AXPONA 2014: Scaena and Ayon, sculptures in sound
As far as I know, this marks a the lowest price point I’ve ever seen a Scaena system hit, and all I can say is, “well done”. Quite frankly, we need more of this!
I really liked the new Conga-shaped subs, which strike me as a significant improvement over the stacks of ramjet engines I caught on their flagship at CES last year. This is still quite a lot of real estate for a loudspeaker array to occupy, but the finish on the speakers was still that beautiful, lustrous, pearlescent paint that causes my camera to crap the bed over.
The tubes on the Ayon monos also caused me a double take or three — I’m told they’re based on the 300b, but yeah, they’re not 300bs. I’ve never heard of AA32B-S, AA52B-S and AA62B tubes, but there’s a first time for everything.
Expensive audio, to be sure. But if you have the scratch, this is some beautiful kit to sit in front of. Art as audio, indeed.
The same people who buy $200k cars… Which is quite numerous these days… I found the system to sound wonderfully natural – and he subs (driven by the Crown amps) blew me away – literally.
Huge excursion with NO hint of distortion or strain.
How many people do you think will buy these extravagant items that you report on? They are just a silly pipe dream for most. Reprort on the more affordable for the masses and concentrate more on American products.