Axpona 22’ pictures

[Lagonda]

MBL is the BEST! Hahahaha

And the loudest mouth has spoken !

 

[KeithR]

Hi Ron,
You are a very influential guy! I was fortunate to attend the show for a bit, and yes, the new Trios G3 seem to have a very solid, industrial looking, metallic structure. Thanks for harping on this, as this has been fixed by Avantgarde!

Sound-wise, it was BY FAR the most realistic sound of the show - for guys who find realism in macro and micro dynamics and tone. The usually sterile dCS vivaldi did not have any negative impacts on the experience (and it was a vivaldi new acme upgrade).

Regular audiophiles, who imagine their music to sound real or good with conventional box speakers, and are acclimated to that box sound, will probably hate it.

One important note in judging perceptions: The shape of the room was non-ideal. And the room was packed when I stopped by. However, the only really good seats were on the sofa. Those not sitting on the sofa in the sweet spot did not get to experience the speaker to its full potential.

I heard it sounded more coherent from the entry way.

 

[Willgolf]

Just curious, how much are the Avantegarde Trios?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Just curious, how much are the Avantegarde Trios?

i did not get an exact price, but a ballpark....from the distributor Angie. it 'depends'......

around $300k for the whole package including the 2 level subs (Spacehorn) including sub amps w/dsp, and the OEM iTron main amplifier.

but around $90k for the passive speakers adding your own amps, and around $75k for the 2 level powered subs (Spacehorn) w/dsp. did not get the price for the 3 level powered subs w/dsp. so the full blown iTron Current Drive must be around $135k doing the math.

the whole system with 3 level subs does fit in my room. not sure i have enough length (my room is 29' long) to take full advantage of this system.....did not get that far in my questions.

i suppose if this is a plug and play including amps package it's not so crazy at $300k. not sure i got it 100% straight.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Thanks for reporting everyone , it looks to have been a nice show .

 

[Phantom-Audio]

Aries Cerat Rooms looks unique!

 

[Gregm]

Belated thanks for the great pics, Mike.
What were your impressions of the Ideon front end?
I'm interested in the big Ideon DAC as it looks like an excellent upgrade target for me (can't tackle Select prices, let alone Wadax!).
Everyone seems to praise the sound, including TAS ('best sound of the show') -- but no-one seems really interested in these products, including TAS (nothing on their facebook page) .
So I wonder f they are not trendy enough (yet?) or something else is wrong!

 

[Phantom-Audio]

Belated thanks for the great pics, Mike.
What were your impressions of the Ideon front end?
I'm interested in the big Ideon DAC as it looks like an excellent upgrade target for me (can't tackle Select prices, let alone Wadax!).
Everyone seems to praise the sound, including TAS ('best sound of the show') -- but no-one seems really interested in these products, including TAS (nothing on their facebook page) .
So I wonder f they are not trendy enough (yet?) or something else is wrong!

When a DAC is starting to cost as much as houses, super cars and private villas it may put people off unless your name is Mike

 

[spiritofmusic]

So, Marty felt the Horizon sounded sub par at Axpona, two others felt it beat the R2R in the room and has the beating of vinyl at Steve's. Just, wow!

 

[Gregm]

When a DAC is starting to cost as much as houses, super cars and private villas it may put people off unless your name is Mike

Gotcha !
OTOH, the ideon products don't seem to be in supercar territory -- my little dac cost all of 2.5k

 

[dminches]

So, Marty felt the Horizon sounded sub par at Axpona, two others felt it beat the R2R in the room and has the beating of vinyl at Steve's. Just, wow!

Not to speak for Marty but unless one spends a couple hours in a room and hears all the sources I don't know how one can isolate how each source sounds, especially if the speakers are new to them.

I was in that room for a while before the day started and they played my mix reel and it sounded great. The room is huge and that caused some expected issues with the overall sound but there was nothing wrong with Greg's TOTL reel to reel.

I did also hear a bit of the Horizon was it wasn't music I was familiar with so it was hard to really assess the sound. I also own one so I wasn't really thinking about how it sounded.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Belated thanks for the great pics, Mike.
What were your impressions of the Ideon front end?
I'm interested in the big Ideon DAC as it looks like an excellent upgrade target for me (can't tackle Select prices, let alone Wadax!).
Everyone seems to praise the sound, including TAS ('best sound of the show') -- but no-one seems really interested in these products, including TAS (nothing on their facebook page) .
So I wonder f they are not trendy enough (yet?) or something else is wrong!

i was in the Ideon (and Vivid and JMF) room as much as any other room; maybe 6-7 times over 3 days trying to get a feel for it. i liked the room, mostly the music was played at a relatively soft level (could have been louder for my preference), and the nice person running the room was from JMF, so much of the music was recorded on JMF electronics and so was a focus. not many tracks i could reference in my mind.

