The Best Audiophile Loudspeakers @ AXPONA 2022

[@Edward135i]

James is the understated backbone of Audioholics, he's always killing it, quietly and humbly.

[@pgansz]

How?

[@mattgiunt]

I agree.When James speaks its always worth listening to.He calls it like it is and is no product pusher.

[@petemaloy51]

If only he could speak without stumbling around, omg hard to listen to. There is a reason some folks should be in front of the camera and others not.

[@raphaelmeillat8527]

@@petemaloy51 can't disagree more with you on this. In fact, it's refreshing to hear normal people share their knowledge and passion regardless of their presentation skills. It's called inclusiveness! And to be honest, I find his presentations clear and pleasant to listen to, even if they're not what one might call "sleek". That makes him come across as more authentic.

[@mzmz9355]

Guys, we have to be thankful for all the cosmic energy in the high-end that causes to re-invent the wheel in every high-end expo every year all over again ... so we feel entertained all over again :D Thanks James & Gene again for the video! ;)

[@jamesvozar1]

Thanks for all the great content, and how much you have helped people with this channel.

[@Novilicious]

Great video!!!!! Thanks for the coverage James. Enjoyed your perspective and your highlights! Had no clue that there were these many niche brands! Keep up the great work… please continue to cover more trade shows 🙏🏼🤩

[@terrycochrane7811]

Thanks so much for your input James!!!!!

[@rickp6731]

$32K KMD 700R Loudspeakers were by far the Best Of Show Period ! 😇🤩😍🙂Major-Breakthrough 🤫☺

[@Egofileo1]

Really thanks for this reportage, very much appreciated.

[@cruzingrsx4484]

Thank you Gene and James! Interesting presentation

[@jarodreddig63]

Really enjoyed this guys. Thanks a lot

[@polskipieski]

Great channel/ reviews! You and James are awesome.

[@tkharris10]

Absolutely, thank you James!

[@ghostrecon3214]

What a cliff hanger "until next time my friends keep...." I don't know what to do now

[@danielfajkis1292]

Thank you for visiting our room at the show, hope to see you again at future ones.

[@ryanschipp8513]

Cabasse is a company from France. It was awesome meeting James at the show....I stalked him and got a picture with him!:) I yelled out..."James Larson"! I think I scared him:):)

[@Audioholics]

Haha awesome!

[@summerforever6736]

Kolbasa! Yumm

[@gerihifi]

Thanks a lot, nice overview. Expecting not too much new here in Germany in our upcoming highend exhibits

[@jfarlandutube]

I flew in from Denver to attend the show. Saw many of the rooms you talked about on this video. Some really great audio equipment and fantastic sound. Spent an hour and a half at least in the legacy room and was invited to spend a couple of hours in the Von Schweikertroom later in the evening on Saturday. That system was over $1 million dollars. It really did sound fantastic when turned up. You should several rooms I missed. Sorry I didn’t get to them it was so hard to see everything and still spend some quality time listening to gear I was interested in. Keep up the good work.

[@chuckolson5219]

funny I thought legacy had one of the worst rooms at the show. Valors did not sound well at all. Went back 2x and still same but to each his own

[@mattgiunt]

Gene and James together are hilarious.Very funny comments. Gene is a natural comedienne

[@richh650]

Those Legacy's shown at around 3 mins in were not the Focus's. The ones shown are the model down, the Signatures I believe. The Focus's have dual mid drivers....

[@KevinLamarche]

James is completely sketched out. 10th pot of coffee? Lol. Great vid as always guys.

[@bigjay1970]

Great video coverage. Love War of the world's and Wally. 🖖

[@adamjj85]

James should've brought his measurement rig and dragged speakers out to the parking lot for testing 😄

[@doublet147]

Thanks for the speaker/art show tour.

[@HarryPatt]

If I spent 100k speakers. I would like them to sound a little better than "they didn't sound bad."

