T.H.E. Show New York 2025, Part Two: Plenty to See, Hear, and Enjoy

Part One of my T.H.E International Audio Show New York 2025 appeared in Issue 224, To recap: The event was held at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights/Meadowlands hotel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey on October 24 – 26. I considered it to be a successful and fun event, with almost 40 exhibit rooms and more than 100 brands and dealers represented. As is the case with almost every audio show, there was a mix of smaller hotel rooms and large ballrooms. I thought the sound was extremely good overall, and some of the rooms were outstanding, even extraordinary.

The usual caveats: you can not make definitive sonic judgments at shows. My hearing isn’t what it used to be, though I have the advantage of being a trained listener and can still make acute judgments. And when you hear something special at a show, you know it. Consider these informed opinions, not The Revealed Word From On High.

Though I covered the show with diligence, it was impossible to see and hear everything. If I don’t dwell on the sound quality of a particular room or mention it, it was because I felt too rushed to credibly make a judgment, or the room was too crowded, or nothing was being demoed when I was there.

Let’s dive in:

One of the Tenacious Sound and Absoulute Audio and Video rooms was playing Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” when I walked in, and it was riveting. He sounded incredible, vividly present, and what I formerly dismissed as a pop-schlock song became emotionally gripping. As owner Shayne Tenace told me in an e-mail: “I always love when the system balance is such that it rewards great recordings and allows classics to sound magical.” The room featured a straightforward Burmester system comprised of the B38 loudspeakers ($35,000, in a stunning custom one-off candy apple red finish) and a 232 integrated amplifier with streaming DAC ($35,000).

Visiting the Robyatt Audio room at shows is always a treat, and this time was no exception, as they were showing the new QUAD ESL 2812 electrostatic (of course) loudspeakers ($9,995/pair). I’ve never heard a QUAD electrostat sound anything less than remarkable, and these continued the heritage. I also perked up because I noticed that the first record in the LP rack was Wa-Do-Dem by Eek-A-Mouse, a reggae artist who I rarely hear talked about in audiophile, or any, circles. I was impressed, so naturally Robin Wyatt spun the opening cut, “Ganja Smuggling,” for me. Followed by the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There,” and I was in heaven. The sound was fantastic, with great everything – soundstage, bass, pace, clarity.

It didn’t hurt that the associated equipment included a Rogue Audio RP-9 v2 preamp ($7,995) and new M-250 Ultra monoblock tube amps (price TBD), a VPI direct drive turntable ($15,995) with Bird of Prey tonearm ($15,950), Robyatt Audio MC3 step-up transformer ($1,095) and Tsar DST cartridge ($10,150), an Eversolo DMP A-6 Master Gen 2 DAC ($1,399) and Darwin cables.

Robyatt Audio's Robin Wyatt explains that the audience's lives are not complete without listening to Eek-A-Mouse, and the Robyatt Audio system at the show.

New Jersey dealer Verdant Audio showcased another venerable British brand, namely Linn, and it was highly impressive. Leonard Cohen’s music is becoming more and more of a sonic reference for me (I’ve long revered him as one of the greatest songwriters the world has ever known), and apparently many others, especially “You Want It Darker” from the album of the same name. Cohen’s deep voice and the sparse arrangement really resonated with the Linn system, both in terms of energizing the room with powerful sound, and in making a deep musical connection. I wasn’t able to get a list of the specific Linn products in the room as of press time.

I don’t claim to know how and why a lot of the Synergistic Research products work, but I’ve heard multiple demos now where their products were removed and reinserted into the system, and the changes were audible. When it comes to system tweaks, your mileage may certainly vary, but I know what I’ve heard.

Audio Note UK has always had a decidedly different approach to equipment and loudspeaker design and it was fully evident in NJ dealer Handmade Audio’s room – an amplifier with its top cover removed revealing hand-built transformers, the AN-E/SPx loudspeaker playing with field-coil sweetness, a bevy of exotic tubes glowing in all their musical glory.

