Shows

AXPONA 2018 Show Report – Day 2

The Audio Bacon team covered 80-ish rooms on Day 2 of AXPONA 2018. It was the meatiest day of the show. The foot traffic of many white-haired, round-bellied audiophiles was in full swing and the elevators were jam-packed. Some clever audiophiles even resorted to requesting harsh recordings or even passing foul gas to clear the rooms in order to obtain the sweet spot. Savage!

Saturdays at these shows are considered fun days. Rooms break out the champagne and everyone’s chatting it up. The noise floor ispats so high, it’s sometimes difficult to get a proper listening session in. Some of my favorite speakers didn’t sound quite their best this time around. That said, all rooms are forgiven. Although if a room sounds great in these conditions, there shall be praise. I’ll note these rooms in the show summary after Day 3.

A meaty day requires a meaty breakfast. Here’s Wildberry’s Butcher Block (hash brown, cheddar & jack cheese, 2 eggs, ham, sausage, turkey sausage, chicken sausage, and bacon…with a side of cinnamon roll pancakes…

If there are any corrections, please leave a comment. Alright, let’s get on with this 20-page bad boy.

Best $2 I’ve ever spent.

I thought the concert doesn’t start until 8 pm? Oh, wait…

Room 334: MoFi Distribution, BAT, Primare, Mobile Fidelity, Wharfedale, Isotek, Solidsteel, Jelco, My Sonic Lab, and TAD. These are the Wharfedale Diamond 11.3 floor standers. Crazy value at $1,000/pair.

Room 223: MoFi Distribution. Turntable has Mobile Fidelity’s new Super Heavyweight record weight. TAD ME-1 Titanium Silver USB Debut ($15,495/pr), Primare CD35 Primsa ($3,500), and Primare I35 Prisma ($5,000). These are still one of my favorite speakers but it sounded a little sharper this time around. This could be due to many things, but I don’t think the speakers are at fault.

Primare I35 Prisma integrated amplifier ($5,000) and Primare CD35 Prismmofia transport ($3,500).

Balanced Audio Technologies VK-P12SE Phonostage

Room #340: Daedalus, ModWright, VPI, and Wywires. In the Top 1% as far as sound quality at the show. These guys obviously put in the work to make sure the speakers sounded great in this room. One of the very few rooms I revisited at the show.

Stillpoint Apertures creating blackholes everywhere at the show…

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Jay Luong

Mr. Audio Bacon himself. An open-minded electrical engineer and software developer by trade. I have an obsession with the enjoyment of all things media - specifically in the realm of music and film. So much heart and soul (and money) go into the creation of this artistry. My aim is to find out which products get me closer to what the musicians and directors intended.