[@danielschulz9304]

Great show thanks James for the effort and all the photos, glad I waited to watch this all at once. What are the amps with the big Kliptch speakers?And is that a eq graph on thier fronts?

[@joachimmagnusson3128]

The Dynaudio Woofers are 240mm, which makes ca. 9,5 inch

[@gulfcoastrailroad5625]

"I wasn't bothered by the sound of the Aries Cerat system " has to be the most berserk comment ever uttered in the annuls of hi end audio 🤣 I love you guys😆

[@xavdeman]

27:59 New Magnepan LRS+! Under a $1000 a pair? Probably the only product shown (apart from the Polk bookshelves that's not a new product) that realistically has an audience.

[@59seank]

Thanks James.

[@summerforever6736]

Those prices are just insane!

[@jb.2986]

after watching this vid I'm glad we made the decision to forgo Axpona this year.

[@chuckolson5219]

star of the show for a mere $8K the Paradigm Founder 120H. Wish I saw more on this focus on great quality/value speakers that people can afford they sounded better than most of what I heard including $50-$100K speakers. Not all, but many. Glad to see you mentioned the Polk at a price everyone can afford they are another value speaker. One of the better demos at the show also.

[@CockatooDude]

I have been reading about the Founder 120H, I've been dismayed that there exist almost no reviews of them though. I guess it's a hidden gem?

[@chuckolson5219]

@@CockatooDude I purchased them after the show. sound fantastic and built in room correction works great to say the least.

[@CockatooDude]

@@chuckolson5219 How's the cohesion between the bass and the midrange/high end? I find that most speakers can integrate the tweeter and midrange woofer just fine, but integrating the bass to sound also like it's coming from the same point source is much more difficult. I haven't had a huge amount of experience with speakers, but of the ones I've listened to I've found that tower speakers with the triple woofer stack under the midrange unit seem to suffer from this issue. Does the 120H also fall victim to this?

[@chuckolson5219]

@@CockatooDude not at all. It really was one of the best sounding demos at the show, and in a very small, challenging room. I have a much larger room (about 18x30). Bass integration is seamless. Paradigm just knows how to do everything right. The Personas take it up to another level, but at this price point I really feel they are underpriced given what I'm seeing in hi end audio right now. High prices and everyone is paying it. These should be $10K or more

[@chuckolson5219]

I would choose these over much more $$ speakers I heard. The Focals are way too bright and it's not the first time I've heard them and thought that but that's me. I wasn't impressed at all by the Valors either and would choose the 120H over those at a much lower price based on what I heard.

[@dilbyjones]

so mad I didn't get this auto suggested ! love this ...but sad I had to go look for it!

[@danglyreprap4206]

I liked the visual design of the ORCHESTALLS

[@jakeslavin9355]

The Tigerfox demo was quite cool (they stayed after to let me try it). Main take away is that the room interactions play a huge role in how a speaker sounds. People throw a lot of money at gear to try and make up for poor acoustics. Also did anyone have any impressions of the scaena loudspeakers? I was extremely impressed but I agree it probably wasn't accurate imaging in terms of scale.

[@danm203]

My notes for the Scaena say that the sub/s weren't meshing well. A tad boomy and didnt seem fast enough. Maybe a room problem?

[@calvincurry8496]

Wow Companies like Salk, Philharmonic etc small American companies who often are overlooked but consistently are good value good sounding speaker seem to get lost in the sauce

[@alcamacho1844]

Wow, the cables were excellent! On VAC. Advangarde, best speakers! MBL, awesome...

[@heinzr9734]

Unlike in the past, today it seems that the developer of a company is told: Build something that costs at least 130,000 USD, no matter what you do and which parts you use. The main thing is that it costs at least 130,000 USD, otherwise no one from our "target group" will buy it.

[@Edwinvangent]

the only good line-array is and always will be the bohlender greabener 50"planar pro with Xover 200 hz - 8 Khz no crossovers in the most important range, and dsp for low and high spectrum. Must be the best of the best right?

