Bookshelf Speaker Roundup of 2017 AXPONA

AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) has, over the last few years, turned into a major event for high-fidelity audio. Attendance has continually grown as have the number of exhibitors, and this year saw a staggering 140 dedicated listening rooms covering over eight floors of the Westin O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, IL. AXPONA took place over the weekend of April 21st to the 23rd, and Audioholics was there all three days. We spent most our time sampling the impressive array of demo rooms. In our coverage this year we bring you a selection of highlights from our experiences. We broke up our room coverage by speaker type, since, in many of the rooms, the speakers were the most standout component.

In this article, we will look at five of the newer bookshelf speakers that caught our attention at AXPONA 2017.

Elac Adante AS-61

 

Famed speaker designer Andrew Jones was on hand to demonstrate his team’s newest creation at Elac, the Adante AS-61. The Adante AS-61 is a fairly sizable bookshelf speaker that looks like it means business with its metallic brushed-aluminum front baffle with aluminum cones and muted wood-grain side panels. The Adante AS-61 uses concentric drivers for the midwoofer and tweeter, a design which Jones has an affinity for, and which has brought him great success. What looks like an 8” woofer on front is actually a passive radiator for a 6.5” driver mounted in a chamber just behind it. That is a very curious design decision, to say the least, but sadly, when discussing the Adante bookshelf speakers with Mr. Jones himself, I was too star-struck to have the presence of mind to ask him how he pulled off such a peculiar design. However, there is no question of its efficacy from what I heard in the demo room as the sound quality was not disappointing given the high expectations of any product from its chief designer. In the past few years Elac has stormed the North American Hi-Fi market with the help of Mr. Jones, and with the Adante speakers that trend shows no sign of stopping soon. The Adante speaker line is expected to be available sometime in the second quarter of 2017 at a price of $2,500/pr. I have no doubt that these speakers will prove to be extremely competitive in their price range.

Sonner Allegro Unum 

The Allegro Unum is a no-expenses spared speaker from a new company that turned out to be one of my favorites of the show. Sonner’s president, Gunawan Surya, told me that an enormous amount of attention was paid to every aspect of its design, from computer simulations, to manufacturing techniques, to the inertness of the speaker stand material composition, to the type of spiked feet used on the speaker. It took a year and a half to design them. The Allegro Unum uses a 1” ring dome tweeter and a 6” custom designed woofer using a magnesium cone with a 2 kHz crossover point. Its imaging was phenomenal and had a sense of depth matched by few other speakers I have heard. Mr. Surya’s passion for music was on display as much as his speakers and he insisted that I listen to a variety of recordings that demonstrated the vividness with which the Allegros mapped out a performance. While I am normally annoyed when exhibitors exhort me to listen to their favorite recordings, in the Sonner room it was a pleasure due to the tremendous fidelity of the speakers and also the terrific choices of music and quality of these recordings. However, this reminded me that such speakers can only bring a return on their investment when recordings of impeccable quality are used by the listener, and, at roughly $10,000 a pair, that investment is considerable indeed. On the other hand, if your tastes in music bring you to the highest levels in recording quality, the asking price of the Allegro Unums may be a relatively small investment for a generous return. 

MarkAudio-SOTA Viotta One

MarkAudio-SOTA is a new speaker company trying to carve out a niche in a crowded market by using wide-band drivers for the lows and highs. There's a host of advantages of using this approach. One is that the designer has a lot more freedom of choice where the crossover frequency can be used so they can choose where the directivity of the drivers match. Thus, there is no abrupt change in sound character going from the driver’s different frequency bands. Another advantage is that gradual rolloff slopes can be used in the crossover since the driver’s comfort zone is so broad in frequency. This also helps abrupt changes in sound character across driver bands and can reduce sharp group delay and phase issues that can plague steep crossover slopes. MarkAudio-SOTA leverages these advantages in the Viotta One which I had a brief chance to hear in my stop at their room. The sound was detailed, crisp, and enveloping. The speakers are easy on the eyes as well, with stands that resemble pedestals, a lacquered finish on the surrounding paneling, and a velvety-black front baffle. They can only be ordered direct from manufacturer, and at roughly $3k/pair shipped, they are a not something that most people can purchase on a whim. But, if you are not satisfied with them for any reason, MarkAudio-SOTA offers buyers a complete refund within 30 days of receipt. That demonstrates a strong level of confidence which MarkAudio-SOTA has in their product. For those interested in learning more about MarkAudio-SOTA products, we have a full review of their Cesti T tower speakers coming up in the near future, so stay tuned to Audioholics for a complete report. 