Audio Note debuted their DAC5 Fifth Element IZVOR ladder DAC and TT Three Reference turntable (with AN-1S SOGON tonearm, IO I moving-coil cartridge and AN-S8 step-up transformer), and had a dazzling array of other equipment on hand including the Meishu Konzertmeister 300B integrated amplifier, CDT Four CD transport, and cables. The AN-E/SPx’s field-coil drivers are said to be the first to be designed and produced in the UK in decades. In fact, all Audio Note equipment is produced by the company in their UK and European factories. In particular, any classical music aficionado really should hear this system.

Bespoke audio art: the inside of the Audio Note Konzertmeister integrated amp.

My friend Jay Lawrence of the Long Island Audio Society likes to play “Strange Planet” by Shpongle as a serious test of a system’s low-frequency capability. And I mean serious. Along with immense multidimensional bass, the track has a huge spatiality and hypnotic sounds coming from a vast soundspace. Many if not most systems simply cannot do it justice. Well, the no-holds-barred Audio Group Denmark system could deliver it effortlessly. An experience. A big part of this was thanks to the dual Børresen A3 bass modules with four 8-inch drivers and built-in Class D amplification in a folded dipole enclosure ($21,000). The rest of the system included Børresen M2 speakers ($199,500/pair), fed by Aavik x88 Series electronics and wired with Ansuz cable.

This system wasn’t a one-trick pony, though: Lalo Schifrin’s big band “Blues in the Basement” sounded equally impressive (the larger-than-life standup bass is recorded that way, not a system artifact, but sure is a good way to wow listeners), as did the legendary RCA “Living Stereo” Scheherazade with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

When attending a show, when you walk into a room for the first time, try to listen to more than one track! It’s a mistake to make a snap judgment. I had this realization for about the hundredth or maybe the thousandth time (I’ve been going to audio shows since 1988) when I heard one of the systems presented by New York audio dealer HiFi Loft. Whatever they were playing when I first walked in didn’t do it for me. Then they played the 1981 New Wave smash “Da Da Da” by the German group Trio on vinyl and it was fantastic, with tremendous bass impact and clarity. I was laughing out loud out of the sheer fun of it. Who knew this song sounded so good?

The room’s gear included the Electrocompaniet EMC1 mkV CD player ($7,200), ECM1 mkII streamer/DAC ($6,000), ECP2 mkII phono preamp ($3,200) and AW800M mono amplifiers ($47,500/pair); Soulines TT42 turntable ($15,400 less arm and cartridge) and Loop tube phono preamp ($2,500); Triangle Acoustics Magellan 40th Anniversary Quatuor loudspeakers ($22,000/pair), a Modulum rack, and Nordost cables.

It was tough to get all of the big Triangle/Electrocompaniet system in one photo (and I'm no Harris Fogel), so here's part of it. Those amps are way bigger than they appear here.

Here's a closer look at the system's equipment rack.

I wasn’t familiar with South Korean company Mon Acoustic until this show, and I was very, very, very pleasantly surprised. (They have a US office in California.) Their large system featured the Platimon VC Two MK II speakers ($12,100/pair), which have a novel switchable crossover that changes their sonic character from a tighter sound to a more open presentation with a wider soundstage. I liked them both! In both cases the sound was superb, with excellent tonality, imaging, and an inviting presentation in the large room the speakers were presented in.

The 3.5- or 4-way (depending on configuration floorstanding tower is made from aircraft-grade 6061 aluminum in an understated matte finish (available in black or navy with black or silver faceplate), and uses a 1-inch beryllium tweeter and an 8-inch woofer designed in house. While not inexpensive, in today’s world of eye-watering sticker prices, I have to consider this a bargain. The rest of the system was comprised of a Titan Acoustics TX100 turntable ($9,995), Aragon Tungsten preamp ($19,999) and Aragon Iridium mono amps ($12,999/each).

I was equally impressed by Mon Acoustic’s little Supermon Mini, a 2.5-way isobaric design measuring about 6-1/2 inches high and featuring an AMT tweeter and 4-inch woofer in a 6061 aluminum enclosure (the show pair had a striking red anodized finish). I didn’t note the price, or the associated equipment. I did note that the speakers sounded excellent during a brief listen. They’d be ideal for a desktop system or a small room.

