Hørning, TW-Acustic, New Audio Frontiers | AXPONA 2019

High Water Sound brings the music, again

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AXPONA 2019 Show Coverage brought to you by Core Power Technologies
AXPONA 2019 Show Coverage brought to you by Core Power Technologies

by Paul Elliott

Jeffery Catalano of High Water Sound is, to say the least, an interesting fellow.  I find that he always has the most interesting collection of music at these shows, pure “music lover’s” music.  I could have lived in his exhibit room for all three days and not notice that I had not gotten any work done … well, there’s always next time.

“I proceed carefully as not to stumble on the past. With both eyes open, I view with trepidation, with both ears open, I listen to be transcended.” That’s Catalano.

It is always music-first with Jeffery. Sounds like a good example to follow. Forget the bits and bytes. Distortion this and phasing that.  “Just shut up and listen.” That’s Catalano again.

Yes, a sound system that gets all that stuff to our ears in a pleasing way is a great thing … but…. “Just shut up and listen”.

Along with the interesting music that you probably have never heard, Catalano always bring gear that you will not see anywhere else. He chooses unique products, usually from Europe.

For AXPONA, he brought a TW-Acoustic GT2 turntable. One of only two prototypes in the world.  The final product will be available later this year and around $10k  The 12-inch tonearms are $6k each. Cartridges were the Ortofon Windfeld for stereo at $4.4k and the Miyajima Labs Zero Mono for mono, at $2.15k

The speakers were Hørning Hybrid Systems Eufrodite Ellipse MK lll at $28k, the electronics were a suite of New Audio Frontiers goodies at a suite price of $56k for the preamp, phono pre, and monoblocks.

Yes, the sound was glorious, but the music? That was transcendent.

Thanks, Jeff.

LSA
AXPONA 2019 Show Coverage brought to you by the LSA Group