The 2024 Florida International Audio Exposition: Andrew Quint & Alan Taffel

It worked. Aside from the plainly visible evidence wherever you turned, Bart’s sales numbers bore out that 30% of attendees were spouses, and another 10% were college students. That’s incredible for a U.S. show.

Aside from its refreshingly unusual demographics, Florida was noteworthy for its plentiful and sometimes oddball product introductions and a venue that is literally falling apart. An atypical persistent cold drizzle was offset by the warm camaraderie between exhibitors and avid attendees.

As has become our wont, we have divided the show into Inspirational (that is, relatively affordable) and Aspirational (you hope to someday afford them) systems and new products. Andy took the former category, and Alan covered the latter. How did we decide which products and systems were Aspirational? As a Supreme Court Justice once said of pornography, “You know it when you see it.” More specifically, Inspirational products tended to be in the $20k and up range, while Aspirational systems were easily $100k or more.

You will also find that Andy lists more Inspirational products than Alan found in the Aspirational category. This reflects the balance at the show. Conversely, there were far more Aspirational than Inspirational systems, and our coverage reflects that, as well. Overall, here’s what we saw and heard.

12 Aspirational New Products

T+A chose Florida for the first North America showing of its R2500R “Multi-Source Receiver.” It’s a streaming client, disc player, tuner, DAC and 140Wpc integrated amp. Price is $18,800 plus $920 for the optional phonostage. The amp is Class AB but with a switching power supply to save space. IMHO, this unit fills a need for a compact, all-in-one component at this size, price, and performance level.

The United Home Audio Ultima Apollo ($55k) tape deck is essentially a scaled down SuperDeck, with much of that $90k model’s technology and performance. Now UHA’s penultimate deck, the Apollo features brand new gain stages and voltage regulators, among other enhancements to the brand’s lower models. The Apollo was being shown in the same system as the equally new mbl C41 streaming DAC ($11k).

Cable company Wireworld showcased what it claims are the world’s first fully shielded, two-conductor power cords, the Mini Stratus ($90/2m) and Mini Electra ($240/2m). They are intended to be used for anything in a system that doesn’t use a three-conductor power cord, such as network equipment, accessories, and some powered speakers. Wireworld boasts of excellent noise rejection and filtration.

Aurender unveiled a smart new “all-in-one” unit, the AP20 music server/DAC/integrated amp ($22k). The 200Wpc unit made a good showing driving a pair of Wilson Sabrina X’s.

Well known for constantly improving its products, Gershman Acoustics just gave its popular Black Swan model the 30^th Anniversary Edition treatment. As in past designs, the low-frequency section is completely decoupled from the tweeter/midrange unit. However, the new version ($90k) has an internal “bass trap” as well as an entirely new crossover and woofer, plus a revamped tweeter and midrange.

Metronome already makes arguably the world’s best CD/SACD player, the Kalista DreamPlay X reviewed by JV in these pages. But that unit is decidedly big bucks. At a more approachable level, though still Aspirational, the company now offers the Metronome AQWO 2 ($24k), which was being shown for the first time in North America. The model is a CD/SACD player/DAC with a novel feature: It has two output stages, tubed and solid-state, and the user can switch between them at will.

Finnish speaker maker Amphion introduced to North America its latest flagship, the $24k Krypton 3X. The three-way model utilizes an unusually low crossover point of 1.2kHz between the midrange and the tweeter, as well as a tuned port on the side. There is a waveguide on the tweeter that assists driver integration and time alignment. Driven by Esoteric electronics, the speaker sounded light and fast.

Long out of the spotlight, our old friend Vienna Acoustics is back in the U.S., now under the Playback Distribution umbrella. Florida served as the debut of the Liszt Reference ($22k), the company’s current top floorstander. (Higher models are planned.) The speaker utilizes a flat mid/hi coincident driver plus three 7” woofers. As in past VA models, the mid/hi unit is mounted in a swivel head for room optimization. All told, the Liszt Reference created a very smooth, refined sound.

AGD introduced not one but two GaN (Gallium Nitrate) monoblock amplifiers. The Solo ($23,500/pr.) produces 550Wpc, while the Duet ($11,500) makes do with “only” 300Wpc. GaN is said to have the advantage of being a faster conductor than silicon. At Florida, the new amps were paired with an AGD preamp ($12,500) and the Ocean Way Audio Eureka speakers ($12k), delivering a sound that had remarkable ease and clarity.