Here's the larger Mon Acoustic system with the Platimon VC Two MK II speakers, powered by Aragon electronics.

The smaller Supermon Mini delivered outstanding sound. We left the photo un-cropped to give a sense of scale, with a rack of Aragon product literature to the left. 

One of the most impressive, and unique loudspeakers at the show was the RL12 speaker system from Robert Lighton Audio. Accompanied by Audio Note electronics and set up in a huge room, when I heard the system my feeling was that the speakers sounded like music, not hi-fi. I’ve heard Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue countless times, and the instrumental timbres and textures were warm, rich, and detailed, with excellent tonality and presence and that elusive “creaminess” to the saxophones.

This was the kind of system that blurs the line between reproduction and reality. Robert told me that the $95,000/pair RL12 was 10 years in development. It employs some novel engineering, such as a 12-inch alnico-magnet woofer and 8-inch alnico full-range driver, custom made in Japan. Audio Note wiring and internal components are utilized, and the six-sided cabinet is crafted from sapele The speaker is said to be time aligned and phase coherent. I will be interviewing Robert in the near future.

Some of the Audio Note gear in the Robert Lighton Audio room. My feeble photography skills couldn't capture the understated beauty of the speakers.

Another entirely different exhibit that also sounded like music and not “hi-fi” were the Oriaco D6 bookshelf monitors from Tonian Labs ($4,500/pair). It was one of the most modest setups at the show – two speakers set on stands, hooked up to a $999 Technics integrated amp/CD player, wired by generic cables – and also one of the most musically impressive.

I was in the room with my audiophile friend Skip and after the music started playing he looked at me with an expression of surprise, and I knew what he was thinking: “how is such incredible sound coming out of these two little speakers?” Because I was thinking the same thing. The sound was pure, enveloping, inviting, just everything I want to hear in a loudspeaker. It filled the small hotel room with ease. Tony Minasian told me that he designed these speakers because he wanted to hear what was on the recordings he makes as a recording engineer. The drivers are custom-made, and the cabinets are gorgeous.

I can’t believe it's taken me all this time to meet Peter Norbaek of PBN Audio and hear one of his speakers, but I made up for lost time at the show. I was highly impressed by the Studio Reference SR10 speakers I heard ($22,000/pair), serious music makers which sounded clean, accurate, and well, right. (The larger Studio Reference SR14 was also on display.) I was also impressed by his full lineup of audio components. I didn’t expect to see such a diverse product line, or be so wowed by his absolutely gorgeous PBN-DP200 turntable and its beautiful enclosure. Interestingly, the woofers in his speakers were old modified vintage JBL drivers, which Peter prizes for their quality and sound.

The rest of the system included a PBN Olympia DX DAC ($20,125), PXis phono preamp ($25,300), LXis preamp ($25,300), and EB-SA3 power amplifiers ($463,000/pair). Sharada Audio provided the digital audio front end, which is hand made with internal point-to-point wiring and housed in gorgeous solid walnut enclosures. The system was wired with Kimber Kable Carbon XL speaker cables and the upcoming Carbon interconnects (pricing to be around $4,500 for a 1-meter pair), a specially-made TAK turntable cable, plus Ascent and Palladian power cords. It sure was a great match for the PBN gear.

PBN's Studio Reference 14 and Studio Reference 10 speakers were impressive...

...As were the Texas-sized EB-SA3 power amps, and the rest of the PBN gear in the room (not shown).

I didn’t even have to wait for the show to start to enjoy the sublime sound coming from the Bache Audio and Alexus Audio system – unlike most of the exhibitors who were scrambling to set up their gear the Thursday before the show began, when I walked into the Bache/Alexus room that afternoon their system was already set up, and the guys were hanging out and enjoying the outstanding sound. Alexus Audio was showing their new phono preamp that can accommodate two DS Audio optical cartridges, believed to be a first. (They have two versions, one solid-state and the other tube. The system’s front end had a DS Audio DS 003 cartridge on a VPI turntable and arm.) The speakers were the Bache Audio Sofia 104 ($7,950/pair), which utilizes two 6.5-inch Peerless aluminum-cone woofers on the front baffle and a 7-inch passive radiator at the rear, plus a 10-inch Peerless side-firing woofer and passive radiator. Two magnesium/aluminum tweeters and a Fostex supertweeter handle the highs.

