AXPONA 2024 Show Coverage

Hey Everyone, in case you didn’t realize it, a significant portion of the audio world is descending on the suburban Chicago hamlet of Schaumburg for the weekend. Why you ask? Well, it’s to attend the massive audio show extravaganza known as AXPONA, North America’s largest annual audio exposition.

From Friday, April 12th to Sunday, April 14th, the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center will be overrun by pure audio “nerd-dom!” Over 600 brands will be exhibiting in about 200 rooms tempting showgoers and audio press with all manner of audio-based delights. Several manufacturers will be announcing both North American and world premieres of new products which makes AXPONA a keystone audio show on the calendar.

Editor-in-Chief Carlo Lo Raso will endeavor to bring you the scoop on the latest, the greatest, the surprising, and the just plain weird that AXOPONA will have on hand. Make sure to keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram feeds for up-to-the-minute posts on what Carlo finds at the show. Post-show, we will have more complete coverage available on this page, so keep checking back!

Looking forward to another fun and exciting event and we hope you enjoy our coverage!

Estelon, Vitus Audio, Crystal Cable

As they did last year, Estelon, Vitus Audio, and Crystal Cables joined forces to provide invited press a pre-AXPONA taste of what heaven might sound like.
Aldo Filippelli of Luxury Audio Group (distributor of said brands) presented a beautiful looking and sounding system consisting of the Estelon Forza loudspeakers ($169,000/pair), the Vitus SL-1203 Mk I stereo preamplifier ($40,000), the SD-025 Mk II DAC ($30,000), the Vitus Audio SM-103 Mk II mono amplifiers ($75,000/pair), and the Innuos Statement NG music server ($21,700).
The cables were Crystal Cable Art Da Vinci series and the new limited edition Crystal Cable Infinity power cables (only a 200 edition run) were used on the amps. ART passive 6XS, 22XS, and 9XS electromagnetic treatments were in use to help with room acoustics.
The speakers were shown in what had to be one of the most striking finishes I’ve ever seen, an infinitely deep purple hue called “Violet Night”.
Through the various tracks that Aldo played for us, it was clear that this system (as configured in this room) was sonically of the highest level. It seemed to handle the entire musical bandwidth effortlessly, imaging with excellent precision and spatially sounding extremely appealing. And it did it all while looking as stunning as hell.
Do you need a system like this to enjoy your music on a deep and highly involved level? No, of course not. Would you want a system like this to perform that kind of service? Ask me and I’ll tell you, absolutely! Right down to the very tips of my toes!

PSB, NAD

In one of the rooms sponsored by Saturday Audio Exchange, PSB’s Paul Barton was acting DJ with a system consisting of the PSB Synchrony 800 loudspeakers ($12K per pair) and two PSB Subseries BP8 subwoofers ($1499 each). This 2.2 system was being controlled by the NAD M66 preamp ($5499) and powered by the NAD M23 power amplifier ($3749).

The additional “secret sauce” was the use of DIRAC Bass Control in the melding of this system. With one subwoofer behind the speakers and another well off to the right of them, the sound was outstanding with a completely seamless blend between speakers and subs. Paul played several challenging tracks and I could not detect any sonic gap anywhere. Superb sound for not unreasonable money.

Fyne Audio

I visited the room sponsored by Harmonia Distribution and got to meet with the “Fine” folks from Fyne audio. I shot a little interview with Dr. Paul Mills and Andrzej Sosna which will be posted soon where they discuss the company’s history and some new products. After the interview I had a chance to listen to the gorgeous Fyne Audio Vintage 15 loudspeakers powered by the equally gorgeous Pathos INPOL Legacy Integrated amplifier from Italy.

The Vintage 15s have Fyne Audio’s latest 15” Isoflare driver which is a concentric (or coaxial) type of driver with the tweeter located in the center of the woofer, and using the woofer’s cone as a waveguide. They were also using the company’s new super tweeter situated on the top of each speaker cabinet. The speakers sounded wonderful, with a big spacious image that was properly enveloping and an appealing tonality throughout. Oh, and did I mention the finishing on the speakers was utterly beautiful? And I should also mention the very desirable PrimaLuna and Pathos gear that was static display in the room.

