By now you’ve probably heard about the crazy-gorgeous high-end audio gear from Metaxas & Sins. These are audio sculptures in the purest sense, and while they may not blend into the typical mid-century tract home in the suburbs they certainly qualify as conversation pieces. That, of course, is an incredible understatement.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
I’ve seen the work of Kostas Metaxas many times in photos. I’ve seen this gear at every Munich show I’ve attended, but in static displays. What I haven’t done, until now, is actually hear this audio equipment. Much to my surprise, it sounds pretty fabulous as well.
Metaxas & Sins is clearly expensive gear. In fact, I’d imagine some people would be happy to buy these even if they didn’t play music. Here are some of the prices of the system at the 2024 Florida International Audio Expo:
Tourbillon T-RX reel to reel deck–$49K. The stand costs an additional $8K.
Solitaire integrated amplifier–$41K.
Siren loudspeakers–$128K/pair.
Ethereal headphone amplifier–$32K.
This is not high-end audio gear for timid audiophiles, obviously. But the sound quality of Metaxas & Sins matched the extraordinary aesthetics in every way.
The Metaxas & Sins system at the 2024 FLAX show threw up a big soundstage despite the relatively small room. (The upstairs rooms at the hotel were all roughly the same size, and some of the bigger speakers that were shoehorned into these spaces were understandably smothered by room boundaries.) While using reel-to-reel as a source certainly explains much of the success of this room, I’d have to go a bit further and say the level of detail, the coherence and the extension at the frequency extremes alone justify the cost of this gear. Throw in the beautiful, strange looks, and these pieces almost become a true audio value–for a very select breed of audiophile.
Let’s just say for now that my impression of Metaxas & Sins has changed substantially after this encounter. I bet you’d agree, too–once you sat down for a listen.