Hsu Research CCB-8

I was excited to finally hear the new CCB-8 bookshelf speakers from Hsu Research. Dr. Hsu was on hand to run through a selection of tracks that demonstrate the abilities of the CCB-8 speakers, and, as a stereo pair, the imaging and dynamic range that they presented was remarkable. Although the room was setup as a 5.1 system, I referenced them as a stereo pair. From the little bit I heard as a 5.1 setup I found the center and surrounds were hardly needed since the CCB-8 pair imaged so well. The CCB-8 speakers use a coaxial driver design. The tweeter is mounted directly behind the woofer and uses the pole piece of the bass driver as the throat of a horn, and the cone of the woofer as the horn mouth. While this design is sometimes seen in pro-audio speakers, it is seldom used in home audio. Legendary speaker scientist Don Keele Jr. aided in the design of the CCB-8 by determining the proper geometry of the horn. As I was leaving the Hsu room, I overheard other guests comment that the CCB-8s sounded far better than speakers many times their price; a sentiment which I heartily agreed with. Hsu also brought along their subwoofers, and we listened to their most modest offering, the new VTF-1 mk3 which was released late last year. It is a 10” variable-tuned subwoofer using a 250 watt BASH amp, and despite its status as Hsu’s smallest sub, it still energized the room with strong bass and backed up the CCB-8s with an authoritative foundation. Even though the CCB-8 speakers and VTF-1 subwoofer were some of the least expensive products at the show, they were still one of the standout exhibits, proving once again that you do not need to spend a fortune to get great sound. After hearing the CCB-8s and VTF-1, I was delighted to be taking them home as a review set. Keep an eye open for our full review of them in the coming months here at Audioholics.

Legacy Calibre 

Legacy Audio’s room was buzzing with activity throughout the show, so it was not under optimal conditions that I had the chance to hear their new Calibre speakers, but in the short instances I was able to get a listen I felt like they lived up to their hype; crisp, clear vocals and strong bass. The Calibres are Legacy’s attempt to make the finest compact bookshelf speaker possible. The specs of the Calibre position them to be a very potent performer: 4” high-end AMT tweeter, 7.5” high-powered mid-woofer with a 6 lbs magnet, two 8” dual-opposed passive radiators, all stuffed into a medium-sized, robustly-built cabinet and weighing 50 lbs altogether. These are going to need a pretty stout speaker stand, but with a frequency response of 38 Hz to 30 kHz within a +/- 2 dB window, they should prove to be more than a match for many of the tower speakers out there. Personally, I like the idea of these as recording console monitors, as something that doesn’t need floorspace, but has the power and range of tower speakers. Legacy Audio also brought along their new Foundation subwoofer that Audioholics recently previewed. Sadly, it wasn’t hooked up, but I have a feeling that such a small subwoofer packed with so much firepower would have been truly eye-opening for many of the show-goers who assume that massive bass can only come from a massive cabinet. The base price of a Calibre pair is $5,500 and the price of the Foundation subwoofer is $3,850.  

Conclusion

We listened to a slew of great bookshelf speakers this year at AXPONA and the ones featured above were just a handful from many interesting and/or great sounding exhibitors. AXPONA was so busy this year that quite a few of the rooms were consistently full or were too crowded to get good pictures of the gear. But, there were so many rooms that for every crowded room there was also a room with a nice-sounding setup and open seating to relax and enjoy the music. Stay tuned to Audioholics for further coverage of AXPONA where we will next cover full-range floor-standing speakers.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.