The 2025 Florida International Audio Expo

[MKR]

There is a lot of audiophoolery at the Tampa show no doubt, as with any HEA show, but also a decent amount of great performing somewhat sanely priced gear. I have been to many shows over the years and the Florida show is my favorite. And should be even better this year in the new venue. If you are in area and have the time, I think would be a positive experience (again, you will certainly see some silliness, but not all )

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Washington is basically Canada. They even have their own Vancouver. If Amir can make it, you can too.

For realsies, I think Amir just wants to get away to someplace warm. It's about a 40 degree F difference from where he lives.

That's where I live. The Chamber of Commerce likes to call it "Vancouver USA." We're a suburb across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, part of

"Greater Portlandia."

 

[atfaber]

Check out Volti Audio horn speakers at 257.
Not affiliated.

 

[kemmler3D]

I think audio shows are at least great for demonstrating to yourself how much the room matters. IME (CES and AXPONA once each) most systems have similarly crappy sound, because 95/100 setups are in the same acoustically poor hotel room, same distance, little to no treatment.

You really notice it more than at home because your ear will not have adapted to the hotel room acoustics.

Likewise I think it's good to hear the difference between narrow and wide dispersion. At AXPONA the only speaker that impressed me was a magnepan... Later I realized it was probably because, not despite the beaminess that it sounded better in the hotel.

And they are a good chance to hear a lot of headphones in one day, not something you can usually do.

 

[kmurp]

I enjoyed the show ( my first ever). Wanted to hear the ATC, Harbeth, Spendor MBL and Joseph Audio. Was disappointed in ATC, Joseph and Spendor room. ATC Rep asked my wife , after he played “Gold Dust Woman”, if she heard anything new from the song through the big ATC actives. She replied: “No”. I agree.
We really liked these Norwegian speakers from O Audio, the Icon 12. We also liked the speakers from this danish company Next Level. They had three rooms at different price points. I actually like the Audio Note room, while wife ( surprisingly ) liked the Goldenear room. The little $500 Chesky speakers were cool.

 

[MattHooper]

I’d love to be able to attend the show.

But I do enjoy audio show walk-throughs to at least ogle at the equipment.

I can practically hear that lovely Joseph Audio sound right through YouTube on this one ;-)

 

[spiritualgroundbeef]

i somehow ended up there for a day of audiophfoollery (in FL for short visit) . saw a few exciting things but also felt like i was the second youngest person (at 39) there besides the guy from Chesky audio.

highlights were (all are speaker opinions unless otherwise noted)

- geshelli labs headphone amps which sounded better to my ears than $7k manley 300B based ones in other room

- axxess L1 speakers on 4th floor while being tiny bit bass shy this must've been the biggest depth of soundstage i've ever heard from bookshelf speaker or any other speaker at this show. seriously impressive stuff. i asked myself few times if what i heard is really what i heard after i left that room.

- scott walker audio room with Estelon speakers on ground floor was truly high end hearing Yello there tickled my inner audio phfool at all the right places

-kimbel cable room worth a mention was very very even sounding

- supreme acoustics room on first floor with YG + western electric sounded quite exciting

- deep dive audio room had the most mind melting music selection

- ATC room was consistent with any ATC i've ever heard it just "translates" well but bit flat with fantastic midranage yet felt somewhat outdated after running around rest of the show

- stenheim sounded pretty average in two rooms i've heard

- gershman acoustics on first floor, gotta give props to most consistently balanced sound presentation from speaker as i've heard them at three different shows in last 2 years

- chesky audio gotta give props for size/ price performance ratio but i believe better stuff from this designer yet to come.

- Aretai speakers was up there with better small sized speakers

- goldenear t66 sounded just as expected, quality mid-fi hifi for size/price you cant go wrong with those

- a ? audio from norway worth a mention was a very nice balanced sound.


most average expesive stuff award goes to ONEIROS audio a true room for audio phfools.



over and out

 

[beefkabob]

Welcome!

- axxess L1 speakers on 4th floor while being tiny bit bass shy this must've been the biggest depth of soundstage i've ever heard from bookshelf speaker or any other speaker at this show. seriously impressive stuff. i asked myself few times if what i heard is really what i heard after i left that room.

I wonder what processing they have on their music. I know that Dirac massively improves the sound stage for me. Having five speakers and 5.1 audio makes another leap in performance. Maybe bigger, maybe smaller, depending on the piece and the processing.

- ATC room was consistent with any ATC i've ever heard it just "translates" well but bit flat with fantastic midranage yet felt somewhat outdated after running around rest of the show

What is outdated? The looks? The sound? How is sound outdated?

I wonder how much the style of music affects things. One of the best show off the stereo songs I know is all drums. It's also pretty mediocerly recorded.

 

[spiritualgroundbeef]

Welcome!

I wonder what processing they have on their music. I know that Dirac massively improves the sound stage for me. Having five speakers and 5.1 audio makes another leap in performance. Maybe bigger, maybe smaller, depending on the piece and the processing.

What is outdated? The looks? The sound? How is sound outdated?

I wonder how much the style of music affects things. One of the best show off the stereo songs I know is all drums. It's also pretty mediocerly recorded.

as far as ATC, sound felt outdated. i've heard ATC sound sound the same for last ten years. i am a massive fan of ATC SCM 40 speakers and planning to get a pair eventually. but this was first time when i heard ATCs and they felt aurally outdated compared to other offereings/my sound experiences over last few years nothing critial to note except maybe that top end is tad tiny/dry. ive heard different setups of atc 25s 45s & 40s one pair of 100s and now 50s and they always been remarkably consistent but this was first time i've just had a gut feeling that this sound signature might be done and is going away. its a personal opinion and thats all there is to it.


cant comment on processing as i didnt ask about it in Axxess room but setup looked fairly simple but here is a picture of the room im talking about . they also had quite a variety of music playing through it and i stayed a good 20-25 minutes in there to verify my own feelings about it as it was THAT good

 

[beefkabob]

as far as ATC, sound felt outdated. i've heard ATC sound sound the same for last ten years. i am a massive fan of ATC SCM 40 speakers and planning to get a pair eventually. but this was first time when i heard ATCs and they felt aurally outdated compared to other offereings/my sound experiences over last few years nothing critial to note except maybe that top end is tad tiny/dry. ive heard different setups of atc 25s 45s & 40s one pair of 100s and now 50s and they always been remarkably consistent but this was first time i've just had a gut feeling that this sound signature might be done and is going away. its a personal opinion and thats all there is to it.


cant comment on processing as i didnt ask about it in Axxess room but setup looked fairly simple but here is a picture of the room im talking about . they also had quite a variety of music playing through it and i stayed a good 20-25 minutes in there to verify my own feelings about it as it was THAT good

Have you watched this video yet?

It should hopefully help you translate your experience into agreed upon terminology based more in fact than feeling. The two ATCs I've seen measurements of perform terribly, especially for the money.

 

[truckers_atlas]

i somehow ended up there for a day of audiophfoollery (in FL for short visit) . saw a few exciting things but also felt like i was the second youngest person (at 39) there besides the guy from Chesky audio.

All the people under 40 at this show are in the headphone rooms. There's a comfort people that younger people have with headphones that they don't have with speakers. See all the people who chase soundstage and dynamics in headphones when they'd be better served by a 2.1 setup that costs less than their kilobuck headphones.

Most importantly, it's a lot easier to listen to the music that one knows and likes in the headphone rooms instead of being forced to listen to Audiophile Music. I can imagine some younger people feeling intimidated trying to ask the person for requests. It's comparably trivial to use the provided devices which are hooked up to streaming services, or just connect your phone to the DAC with a USB-C cable.

The new venue this year is better for the show. The elevators actually work, and using the stairs is feasible instead of waiting for an elevator since it's only 4 floors instead of the 13-14 of the old venue. The wifi was up to the task of everyone streaming hi-res Qobuz. I didn't notice tracks cutting out or brutal waits for buffering like in the old venue. There's more space at the venue, which some attendees noted as feeling like there were less people but I had heard that they broke their attendance record on both Friday, and Saturday. Parking wasn't an issue on the weekends since the show was able to use Citi's parking lot next door. The bigger parking lot at the hotel allowed for the car audio section, which I found to be genuinely interesting. There's a lot of real engineering that goes into making these spaces sound great.

The one downgrade about the new venue is that since it's in deep suburban Florida, you're stuck in chain restaurant and fast-food hell. All the good restaurants are a 40-50 minute round-trip drive away in Tampa proper. Every vendor noted the food situation as the one thing they didn't like about the new venue. Getting some food trucks in would be nice if the hotel would allow for it for some variety in food.

More write-ups to come of what I saw and heard as I process the pictures I took. In the meantime, here's a dog who's as weary as I am of Synergistic Research.

 

[kmurp]

as far as ATC, sound felt outdated. i've heard ATC sound sound the same for last ten years. i am a massive fan of ATC SCM 40 speakers and planning to get a pair eventually. but this was first time when i heard ATCs and they felt aurally outdated compared to other offereings/my sound experiences over last few years nothing critial to note except maybe that top end is tad tiny/dry. ive heard different setups of atc 25s 45s & 40s one pair of 100s and now 50s and they always been remarkably consistent but this was first time i've just had a gut feeling that this sound signature might be done and is going away. its a personal opinion and thats all there is to it.


cant comment on processing as i didnt ask about it in Axxess room but setup looked fairly simple but here is a picture of the room im talking about . they also had quite a variety of music playing through it and i stayed a good 20-25 minutes in there to verify my own feelings about it as it was THAT good

Axxess had three rooms all next to each other at three price points. Their amps can get super expensive. Do you recall which of their rooms you preferred? My wife like the middle range room the best.

 

[MattHooper]

The one downgrade about the new venue is that since it's in deep suburban Florida, you're stuck in chain restaurant and fast-food hell.

Give me a Fuddruckers and I’m happy!

(Signed: a Canuck who used to visit the USA).

 

[beefkabob]

Give me a Fuddruckers and I’m happy!

(Signed: a Canuck who used to visit the USA).

Why? The two nearest ones to us closed. The food was forgettable, but they had cheap ice cream at least.

 

[MattHooper]

Why? The two nearest ones to us closed. The food was forgettable, but they had cheap ice cream at least.

Because I absolutely love their burgers (and rings, etc.)

If there’s one thing Americans do right it’s burgers. Even an average burger in the USA is better than the average burger in Canada.

 

[jhaider]

Give me a Fuddruckers and I’m happy!

(Signed: a Canuck who used to visit the USA).

When I was a kid they used to have ostrich burgers that I remember being good. This was before the burger explosion, mind. No idea how they’d hold up to e.g. an Au Cheval. Went once and they were off the menu so never went back.

 

[MattHooper]

When I was a kid they used to have ostrich burgers that I remember being good. This was before the burger explosion, mind. No idea how they’d hold up to e.g. an Au Cheval. Went once and they were off the menu so never went back.

The Au Cheval in Chicago was certainly one of my most memorable burgers!
The other thing America just does right (especially in the south and near the borders) is Mexican food. Really hard to find great Mexican food in Canada.

** just twiddling thumbs waiting for more show reports

 

[amirm]

Give me a Fuddruckers and I’m happy!

Another favorite of ours when we lived in Florida!!!

 

[beefkabob]

Because I absolutely love their burgers (and rings, etc.)

If there’s one thing Americans do right it’s burgers. Even an average burger in the USA is better than the average burger in Canada.

I've had many fast food style burgers from a variety of sources. My favorite is In N Out. Fuddruckers doesn't even make top 100. Five Guys consistently makes me sick. Shake Shack is great. Smashburger is good. Habit is pretty good. White Castle is passable. The best major chain is probably Wendy's. Most diners in America will serve up a burger the same or better than Fuddruckers. I'd put them somewhere between Wendy's and Carl's Junior.

I think the high point for me of Florida was Bucc-Ee's. I didn't even eat the food, since I was feeling sick at the time. Still, interesting cultural phenomenon that.

 

[MattHooper]

My favorite is In N Out. Fuddruckers doesn't even make top 100. Five Guys consistently makes me sick. Shake Shack is great.

In N Out was one of my more disappointing burger experiences, given all the hype from our California friends. I preferred Fuddruckers by far. (there was a reliable quality Fuddruckers in Myrtle Beach).
I like five guys, and our family was excited when Shake shack finally opened up in Toronto. In fact, my boys just brought home shake shack a couple days ago. It’s reliably quite tasty.