there was nothing not to like. i enjoy the Vivid's, and was impressed with the (new to me) JMF amp, preamp and i think it was a power conditioner. the acoustics of the room were pretty good; no windows or huge warehouse space to intrude. i sat in all the chairs. i guess i came away with the impression of speed and transparency from Ideon, always sure footed with nice natural tone and nuance. but not sure i have any conclusion as to where it fits into my digital hierarchy. as far as at Axpona, we group it with the dCs Vivaldi Apex in the AG big horn room, maybe the Aries Cerat, and the MSB Reference in the Estelon room (probably missed some others i should have mentioned). i'd say it's at the head of that group based on listening, but at a show it's so hard to get very close to the full measure. which is why i went back so many times trying to sort it out. it's very good.

do i hear the Wadax level of believability and non-digital presentation? no. and i tried to understand it as best i could. it was a focus.

at around $77k retail for the stack (dac+server+clock) it's probably priced where it should be. maybe an MSB Select II/Extreme direct competitor. i could make a case in my mind for either.

every dac i'm mentioning is top flight stuff and would be a wonderful way to go. without a head to head it's hard to pick a winner. but that is what we do.

 

[sbnx]

They could not play the vivids loud as the bass would have completely overpowered that room.

 

[Ron Resnick]

From Tom Martin, of the absolute sound, published yesterday about the show:

"Having just spent three days at AXPONA, the industry trade show, I have more than a few observations. But one that is particularly top of mind is triggered by noting that so much of the sound at AXPONA was, in certain respects, unimpressive."

 

[howiebrou]

i was in the Ideon (and Vivid and JMF) room as much as any other room; maybe 6-7 times over 3 days trying to get a feel for it. i liked the room, mostly the music was played at a relatively soft level (could have been louder for my preference), and the nice person running the room was from JMF, so much of the music was recorded on JMF electronics and so was a focus. not many tracks i could reference in my mind.

there was nothing not to like. i enjoy the Vivid's, and was impressed with the (new to me) JMF amp, preamp and i think it was a power conditioner. the acoustics of the room were pretty good; no windows or huge warehouse space to intrude. i sat in all the chairs. i guess i came away with the impression of speed and transparency from Ideon, always sure footed with nice natural tone and nuance. but not sure i have any conclusion as to where it fits into my digital hierarchy. as far as at Axpona, we group it with the dCs Vivaldi Apex in the AG big horn room, maybe the Aries Cerat, and the MSB Reference in the Estelon room (probably missed some others i should have mentioned). i'd say it's at the head of that group based on listening, but at a show it's so hard to get very close to the full measure. which is why i went back so many times trying to sort it out. it's very good.

do i hear the Wadax level of believability and non-digital presentation? no. and i tried to understand it as best i could. it was a focus.

at around $77k retail for the stack (dac+server+clock) it's probably priced where it should be. maybe an MSB Select II/Extreme direct competitor. i could make a case in my mind for either.

every dac i'm mentioning is top flight stuff and would be a wonderful way to go. without a head to head it's hard to pick a winner. but that is what we do.

JMF is a very much underappreciated brand globally I think.

 

[marty]

But I couldn't help wondering if the Avantgarde room had a Lamipizator, Aries cerat, or a TotalDAC in that system, and how much more emotion the system would convey .. Maybe all the Avantgarde naysayers in this thread would love it too.

I don't think different ancillary gear is going to dramatically change anyone's opinion. It was the room/placement and the inability to present coherent sound that squashed any hope of hearing the speaker's potential (and I was sitting on the sofa).

 

[marty]

I heard it sounded more coherent from the entry way.

That's hardly a testimonial as the entry way was behind a wall where the speakers were no longer visible!

 

[dminches]

From Tom Martin, of the absolute sound, published yesterday about the show:

"Having just spent three days at AXPONA, the industry trade show, I have more than a few observations. But one that is particularly top of mind is triggered by noting that so much of the sound at AXPONA was, in certain respects, unimpressive."

I didn’t find the “average” sound to be that much different from prior years. There were some really nice sounding rooms and some that weren’t to my liking. The larger rooms are difficult due to the physical layout and lack of ability to do much room conditioning.

My biggest complaint is that many rooms had poor digital sources which make producing good sound challenging.

 

[howiebrou]

But I couldn't help wondering if the Avantgarde room had a Lamipizator, Aries cerat, or a TotalDAC in that system, and how much more emotion the system would convey .. Maybe all the Avantgarde naysayers in this thread would love it too.

I had a long listening session with the G2s in Singapore recently with the rest of the system being Audio Note. Very nice, not shouty and not fatiguing at all. Sofa was prob 12 to 14 ft away though.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Uh Oh. I can hear it now. "Honey, don't bother mowing that field anymore. We're building a new barn for "the horns" I'm buying!

I don't understand why this is intended to be humorous. Such a decision seems sensible to me.