Design media room).

I would really like to see the bookshelf speakers of Alcons or Aretai on Amir's Klippel.....

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

The power amp looks like just on display on the table.
I presume the Alcons were using their own ALC amplified loudspeaker controller?

Hi Frank, The room was only 13' X 17', and the fan noise from the ALCONS amp would have been intrusive. (The powers that be wouldn't let us set anything up in the hall.) We elected to jail-break the ALCONS ecosystem and manage the MR10's crossover and power requirements via MiniDSP and Benchmark amps. We'd already set-up, measured, and listened to this exact setup in Benchmark's lab. We found it to be ridiculously good. The ALCONS MR10 has the best impulse response and is the most resolving passive speaker we have measured* in Benchmark's lab (15 minutes from my house). We have the Aretai 200f there now and expect similar results. With the Aretais, we were extremely flat from 18.1 Hz - 22 kHz at AXPONA. I'm also excited to take the fully active Sigberg Mantas and 10D subs to Benchmark's lab. *NOTE: I said the best "we" have measured, not that it's the best speaker ever, not that we've measured every speaker, and not that it's price, looks, or color is better than any other speaker. I'm not looking to participate in another "Let's bash the dealer" thread. Our moral compass is fully intact, as everyone that's dealt with us will attest to. I simply wanted to answer your question, provide some background narrative, and detail what's coming next.

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

My interest was piqued by the ALCONs speakers and I sought out their web site and read about them.
It wasn't that explicit but the implication was that they could be 2-amp active, with passive crossover between mid and treble, or 3 amp active both using versions of their ALC amplified loudspeaker controller, which I presumed includes the active crossover.
Are you bypassing the amplifying bit of the ALCONs ALC and just using the active crossover with the Benchmark AHB2s?

Hi Frank, I answered this under your original question, Good Sir.

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

I would really like to see the bookshelf speakers of Alcons or Aretai on Amir's Klippel.....

Hello,

Erin has requested the Aretai 200f for review. We could also arrange the Alcons MR10 or the smaller MR5 for review. The MR5 definitely needs subs; though, and I'd also hoped to have the MR10 bass units in time for AXPONA - perhaps for SWAF.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Hi Frank, The room was only 13' X 17', and the fan noise from the ALCONS amp would have been intrusive. (The powers that be wouldn't let us set anything up in the hall.) We elected to jail-break the ALCONS ecosystem and manage the MR10's crossover and power requirements via MiniDSP and Benchmark amps. We'd already set-up, measured, and listened to this exact setup in Benchmark's lab. We found it to be ridiculously good. The ALCONS MR10 has the best impulse response and is the most resolving passive speaker we have measured* in Benchmark's lab (15 minutes from my house). We have the Aretai 200f there now and expect similar results. With the Aretais, we were extremely flat from 18.1 Hz - 22 kHz at AXPONA. I'm also excited to take the fully active Sigberg Mantas and 10D subs to Benchmark's lab. *NOTE: I said the best "we" have measured, not that it's the best speaker ever, not that we've measured every speaker, and not that it's price, looks, or color is better than any other speaker. I'm not looking to participate in another "Let's bash the dealer" thread. Our moral compass is fully intact, as everyone that's dealt with us will attest to. I simply wanted to answer your question, provide some background narrative, and detail what's coming next.

Fantastic, thanks for the quick response, and I understand the wisdom of emulating the ecosystem with silent electronics.
Excellent and wise plan!

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

Nice collection of music, thank you!

Thanks for noticing. We also played some more obscure music and Kaleidescape concert video, as we like different.

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

Fantastic, thanks for the quick response, and I understand the wisdom of emulating the ecosystem with silent electronics.
Excellent and wise plan!

Thank you, as I agonize over this type of stuff, enjoy cracking convention, and much prefer life outside the box.

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

Had great reception from John Siau of Benchmark and DreamScapes A/V:
View attachment 524953

The ALCONs are pro speakers and look it:
View attachment 524955
View attachment 524956

Classic demo track. Sounded superb. Incredible detail and imaging.

Yes. this track was getting fair amount of play at the show. It showed incredibly clean bass and highs.

Paloma Chesky (his daughter?). Incredible vocals and imaging.

Another popular track at the show. Very dynamic and amazing bass.

Super clean.

Amir, I'm glad you enjoyed the Alcons so much. I wish you had heard the Aretai 200f speakers as well. Another time!

 

[SHB]

OK, when is John Siau releasing the Benchmark AHB3?

I’m sure that 3dB less noise and distortion will transform my listening experience.

 

[John@DreamScapes A/V]

OK, when is John Siau releasing the Benchmark AHB3?

I’m sure that 3dB less noise and distortion will transform my listening experience.

Hello,
There is good stuff coming from Benchmark, including a 16-channel DAC for the theater, Atmos music, and Auro-3D crowd. We used ten AHB2 amps in our award winning KRIX Demo theater at FLAX, and we will feature the global debut of the 16-channel DAC in one of our future demo theaters (likely FLAX 2027, assuming it's ready in time). The plan is to offer the DAC at a price point that when pairing it with the digital-only version of a high-end processor it isn't far off the price of the processor with internal DACs. I'm also hoping we can press MiniDSP to offer a digital-only version of their new Tide16. At $3,500 with the full Dirac live suite, I'm pretty excited to put it through its paces.