Florida Audio Expo - Tampa Bay, Florida - February 2023

[Sonnie]

To clarify, it is the Florida International Audio Expo, abbreviated in the thread title. It was never my intention to go to this show to cover the event. I simply wanted to enjoy seeing new toys and listening to all the systems. HOWEVER... I did capture a few videos of a few of the rooms that I thought were cool for one reason or another. We only had a day, so we didn't get to visit every room, and I did not video every room we visited, but there were a few cool ones for me.

JStewart already mentioned AJ's room (Soundfield) in another thread, and it was good seeing AJ and listening to his latest creation. AJ designed a speaker that can be switched between narrow, wide, and full/omni listening, with obviously each set of drivers being powered separately and with the ability to turn off amps not needed for the specific mode of listening. He even fired up one of the true and tried reference songs we've used in most of our speaker evaluation events to set up the best speaker locations, Nickel Creek's Ode To A Butterfly. No doubt he had them dialed in for the best listening seat, and they indeed sounded excellent.

 

[Sonnie]

This is the Acora room with the Acora Acoustics VRC-1 speakers in Blue Pearl Granite... base price $230K. These get the award for best looking speakers. They sounded okay, but the setup was not the best, with way too many chairs and not being able to sit in the optimal position to get the best soundstage and imaging. You would have to believe they would be astoundingly good sounding in the right setup. There was just too much space in the room. I could not see this being the normal setup for anyone spending this kind of money.

These were powered by the VAC Statement 452 amps at $75K each. The source was an Oracle Delphi Reference turntable with a Turbo MK2 Power Supply packaged at almost $14K. The cartridge was a Lyra Atlas Lambda at $12K and the tonearm was a Reed 1H at $3.7K. There were also products from Aurender, LampizatOr, and cables from Clear and Cardas. This was quite the expensive room no doubt.

 

[Sonnie]

I wish I could have spent more time in this room. The MoFi SourcePoint 10 speakers, designed by Andrew Jones and retailing for $3,699, were one of my favorites. This is big sound from a relatively smaller speaker. These were on SourcePoint stands at $499, and powered by the HiFi Rose RS520 Hybrid Amp and Streamer at $3,695. While I would not see these as being the main speakers in my primary listening room, they would certainly make for a fantastic second listening room.

 

[Sonnie]

Everyone knows how much I love planar-type speakers. Unfortunately, the Suncast Audio room was somewhat of a disappointment. I don't know if it was the room or the setup, but it wasn't happening this day. You would think showing off the $140K Clarisys Audio Auditorium Neo Panel speakers, they would have gotten it right. I believe these were powered by the $60K Block Audio SE mono amps connected to a Block Audio SE preamp at $45K. They also had a VAC 452iQ Stereo amp at $63K connected to a VAC Master preamp at $14K. Other products in the room were from MSB and Aurender. After hearing these on a couple of different songs, I did not investigate much further.

 

[Sonnie]

These were some really cool cables here in the M101 room. Rather than try to tell you what each of the cables used was, I'm including their price list below. I'm not one to say that cables make a difference, but they no doubt serious bling.

 

[Sonnie]

This was the SVSound room, and it was amazing, as usual. They were demonstrating their Prime Wireless Pro Powered Speakers (899.99). Remarkable sound for a small speaker, and I didn't even get a chance to sit in the sweet spot.

They also switched on the Micro 3000 dual 8" sub (899.99) while I was in the room, and it was truly unbelievably low and clean for such a small sub.
I wonder what 8 of those would sound like in my room.

 

[Sonnie]

Another room that was just okay to me. I don't think the setup was done right, but they are trying to cater to numerous people in a room that is way too big, I can't imagine anyone parking these in a room this big in their home. Setup in a smaller room with the right sweet spot, they are likely very good, but I may not ever know.

 

[Sonnie]

Another good-sounding room with the Piega COAX 711 LTD Tower speakers $25K being powered by a BAT REX500 Stereo amp at $22.5K and connected to the BAT REX3 preamp at $30K. The HiFi Rose RS150b Wireless Network Streamer at $5k was the source while we were listening.

 

[Sonnie]

LCH Audio is a newcomer to the show scene, so they didn't have any info about their products in print, and I wasn't taking notes. I suspect it will be a bit different for them at the Axpona show they plan to attend since they will know what to expect. Their subs were quite capable and seemed to pair very well with the Maggies, which absolutely need a sub or two. Here is a link to their subwoofer models: https://www.lchaudio.com/Models.html

 

[Sonnie]

The Upstream Audio room included the Focal Kanta No. 2 speakers at $11K that were powered by an Aesthetix Dione amp ($7.5K) connected to the Aesthetix Pallen preamp ($6.5K). The source at the time we were in the room was the Sonore Signature Rendu SE Optical Reference Network Streamer at $4,800 with a SonicTransporter i9 Roon server feeding it. I'm a big Roon fan myself and considered the i9 at one time, but opted to build my own Intel NUC server. Other sources were turntables from Clearaudio, power conditioning from IsoTek, and cabling from Iconoclast. This system package totaled $117,685.

 

[Sonnie]

I wasn't a fan of the music and didn't have a chance to go back and hear anything else, but if I had to rank rooms by "cool" factor, this one might have been on top—lots of bling in the TriangleArt room. The Triangleart Metis speakers at a cool $60K were powered by a couple of Triangleart M100 Tube Monoblock amps ($25K) connected to one of their L200 MK2 Tube Linestage preamps ($25K) and a P200 Tube Phonostage preamp ($18K). These turntables were about as cool as they get, with the Master Reference at $48K and the Anubis at $18K.

 

[Sonnie]

BorderPatrol Audio showed off their S20EXD 300B dual mono 16-watt SET ($22K as configured), powering the new Volti Rival speakers ($21.5K). Source was the BorderPatrol DAC SE-i with cables from Triode Wire Labs. Sounded pretty good to me.

 

[Sonnie]

Another room that was amazing! You would have thought there were subs under the black tablecloths covering the tables that were doubling as speaker stands. I'm really not sure how these were playing as low as they were for such a small speaker. They sounded great... and yes, I did look under the tablecloth. The speakers are the Contra 100S from Aretai, starting at $9K, with several options available. Convergent Audio Technology powered the Contras with a JL5 LE amp ($28K) connected to their SL1 Legend Extreme preamp ($60K). Cables were from VIABLUE.

 

[JStewart]

These were some really cool cables here in the M101 room. Rather than try to tell you what each of the cables used was, I'm including their price list below. I'm not one to say that cables make a difference, but they no doubt serious bling.


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Who really spends $54,000.00 on cables?

They were attractive though.

What I can never get past is the fire hydrant gauge power cables plugged into a $2 wall outlet with 14 gauge in the walls behind, 3 other outlets on the same circuit, and a high degree of liklihood that the stoner kid who wired it reversed the hot and neutral.