[@LarHines]

the Muraudio sp1 were some of the best sounding speakers there.

[@normalman6686]

Interesting live stream. I know that a bit of snark at the excesses of high-end audio for the 1%er market is part of the Audioholics' stick. However with every one of those comments I kept thinking one of you had as his reference speaker the RBH Titus 8T with its oval MMTMM enclosure floating over a pyramid of subs. Problem for the self appointed judges of where design crosses the line is when they want to partake in exactly such an off the beaten path system.

[@summerforever6736]

Dynaudio is a Danish company i own a pair! Great speakers!

[@38special4ever]

Drinking game challenge .. every time James say "..right" :)

[@junior-OG]

🍺

[@francisdelacruz6439]

Well it is an audio show might as well a relative grade on how the set ups sound given the limitations of show conditions. Tone doesn't change or how natural a speaker sounds usually despite room interactions or do driver integration except for horns you could comment on that. Anyway cheers for the coverage of somehow new products without giving any idea how these sounded like ...

[@erod9088]

"These speakers sounded fine." LOL, that means mid-level Klipsch to most people.

[@Audioholics]

That was pretty funny.

[@garykarczewski6678]

The Klipsch would be great as HT Speakers in a very large HT with an owner who has deep pockets.

[@heinzr9734]

Klipsch has a cinema speaker division, so your idea is not too far from reality. The first Jubilee bass bin was still designed by Paul Klipsch together with Roy Delgado documented in a year 2000 AES paper.

[@xavdeman]

Most of this is obviously more meant to be some kind of eccentric (but really just kitch) 'art' design for the filthy rich, rather than actual technical innovation in home audio.

[@SpinnerPaddlefoot]

Many of the marquee loudspeaker brands did not sound that great to my ears. I preferred the TAD Evolution Two. Clean, balanced, not overly bright over bass heavy like many rooms. I don't buy into the excuse that they don't have much time to treat or dial in the rooms. Most of these folks have been setting up these rooms for years so have had all the preparation time necessary to make your products sound decent.

[@Pitbull0669]

But man the Focus and the XD series need SERIOUS Outrigger feet they are SO top heavy when i reviewed them was afraid they were gonna tip over

[@summerforever6736]

This companies just come up with this prices like lets charge 43k, or 60k or whatever number we like

[@audioworkshop1]

I'll take the Polks...

[@tm3895]

speakers?

[@kenhiett5266]

The chronic use of the self-confirmational "right" has become contagious.

[@tm3895]

Gluttony and Greed, two of the seven deadly sins.

[@erics.4113]

The other sins are all EQ related

[@gulfcoastrailroad5625]

The other sins are Bose, Crosley, Beats, and any under $30,000 speaker that doesn't say Paradigm on it 😁

[@dbmccoy12]

NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheDanEdwards]

37:20 "how they measure" - this obsession with measurements is misguided. The Korean company may be a lower-cost option to the Goldmund design, but the reality is people listen to speakers, not measure them. Perhaps this Korean company will do well, maybe not. But "how they measure" is not the first, or even second, thought that would pop into my mind when walking into a room and seeing these. First I'd listen to them. Then I'd ask how adjustable they are (to time-align the drivers.) Then I'd ask for the price. And finally the color options. The one KZbinr who posted videos of these and commented on them thought that they were interesting and sounded fine (for whatever one can conclude from these hotel room set-ups.)

[@turbo2288]

Everything sound FIND!!!

[@stohl82]

Your reporter really needs to pay better attention at the Shows. The Griffin Apex is a stereo amp. The Mabrok speakers are made in Florida.

[@ryanschipp8513]

FYI....PS Audio was not there. Paul from PS Audio admitted....they are scared of the virus and that's why they didnt go. Just nuts when you just came out with a 30k speaker. Yet the guy goes out all over the place and doesn't care(restaurants, shopping, etc.etc.....just bizarre.

