Of course, the Legendary Trithon will be making an appearance.

It is, I think, truly legendary.

The SEVENS, of course, will be on display.

The wenge-aluminum-MDF SEVENS represent the apex of art and audio.

As well as our new award-winning AX-V5 and AX-V6 speakers:

The Award-Winning AX-V6 and AX-V6 feature swappable round and square grills to look great anywhere!

In addition to the rest of our product line, we’ve also brought something very special.  The first five Krell Modulari Ion speakers from our shop.  And here you go!  A first look at what will be on display at Krell Industries’ booth–right across the aisle from ours.

Closeup showing the baffle detail of the first ever Krell Modulari Ion.

Yep, that's all five of 'em. Pretty sharp, yes?

So, be sure to stop by the booth and say hi this weekend!  I’ve gotta go pack!

-TC

The all teak cabinets featured perforated steel grills.

The cabinets come stocked with weather-resistant woofers and tweeters from Peerless and SEAS, which will bring the high-quality sound of Leon to the great outdoors.

A nice touch: the rear of the cabinets feature matching teak covers to keep water from entering the terminal cup.

-TC

Yeah, our booth was cooler than anyone else's.

It all began, as it always does, with Noah Kaplan and team brainstorming outrageous ideas, which are then subjected to the constraints of mechanics, budget, and time.  In the end, two very important sketches came out–as well as a concept to tie the whole installation together.

Probably the most interesting thing that emerged was the Trithon REYN Panel–the three-legged future-retro TV monster.  According to Noah, it represents an outgrowth of three influences: the Moisse Phantascope,  the 1915  tripod stand on which it sits, and the 1959 Philco Predicta.  So, how do you build one of these?

Noah Kaplan's original sketch of the Trithon REYN Panel

First you stretch the real python skin around the frame for the inlay–a job completed by Noah himself.  Next, do a dry assembly of the frame to make sure it all fits:

Rob Waissi and Bryan Lancaster do a dry fit of the cabinetry for the Trithon REYN Panel

After that, add a nice dark mahogany stain, put all the electronics inside, and perch it atop the tripod using a pair of Timken precision ball bearings.

Timken precision bearings (made in Michigan!) supported the mass of the Trithon REYN Panel.

Finally, route all the cables neatly in the umbilical cord and plug it in–simple, eh?

Matt Wilken, Joe Shaheen, and Rob Waissi attaching the REYN Panel to the tripod base.

The other Leon product highlight of the show was surely the redesigned Pr-SEVENS–making their official debut at the CEA Line Shows.  I’ll save the details of their design and construction for another day, but here’s a nice look at the pair.

Noah Kaplan's original sketch of the wenge SEVENS for the CEA line show.

The finished pair of SEVENS for the CEA Line Show 2011

In addition to all the work that went on at the show, Noah also took the time to give a live art and music performance at the “Women in CE” event, showing off his fabulously fast brush skills to create a painting of  Josephine Baker which was auctioned off to raise money for the ELF Foundation.  The buyer was Mickey Chadha of Saga Electronics, who plans to create a Leon showroom around the piece.

Noah Kaplan with Micky Chadha of Saga Electronics, finished painting in the background.

Well, that’s about it, except for the fact that our HUGE crate would not fit in the lift to the 11th floor, so we had to haul all the individual boxes across the exposition hall, down the freight elevator and load out on the sidewalk…

Joe, Rob, and Ana loading the crate on 35th St.

-TC

The outdoor speakers begin as raw MDF cabinets, which are puttied, transformed into a robot, dismantled, double primed, double vinyl sealed, primed again, and double (or triple) painted.  Basically, there’s no way water is getting in.

After a brief transformation into a robot, it was off to the paint department.

As far as the technology that’s inside, the custom Pr-606s feature our stock Peerless 6″ HDS woofers, which are happily weather-resistant, as well as a SEAS aluminum-magnesium dome tweeter.

One of the many strobe-white Pr-606s

The custom Pr-606s featured matching perf-metal grills.

Not-pictured (oops) the custom swivel-mount brackets!  And, that’s all for now.  CEA Line Show recap coming soon.  And just ignore this: AN55QUUHQ9VM…

-TC

The Michigan 50 award sits nicely next to others from Inside Track, CEPro, and CustomRetailer.

Says Noah:  “We’re extremely grateful to be recognized as a ‘Michigan 50 Companies to Watch’ honoree, particularly among such an esteemed group of companies.”  

President Noah Kaplan (front and center )among the happy recipients.

The Michigan 50 award honors second-stage growth companies in all industries, with between 6 and 99 employees and annual revenue between $750,000 and $50 million.

Noah Kaplan represented on the big screen.

