Show Reports

Now that you’ve seen my colleague Ken Micallef’s turntable-centric video, it’s time to kick off my own Florida International Audio Expo 2025 show-coverage series. This year’s FLAX (or FIAE, to some) was held in Tampa once again — but this time, it was at a new venue, the Sheraton Tampa Brandon. Attendance was reportedly up too. A source affiliated with the show told me that he believed this year’s attendance figures on Friday alone exceeded attendance numbers over the entire weekends of previous years’ shows.

Here’s the first of several reports highlighting analog sources seen and heard at this year’s FLAX, which was held from February 21-23, 2025.

FIDELITY IMPORTS / MICHELL
Distributor Fidelity Imports hosted a demo room filled with a wide assortment of products from companies they represent in this market. Most products were on static display, but a couple of active systems made for both visually and audibly enjoyable experiences.

One of those active systems featured the Michell Gyro SE turntable with T8 tonearm ($6,499) ending with a Goldring Elite MC cartridge ($1,299). Amplifying that cart’s signal was the brand-new Michell Apollo phono preamp and companion Muse outboard power supply in a matching second chassis. The two phono preamp units will be sold together, and they are expected to retail for approximately $5,000.

Michell is a third-generation English company led by Stephen Rowland, son-in-law of eponymous founder/engineer John Michell. Made since 1982 with a few improvements since, the aforementioned belt-drive Michell Gyro SE turntable has become a classic design. Its sprung suspension and brass weights underneath not only look cool in rotation, but they also serve a kinetic purpose — once the platter is rotating, the brass weights provide momentum to maintain its speed stability. In addition to helping minimize wow and flutter, it also means less noise and work for the 24V DC motor (which runs at around only 9.6V).

Head of Fidelity Imports Steve Jain told me that Michell doesn’t actually make new gear all that often. “This [the Apollo] is the first new product for them in a while,” Jain said. “And it’s not a turntable, so they’re going back to their roots.” He added that Michell was originally a manufacturer of phono preamps, as well as other electronics.

A small brass screw on the underside of the Apollo chassis allows the user access to dip switches to adapt to various MM and MC carts. Gain is adjustable across five steps from 40dB to 73dB, and MC cart impedance loading across five settings ranges from 33ohms to 47kohms. Recommendations applicable for some given cartridge specs are listed on the bottom of the unit — a handy reference.

The Apollo contains a passive RIAA circuit and Class A preamps that use technology found in professional microphone amps along with Class A gain stages, according to company information. Monitoring and feedback get deployed to regulate the stages. The Muse power supply uses a low-noise toroidal transformer and “high quality” voltage regulators reported to reduce ripple and noise. The two units are connected via a custom-designed supplied XLR cable.

The Apollo MM/MC phono preamp and Muse power supply were introduced concurrently at FLAX and at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show in the UK, which was also held over the very same weekend.

In that same demo system, Italian manufacturer Audia Flight’s amplification — including an Audia Flight FLS1 preamp and an FS4 stereo amp ($11,999) — drove a pair of Perlisten S7t tower speakers ($21,990/pr). A pair of powered Perlisten D15s subwoofers ($5,995 ea) from that Minnesota-based company completed the setup.

FIDELITY IMPORTS / KNOSTI
Among a couple of other new products Fidelity Imports introduced at the show were record cleaning machines (a.k.a. RCMs) from Knosti, a German company new to the U.S market. The always enthusiastic Jain told me that his company recently added Knosti to their roster — and, fittingly, Fidelity introduced a Knosti Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic 2.0 RCM ($1,299). Running a two-minute cycle as demo’ed, it seemed quite easy to use.

The Knosti Disco-Antistat Ultrasonic 2.0 RCM cleans both record sides simultaneously using a pair of brushes within the fluid. It comes with a rack on which records rest to dry. More significantly, in operation, it was the quietest ultrasonic cleaner I’ve yet heard. All the necessary cleaning fluids and a soft cloth are included.

Also on hand were two lower-priced Knosti models with more manual functions — the Disco-Antistat Generation II PLUS record cleaner ($139) and the Disco-Antistat record washer ($79).

That’s it for now — Part 2 is coming tomorrow!

Author bio: Julie Mullins, a lifelong music lover and audiophile by osmosis who grew up listening to her father’s hi-fi gear, is also a contributing editor and reviewer on our sister site, Stereophile, for whom she also writes the monthly Re-Tales column. A former fulltime staffer at Cincinnati’s long-running alt-weekly CityBeat, she hosts a weekly radio show on WAIF called On the Pulse.

For more FLAX 2025 coverage, go here on our sister site Stereophile.