[@chuckolson5219]

14 days to slow the spread lol

[@manw3bttcks]

hell, they could just hire a temporary salesman to just go to the show, better than not going at all

[@zbigniewkrol3899]

Dear James, Cabasse is French company 😉

[@zbigniewkrol3899]

a French company

[@jameslarson2277]

Oh crap, you are right. I even knew that, but said Italian anyway. Hey, it was a long day for me!

[@jimclarke1108]

Klipsch (horn) Amen

[@Roscoeverdin5469]

Eighty-six grand for speakers? I guess I'll be listening to my Veritas 2.4i till I pass on.

[@anthonymartino9917]

Firs off get the facts a bit straighter. Regarding Legacy Audio. They are showing the Signature and the Aeris on your first screen shot not the Focus SE which I have new and got about a about a year ago directly custom built from Legacy Audio. Secondly, No, the Focus is not all powered, well, not exactly. The Focus SE model is non powered and you can use their external amps or an amp of their choosing. Their Focus XD model is the Focus model that is Active and the Class D amp is built right inside of the cabinet. I personally like external amplifier and when with their top of the line amp called the iV2 Stereo Monoblock class D 1000wpc @ 4 ohms tons and tons of clean power! Now thirdly regarding the wavelet tech that Legacy uses. Yes you can use that on any of their speakers or you can elect to not. I am not as I have heard negative things regarding their use. Please understand that the focus has a passive Se version and an active version called the XD. Se exact size drivers exact speaker where one is active and one is passive. Please do more research before spewing non accurate info. Not trying to be angry or nasty but this is really common knowledge especially for a speaker that has won as many awards as the Focus has over the years. As much as Legacy Audio likes to push their wavelet system which corrects driver launching in the time domain etc and how much they like active speaker tech many audiophiles, me included rather power externally even with all their shortcomings which is not as much as many would lead you to believe. I guarantee if Legacy only offered powered active speakers they would loose many many customers as of now.

[@bubblehead5394]

Gene, "Audio-ologist" BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

[@supercompooper]

Cabasse is french

[@markfischer3626]

From Through the Looking Glass; "Things are getting curiouser and curiouser." If you can't solve a problem of getting past a wall with a sledge hammer that costs tens of thousands of dollars, hit it with one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it still doesn't budge. Once upon a time a long time ago this industry promised "concert hall realism from a recording in your home." That was its stated goal. Why? Because that is where some of the greatest music is heard and that it where it can sound great if the acoustics of the concert hall are great. Now it seems the industry has given up that goal and its new goal is to produce not so great music that is not so convincing even as heard in your home. What should have been a challenging engineering problem has turned into a marketing problem. The only real engineering I've seen in the last 60 years was the use of transistors to replace vacuum tubes eliminating output transformers and offering a greater measure of stability and reliability to electronic circuits and the invention of the Redbook Digital Compact Disc which as an engineer I regard as a remarkable coup. Hats off to those engineers. Other than that it's more of the same ole same ole in different forms from the hundreds of dollars to the hundreds of thousands of dollars and enough to make me laugh at such folly. Do you want to buy a mini mansion or for the same money a hi fi system? (I took the mini mansion and designed my own hi fi system.)

[@xavdeman]

Yes many of the examples shown in the video are excessive, useless and wasteful. But come on now, there's been engineering beyond transistor amps and CDs in the last 60 years. A fully digital signal path apart from the amplification stage is now mainstream. Also we have improvements such as the move towards subwoofers crossed over from mains which increases bass reproduction accuracy. The speaker clarify themselves has much improved due to better tweeters and the seperation to a center channel. On the software side as well, multi-channel / object based audio tracks (Dolby Atmos, DTS X). HRTF 3d audio for headphones/VR.

[@tomthumb6269]

When he writes his reviews, will he write LIKE and RIGHT as many times as it was mentioned in this video?

[@mattgiunt]

Cut him some slack.Imagine reporting your work to The Godfather of audio.

[@stohl82]

There was no Emotiva or Kef room.

[@HeroicCoachDan]

Audio Speaker fashion show.