You’ve read about the Metaxas Tourbillon tape deck in TAS, but Florida was actually the first public showcase. In addition, the company made it emphatically clear that it’s no one-trick pony by also unveiling its Solitaire 150Wpc integrated amp ($41k) and the wild-looking Siren speakers ($128k), sculpted from a block of solid aluminum. Together, they created an inviting, easygoing sound. Yet, the most striking new model from the Dutch company was its Ethereal headphone amp ($32k), which takes the shape of a full-sized female form. (The nipples are volume controls.) Fully Class A, the Ethereal can output 1000 volts. Since that generates a lot of warmth, the entire “body” acts as a heat sink. As an option, a Swiss clock can be fitted into the head. No, I’m not making this up.

All the way from Norway, Electrocompaniet debuted the first model to receive a revamp that will eventually be shared by its entire lineup. The AW300M is a monoblock priced at $29k/pair. Though a completely new design, the company says it preserves the round yet dramatic “Nordic sound” characteristic of the brand. The amp produced very seductive sonics when driving the new Triangle 40^th Anniversary Magellan Duettos ($7k).

Rounding out my dozen is a statement speaker from Gauder Akoustik, the DARC 250 Mk II ($250k; see Andre Jennings’ review in this issue). Though expensive, the new Gauder is not unwieldy in size. It comprises a diamond tweeter and midrange, as well as a 12^th-order (that’s a 60dB/octave slope) crossover with time-alignment circuitry. The cabinet consists of aluminum ribs, with damping gaskets in between, all under extreme tension.

Top Ten Aspirational Systems

The Stenheim/Viva/VPI Room. Stenheim was showing the Five.SE ($73.5k), upon which JV has lavished much praise. That was enough to pack in the crowds. The speakers were being driven by the 22-watt Viva Solista Mk II ($29,500) tube amp, which would have been a massive mismatch if not for the Stenheim’s 94dB sensitivity. The rest of the system was a VPI Avenger Direct turntable with a DS Audio Grand Master Extreme cartridge, a T+A Reference DAC, a Wolf Audio music server, Synergistic cables, and the fetching new HRS SXR rack. Sound was clean, open, and incredibly revealing with superb bass. Only a slight touch of brightness marred the otherwise exemplary sonics.

The Clarysis/VAC/Aurender Room. Clarysis continues to make waves with its full-range ribbon speakers. The modest- and large-sized versions were both on display in Florida but, as in the past, I preferred the smaller of the two. Driven by a VAC 170iQ integrated amp, fed by an Aurender server, the speakers exhibited no artifice, no distortion, and no incoherence. Nothing to distract from the music. They are about as close to no speaker as you can get. Further, and surprisingly for a planar, there was more-than-ample bass power. Local dealer Suncoast Audio reports that sales of the Clarysis speakers have been “through the roof.” It’s easy to hear why.

The mbl/United Home Audio Room. As usual, mbl was in the top tier of rooms, with a system anchored by the venerable 101 E Mk IIs, paired with massive mbl amps, and fronted by the new C41 streamer and the equally fresh UHA Ultima Apollo tape deck. The setup had some of the best bass of the show, with boundless low-end energy that was never out of control. While the sound was good when streaming from the C41, it hit another gear of verisimilitude and dynamic punch when the Apollo deck was playing. That, and mbl’s first use of the Wireworld Platinum-series cables, may explain why this was one of mbl’s best show outings.

The TAD Room. In a bid to remind attendees of both its history and its upper-end products, TAD brought to Florida its estimable Ultimate Reference One TX ($160k) and Compact Reference One TX ($87,500) speakers, originally designed by Andrew Jones. For a certain kind of audiophile—one interested in rarefied refinement rather than in-your-face detail—these speakers are just the ticket. The big Ultimate Reference model, backed by an all-TAD system, was, of course, the best. On the mellow side, to be sure, but balanced top to bottom. The coincident driver delivered incredibly realistic imaging. Bass was another strong suit. Andy called the speaker “majestic,” and he wasn’t wrong.

High End by Oz. This room, one of the large ones on the main floor, featured the Lansche 5.2 speakers ($57k) with plasma tweeters. Like the Stenheims, they were mated to the Viva Solista Mk II 22-watt integrated tube amp. The combination was very open and noticeably extended on top. Further, the system had a purity I rarely heard elsewhere.

