Southwest Audio Fest 2025 Show Coverage

Welcome SECRETS readers to our show coverage of the 2025 Southwest Audio Fest. This year, Senior Editor Jim Milton is roaming the halls of the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas Texas bringing us the new, the exciting, and the just plain funky that he encounters at the show. SWAF 2025 will run from March 21st to March 23rd and Jim will be there all weekend filing reports and we will be updating this page regularly as content comes in. So be sure to check back often. We hope you enjoy our coverage.

Day 1

The  Hilton Anatole Hotel is the home of this year’s Southwest Audio Fest extravaganza in Dallas, and as with most things in Texas, the venue is huge. I managed to get a lot in on my first day, with the lobby hosting smaller vendors for headphones, records, sundry cables, and custom connectors. Floors 11-13 had all of the demo rooms, and I found a few surprises in them throughout the day.

So why attend one of these events? Obviously, seeing, hearing and occasionally touching expensive audio gear is fun, but interfacing with the designers and manufacturers is also fascinating. Plus, mingling with other “audio heads” like me establishes a sense of community that you don’t get through forums on the internet. Since brick-and-mortar stores are getting scarcer, these audio shows are becoming a plus for the consumer and the vendor alike.

Here are some samples of today’s adventures:

Chesky Audio

This speaker called the LC1 was designed and built by 17-year-old Lucca Chesky. I believe his dad is David Chesky (Yes. That Chesky). They sell for $498 each and sounded robust and detailed. We need to get a review sample ASAP!

Semrad Audio

From Semrad Audio comes one of the largest speakers I have seen. It’s an open baffle Large Format Horn using a field coil driver with a large 16-inch woofer underneath. You would need some room to place these, but they sounded great with jazz vocals.

At $54K, you will have to have a talk with the wife…and your accountant!

Bella Sound

Bella Sound displayed their power amps and the speakers they picked to show them off are full-range magneto-static loudspeakers from Analysis Audio. I voted this setup to be the best sounding so far, but in fairness, it was a large suite.

Their monoblock amplifier, the Hanalei, is $40K and puts out 350 watts into 8-Ohms (700 watts into 4-Ohms) while the stereo version, the Kahili is $24K and does 200 watts/400 watts respectively.

SoundLab

From SoundLab, I present the G7-C7 Majestic in maple grille It is an electrostatic speaker that has no power cord. It uses .8 watts from the audio signal to energize the panel. These guys were full range and everything you want to hear in an electrostatic. Dozens of cloth grille colors to choose from. $49,500/pair. These sounded astounding, too.

MBL

I will close out my first day with these interesting MBL 120 Radialstrahler speakers from Germany. A 360-degree ribbon/midrange drives that sounded effortless with all types of music.

Perlisten/REL

Perlisten had a nice setup with their S5t floor-standing loudspeakers and a large REL subwoofer. They were the only vendor I saw that offered white as a speaker color. I’m including a detailed closeup of their Berylium tweeter arrangement, which is somewhat unique. They also use a checkerboard Textreme midrange driver cone that immediately makes them recognizable. Also interesting is that many of these speakers throughout the fest do not include grilles. I like the look of them being naked because many of these speakers just look gorgeous sans grilles.

EMM Labs/YG Acoustics

In the EMM Labs room, the stereo amp in the middle of the floor weighs 180 pounds. The delightful YG Acoustics speakers are made from milled aircraft aluminum. As a whole, this room sounded excellent, and thanks to Qobuz, I got to play some of my favorite tracks…which put a smile on my lips.
As I write this note, the room next to me has sooo much bass that the lobby tiles are rattling…

Day 2

Audio Research

Stop the presses. AR has premiered its new solid-state amps at Southwest Audio Fest! Not that they stopped making beautiful tube gear though. The new silver solid-state stereo amp is called the S-200, the price is not yet set. Also shown was the LS3 preamp, a new solid-state match for the S-200. Speaking of tubes, the gorgeous red unit is their I/50 integrated amp with a headphone jack and 6550 power tubes fed by 6922 input tubes. 2 Lexitubes provided display info, which was ultra cool looking. It comes in red, blue, or real wood finishes, too. 50 watts/ch @1% THD. $5500 is the base price, add $759 for a phono stage and $1000 more for a DAC module.

