2018 AXPONA: April 13-15, Schaumburg IL

[GordonW]

That room had a really nice sound, Gordon! I'm hoping to pay a visit before I leave tomorrow. I'll try not to take out any of the spotlights next time.

I've totally burned out on Rumours over the years (our local classic rock radio killed it), but that 45 RPM reissue is the only one I can listen to anymore. All of that bass was there on the tapes (especially on "Dreams"). Very nice presentation of that album!

Just to riff on what @DC says, though, not only is some of the demo music overkilled (that Louis Armstrong 45 RPM 12" single was in heavy rotation in a few rooms, and I'm already tired of hearing it), some of it does not lend itself well to demos. Now, hearing classic rock on the massive Avantgarde horns was an experience (part of Pink Floyd's The Wall was playing a couple of times, and they kicked out "Bonzo's Montreux" by Led Zep quite well--talk about the ultimate party speakers!), but otherwise, some (but not all) of those older multi-tracked studio recordings really don't reveal much for me.

Give me a nice recent acoustic performance, or some classical that is simply mic'ed where I can pinpoint the sections and the instruments. Or like in the Von Schweikert room, I arrived to (I think) the Poulenc Organ Concerto...perfect! (And those speakers rendered that pipe organ bass easily.) One room had a 45 RPM pressing of Dream with Dean (Martin) which also presented itself nicely--simple instrumentation, and Dino crooning next to the invisible fireplace in the room. What I hear very little of? Big band. A well-recorded Stan Kenton album would be a welcome change.

Overall, this year I did hear a lot more variety in music, which I am glad for! It has been a great show this year!

Yes, it was the Poulenc Organ Concerto. A reviewer brought it in, in fact! I was astonished and overjoyed that SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES ME actually appreciated how that piece can THOROUGHLY test a system, while sounding beautiful at the same time.

I am now on a renewed search for the Telarc/ Michael Murray/ Atlanta Symphony version of that one... that's the one I heard first, and that's still my standard for that piece...

Dream with Dean was us too, IIRC. I think Damon brought it.

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[GordonW]

YG acoustics managed to sound great in every room they were in. Not so with Magico. I tried to listen and they were so sharp and shrill, I thought they were calling dogs in the area.

No music really stood out for me this year.

Radho really had a great room and the stand mounts had some deep base and imaging. The large Von Schwiekarts had great sound terrible imaging. When I was listening, yesterday, they were playing a solo cello piece. It sounded divine until I realized the imaging was too tall. It sounded like the cellist was 8 feet tall.

Where were you in the room for the cello piece? I know that in the front three or four rows, that the imaging was pretty amazing. In fact, Greg Weaver (TAS/ Enjoythemusic.com, etc) said, after listening to the fourth side of the Solti Beethoven's Ninth, that he could tell not only where the vocalists were on the stage in all three dimensions- but that the male vocalist was about 8 inches or so (judging from his hand gestures ) taller than the female vocalist- it was clearly audible to him...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[GordonW]

3 rows from the front, Gordon.

Do you remember what piece it was? We actually played a lot of listener-supplied material, by request (partly to squelch the standard saw of "oh, they only play material that sounds good on THEIR speakers"- we wanted to show we weren't afraid of any musical types)- and some of that, as can be expected, was a little off-beat, both in recording style and content. I don't remember any solo cello pieces in the material we ourselves brought... so I wonder if that was something that was brought in by an attendee...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[jcamero]

Analog Planet, (Michael Fremer) has a 1hr. 14min. You Tube video from this years event. Any member make it on the video?

 

[Wildcat]

Analog Planet, (Michael Fremer) has a 1hr. 14min. You Tube video from this years event. Any member make it on the video?

No, but I ran into Mikey on the 5th floor on Sunday and he mentioned something along the lines of the show being so large that he was having to push himself to cover all of the rooms. I think the size of this year's show took many by surprise. The first day set an opening day record, I heard. Bes of Music Direct was also out there interviewing attendees for a video also.

 

[Wildcat]

Yes, it was the Poulenc Organ Concerto. A reviewer brought it in, in fact! I was astonished and overjoyed that SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES ME actually appreciated how that piece can THOROUGHLY test a system, while sounding beautiful at the same time.

I was hoping to hear it again, but I got in such a pinch trying to see everything else that I regret not making it back to the room. If I would have had time, I had purchased the 45 RPM Hatari! soundtrack at the show, and would have brought it by to give it a spin. The track "Sounds of Hatari" is amazing (if you haven't heard it yet)--definitely demo material.

But now I'm also looking into that Poulenc concerto. That is one thing I can comment on this year. Last year I wrote how so many rooms were repeating the same music. This year I heard a lot more variety in all of the rooms, and even found quite a few recordings (like the Poulenc) I am tracking down now. I believe that what you mentioned about your room, others are becoming more open to taking requests.

 

[bean_counter]

others are becoming more open to taking requests.

It's a double edged sword though; some hipster wanted to hear a Radiohead recording in the Sadurni room, the recording was absolute crap and those big red horns were completely unforgiving. Horrible. The presenter tried to be diplomatic, "not voiced for this music" etc, but that certainly wasn't the case.

 

[Wildcat]

It's a double edged sword though; some hipster wanted to hear a Radiohead recording in the Sadurni room, the recording was absolute crap and those big red horns were completely unforgiving. Horrible. The presenter tried to be diplomatic, "not voiced for this music" etc, but that certainly wasn't the case.