The MSB/Estelon Room. A crisis led to a triumph when electronics manufacturer MSB’s planned speakers suffered shipping damage. The company turned to one of its longtime customers, who came valiantly to the rescue by shipping his prize Estelon X Diamond Mk II speakers ($90k) from California. In what proved to be a winning combination, the resulting system was relaxed yet revealing, natural in its timbres, and highly musical.

The Big Clarysis Room. While the little Clarysis speakers stole my heart, the biggies ($146k including white glove delivery and setup) boggled my mind. Ceiling-height (in a large ballroom, mind you), the pair were powered by six huge VAC monoblocks in a tri-amp configuration wherein the signal was split by an all-new, all-analog active crossover made by CSPort ($22,500). The no-holds barred system yielded a gigantic soundstage and effortless transparency from top to audacious bottom. At one point, the bass on London Grammar’s “Hey Now” proved so overwhelming, it turned the ballroom into one giant resonant node.

The Haniwa Room. Japan’s Haniwa is most often thought of as a horn-speaker company, but it has, in fact, built an entire ecosystem around its 1-ohm, all-frequency drivers. On display in Florida was the new HSP03 bundle, which includes speakers, a GaN amp suitable for driving such a difficult load, and two subwoofers. All in, the bundle runs $24k. In Florida, it was complemented by The Player turntable with HTAM 03 arm and C0 cartridge ($12k for all three). The C0 has an impedance of just 0.08 ohms, and its moving coil has but a single turn! The sound, as expected from good horns, was lively, dynamic, fresh, and coherent. Integration with the subs was absolutely seamless.

The Acora/VAC Room. See “Best of Show” below.

The Gauder Akoustik/Soulution Room. One of the most expensive systems at Florida was a showcase for Soulution electronics, including the luscious 727 preamp ($90k) as well as Gauder’s DARC 250 Mk II ($250k), both making their North American debut. Together, they made a beautiful tone with very convincing bass.

Alan Taffel’s Best of Show

Best Sound (Cost-no-object): The Acora/VAC room. I realize that endowing Acora with this award is becoming repetitive, but frankly no other system in Florida combined the scale, musical revelations, and visceral impact of this one. The $220k VRC-1 speakers, here rendered in a stunning swirled brown granite, sounded the best I’ve ever heard them, thanks no doubt in part to the improved VAC 450iQ monoblock amps ($60k each), which VAC says are a harbinger of things to come. The system breathed new life into every track. Further, in a testament to the colorless nature of the system, every track sounded completely different. This is what high-end audio aspires to.

Best Sound (Cost-a-consideration): The Elac room. The best and most expensive speaker in this room was the Concentro S503, which costs a mere $7k yet boasts an AMT tweeter mounted with a 5” aluminum midrange in a coincident fashion. The lows are produced by a 7” woofer, and all are ensconced in a petite stand-mounted speaker. Given its imaging, resolution, and bass extension, as driven by equally affordable Elac electronics, you’d never know you weren’t in the presence of a far more expensive system.

Best Demo: The Synergistic Research Powercell 8 Line Conditioner. The new Powercell 8 ($4500) was put to the test in before-and-after listening sessions, during which it made a startling difference in terms of image solidity, bass tightness, dimensionality, and openness.

Most Important Trend: The rise of easy-to-listen-to speakers. The etched, micro-detailed speakers that used to dominate audio shows seem to have fallen out of favor. This is a generally positive trend, though many speakers in Florida went too far in the easy-listening direction.

Most Over-Played Song: Stealing the crown from Dire Straits, London Grammar’s “Hey Now” could be heard echoing through every hall on every floor.

Best Ultra-Nerdy Audiophile Joke: At dinner one night, after several courses, Andy Quint remarked of the last one: “All the food has been very good, but this entrée has the internal silver wiring.”

15 Inspirational New Products

It could be a measure of the rising stature of the Tampa show that there were a decent number of product debuts at a price level relevant to most aficionados. Sometimes, one exhibitor had more than one new product to demonstrate, as in the beloved analog specialist Pro-Ject Audio Systems’ room. In addition to a new turntable with integral phonostage for $599 (a factory-mounted Sumiko Ranier moving-magnet cartridge is included), of particular interest was the Tube Box DS3 B phonostage ($1200), a compact dual-mono design with both balanced and single-ended inputs and a robust functionality allowing for the ready adjustment of resistance, capacitance, and gain to suit whatever cartridge you’re using at the moment.