Charney Audio

This speaker design uses TracTrix theory that allows sound waves in a horn to naturally distribute evenly throughout the frequency range providing balanced bass from a paper cone point source. A fully loaded horn system like this can deliver a wide dynamic soundstage and is extremely efficient @ 106db at 8 ohms, with a frequency response of 20Hz-22Khz.
Price $90-95K/pair.

Infigo Audio

I got to chat with Hans Looman, CEO of Infigo Audio out of Canada and he went over some of their products. I include a shot of his Method 3 class A monoblock ($55K each) which comes with a plexiglass top. It is a low-temperature amplifier (cool to the touch) that has a lower frequency extension to zero Hz. The internal construction was amazingly clean and well laid out with its circuitry.
The Amara speakers from Illusio Audio were interesting as well. Notice the optional bass modules, which include two active 15-inch drivers and a few more passive radiators inside. Behind the actual speakers is a black box that is a rear wall firing tweeter, which gives a spacious sound, much like a bi or di-pole speaker. These speakers (subs sold separately) are $55K per pair and come in custom colors.

Acurus/Totem

Acurus and Totem teamed up for the show and had a relatively nice sounding system that was affordable and offered better quality than anything from Best Buy. The Totem speakers (made in Canada) are nicely voiced and compact. When matched with an Acurus amp (this one is a home theater amp being run in 2-channel), it worked well with lots of dynamics and detail.

Burmester

What deliciousness was found in the Bermester room at Southwest Audio Feat 2025? The speakers are the latest addition to their B series, the B38s. Nice 3D soundstage and slim footprint makes these a winner. Their integrated streamer was a real work of art which exudes refinement and class.

Acora Acoustics

Acora was at the show with a few examples of their loudspeakers. From the big VRC Reference speakers in real granite enclosures (paired with VAC electronics) to the new MRC-2 and MRC-3 speakers with marble cabinets (paired with Audio Research equipment). Wonderful sounds all around.

VAC Amps

VAC had a large presence at the SW Audio Fest. Many vendors used VAC tube amplifiers to power their speakers. One independent audio geek had a table full of ancient tubes (40’s-60’s) that he used to restore radios. Another made homemade mini tube amps for headphone use. There is a certain mystique when seeing the soft glow of these tech throwback wonders!

ModWright Instruments

The ModWright room featured some beautiful gear from Pure Fidelity Turntables, Gauder Acoustics loudspeakers along with some ModWright Instruments’s own gear.

And speaking of ModWright Instruments, the company introduced their new KWA 300 reference solid-state power amplifier at the show. Rated at 300-Watts into an 8-Ohm load (and 550-watts into 4-Ohms), it looks like a beast of an amp and pretty to boot!

Scott Walker Audio/Synergistic Research

Scott Walker Audio had a slightly “insane” room at the show, with scads of McIntosh equipment playing through Magico speakers and a six-pack of REL subwoofers. Cables and power conditioning (along with “celestial harmonic convergence through quantum-dynamic, electro-isotropic, intergalactic razmataz “) were courtesy of Synergistic Research.

Popori Acoustics

The beautiful and unique Popori Acoustics HyperSail electrostatic loudspeakers were controlled and powered by electronics courtesy of VAC. The system also featured the BACCH-SP processor from Theoretica Applied Physics, cales courtesy of ViaBlue, and room treatments from ASC. Our Jim Milton reported that he was mightily impressed by the sound in this room.

IsoAcoustics

It’s always good to see our friends from IsoAcoustics at a show!

Day 3

So this final day at at SWAF is a bit truncated. I realized by late yesterday that I was not going to be able to get to all of the rooms on the top floor and only by chance found that there were several more demo rooms off of the main lobby. My legs are tired, but I feel good about my time here. I got to meet some amazing people here and see their passions channeled into some incredible products. Yes, many were priced way out of my range. My best analogy is this; I’ll never own a Lamborghini, but it’s fun to sit in one and perhaps take it around the block.
Most of what I heard, and saw were the “best of the best”. Statement pieces that represent the culmination of trial and error, design philosophies, and ingenuity driven by a passion for music reproduction. Eventually, trickle-down technology will end up in more affordable products. I’m glad that in this hobby we have people willing to move the bar. My hat comes off to those who make this hobby so exciting and fun. Music can literally change your life, so thanks to you all for your work…it is greatly appreciated.

I am already looking forward to the next show. This one has almost doubled in size from last year. Attendance was strong. There is hope for the audiophile future! I hope you can add your support and attend a show. You’ll be glad you did.
I close with some parting pictures of things I saw. Hope you enjoy them…