AXPONA Setting Up State-of-the-Art<\/p>\n
The sky is pure blue as I look out from the 6th floor hotel room. My wife and I and 200 pounds of luggage have arrived at the site of the AXPONA show. After we picked up the rental car, we headed to the Westin O\u2019Hare Hotel to drop off the bags and check out the Lakeshore B ballroom. I\u2019ll share some photos of the raw space later but the room should work out pretty well. Thankfully, it\u2019s not clustered near other rooms or separated from a neighbor through a temporary divider. But it is near the Grand Ballroom where lots of content vendors will be selling vinyl LPs, expensive cables, and other audiophile accessories.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to take a sizeable effort to get everything set up, tested, and tweaked but that\u2019s why I\u2019m here a day ahead of opening day. I\u2019ll catch up with my friends from Benchmark and JVC shortly and begin the process of unpacking.<\/p>\n
I feel compelled to continue the conversation on the system that my partners and I have assembled for the AXPONA show. The comments that I\u2019ve received posed some serious questions. Here\u2019s a couple worth posting:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy and When did Listening to Music become complicated and expensive???\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI fear this whole business is more revealing of your personal and business relationships with Benchmark, John Siau, and Oppo, both major advertisers here, than any real audio weakness in the Bryston SP3 or any other compatible high end component combos that you could have used instead of custom modified units. The end result now tells the listeners nothing about the hardware they’re hearing since the chain has a nonstandard component at the very front end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a little perspective on the AXPONA setup. Listening to music can be casual or complicated. The experience that each of desire can be delivered through a simple playback device or complex setup requiring exacting calibration and expensive equipment. It\u2019s not unlike the Burger King slogan; we can have our music our way.<\/p>\n
In the current AXPONA model, Benchmark and I decided to up the bar. Assembling another high-end system wasn\u2019t the goal. Our goal was to present a room capable of delivering a level of fidelity that accepts no compromise. The bar we wanted to top was set by the JAS (Japan Audio Society). And the system that we\u2019ve put together does that\u2026from the fidelity of the source recordings through the electronics to the speakers.<\/p>\n
It is complicated and expensive\u2026and it should be. We\u2019re living at the bleeding edge of audio fidelity. The wrench that I threw into the mix is surround sound. Getting state-of-the-art 2-channel stereo is a walk in the park in comparison. Lots of rooms will do a reasonable job at reproducing standard definition stereo. But if AXPONA attendees want to hear something unique and uncompromising, they can come to the Lakeshore B Ballroom and experience REAL High-Resolution audio in full 5.1 surround sound with HD-Video.<\/p>\n
As for with Benchmark and Oppo, I would like to clarify the nature of my association with these companies and the people that operate them. I believe in their products. As a result, I post banner ads on my site without charge. These companies and all of the other partners in the AIX Records room at AXPONA share the expense of the room and pay their own way.<\/p>\n
Benchmark and Oppo design and produce amazing products. I feel very fortunate to have them as partners for this trade show as well as Dolby Labs, DH Labs, and JVC. It\u2019s the first time that Benchmark has been involved in one of my demo rooms and I know that their very high standards for sound quality will help establish our room as among the best at the show.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also a big fan of Bryston and have welcomed them as a partner in the past. The SP-3 is a state-of-the-art preamp and multichannel DAC. However, the signal path that we are using is a notch better\u2026and more challenging.<\/p>\n
Got to go setup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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