I didn't think Cambridge Audio was owned by Samsung. Could be though. At any rate, yeah their US HQ is in the same building as Soul & Smoke BBQ. I think that's Soul & Smoke's OG location, though now they have one in the West Loop too. Good stuff!
Agreed, the Linkwitz room sounded great. I liked this LX521 demo a lot better than the Orion demo I heard when Axpona was in Atlanta. They were also doing different seminars on the hour. I have zero interest in reel-to-reel tape but Jamie Howarth was really engaging in showing how he uses digital correction to restore artist's intent lost through multiple analog copies, and doing A/B demos of the results. Fremer came in for that one too. OTOH, I didn't think there was material difference between the regular ones and the magnesium ones, though I guess the magnesium cone room was also larded up with "audiophile" equipment and the regular cone room had normal "good" equipment (MacBook Pro, RME ADI-2 or Topping DAC) so the magnesium cone ones were at a disadvantage. Still, based on this audition I see no reason to spring for the fancier drivers.
Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time at Axpona so most of my auditions were super abbreviated and I had to cut a lot of stuff. Among the rooms I had on my list that but could not make: Audio Physic, Bayz Audio, Creative Sound Solutions, Dayton Audio, ELAC, Grimm Audio (though I don't know if they had speakers or just other crap), Revel, JBL, Hsu, KEF, Madisound, MartinLogan (assuming they had stats; no interest in their other lines), Parts Express, SB Acoustics, Vivid, VPE, YG Acoustics.
Also I was reminded generally about how much 2.0 channel bass sucks. There seemed to be little attempt to correct for room problems. A few were decent. I thought the Lyngdorf room sounded quite good. Their new speakers were impressive, and of course they were also using RoomPerfect.
A few other capsules.
TAD - the Evolution 1's looked great, and sounded pretty good too. Maybe a touch aggressive on top in this room. Room was pretty empty.
PMC - they were playing Eric Clapton's "Before You Accuse Me" Unplugged, and on some giant speakers, and honestly sounded anemic. Not impressed.
Lyngdorf - great setup. I know they're expensive and just 2-ways but they were good. Attractive, too.
Amphion- another one of my favorites. They had their big cardioid towers. They were a little midrange forward in their presentation, but the low end was really smooth. I suspect these would be standouts with some EQ. One interesting this I noticed other exhibitors were cycling in and out of this room. Didn't see that anywhere else.
Perlisten - didn't overwhelm me. The aesthetic just doesn't do it for me - the Textreme woofer cones look like portholes in that cabinet design. IMO nobody would put Perlisten towers in black next to Salon2 and think they were similar class speakers by the eye test. Also I don't think I would ever be able to visually get past the low height of the tweeter array. The towers didn't sound any more impressive than the standmounts IMO.
Philharmonic - really beautiful cabinetry. Did not stay long because people kept their seats and needed to move on. They sounded a little dull while standing - long ribbon - but I suspect seated they were a lot better.
Legacy - walked in and walked out. I was a little taken aback by the veneer work on the center channel on display - there were gaps at every facet. Maybe they need to try Ken/Dennis's cabinet shop?
MoFi 888 - very pleasant sounding. I don't know that they'd win any resolution contests if A/B'ed against Neumann et al., but I also didn't hear anything that would cause offense. They were a little shorter than I expected, but looked good in white. In person they reminded me even more of the old Tannoy Definition series (the D500 pictured below was the 8" model) with the trapezoidal cabinets. I suspect these will be a hit.
Also, for
@MattHooper, I heard the Josephs, but I don't think the setup did them huge favors. The room was enormous. The sidewalls were too far away to add much spaciousness. The gear powering them was cartoonish - a turntable that had a platter a foot thick, some tweako amps, and obviously dumbass wires. One thing they did very well was dynamic shading. They were also exquisitely finished.
Lastly, the speaker designer talk was a little disappointing. Little substance. Also, the moderator took an unnecessary IMO dig at Andrew Jones - Jones was telling his usual story about introducing someone to Dr. Richard Small, and the moderator kind of sneered "you're still telling that one?" But it was great to run into Erin and
@quattro98 there.