HARMAN Luxury Audio

I dropped in on our friends at HARMAN Luxury Audio where we saw much in the way of ARCAM Radia electronics, JBL electronics and speakers, Revel speakers, and the new uber-sexy ROON Nucleus Titan. The JBL speakers were the Mk II versions of the L82 and L100 Classics, incorporating the latest crossover refinements.

We were also delighted to catch up with HARMAN’s Jim Garrett to present him with our SECRETS 2023 Product of the Year award for the JBL 4329P Active Studio Monitors.

And speaking of HARMAN, who should I run into perusing around the “Ear Gear” section of AXPONA but HARMAN’s Jim Garrett, Sr. director of Product Planning and Strategy and Dr. Sean Olive, Sr. Research Fellow. I wonder what they were up to? Hmmmmm.

People

They are like the “Rat Pack” of the Audio Show circuit! Richard Colburn, Mat Weisfeld, and Frank Doris. All we need is for this show to be on the Vegas strip! 😁

The incomparable Paul Barton, founder of PSB loudspeakers. A great teacher on all things loudspeakers and headphones plus, he’s a genuinely swell person.

The always exceptional David Solomon from Qobuz. Qobuz was the official streaming sponsor of AXPONA.

Perlisten

In a room sponsored by Fidelity Imports, our friends at Perlisten were featuring a very potent combination of the R5m monitors and a pair of the new beastly R18s subwoofers. The system was controlled by a Primare SP25 preamp/processor ($5,299) and powered by a pair of A 35.2 power amps ($4K each). While we’ve previously reviewed the R5m monitors ($6K per pair), the new R18s subs ($5K each) are sealed box subwoofers each with a 1000 Watt RMS amplifier, an 18” fiberglass-coned driver, and extensive DSP controls built in.

The Primare SP25 Prisma is touted as an audiophile-grade cinema processor complete with DIRAC Live on board. The two A35.2 power amps were being run in bridged mono mode sending 800 watts to each monitor. Excellent sound in this room with a seamless blend between monitors and subwoofers. And yes, the R18s beasties “slammed” while remaining detailed and articulate.

And speaking of Perlisten, in the next room were the incomparable Perlisten S7t Limited Edition speakers paired with a complete Audia Flight stack consisting of the FLS20 SACD player, the FLS 1 preamp, and a pair of FLS 8 monoblock amplifiers. The sound was exceedingly good here and frankly, many must agree because Perlisten’s Erik Wiederholtz informed me that the company’s entire run of S7t Limited Edition speakers had been completely spoken for. Nice problem to have! 😁

Geshelli Labs

The Bisceglias and co. from Geshelli Labs are at it again! Having a whopping four rooms at AXPONA, that little ol’ family from Florida brought a bunch of cool new gear that they were teasing us with at the show! Starting with what we are used to in the headphone room, the Geshellis brought an updated version of their balanced headphone amp, the new Erish 3 PRO features upgraded Opamps from Sparkos Labs. A quick listen with one of the “Sparko-fied” J2 DACs through a set of ZMF cans confirmed the combo sounded great and the Erish 3 PRO had plenty of grunt left in the tank to drive the most needy of headphones. And of course the personalization options are almost as varied as you can imagine. I also presented Geno and Sherri with our 2023 Thumbs Up Award for the Archel 2XL Headphone amp.

Sharing another room with speaker kit and upgrade specialist, Neil Blanchard Designs, Geshelli Labs were featuring their Dayzee DAC along with Akitika power amps and a preamp. A very cool value-oriented room, and Neil Blanchard’s Transmission Line kits are the real deal.

In another Geshelli Labs room was a very classy and unique little system featuring the Zoofa integrated amp driving a pair of Perlisten R7t speakers and a lovely Michell Audio Gyro SE turntable. Viablue provided all the cabling for this great sounding and very stylish system.

The biggest surprise though had to be the final Geshelli Labs room with three components in rather unique plexiglass enclosures. They were in fact a preamp, called the Giuseppe (named after Geno’s dad, along with at least two cousins and an uncle somewhere in my Italian lineage) and two monoblock power amplifiers called the Zooftech GZ300.