In the shop right now, it sure feels like we’re in a major growth phase.  The new Horizon Ultra-Thin speakers are taking off in a big way, and numbers are up across the board.

So what’s next?  Well, there are a lot of things in the works–most of which I’m not allowed to talk about.  But soon, I’ll be announcing the re-voicing of some of our reference lines, updates about the CEA Line Show in NYC, and who knows what else!  Any guesses about what this might be?

Yep, we built this recently. But I can't even tell you what it is!

-TC

The full-custom Hz-UT featured recessed drivers with a custom edge profile.

Because the space for the installation was so narrow, we made the cabinet just 1/8″ taller then the woofers.  The recessed drivers allow the grill to snap on without interference.

The custom Hz-UT also featured a custom edge profile to sit flush in the cabinet for installation.

What can we make work for you?

-TC

It's a good sign when you show up at 7pm on Sunday and the restaurant is packed! The building is a repurposed "full service" auto shop.

After last call in Decatur on Sunday at CEDIA (’cause that’s how we roll), we ran into guys with greasy work shirts that said “Leon” in classic red embroidery on the breast.  Wait–OUR shirts say Leon too!  They turned out to be line cooks at Leon’s, and the one called “Dyn-o-mite-” told us: “seriously, it’s the best restaurant ever”. I went back the next night with Matt Wilken and Rob Waissi–and we were blown away by the overall experience.  We even managed to buy some of the “Leon” shirts off their backs after they closed!

Two of the three shirts we bought from the line cooks--two rounds at the dry cleaner's still hasn't gotten the smell out!

So, this year, when I found out I’d be attending AXPONA in Atlanta, my second thought after “awesome!” was “Leon’s”.  Joes Shaheen and Zoz had no idea what to expect.  I wore my Leon’s cook shirt, which apparently made me a celebrity upon entering.  Our waitress told us “I can’t even get one of those shirts!  They only give them to the cooks.”  Well, that’s where you have to get them!

From the moment we sat down, the Joes were blown away–impeccably crafted old fashioned cocktails arrived with hand-bruised ice, BACON IN A GLASS was served alongside perfectly steamed mussels, and remarkably creative yet cohesive entrees created a near perfect dining experience.  The dessert too, an oversized handmade oatmeal creampie (on the house!), was better than anyone could have expected.

I'm not kidding about bacon in a glass--with a side of house made fresh peanut butter.

Even the bar menu is perfectly designed for the space.

So, now we just have to figure out how to build some speakers for them.  The decor is great–punctuated by innocuous in-ceiling speakers and a couple of black oblong boxes in the bar.  I know we could do better!  Maybe some rustic hardwood cabinets with an aged perforated steel grill?

-TC

Forgot to mention--we brought two of these A10-UTs with mirror polished faces.

In addition to wearing out our ears listening to an overwhelming number of speakers, we attended a bunch of lectures, made some good connections, learned a LOT about speakers, measurements, room acoustics, turntables, and the intersections of the stereo and home theater sectors–and how we fit into those categories.  We also took our time in Atlanta to have some great experiences with the fine dining and entertainment the city has to offer.

Standout experiences included John Atkinson’s “Measuring Loudspeakers” lecture in which he explained a lot of techniques for measuring speakers and how those measurements correlate to the subjective listening experience.

We were also delighted when we discovered Krell’s new Phantom Preamplifier which debuted at AXPONA.  The most exciting feature of this new device is that it has onboard crossover circuitry, so you can use it to drive both your subwoofer and mains amplifiers in a 2.1 or 2.2 setup.  It’s great to see Krell embracing this direction in hi-fi!

The new Phantom Preamp from Krell.

Also, listening to Jeff Catalano of Highwater Sound, NYC play Lightnin’ Sam Hopkins and B.B. King (in mono!) in his room featuring Horning Hybrid/TW-Acustic/Tron-Electric.  Jeff also has over 20,000 records in his SHOP where he says “we don’t get any work done!”  We stopped by a couple of times during the show, just to hear the great music–and if I’m ever in NYC, I need to stop by his showroom.

I hadnt heard this record until Saturday--MIND BLOW!

Our favorite non-Leon speakers (and mine from CEDIA) was probably the ADAM Professional “Tensor Beta” which was demoed for us by vice-president Roger Fortier.  The folded ribbon tweeter and high-midrange driver combined for a remarkably smooth midrange and endless smooth treble.  The Legacy (based in Springfield, IL) “Whisper HD” used a similar configuration to a similarly lovely effect.

ADAM Audios Tensor Beta with dual ribbon HF units.

Coming Soon: the fun stuff, best quotes, and how my camera remembered it for me!

-TC

Bruce Lee is protecting our crate!

Yep, thats the new Leon ULTIMA! All new electronics, all new drivers, and an all new baffle design. Thanks Joe Shaheen!