That's funny--in a rare lull in the Eikon room, I looked up a track and asked Gayle Sanders to play it. ("Alar" by Ralph Towner, from Open Letter.) He approved when he heard how good it sounded, thanked me for the suggestion, and then quiet said a lot of the requests he'd been asked to play did not sound very good.

In another room, though, the rep brought some vinyl with them from some hipstery alternative group I've never heard of (and never care to hear again), that sounded horrible. And thought it was like the greatest thing ever...

 

[Wildcat]

@botrytis I was thinking about your 8 ft. tall cellist. It could be the way the cello was recorded. I've heard a few solo piano recordings that are close mic'ed and the piano is literally as wide as the distance between the speakers. In other words, you'd hear the lowest notes on the far left, highest on the far right. A standard 88-key piano keyboard is probably around 4-1/2 ft. wide, so even from a player's perspective, an 8 ft. "spread" in the soundstage is unnatural.

Just don't confuse the 8 ft. cellist with the 12 inch pianist.

Same with drum sets that are mic'ed and then mixed so they spread widely across all speakers. That might work in multitrack rock/pop performances, but I don't expect that in an acoustic/jazz recording ideally.

 

[DC]

@botrytisJust don't confuse the 8 ft. cellist with the 12 inch pianist.

 

[soundmig]

@botrytis I was thinking about your 8 ft. tall cellist. It could be the way the cello was recorded. I've heard a few solo piano recordings that are close mic'ed and the piano is literally as wide as the distance between the speakers. In other words, you'd hear the lowest notes on the far left, highest on the far right. A standard 88-key piano keyboard is probably around 4-1/2 ft. wide, so even from a player's perspective, an 8 ft. "spread" in the soundstage is unnatural.

Just don't confuse the 8 ft. cellist with the 12 inch pianist.

Same with drum sets that are mic'ed and then mixed so they spread widely across all speakers. That might work in multitrack rock/pop performances, but I don't expect that in an acoustic/jazz recording ideally.

That's one thing that I really like about Steven Wilson's mixes and re-mixes. He tends to put the drum set in a proper size and placement perspective. Most engineers/producers do not pay enough attention to keeping the "size" of the instruments proportional in their mixes.

 

[Skylab]

I don’t bring music to Axpona anymore - I have decided to confine my requests to music the exhibitor has available. Given most come with a music server filled with music and if they are doing vinyl then a pretty decent amount of LPs, I had no trouble this year finding something I wanted to hear in every room where making a request was even an option (I don’t do this when there is a big group in the room, only when my little group are the only ones in the room, or close to it).

 

[DC]

Anybody else see these amps? Flea-powered but I LOVED the design/look. And they sounded good, too!

“Whammerdyne” - good name for an amp!

 

[DC]

I don't ask to play my own demo music. For the most part, I'm able to hear what I need/want to hear about a system with whatever they're playing. (Obviously some exceptions.) I do think there was more resort-spa "smooth" Jazz than I remember in the past - I thought I should have been by a pool with a weak Mojito in my hand...

When I was in the Lumin room later Saturday afternoon, I was the only one in there. After a brief conversation with the host, we listened a bit and he showed me how to use the iPad to browse their music server. Then he asked politely if I might be interested in playing whatever I wanted from the library for the next 10 minutes or so while he stepped out for a coffee and restroom break. His assistant was ill that day and the local dealers who were supposed to stop by to help him didn't show, so he was flying solo since 8:30 that morning. I was happy to oblige and got some hands-on time with their interface and some music I was actually very familiar with. And I had to tell a few others who came in while he was out, "I'm only a guest!"

 

[bean_counter]

Anybody else see these amps? Flea-powered but I LOVED the design/look. And they sounded good, too!

“Whammerdyne” - good name for an amp!

Yes, I thought they were very good. They paid attention to the room set-up - they were tweaking the crossover(!) when I visited. Seem to recall them from prior year(s)??

 

[Wildcat]

Some rooms will play your music, if you head back to their rooms towards the end of the show, or after. I had wanted to visit a couple to do that, but there was just so much show this year that I ran out of time all three days to do everything I wanted. @DC has posted a couple of rooms above that I never had a chance to visit. (I did get to the Burwell & Sons/Rogers room, though.)

That's one thing that I really like about Steven Wilson's mixes and re-mixes. He tends to put the drum set in a proper size and placement perspective. Most engineers/producers do not pay enough attention to keeping the "size" of the instruments proportional in their mixes.

I don't have many, but like the Gentle Giant remixes he did for the four tracks from Three Friends. Agreed--they came out well! The official video for "Peel The Paint" on YouTube is trippy.

He did a way better job than Nick Davis did with those Genesis remixes...gawd those are terrible. The Peter-era remixes are still decent (and in some ways improved IMHO--I'm thinking Peter had active input on those), but anything post-Peter has been slammed with no dynamics and too much jumbled up in the mix. Thankfully I only borrowed those. Sad thing is, I believe those are now "the" versions out there, and the only way to get the old mixes is to get the earlier CDs all over again.

 

[StimpyWan]

For people like me, that couldn't make the show, Paul McGowan posted a video he shot at Axpona. While not the same as being there, it's still fun to watch.

Axpona by PS Audio

 

[Wildcat]

That system sounded great, honestly.

Which one, the Stellar stack in the PS Audio room?