Capital Audio Fest 2025
DJ Taylor, the owner of Sound Approach, opened the doors on July 4th, 1972. Our business has been around for over 50 years, through ups and downs, and has served as a cornerstone in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia catering to local and national electronics consumers for most of that time. However, DJ also has another claim to fame which is less well-known. He has attended the CES audio show every year from its inception in 1967 until now…an incredible and unbroken chain of participation in the best the audiophile community can offer! I mean, come on?! That’s crazy, right?
You may be asking yourself why I’m bringing this up in an article about Capital Audio Fest? The answer to that question is two-fold. I know as an audiophile, content creator, and audio retailer, that I have a long way to go before I achieve something like that and I’m still just a beginner in terms of the knowledge-base that someone like DJ, who has been attending these shows for over 50 years, currently has. I only just began attending the consumer electronics shows this year, in early 2025, when I went to the Florida Audio Expo and this year’s CAF show was my 4th event. Secondly, I have no idea how I’ll ever approach the level of understanding in this field that folks like DJ Taylor, Joe Perfito, or Bart Andeer currently have (I’ll talk about the others more below).
With that said, my hope is that my experience will still be valuable to some and relaying my thoughts and opinions on certain topics, brands, or products is helpful to everyday consumers just looking to enjoy their music.
As this was my fourth (yes, only my fourth audio trade show - we all have to start somewhere), I am only just beginning to feel comfortable conversing with the most respected names in the industry. Folks like Bart Andeer, the Director of Show Operations for the Florida Audio Expo, Leland Leard (currently with Lone Mountain Audio, but a well-known rep throughout the industry), David Salz from WireWorld, or Joe Perfito from Tributaries & Clarus Audio. Thanks to DJ’s influence in the industry, I’ve been lucky enough to pick their brains a little to gain insights and knowledge about the audio business and larger music world. They are extremely welcoming and more than willing to share their experiences and also have an eagerness to pass on what they’ve learned to younger generations.
Additionally, the same thing has struck me at every show, and the more I get to know the people within the industry the more I understand that the relationships they have formed over the years and decades of conducting business, attending dinners, and creating friendships is truly what makes the audio market run.
It’s how new products are brought to market from enterprising engineers or designers, like Lucca Chesky, the CEO & Founder of Chesky Audio and the super impressive LC2 on demo at CAF, which I was very happy to sit down and listen to and thoroughly enjoyed, both in terms of audio quality and its unique aesthetic design. He’s a young man still in his early 20s and accomplishing more than I thought possible for someone his age. I highly recommend taking a look at their hand-made speakers here!
CAF and other events like it allow dealers and consumers to take advantage of the opportunity to sit down and listen to products like the ATC SCM20ASL Speakers, highly prized for their neutral playback and exceptional detail, soundstage, and imaging. ATC is also one of the more popular names in the music pro audio world because musicians rely on accurate playback when recording. If you want it to sound like the musician intended, get some ATC Speakers. At CAF, we spent two hours demoing and discussing these speakers with Brad Lunde and Leland Leard.
It's also how shows like Capital Audio Fest and others are put together. I jumped on the opportunity to sit down with Bart Andeer, the Director of Show Operations for the Florida International Audio Expo, so I could learn first-hand why shows like his and Capital Audio Fest are so important and the impact they can have on the entire audio industry. I learned how each show is a full-time, year-long effort to make all the arrangements, schedule and book all the brands or manufacturers, market to the public for consumer attendance, and ensure that the best-of-the-best companies are present to display and demo their products. It’s a very labor-intensive process that involves entire teams of people to coordinate efficiently.
And I can’t thank Bart enough for sharing his personal motivation behind this intense effort. His perspective struck me specifically because it’s something I’ve felt as well, both attending these shows and as a retailer. At the end of the day, all the time, effort, and expense poured into the industry is about bringing music to people. Music is one of the best things available to us to relax after a long day (no knocks against a nice cold beer). Like many, I’ve experienced myself how it limits stress or decreases anxiety and depression. We’ve probably all experienced how it can bring people together. In the end, music helps people. Good music, better-sounding music, that is, does this even better! And all of the products being sold at shows like CAF are helping people chase after some improvement to their life. You can share it or hoard it and it doesn’t matter, the impact is just as important either way. It makes it easy as a retailer as motivation to achieve big things, because you know you’re bringing joy and happiness to the client.
With the motivation established, we next focus on the innovation. Since the dawn of creation when mankind first thought to bang on a log with a stick and their tribe sat around and enjoyed the sound it made, we’ve been innovating both how we make and listen to music. We saw a rapid rise, like with many other technologies, throughout the 1900s and have reached the pinnacle of modern-day music and audio enjoyment. I’m not talking about k-pop…not my thing, but to each their own, I guess. Anyway, what I mean is that the technology to record and playback audio signal has seen some pretty insanely innovative solutions. We jumped from wax phonographs to turntables, from am radio to wi-fi and Bluetooth, in a fairly short timeframe. A lot like going from the Wright Brothers to the moon in 60 years, the music industry has been cruising along with solution after solution. Many might remember the transition from Vinyl to Cassettes/CDs and from there to Bluetooth and Streaming. There’s been a dramatic shift in how systems have evolved and yet, surprisingly, a remarkable reluctance to give up on those things that work best, or provide the most enjoyable experience.