[@dbmccoy12]

Change the slide NOW!!!!!

[@Finn-McCool]

Tesla makes an incredible vehicle. No need to be smug when you have contributed f all to mankind compared to Tesla. I'm a Toyota guy myself. Tundra and Sequoia are all a family needs.

[@xavdeman]

Oh god another $TSLA fanboy that can't take a joke.

[@SWATTECHNOLOGIES]

This has to be the ugliest disturbing pieces of gear I've ever seen.

[@petemaloy51]

The Klipsch Jubilee sounded terrible, major disappointment. Don't be afraid to tell the true truth , the buzz around the show was folks laughing at them.

[@dougg1075]

Everyone knows these spaces are no good for critical listening.

[@dilshaddealwis6543]

Appreciate the commentary but I can’t help but get the impression that there’s no research into the technology and it seems so judgmental. It is not true that Uber expensive gear is bad. I’ve heard some that are simply spectacular and beggars belief. I’ve gone from B&W all the way to the Wilson’s and there’s a reason why the Wilson’s command the high price point.

[@Schubeedoobee]

the Jubilee has NOTHING to do with the Klipschorn in terms of design or layout... you are WAY OFF.

[@robcohen]

All amps are 100% efficient at generating heat. What else can happen to the energy? It all ends up as heat.

[@Audioholics]

That makes no sense. A class A Amp is only about 25% efficient so it generates far more "heat" due to wasted energy than Class AB and especially Class D.

[@robcohen]

​ @Audioholics 100% of the energy will end up as heat. Depending on the efficiency of the amp and speakers, some of that energy just vibrates air molecules for a split second before converting to heat. The rest converts to heat in the amp, crossovers and driver motors. It's not hard to make electronics that's 100% as efficient at generating heat as an electric heater. Almost impossible not to. Maybe if you shoot a laser out the window and heat up the moon. (That's still heat, though.) So, when one amp uses 100 watts, it generates the same heat as a different class amp using 100 watts, which generates the same heat as an electric heater using 100 watts. All 100% efficient at generating heat. (Some are less efficient at generating sound, though.) If the goal is to heat your house, you're not wasting a single watt. The good news is that class A amps won't increase your electric bill in the winter. They will in the summer, though.

[@SlickBlackCadillac]

@@Audioholics sorry Gene, he is right

[@Audioholics]

@@SlickBlackCadillac it's semantics. The bottom line is efficiency determines how much of that "heat " is wasted as exothermic or converted to useful energy to do work on a pressure vessel like a speaker that converts it to sound via a loudspeaker.

[@Nonsense62365]

Most of this gear is priced for Income earners over $1,000,000. a year! Why are you criticizing their design and price points? Shamefull!

[@fredsanke4070]

Quirky speakers...

[@questioneverything1123]

I hate to be critical... James seems unfamiliar and unprepared to talk about the products, he barely glosses over. UNfamiliar with Goldmund = where have you guys been? James expressions ARE MILK TOAST at the worst!!! Struggles making meaningful associations to support his impressions. Talking around everything. Does he have a tuned, trained listening ear?? or just rely on measurements ???

[@bjornganslandt37]

Negative BS of nearly everything.

[@mikez5243]

What's with the Tesla diss? All this tech and you don't like how a Tesla drives?

[@Audioholics]

I'm not a sheep like most Tesla fanboys. I find their cars to be extremely bland and ordinary but if you like em, more power to you.

[@jameslarson2277]

I don't hate Teslas, but they are not my first choice were I shopping for an electric car. I am really looking forward to what Toyota is going to do with an electric drivetrain.

[@raphaelmeillat8527]

Amazing how touchy some people are about Tesla jokes. And so ironic given how Tesla's Elon Musk promotes free speech and loves dissing lots of people and brands...

[@jyyrsdbn]

+

[@normanham6142]

Yawn 💤

[@pgansz]

Loved the content. Didn't love the mumbling, incoherent sentence structure and constant repetition of "like" and "right".