I blinked a couple of times when I read that Børressen had a brand-new bookshelf/standmount speaker, the X1, priced at $5500, $6600 with stands. (Remember, this Danish manufacturer also sells the 01 Silver Supreme, a highly coveted loudspeaker with roughly the same dimensions as the X1—for ten times the price.) The X1’s cabinet is made of a heavily braced wood composite; it employs a lower-mass version of Børressen’s planar ribbon and a 4.5” bass/midrange cone. Børressen’s speakers are always played too loudly at audio shows, which can leave one with the impression that the house sound is hard and brittle. But, at more sensible playback levels, there’s no denying the X1’s impressively extended top end and timbral accuracy.

Triangle had two loudspeakers from its 40^th Anniversary set of products to play, the Antal EZ 40^th floorstander ($4700) and the Duetto 40^th stand-mount ($7000), from the Magellan line. The company rep, unsolicited, put on orchestral Wagner, a first in my show experience, as most classical music tends to clear out a room at North American events, and Wagner’s bombast and political baggage can be even more problematic. I’m a fan, though, and the Duettos handled the most monumental excerpts from Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung with assurance.

ELAC, no matter who its chief designer is, consistently offers cost-effective options for critical listeners and had a couple of new loudspeakers to demonstrate. I heard both the Concentro S503 bookshelf ($6999) that features the Jet 5 Heil tweeter and another stand-mount model, the Vela BS 404.2 ($3500), which employs the newer Jet 6. Both speakers did quite well with Lyle Lovett’s jaunty “I’ve Been to Memphis,” with the more costly model a little less “shouty.”

Focal has been undertaking a “refresh” of its entire Aria loudspeaker range—I heard the Aria EVO X N^o 4 ($5998). Engineering advances include the use of Focal’s aluminum/magnesium ‘M’-shaped inverted dome tweeter and revisions to both the crossovers and woofer magnet construction. The midrange driver now features a key patented Focal technology, the Tuned Mass Damper—a pair of tubular rings that are incorporated into the driver’s surround. My leading orchestral reference recording, the opening movement of the Shostakovich Symphony No. 15 performed by Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, was dynamic with natural instrumental colors. The mid-movement crescendo crested gracefully.

Based in Brevard County, Florida, Geshelli Labs—the Swiss Family Robinson of audio manufacturers—always has a major presence at FLAX. This year, the extended family, the expansive range of gear that the company makes, and enthusiastic customers filled three rooms on the ninth floor of the Embassy Suites. Geshelli now licenses technology from the Italian company Amanero, which streamlines design and manufacturing. A new product is the Dayzee DAC ($1300–$2300, depending on options), which incorporates dual AK 4499EX chips. A key design goal for the product was simple, intuitive operation. You turn it on, pick an input—there are five: two TosLink, two coaxial, one AES/EBU, and one USB—and off you go. Through MoFi speakers, the sound was robust and resolving.

Sparkos Labs, Inc is a two-person operation—electrical engineer Andrew Sparks and his wife, Alisa Jones—located in Westminster, Colorado. Sparkos makes op-amps for use by other manufacturers but also sells two headphone amplifiers, the Aries and the new Gemini ($995). The Gemini has a tube front end (there’s a single 6922 Electroharmonix, though tube rolling is encouraged), an Alps Blue Velvet volume control, and a feature that allows a user to adjust the amount of current that the tube is biased at, which determines the “tubey-ness” of the sound. Played in a system that included a Geshelli DAC and Hi-Fi Man headphones, the sound was spacious and detailed. Check out the website; it’s pretty hilarious.

Holding forth in the hallway leading to large meeting rooms was DH Labs, a Florida company that’s been manufacturing silver wires for more than 30 years. By silver cable standards, the prices are quite reasonable. A new arrival to DH Labs’ comprehensive product line is the D-10x AES/EBU cable ($525 per meter.) The conductors are 20-gauge five-nines silver with a PTFE Teflon dielectric and rhodium-plated terminations.

Falcon Acoustics is perhaps best known for its faithful rendering of the LS3/5A loudspeaker—the only one that meticulously adheres to the original BBC standards. Under the leadership of Jerry Bloomfield, who took over running the company 15 years ago, Falcon has developed new speaker lines, including the five-model M series. Right in the middle of the M range is the M30 ($6795), a large, ported 3-way that sits atop a squat stand. The driver array includes Falcon’s own bass and midrange drivers plus a 1” soft dome tweeter. The presentation was transparent without crossing a boundary into overly clinical. There was a top-to-bottom coherence that was very appealing; my hunch is that the M30s will wear well in the long-term.