Geno Bisceglia explained that these were new separates that the company will start producing and they are based off the Zoofa integrated amp architecture that they have been developing. The Giuseppe is a full featured analog preamp with MM/MC phono and headphone sections. The GZ300 amps are rated at 300 watts each into 8-Ohms.

They were playing through a pair of Acoustic Energy AE520 loudspeakers which sounded absolutely outstanding in this room. Prices are TBD but the products are as always unique, very real, and coming our way.

Meze Audio

Unfortunately the show was so busy I couldn’t spend as much time in the Ear Gear or Expo Hall sections as I would have liked. However, I did make a point of visiting Meze Audio to present them our 2023 award for Best Open Back Headphone (Meze 109 PRO). Meze’s Alexandra Rizoiu and Alexandru Grigoras did the honors.

Sparkos Labs

Sparkos Labs has probably singularly done more than anyone for the DIY audio community in recent years with their discrete opamp choices all designed and assembled in the USA. They’ve most visably partnered with Geshelli Labs but they also provide opamps to larger manufacturers on an OEM basis. And just like the Geshellis, Andrew Sparks and his family are genuine salt-of-the-earth HiFi nuts. They are the best examples of what HiFi can be, and that’s talented, unpretentious, and fun. At the Florida show I took a mess of photos of their room and product but neglected capturing the actual people. Consider that mistake, rectified.

DALI

DALI set up shop in a huge open air corner area on the second floor and they had a very comfy “lounge vibe” going on. It turned out to be an excellent area to enjoy a listen to their Epikore 11 loudspeakers ($60K per pair), these samples being in a lovely almost red wine-colored finish.

A NAD Masters M66 preamp was in control of everything, anchored by a pair of NAD Masters M23 power amps, each running in mono. A pair of DALI SUB K-14F subwoofers were there as well to help bolster the lowest octaves in that huge open atrium space. I just love the sound of these speakers and they’ve never failed to impress me. They seem to handle everything well from top to bottom showing no signs of becoming “wooly” or overwhelmed in such a cavernous space with lots of glass around them. Catching up with Lenbrook’s Jason Zidle and DALI’s Thomas Knudsen was also enjoyable as they too were in full-on “lounge mode” by this point!

Austin Audio Works

Many of us in the audio biz know the lovable curmudgeon of Bill Leebens as “Leebs” or “Uncle Bill”. He is also part of the team at Austin Audio Works, who could not make the show this year due to personal reasons. Bill graciously accepted our 2023 Best Phono preamp Award on their behalf. Smile Bill! 😁

darTZeel, Stenhiem

In the category of “Stuff I could never afford, but still lust after because it is so cool,” I submit to you the contents of this room.

The darTZeel CTH-8550 Mk II Integrated Amp, the LHC-208 Integrated Amp/DAC/Streamer, and the NHB-108 Model Two Stereo Amp. Spinning vinyl was a Technics SP 10 turntable with custom tonearm and gorgeous wood plinth. The speakers were Stenheim Alumine Three. Cables were courtesy of Kubala-Sosna. This room just oozed style, coolness, and class and had the sound to match.

Michell Audio, Acoustic Energy

I call this photo “The Sound-Meisters of Michell.”

Michell Audio is another classic family operation from the UK. These folks have a rich engineering history of making turntables (along with some props from 2001 a Space Odyssey and the original Star Wars movies). This latest generation continues to produce iconic platter spinners of the highest quality. These people are the real deal.

The Michell Audio clan was sharing a room with another vaunted UK brand, Acoustic Energy. Wayne Davis from AE was demonstrating their long-awaited new loudspeaker model, the Corinium and by all accounts, it was worth the wait!

Powered by Soulnote electronics and sourced by a Michell Gyro SE turntable, the sound was refined and dynamic, with plenty of body and detail. The bass may have been slightly limited by the room but was still solid. The Corinium themselves were beautifully finished and felt almost ridiculously inert. Almost like a lead box!