Thursday went pretty well, being just industry and press, it was pretty slow so we got to hang out and tune the system to it’s full potential as well as talk with the guys from Carnegie Acoustics who we’re sharing the room with.  They’re a dedicated two-channel company based out of Kentucky, and their setup really shows how much benefit you can get from room treatment–tons of diffusion and absorption really made their stereo image pop!

Closeup showing the matte walnut and polished aluminum stand for the ULTIMA.

After the room was setup and the show was “closed” we got to see the John Atkinson Trio playing jazz standards and mingle with some other vendors.  The trio consisted of John (editor of Stereophile) on bass guitar, Bob Reina (writer for Stereophile) on piano, and Alan Perkins (designer of the “Centroid” tonearm) on drums.  They were really quite solid!

John Atkinson Trio after hours at AXPONA.

While walking around, Joe S. and I also met Brett Bargenquast of AudioEngine and had a chance to demo all of his bookshelf products as well as his 16-bit wireless streaming devices.  He ended up being a real nice guy and we had dinner and drinks with him–and he told us to stop by his demo room again for a Corona if we’re ever thirsty at the show.  Nice!

Friday was all lectures and listening for Joe S. and I while Joe Z. manned the booth.  Highlights included the immensely useful “Michael Fremer’s Famous Turntable Setup Lesson, Not to be Missed”, where we learned common mistakes (disable/shim your platter and undo any anti-skate before starting!) as well as the esoteric and microscopic, but highly important, intricacies of stylus rake and vertical tracking angles.

Michael Fremer showing his custom anti-skate force meter.

On the audio front, highlights (that weren’t Leon) included YG Acoustics – Anat III Signature which was uncompromisingly flat, enormous (about 6 1/2 feet tall) with a soundstage to match.  Build quality was rock solid–what you’d expect from solid aluminum cabinets.

Also, Classic Audio Reproductions featured some vintage-tribute speakers including a James B. Lansing – Hartsfield and lots of field-coil 15″s and hand-turned horns.  While not the most “accurate”, the speakers are FUN to listen to and have real soul.  They’re assembled in Brighton, MI, and John Wolff, the proprietor invited us to come out anytime (which we’ll surely do soon!).

A hand-turned horn on display at Classical Audio Reproductions.

Joe S. and I both felt that the best sound of the day came from the system in the Spiral-Groove room–and I was too overwhelmed/tired/bowled over to remember to take pictures, but we heard some great new tunes from Mario Bianchi and the High-Five Quintet, as well as the Black Keys.  Have you ever heard anyone play the Black Keys at an audio show?!  We were huge fans!

And now, while we were thinking about trying to go out to Turner Field (of CEDIA infamy) to watch the Braves take on the Mets, thunderstorms are a 100% possibility in the forecast, so we’re off to the bar to watch the game get rained out!

Also, if you’ve got some good ideas on other ways to have fun in Atlanta, let us know!

-TC

That aside, I’ve been neglecting my blogospheric duties while completing preparations for the show, packing our soundbar (hint: the Ultra-Thins aren’t the only thing that’s new this week!), subwoofers, amplifiers, and all the accessories. Also, I’ve been getting together a collection of the hottest jams sure to please music lovers and audiophiles alike and fitting it onto two iPods–not an easy task. But, it’s all done now, and all that’s left is to get on the plane.

So, back to the new Ultra-Thins… To cap off the official rollout, I’m going to post one last brief chat I had with another key player in the design process: Joe Shaheen, engineer.

So tell me about the new Ultra-Thins..

The new Ultra-Thins use a new woofer, a 2 3/4″ aluminum-cone woofer, so they go down significantly lower in frequency than the current 212.  But, more important than the extended bass response, we have a lot cleaner lower distortion sound.  To top that off, the new tweeter is much more accurate and detailed and extends well beyond the range of hearing to provide a very airy and natural sound.

How was the crossover design process?

With the new drivers, it went remarkably smoothly–they work really well together and there wasn’t a need for any of the tricks that people sometimes have to use to shift phase or correct impedance.  The crossover was designed for minimum phase distortion between woofers and tweeters while keeping a very flat frequency response, so that the tweeters and woofer sound like one point source, rather than two separate entities.

Joe Shaeen's preliminary crossover design for the Hz-UT

Anything else?

Yeah, I’d just say that the sound of the new Ultra-Thin is a lot warmer and has a much more convincing low end than the old 212, providing for a much more immersive audio experience.

So, there you have it.  The new Ultra-Thins start shipping tomorrow, and as all of our Leon Certified “Golden Ears” can tell you, they sound great!

Also, look out for us at AXPONA where we’ll be in just a few hours, showing off ANOTHER brand new speaker!

-TC