Designer Paul Paddock and International Sales Manager Mark Conti were on hand to introduce the MC Audiotech TL-8 ($15,000, with an upcharge for veneer finishes), the smallest and least expensive loudspeaker from the Pennsylvania-based company to date. It’s a floorstander with a single WBLS (wideband line source) driver, the transducer patented by Paddock nearly 40 years ago, plus an 8” woofer implemented with transmission-line loading. Driven by a pair of Pass Labs XA 60.8 monoblocks, the speakers were fearless with large-scale orchestral music and capable, as well, with more intimate material. Bass was surprisingly powerful and extended. The TL-8 goes into full-scale production in about two months.

Wells Audio introduced several new products including the Majestic integrated amplifier ($6000), driving TAD E1-tx loudspeakers and wired with Cardas cable. Orchestral music (Mozart, Prokofiev) had clarity and a wonderful sense of space. A duet for a female vocalist and acoustic bass demonstrated timbral accuracy and immediacy, simultaneously at both ends of the frequency spectrum. Sure, the loudspeakers were an important element of the system’s success, but I’m also sure that the Japanese speakers would have revealed any inadequacies in the reproduction chain behind them.

Playback Distribution, which represents several venerable audio brands, including TEAC and Esoteric, occupied three rooms on the tenth floor of the Embassy Suites (probably a disadvantage, especially when the elevators malfunction—an inevitable occurrence at most audio shows.) Playing was the Vienna Acoustics Haydn Signature ($3495) in no less than its fifth incarnation. With amplification courtesy of Advance Paris, a 30-year-old brand recently reintroduced to the United States, symphonic music had sufficient weight and a trombone solo in a Gil Evans jazz composition was exceptionally natural sounding.

The Dyptique D-140 Mark 2 ($16,999) is a French planar-magnetic design, crossed over to a “quasi-ribbon” at 1600Hz. With Advance Paris electronics, a superb spaciousness was achieved. Reproduction of solo piano was utterly convincing, and vocals didn’t have excessive sibilance. There wasn’t much symphonic music on hand (and the exhibitor wasn’t streaming), but he did come up with John Williams in Vienna, which revealed an expansive soundstage and excellent orchestral weight.

Top 5 Inspirational Systems

Dutch & Dutch 8c with u-BACCH plug-in
Dutch & Dutch’s 8c loudspeaker ($14,950) is the first to license a third-party plug-in, in this case the most basic version of the BACCH crosstalk cancellation filter ($1100). Activating BACCH extracts a spatiality that’s integral to the majority of the millions of stereo recordings that have been made over the past 70 years. With or without crosstalk cancellation, the D&Ds are robust, full-range transducers that will handle practically anything you throw at them. There’s no compromise here; the 8c is a candidate for the current best value in all the realm of perfectionist hi-fi.

Sparkos/Geshelli/HiFiMan
I’m neither a headphone guy nor especially devoted to tube electronics, but a “personal audio” system like the one I heard in the Sparkos suite could change those biases, if a short audition is any indication. The new Sparkos Gemini headphone preamp—see above—combined with a Geselli DAC and a set of HiFiMan over-ear ‘phones, provided the kind of pointed dynamics and natural vocal/instrumental colors that I’m used to with loudspeakers and in life. The listening experience was completely absorbing, whether the music was a Brahms clarinet sonata or a Stravinsky ballet.

Focal/Naim
Jacksonville, Florida’s House of Stereo had a well-past-listenable system up-and-running in Room. 716. Operated with the Focal/Naim app, two new products were heard, the Focal Aria EVO X N^o 4 loudspeaker (noted above) and the Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition, an “all-in-one” device that serves as preamp, DAC, and power amplifier. There was excellent component synergy in play here, and, once again, first-rate sonics were achieved at a total system cost of under $20,000.

ELAC
A system composed solely of ELAC products, save for analog Cardas cabling, was assembled in Room 518. ELAC Concentro S503 bookshelf speakers ($6999) plus an Alchemy DDP-2 DAC/preamp, two monoblock amplifiers, the Discovery Music Server, speaker stands, and surge protector played a reference symphonic work with suitable orchestral weight, clarity, good imaging, and air.