FOCAL-NAIM America

FOCAL-NAIM had substantial presence at AXPONA with a ballroom loaded to the gills with representation from each of their lines. I shot a quick video walk-through to give you an idea of the size and scope of it.

At AXPONA 2024, FOCAL also scored a “two-fer” as I presented FOCAL’s Wendy Knowles and Seb Dugas our 2023 Best Of awards for Best Wireless ANC Headphones (FOCAL Bathys) and Best High End Headphones (FOCAL Utopia).

Alta Audio, Infigo Audio

Alta Audio was sharing a room with Infigo Audio. Infigo supplied the electronics in the form of the Method 7 preamp, the Method 4 DAC, and a pair of Method 3 Monoblock power amplifiers. VPI took care of the sourcing with their Avenger Direct turntable.

Alta Audio was showcasing their new full range loudspeakers, the Aphrodite. The speakers are a 4-way design with an open baffle configuration for the treble down to the upper-bass, and what Alta describes as a “hybrid transmission line” configuration for the lower bass. Sitting down and listening to the system, I found the sound to be very appealing. The soundstage was wide and deep with a bass reach that felt deep and solid. It’s the kind of sound you could get lost in for hours if you’re not careful!

VPI Industries

And speaking of VPI Industries, I was able to finally catch up with Mat Weisfeld at the show, which in itself was a bit of a feat as he was constantly on the move, helping set up multiple turntables at AXPONA. I was pleased to present Mat with our 2023 Best Of award for Best Turntable of the Year in the VPI Avenger Direct.

TAD Labs

TAD was at AXPONA in fine form with two rooms of their own and sharing a room with Wells Audio. Thier first room was featuring the CE-1TX stand-mounted loudspeakers in the olive wood finish with a full suite of TAD electronics.

The second room had the new TAD GE1 floor-standing speakers, again with a full suite of TAD electronics. Each room sounded splendid with bonus points going to the GE1 for the lower bass reach which is to be expected. It was also great catching up with TAD CEO Shinji Tarutani and Kazuto Ohkura who came in from Japan for the show.

Wells Audio, TAD Labs

Wells Audio had a great sounding room too, featuring the TAD Evolution 2 speakers driven by a full Wells Audio stack of gear. Power was provided by the Wells Audio Innamorata II power amp, control was from the Commander preamp, and a Cipher tube DAC took care of the decoding from the Innuos streamer.

BTW, a quick look inside the Cipher DAC shows an impressive level of quality, particularly in the power supplies. Wells Audio also took care of the power conditioning with their Looking Glass II power conditioning. All cabling was courtesy of Cardas.

PAD-HiFi’s Dave Malekpour also sat in with me to listen to the room and was quite taken with what he heard. The cherry on top is that Jeff Wells and his daughter Kristen Toole are just genuinely lovely people.

Metaxas & Sins

Artist and audio engineer Kostas Metaxas made the trip to AXPONA for the first time to help US Distributor Reel Sound Distribution unveil two new products at the show. The first was a pair of striking electrostatic loudspeakers called the Prinz. Each speaker is comprised of 4 identical aluminum framed electrostat panels with a specific pattern of perforations.

This allows each array of panels to have a more uniform response in room and allows the speaker to dig deeper into the frequency range. The second new product was the dual tonearm Perambulator turntable. It’s essentially a floating sculpture that just happens to play records but the design does not come at the expense of performance.

The heavy two-piece scalloped acrylic and aluminum platter is purposely designed to suppress any vibrations. The recessed label area built into the platter also allows for the record to lay completely flat. The whole structure is CNC’d from a block of 6061 aircraft grade aluminum to minimize resonances and it uses an extremely accurate Swiss Maxon motor. The tonearm tubes are pure titanium.

The Solitaire integrated amp, Tourbillon RTR tape deck, Ethereal headphone amp, and Siren loudspeakers that we saw in Florida also made a return appearance to wow the show goers. Basically, this is audio artwork at the highest level.

More down to earth though was Kostas Metaxas himself. We had a lovely time catching up along with Reel Sounds president Jeff Garshon and his daughter Cameron.