Acora Acoustics' Amazing Speakers... And VAC Tube Amps Were Everywhere
Plus an Aurender Streamer, Abendrot DAC, and more at the FIAE 2025 show.
Florida International Audio Expo 2025 Show Report By Steven R. Rochlin

  During the Florida International Audio Expo event (FIAE) in Tampa, it was a joy to experience the incredible-sounding and lovely VAC (Valve Amplification Company) tube amplifiers within many outstanding-sounding rooms. Valve Amplification Company (VAC), based right here in Florida, was founded in 1990 by Kevin Hayes and his father, Channing W. Hayes. VAC is renowned for its dedication to sonic purity and craftsmanship, creating audio components that aim to reproduce music with vividness and realism. Their products include amplifiers, preamplifiers, and integrated systems, many of which are considered masterpieces in the audiophile community.

Kevin Hayes and his wonderful wife Darlene are always a joy to see and discuss all things tube amps, music... Jaguar cars, vintage mechanical timepieces, etc. Kevin and Darlene are like the perfect neighbors you wish you had, and just because they also happen to handcraft luxurious high-end audio vacuum tube amplifiers is like icing on the proverbial cake. During the FIAE 2025 show in Tampa, it was a great opportunity to truly experience VAC products within many rooms. This ensured you knew that they work incredibly well with everything. Or it seems that way as every system that employed VAC products sounded stunning.

Acora Acoustics' Valerio And Sheree Cora 

Acora Acoustics is a Canadian company that specializes in crafting truly incredible ultra-high-end loudspeakers. Their innovative use of granite and quartzite in speaker enclosures provides exceptional rigidity and minimizes unwanted vibrations, resulting in a purer and more detailed sound. Founded by the always-welcoming and warm Valerio Cora, Acora Acoustics combines his passion for music and expertise in working with dimensional stone. The company offers a range of loudspeakers, including stand-mounted and floorstanding models, which cater to different room sizes and listening preferences. Their designs emphasize both sonic performance and aesthetic appeal, making them a favorite among audiophiles and their families.

Enjoy the Music.com's world premiere review of Acora Acoustics' QRC 2 floorstanding loudspeaker is very popular, which is impressive considering in 2025 we're celebrating our 30th Anniversary. Within Rick Becker's review, he wrote "As to wife-acceptance-factor, as the music sings "Don't worry, be happy." My wife said she liked it the first time she saw it, as did a couple of her lady friends. And she has dropped several appreciative comments in recent months. Physically, it is not a big speaker. If your ego needs it to be a big speaker, simply turn up the volume. While it is a two-way speaker with a beryllium tweeter and an extra midbass driver, the drivers have been modified by Acora Acoustics, and the speaker will play loud, easily getting over 100dB at the listening position with appropriate amplification. And as witnessed at shows, it will fill rooms many times the size of mine with glorious music."

The one-two combination of VAC and Acora Acoustics is a match made in hi-fi heaven. Enjoy your fave tunes as the immersive soundscape seems to naturally flow and envelope the listen (as appropriate within the source material / music). Fast, clean, yet hints of wonderful warmth and seductiveness (when appropriate / female vocals), or laser-fast (Kraftwerk), or surreal, or... it depends on the source material, as the system is there to (re)create the aural art we love. As always, in the end what really matters is that you... enjoy the music.

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