Believe it or not, there are people out there that prefer listening to vinyl over streaming wirelessly through a digital system. They prefer the tone, the immersion, the originality, the physicality of the process, perhaps, and are willing to spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on a turntable so they can have that experience. Like the Wilson Benesch GMT ONE System (retail $A LOT), displayed by The Listening Room at CAF with the Magnepan Magnetic Ribbon Speakers (retail $55,000). The system as a whole was unbelievable and a far cry from what Edison could have dreamed up in a lab 150 years ago. I was flabbergasted when the representative explained how the GMT ONE System VTA alignment can be adjusted via a mobile device during playback! How incredible to be able to dial in the sound-quality while you’re listening to the record. Thanks to innovations like these products, the listening technology becomes more and more accessible over time.
However, while some people may be willing to fork over the money for products like those above, the vast majority probably don’t see the need for such excess. That doesn’t mean that high-quality and phenomenal sound is out of reach. Once again, a standout performer at CAF this year was SVS Sound. Featuring their incredibly affordable Ultra Evolution Pinnacle Tower Speakers ($4999.98/pair) in one room and a Surround Sound built around the 5000 R|Evolution subs and the other speakers of their Ultra Evolution series (ranging from $449-$2999) in another, SVS is always able to demonstrate their incredible engineering through performance. The bass is intense, the drivers are fast and dynamic, and the sound-quality is as high as anything else for 2-3 times the price. The Pinnacles have a slanted design to ensure the tweeters and woofers align, which ensures that the timing of the output reaches your ear at the exact right moment. It’s minimal details like this that can have a big impact on how a speaker sounds.
Before 2025, I was unable to appreciate or understand the value that more expensive than the cheapest option available can bring. I suppose it’s a lot like having a Corvette instead of a KIA. Both work, both do what they’re supposed to do, but the engineering, the precision, the FEELING you get when driving a Corvette, it’s just different. And because music is such an integral part of the human experience, we sense and feel these differences rather than being able to explain or necessarily measure them. But to reach those different levels of performance requires an in-depth understanding of the science behind the technology, the drive to achieve bigger and better, and the ability to create it.
Many of the products we looked at are hand-built, like Chesky Audio, mentioned above. Another is a unique brand called ADD Powr, used for AC/DC noise reduction on equipment or cables, and which can even be used to help speed up the upload and download rates of your mobile device. This is a product line we plan to launch at Sound Approach in early 2026, as we were extremely impressed with the capabilities and unique qualities of their products. Interference, noise, and distortion are a constant battle in the audiophile world. Limiting it as much as possible helps to improve the system’s sound quality and it can turn a poor-performing system into an excellent one.
We experienced this first-hand when we met with David Salz from WireWorld for a demonstration of their power cables, specifically. When you buy a powered electronic piece, you receive a “curtesy” power cable. This cable is often times (not always) of low-quality and doesn’t allow the equipment to perform at its highest level. Seems like a bad business model unless you’re also in the cables business (which most electronics manufacturers aren’t). Kidding aside, one of the simplest and most impactful changes you can make is by upgrading the so-called curtesy cables to something with better design, materials, and manufacturing.
Most cables are designed to 1. be neutral-sounding, which means that the signal passing through it is as faithful to the original recorded signal as possible or 2. flavored to sound how a person prefers, maybe with a bit more emphasis on the higher frequencies. WireWorld cables are an excellent example of neutral and faithful cables. During their demo they showed us how the performance of their amplifier could be instantly improved by switching between the curtesy cable and a WireWorld power cable. And before you ask, no it wasn’t the most expensive power cable, it was the Aurora, which is the second-cheapest they offer. The test was quick, which is important for A/B testing, just a simple flick of a switch after powering the amp off and then back on. Some tests require a few minutes in between for setup, but David Salz has perfected his testing methods with various switches and special connection adapters. You know it’s a good test when literally every person in the room hears the difference instantaneously.
It's easy for me to say the WireWorld cable was better, it was, but that’s not my point. It’s another thing for you to trust that when I say it’s better, it is. Audio Shows like Capital Audio Fest allow consumers the opportunity to experience these types of demos and tests, firsthand. I think this is an important aspect missing from the audiophile community in our modern world. Mostly, because we don’t have the same ability to walk into the music shop on the corner and test every product, that we used to. With the vast majority of sales now happening online, without testing or demoing, the purchase process has changed. It’s more research heavy now than it used to be and we’re more reliant on reviews, opinions, and articles from others. With that said, we do have access to incredible resources of information.
Ultimately, I’ve never met a person that doesn’t like music. Once you’ve experienced better music and the emotional impact it can have on you, it’s much easier to understand why people are willing to spend the kind of money they do on more expensive electronics, cables, and other products. As a retailer, I like to find the balance between what is necessary, what impact you’d like to have, the bottom line, and most importantly, the overall value. Because each person has a unique preference that means that the experience of folks like DJ, Leland Leard, Bart Andeer, and many others, including myself, matters. What I’ve listened to at Audio and Trade shows, matters. What knowledge I’ve gained by speaking with event organizers, manufacturers, brand reps, distributors, and other sales people, matters. Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, shows like Capital Audio Fest, matter. Not just to me, but to you too.
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