7th Heaven Unplugged: Where AXPONA 2025's Audio Dreams Soar!
Immersing yourself in the magic of music at a high-end audiophile event.
Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker 

724  AGD Productions And Rosso Fiorentino
Alberto Guerra loves to display as much of his growing product line as possible at shows. As one of the original designers of Class D amps based on GaNFET transistors, he has refined his designs to stay at the forefront of Class D amplifiers. I've reviewed several of his designs, and my Audion monoblocks have received two upgrades to Mk III status simply by plugging in a new 'tube' containing the power stage. His amps rarely show up on USAudiomart, but when they do, they are usually snapped up quickly.

As I noticed at the Montreal show, the power switch on the Gran Vivace (center) is now located at the left front corner, a welcome and elegant touch. But more alarming was the amp on the right, which I didn't notice at the time. It looks to be trimmed in leather, and it is much larger than his other amps. I'm surprised Alberto didn't point it out to me.

Alberto rotates speakers from one show to the next most of the time. The Rosso Fiorentino floorstanding loudspeaker was the Arno 40, utilizing the new drivers made in-house at Rosso Fiorentino. I've been a fan of this Italian speaker company for many years, but I've yet to have the time to sit down and seriously listen to the new Arno models. (There is also a stand-mounted monitor.) Alberto's room generates a lot of traffic (for good reason), so it is just luck to visit when there is enough serenity to truly appreciate the music.

On my way out the door, I ran into Chuck Bruce, one of my peers at Enjoy The Music.com. Noticing that his Press Pass was still on the basic AXPONA lanyard, I reached into my bag and gave him an official, and collectable, orange Enjoy the Music.com high quality lanyard to make him look more official. Be sure to check out his photos and comments, too.

727  Auer Acoustics, Master Fidelity, Soulution, Innuos, And Stromtank
The Auer Acoustics speakers grabbed my attention for being made with Tankwood (Panzerholz). Knowing how dense and heavy it is (I have a piece), I expected the Versura V2 speaker to be heavy and largely devoid of cabinet resonances. I didn't try to budge one, but they sounded quite good.

The rig was quite refined with a Soulution 711 integrated amp, a Master Fidelity NADAC C clock on the left, and a NADAC D DAC with True 1-bit decoding on the right. On the lower shelf was Innuos streaming gear. On either end of the horizontal rack was a Stromtank battery supply keeping the entire system off-grid. These are not inexpensive, so I recommend you travel to listen to a system with one before you invest.

The conventional form factor was pleasant, and the gloss paint was thick and well-applied. The Vesura V2 is a sealed design with 89dB efficiency and a nominal 8 Ohm impedance, 6 Ohm minimum. The minimum suggested amplification is 20 Watts, so this could be a very interesting speaker for lovers of lower-powered tube amps. It is available in a variety of gloss colors, a few mat colors, and both walnut and oak veneer. Two stand-mounted monitors and three floorstanders make up the line. While I had a good feeling about this speaker, converting a price I found in Australia puts it at about $56k USD. But who knows what shipping and tariffs might do to affect the price here?

The NADAC C 10MHz clock and D DAC have created a stir among digital gear over the past year.

728  KMD Engineering Co. Ltd, HiFiStay, HiFiRose, Unison Research, And Orchestralls
KMD Engineering Co., Ltd sounds like it might be another consulting firm that helps manufacturers design components and crossovers. Once I popped into their room, I recognized who they were. But they really should consider rebranding themselves with a more memorable name that relates to high-end audio or loudspeakers. Even KMD Acoustics would be a huge improvement. It is a well-kept secret that their Orchestalls speakers are world-class once you give them a serious audition. True, they look a little robotic, so they are slightly ahead of their time. But they are not that different than some of the Goldman speakers from Switzerland.

The other divisions of their company make machinery for the manufacture of disposable syringes and mushroom farming equipment. So they have a bit of a marketing problem, but that's fixable. This South Korean company needs to get its speakers into the rooms of serious, heavyweight reviewers.

They use Seas drivers and control the sound using patented directional angle technology. You will notice the tweeter and midrange modules are angled slightly toward the listening position.

And yes, they sounded as good this year as I've heard in the past—even with modestly priced equipment driving them. On the HiFiStay amp stand with auxiliary footers was a Unison Research Unico 150 hybrid integrated amp from Italy that puts out 150 Wpc into 8 Ohms and 250 Wpc into 4 Ohms. A HiFi Rose network streamer was sitting on top. HiFiStay and HiFi Rose are both from South Korea.

This year, they were using some serious-looking cables and power conditioning. The video screen took advantage of the 4k output from the HiFi Rose streamer. That's got me thinking about the YouTube videos and concerts.

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