SVS/Evotiva
Decades ago, SVS was known as a subwoofer specialist. Since then, ownership has changed and SVS has greatly diversified its speaker range. At FLAX this year, SVS introduced a new loudspeaker, the Ultra Evolution Pinnacle ($5000.) It’s a 3-way, five-driver design with a curved front baffle to assure good time alignment. As amply demonstrated with varied musical source material, inexpensive electronics can do the trick and, in this case, those components were an Emotiva PT2 preamp/DAC/tuner ($700) and an Emotiva Basx A2 amplifier ($500). Cables were inexpensive SVS products. Hefty bass and good dynamics, though tonal and textural character seemed less specific. Still, add a high-quality streaming service, and, I think you’ll have a stereo system all of us could live with indefinitely.

Andrew Quint’s Best of Show

Best Sound (price-no-object)
Stenheim Alumine Five SE ($73,500) • Red Wolf 2 server (from $9400) • T+A SD 3100 Reference Streaming DAC ($36,390) • Viva Solista integrated amplifier ($29,500) • Synergistic Research Galileo Discovery speaker cable (from $17,995) • Synergistic Research Galileo PowerCell SX ($27,995) • Synergistic Research Galileo SX MkII Ground Block (from $7995)
Usually, “best” products and systems at audio shows are found at or near ground level, in the ballrooms and large meeting rooms: That’s where the grandest, most costly gear is being demonstrated. At FLAX 2024, I was certainly impressed by several of these systems—the kind that only very few have the space and financial means to own—but, ultimately, my heart was won by a system played in a modest-sized 7^th floor hotel room. The star of the show was the Stenheim loudspeaker, understated in its musical presentation yet so authoritative in its representation of musical scale. Not cheap, for sure, yet a consideration not solely for sheiks, Russian oligarchs, and ophthalmologists.

Best Sound (considering price)
Dutch & Dutch 8c with u-BACCH plug-in ($14,950) • Acora speaker stands ($6250)
No question about this one. The Acora pillars are really unnecessary; a pair of SolidSteel stands for about a grand would have done the trick. You know I’m not counting the ethernet cables needed to connect the D&D to a network for streaming. You do already have a laptop or tablet, right? This is world-class sound for under $20k.

Most Significant New Product
MC Audiotech loudspeakers seem to get better and better as time goes on and as they get smaller. The TL-8 ($15,000) plays like a big speaker but with plenty of subtlety. (See above.)

Most Significant Trend
Apps developed for specific audio products
Aurender has one, Dutch & Dutch has one, Anthem has one, Focal and Naim share one—and there are plenty of others. Will physical remotes become a thing of the past?

Most Futuristic Audio Component to Anticipate
Jerry Bloomfield, the owner and managing director of the British loudspeaker manufacturer Falcon Acoustics, extracted me from Falcon’s busy demo room, led me next door, and had me don VR goggles. What materialized was a futuristic tower, designed in large part with AI techniques to create a kind of über-speaker. The 5’ 3” tall, 3-way, five-driver device is housed in a composite enclosure with monocoque properties and a CNC-machined aluminum front baffle. The Oneiros weighs in at 284.5 pounds and will cost, Bloomfield believes, close to half a million dollars. There are evident connections to the British luxury-car esthetic, including the availability of 15,000 automotive paint finishes and gorgeous wood accents. I’m not permitted to reproduce the photo from the Oneiros’ preliminary spec sheet but can report that the speaker occupies the aesthetic world of the KEF Blade, the Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus, and pretty much any Estelon—and may ultimately eclipse those worthy products as an iconic statement of industrial design.

Most…Interesting Product at FLAX 2024
SubDrum Industries, LLC produces loudspeakers with the drivers mounted inside decommissioned drums. The company was started by the affable Larry Morini (a drummer, of course) from Melbourne, Florida, and his product line certainly evoked plenty of conversation at FLAX. I’m not sure audiophiles should be his intended audience, but I took a SubDrum bumper sticker anyway.

Best Ego Stroke
My room at the Embassy Suites hotel was on one of the exhibition floors. I can’t complain as rooms were provided at no charge to journalists covering the show and there was an 11pm curfew for tweaking one’s system. I was located across the hall from Room 711, which featured the updated Electrocompaniet amplifier. The good folks of House of Stereo from Jacksonville, Florida, didn’t realize that 712 was occupied and persistently kept positioning their floor-to-ceiling sign in front of my door. “A Legend Reborn?” Aw, shucks. Just doin’ my job.