Since I wasn’t yet in “work mode,” I didn’t take notes as to the system’s specifics, and when I came back during the show the room was crowded. Not surprising, since the sound was vivid, musical, and inviting. The two companies have exhibited together before, and their gear makes beautiful music together.

I reported on one of the two Supreme Acoustic Systems suites in Part One of my show report. The Las Vegas audio distributor’s bigger room was an all-out experience, centered around the eye-popping Odeon Audio Carnegie horn loudspeakers ($126,495/pair as configured), Air Tight vacuum-tube ATM-3211 mono amps ($99,975/pair), ATC-7 preamplifier ($34,975), ATE-3011 phono preamp ($34,975) and ATH-2 step-up transformer ($6,975). A Benny Audio turntable with Hana Umami Red cartridge spun the LPs ($45,340 and $3,950) while a Taiko Audio Olympus streamer ($73,000) and Audio Mirror WAVE vacuum-tube DAC ($11,000) handled the digits. If tube sound is a “thing,” this room showed listeners what tubes are all about when it comes to making music. The spherical wave horns of the Carnegie speakers conveyed the music with remarkable scale, ease, and dynamic authority. Plus, these speakers just really look cool. When horns are done right, they have an effortlessness about them that’s really, really, really compelling.

The larger Supreme Acoustic Systems room at T.H.E Show New York 2025. This picture doesn't do the Odeon Audio Carnegie speakers justice...

...So here's a photo from the manufacturer.

I mentioned that “Strange Planet” by Shpongle is an extremely demanding test of a system’s low end. Another system that conveyed its bass power and vast spatiality was the largest Burmester system that Absoulute Audio and Video was showing, based around Burmester’s new BX100 loudspeaker ($110,000/pair) and a gleaming array of electronics including the 218 power amplifier ($60,000), 088 preamplifier ($37,000), 111 music server/streamer ($60,000), 175 turntable ($65,000) and 948 power conditioner ($12,000).

“Strange Planet” was something else on this system, a vast wall – no, that’s a poor 2D analogy – a hologram of sound. The BX100 features a baffle-less AMT tweeter, and midrange and woofer drivers made from a mix of polypropylene and carbon fiber. High- and mid-frequencies can be adjusted, and bass plugs allow the low-frequencies to be tailored to listeners’ tastes. The speaker is available in six colors and a choice of 10 colors of side panels. Though I had to keep moving and cover the show, the friends I was with looked like they were ready to take over the room and stay there all day.

The largest of the three Burmester systems at the show – this was the one with the new BX100 loudspeakers.

Chrome dreams: the Burmester 175 turntable with the company's hallmark mirror-smooth front panel finish.

There were a number of rooms I didn’t get to listen to, for the reasons listed at the beginning of the article. Legacy Audio hosted the show’s T.H.E. Film Festival in an immense ballroom filled with the immense Goliath subwoofers (aptly named; you had to see these things to believe them) and speakers including  the Valor main left and right speakers, Element center channel, Signature SE side and rear surrounds, the Goliath subs, IV8 amplification, and the Wavelet II preamp/DAC/crossover/room correction processor. I wasn’t able to watch any of the films, because as luck (or should I say lack thereof) would have it, every time I passed by there wasn’t anything playing. Hopefully I can attend next year.

Morrisville, PA distributor Audiolab had a wide range of equipment on display from brands like Opera (speakers), Michell (turntables), Unison Research, Matrix Audio, and Luxman (electronics) Marten (loudspeakers), Nordost (cable), IsoAcoustics (see my comments in Issue 224), and Solid Tech (racks). I went to check them out at some point but nothing was playing, and I ran out of time on my last day of the show. I went to the Popori Acoustics and Distinctive Stereo rooms but was either rushed for time or interrupted while there, so I’ll look for those and others I missed (like Luxman, Accuphase, Bache Audio, and more) at Capital Audiofest 2025.

Header image: the Soulines TT42 turntable.

All images courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted.