These are new, prototypes? Nowhere in sight on their website.
Did they have the smaller units on display? The Powerpoint 10? I've seen them on sale often, must be the boring looks, but they have a good chance at sounding good given they were done by Phil Jones.
I've had someone suggest these are Pearl Audio's Sibelius loudspeakers in the photo here. When I look up those speakers, they look identical. Hmmm. Seeing the price on the Sibelius would confirm what my ears were hearing. I want to build around the Alpair 11s.
How about we cut the 'trading insults' malarkey. Offending post removed and if yours got caught up in the collateral then that's gone as well.
This is my friend's design. He's also known for setting SPL world records and having the best sound quality car audio competition systems ever. Steve Cook has a great ear. His "tunes" tend to be a bit more on the 'aggressive' side (2kHz bump, tons of bass output) but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just the way the system is balanced. It has dynamics for days. I agree it was one of the better systems at the show. But maybe I'm biased.
I didn't get the chance to hear a lot of systems. And I certainly don't judge them alone on their in-room performance at AXPONA. That said here are my personal notes:
- I loved the Rockport Lynx speakers (one of my favorites of the show as well). The soundstage depth and layering was un-f'ing-real. Overall tonality sounded quite nice with nothing standing out in any way. The engineering behind these is legit. I spoke with another well-respected designer (whose name is referenced many times on this forum in positive ways) and he said Rockport impresses him with their engineering. Seems like good praise. Hopefully, one day I can get a pair in to review but I'm not going to hold my breath.
- The MBL room featuring their mid-sized and smaller sized omnidirectional speakers was neat. But I wasn't terribly impressed, either. I'm told their huge speaker is by far the better speaker and the smaller ones are just to satiate those without the extremely deep pockets. I could see that.
- The Perlisten room using the S7t and dual-opposed stack of 8-inch subwoofers sounded very nice. It was also one of the few rooms that incorporated room correction. The rooms I heard that did use this always sounded MUCH better in the bass. Another example of why judging the bass performance in these rooms is a bad idea unless it's a case where the design is meant to "get around" these kind of issues (such as a cardioid).
- The Dutch & Dutch 8c sounded fantastic, as usual.
- I briefly listened to the large Vivid Audio speakers. They sounded good. But there was a pillar just to the left that did a number on the imaging. I wound up having to skew my head over about 6 inches from the stereo center spot to get the midrange to get aligned in phase.
- MoFi's new v10 is huge. I didn't hear it from the sweet spot and it was PACKED all the time. But if it's kind of like a scaled-up version of the 888, I'm on board all the way.
- The Linkwitz LX521 sounded good but I wasn't impressed as the praise would have led me to believe I would be. I get that they're different and create a bigger space. And I actually really like a speaker that creates a big soundstage, even considering the tradeoffs. Still, I was kind of left thinking "meh" with this particular speaker. Not bad. Just not "omg, amazing" that I expected.
- The Silent Pound Challenger II is a speaker I look forward to getting in for review. I listened briefly and liked the overall sound. Great output and dynamics. Seemed at least somewhat neutral in room. The one thing that was interesting about this speaker is the fact that - even in an asymmetrical room - the imaging didn't "jump" when you moved your head side to side in about a 12-inch area. I have to assume this is due to the dipole bass radiation combined with the cardioid midrange radiation. Less sidewall reflections at the extreme angles.
Speaking of asymmetrical rooms, many speakers had an issue where the sweet spot was quite narrow. Some of this is, of course, due to the fact that we are listening to a stereo setup and gain/delay are how we hear on the horizontal plane. Thus, any side-to-side movement will skew the imaging/focus. However, the significant factor was that the layouts in most of the rooms were asymmetric. Particularly because the hotel rooms have a countertop on one of the walls that cause the speaker on this side to be further away from the wall than the other speaker's distance to the sidewall. In looking, I'd say one speaker was typically about 4 to 5 feet off one side wall while the other speaker was about 2 to 3 feet. This asymmetry has a huge effect on speakers with poor off-axis dispersion and a milder one (yet still there) on speakers with good off-axis dispersion.
On the downside, I was surprised how many instances I experienced where the room's host was unengaging. You’d walk in, they’d be sitting there talking to their counterparts and they’d not even glance up at me/others. If it had been consistently late in the day or weekend I would have been understanding. But it was at varying times. On the flipside, there were also cases where the hosts were extremely engaging even at the end of the day and happy to play whatever music the crowd wanted.
Speaking of music, I never want to hear a Diana Krall song OR that ridiculous “sound of silence” version where the dude seems to hit an 80Hz baritone note again. 🤣
I do wish there were a way to separate the talking from the listening. I know it’s not possible, though. There were times I wanted to listen but the traffic outside was bad. Or times where I’d want to have a quick conversation with someone in the hallway and we had to talk over the music. Yes, I realize I am part of the problem for the former.
Overall, I had a really good time. I spent probably 70% of it talking to friends, meeting new ones and just enjoying sharing conversations with fellow audio nerds. I even had a couple face-to-face arguments with some members of the review community. Which was a good thing to do because I’d rather have that kind of dialogue in person than online where tone is hard to read. But after the dust settled, we shook hands and went on our separate ways. I know we all get different experiences and have different goals for attending these shows but I’m always excited to just be around others who share the same passion I do, given how our hobby is so niche.
I’ll definitely be back next year.
- Erin
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MoFi SourcePoint V10 Master Edition ("the ugly" 😉), sound demo
Audiophile Junkie: Andrew Jones New Speaker - Sourcepoint V10 Master Edition at Axpona 2025
My comment at 4K / AAC 192kbps video YT: Very good sound!!!
Audiophile Junkie: Andrew Jones New Speaker - Sourcepoint V10 Master Edition at Axpona 2025
My comment at 4K / AAC 192kbps video YT: Very good sound!!!
Pearl Acoustics Sibelius ("the gentleman" 😎) but at Montreal 2025, sound demo
Audiophile Junkie:👍Got the Sweet Spot for Thomas and Stereo's Galion Room with Impressive Single Driver Pearl Speakers
My comment at 4K / AAC 192kbps video YT: Very good sound!!!
Audiophile Junkie:👍Got the Sweet Spot for Thomas and Stereo's Galion Room with Impressive Single Driver Pearl Speakers
My comment at 4K / AAC 192kbps video YT: Very good sound!!!
I have not attended the contest, but from reading about them, I'd never enter unless I lived within an hours drive, and didn't care if I win or lose.
There have been categories where the demo music would never be considered high quality by most here. A 3 minute demo, in a big room with people talking ??? Forget about it. Also, I think craftsmanship / fit / finish, is a 1/3rd of the score. So unless it looks like furniture, or something weird from Mars, you're not going to do well.
I remember reading about one contest where when the music started, the builder stood up and said "you got to be kidding". (Or something very close to that. ) It can be that bad.
It's mostly for fun. A show and tell event.
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I'd guess you are confusing the many other DIY get togethers with SDC. The judges provide the selections for test tracks and PE chooses from these. There is no talking in the judging room once the speaker is playing.
Other get togethers... People talk too loud sometimes and get shush'ed.
Other get togethers... People talk too loud sometimes and get shush'ed.
The Sibelius has a custom Alpair 10 driver in it (as Dave mentioned), not an 11MS. The 11MS is a really nice driver, but there are no voigt pipe designs on the main MA website at this time, so you'd have to design your own.
I would immediately walk out of the room. Why do her songs get the spotlight? It's not like there aren't other female jazz singers.
jeff
Ahh yeah, that's something I don't like about commercial hifi. They spend all their time making it look pretty
I just want the function. I'm making speakers, not furniture.
Thanks for warning me. I might still go, but I probably wouldn't enter
Got it. My musician friend really wants a pair of those. We will try a folded voigt pipe with the stock Alpair. Should be a fun project. Always is when you get to do it with a buddy
Just a shameless plug, InDIYana is now less than a month away....
Yes. And also Danville Signal made it 110% clear they had optimized the speaker and re-engineered the crossover. They told everyone it had 48dB/octave slopes etc.
Last post on SDC .. It's off topic, other than the OP is interested...The SDC is sponsored by Parts Express and winners get "PE Bucks". Originality and Craftsmanship do get about 1/3 of the score. It is in PEs interest as a profit maximizing company to encourage creative designs and include them in their magazine or website (which you sign a waiver allowing).
If you just want a fun casual time, show and tell, speaker talk, you will likely enjoy the other events. But for those of us that go to a lot of different DIY get togethers, SDC is fun in part because it's different. Some people do care if they win or lose, but 95% are just hanging out having a good time.
If you just want a fun casual time, show and tell, speaker talk, you will likely enjoy the other events. But for those of us that go to a lot of different DIY get togethers, SDC is fun in part because it's different. Some people do care if they win or lose, but 95% are just hanging out having a good time.
One can only speculate as to the reasons behind it. As long as the signal chain is solid, I guess it boils down to how they used it. Some lucky guesses:
- All active filters; no passive components to shape the output impedance to be optimal across the different frequency ranges. That would be consistent with woofers becoming harsh near their break-up modes.
- Single-brand amplifier racks? Seeing all the shiny gold and silver boxes on shiny chrome stands, I assume there was very little mixing and matching of amplifiers for each speaker 'way'.
- Steep filter slopes to mitigate #1, while probably making the dispersion lumpy. @perrymarshall had a thread describing an effect, where (correctly phased) sound pressure from adjacent woofers had a wave-guide like effect that alters mid/tweeter dispersion. Now, what happens if each driver is EQ'd in isolation so the virtual wave guides disappear? Variations of this come to mind, where sophisticated attempts to use biquads or FIR filters overlook these driver interactions.
Maty,
Have to say that even on my cell phone the significant amount of H2 in those class-A playback systems and the necessarily very musically sparse demonstration recordings sounded like an effects box demo to me. Must sound pretty gummed up with H2 if playing more complex music? (Also, the aural textures created by the H2 IMD products for some reason always remind me of the sound of a struggling old worn-out vacuum cleaner motor, due to the sort of rumbling effect; don't know why.)
Sincerely,
Mark
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That is an insightful observation. And a very true one.
How was the show overall? Did it seem well-attended, i.e., were the rooms full most of the time? How was the marketplace?
Tom
Tom