Audiophile Insights At AXPONA 2025 Sixth Floor
Exploring next-gen high-end audio technologies.
Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker 

628  Western HiFi, Consonance, Dynavector, And Well Tempered Lab
Scaling down even further was this modest presentation from Western HiFi, a dealer in Texas. The Consonance Compact monitor from Italy ($1460, $2000 with stands) was driven by the Consonance Reference 5.5i Mk II with 18 Wpc from parallel 300B tubes, seen in silver on the right. Here was the Well Tempered Labs Amadeus Junior ($3350) that I mentioned above. Below it was the Well Tempered CTRL power supply / motor controller ($2890). It was fitted with a Dynavector XX-2A ($2250). To the right of the power supply was a Lejonklou Entity phono preamp ($2795).

A Consonance PW-3 Power Block ($270) was on the floor to the left of the rack, and a Consonance D-Linear15 power conditioner ($2790) was on the bottom shelf. Cables from Consonance were affordable and appropriate for the scale of the rig. I thought this was a well-balanced rig that sang above its price point with the parallel 300B tube amp.

634  Aurender
I was expecting tables full of Aurender products on silent display, but was instead treated to a very nice presentation with Wilson Audio SabrinaX speakers. On the HRS rack, an Aurender A1000 music server was delivering Dylan's "Man With A Long Black Coat" to the new Audio Research i70 integrated amp. A Shunyata Gemini power conditioner delivered the AC. Despite the circular Mobius cable suspension system, I don't think these were the flagship Shunyata Omega speaker cables. This room sounded about as good as you would expect with such a cast of name brands. It showed how good and how simple a rig can be when you keep it down to a single source with an integrated amplifier. It was a treat to hear the SabrinaX driven by a tube amp. It can be done!

642  Pearl Acoustics
This was a replay of my experience two weeks earlier in Montreal with the Pearl Acoustics single-driver speaker. I'll lift a couple of paragraphs from that report to save me some time. The price given was in Canadian dollars. Multiply that by 0.75 to get an approximate U.S. price. I wrote:

"Pearl Acoustics is a UK-registered company with production and distribution done in Belgium. Their sole speaker is the Sibelius CG with the copper cone driver, also available as an identical SG model with a silver driver. The stained French oak of the cabinet is available in different stains and almost looks like cherry wood. The French oak has a much different grain than red or white oak typically found in North America. The speaker is also available in high-density Baltic birch ply if you wish to have a painted finish. They are open to you designing it to suit yourself, but lead times are currently quite long. The fit and finish of the sample here were superb."

"The design is a crossover-less one with a quarter wave horn and front port at the bottom, much like the Lowther design of yore from which it is derived. The history of the company is fascinating and speaks well of the company. The Sibelius is meant to be driven by SET tube amps in the 35 to 70 Watt range, though a good solid-state amp would likely do it justice, too. Pearl Acoustics is set to come out with a solid-state amp in June of this year ($9,400), and a tube amp in December ($14,500). The Sibelius speaker is priced at $12,900 in either French oak or Baltic plywood."

It was driven by a Galion tube amp in Montreal. The tube amp here was labeled Pearl Acoustics, so this may have been a prototype, and likely the same with the solid-state amp next to it on the top shelf. That was a Rega P8 turntable and an LTA Aero DAC on the shelf below it. A top-loading CD player was to the right of the turntable.

The Pearl Acoustics Sibelius is among the finest single-driver speakers I've heard. Only the Cube Nenuphar comes to mind among contemporary speakers, and that one is around twice the price. Most of the others were so long ago I hardly remember them.

646  DeVore Fidelity, Box Furniture Co., Well Tempered Lab, Leben HiFi, And Black Cat Cable
John DeVore is probably best known for the O/93 and O/96 high-efficiency speakers he builds, but he makes some fine-sounding conventional floorstanders, too. I heard the Gibbon Super 9 two and a half way ($10k) seen here, but also noticed the micr/O sealed bookshelf speaker ($3,950) tucked in the upper corners of the large Box Furniture rack ($9,500) customized with two additional shelves and side and back panels. It easily handled hundreds of LPs and the other components.

A Leben CS600X 30-Watt EL34 tube integrated amp proved what I've said many times—you probably don't need as many Watts as you think you need. Just good ones. A Leben RS30EQ tube MM phono preamplifier supplemented the integrated amp, and a FonolabPacto step-up transformer ($2750) allowed the use of the Well Tempered Kauri Mk II MC cartridge ($2k).

The turntable was a Well Tempered Versalex table and arm ($4850) with their CTRL motor controller ($1750). On the digital side, a Grimm Audio MU-2  streaming DAC/preamplifier ($17,500) lurked on the bottom shelf. I liked the way this rig (with small monitors) was tucked into the Box Furniture console, giving the hotel room an "at home" feel. If only they had borrowed a sofa from the Salvation Army for the weekend.... If you're wondering, the large wood box beneath the turntable was an ISO.S.E. Heritage Isolation Platform ($3500) that looked like an antique.

650  Bricasti Design
Bricasti brought essentially the same rig I had previously seen at Capital Audiofest in November and Montreal Audiofest two weeks earlier. A Tidal Audio Piano speaker revealed the excellence of the Bricasti gear, but I longed to hear it with another speaker just for variety.

Of note here is the M19 SACD/CD transport that should be your 'forever' transport if you prefer your CDs to streaming. Note the large footers common to all Bricasti gear here.

The M1 and M11 are DACs. Only the M11 on the top right is shown here. The M20 in silver is also a DAC. The rest of the pieces should be evident.

656  Dynaudio And Music For Pleasure
Dynaudio continued the minimalist theme I heard at Montreal, presenting the new Confidence 20A Active speakers ($24k) with amplifiers built into the stands. Switches were on the back side of the pillar. The source and preamp were combined in the Moon by Simaudio 891 Network Player / Preamplifier ($25k) in their two-tone silver and black finish. Cables were by Transparent Audio, and that was a Transparent XL Powerisolator ($9250) below the preamp. Transparent is a well-known, established cable company, but I've heard very little about their power conditioners over the years. And often at shows, the power conditioner is hidden behind the racks.

As I said in my Montreal report, this trend toward minimal footprint and minimal impact on the home environment seems to be one of the major trends today. With DAC technology reaching a mature stage, streaming becoming more popular, and combining multiple functions into a single chassis, it is possible to create compact systems that fit more easily into multi-purpose and multi-person rooms, whether it is a college dorm room on the affordable end, or a retirement townhouse on the affluent end.

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