AXPONA Chicago April 10-12, 2026 - Who is going??

Just got back. Didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked - never do. There’s just too much. Still, I had a lot of fun and got to listen to most of what I wanted to. 

While I had fun in the big rooms and some were very good (and some were very not good IMO), I heard a few modest systems which impressed the hell out of me. Some of which I though would embarrass far more expensive systems. There’s hope for those that aspire to have a high quality, musically involving system but lack the resources for (or desire to invest in) a six and seven figure system. I think that’’s really encouraging for the future of our hobby.  

A couple of frustrations.

I left a room which otherwise sounded very good with gear i really wanted to hear - but the dealer decided to have a fairly loud conversation with someone which made it impossible to listen. It’s a show - I get it. But they coul have moved to a corner or to the hall, or kept it down. A couple minutes in I gave up.

I left the MBL room (and I love MBL) because it was loud enough to hurt my ears. So loud, I believe the amps were clipping. Seriously?

Room acoustics were frustrating a lot of exhibitors. As I have my own room challenges, I felt their pain. But some rooms were just way off. 

Network challenges abounded. The venue should ensure exhibitors have reasonable bandwidth or they should consider moving to a different location. The Varese System had regular dropouts while streaming. 

One exhibitor decided to only play tracks on their hard drive (to “best show the capabilities of their DAC”). At the six figure asking price, I get that the dealer will show up in my home with the gear, but shouldn’t a top level DAC show what it’s capable of on all music? This is relevant because I didn’t think what I heard was that great.

In sum - a good show with some terrific highlights and some not so terrific as well.

Best,

It did get frustrating for me also when I’d find a room I was looking for and the demonstrator would be lost in conversation about their favorite album or whatever. I really wanted to hear the latest VA beethovens and after several minutes of waiting I realized I was in the right place at the wrong time and I left. Bags end was a room with a teacher and students as were several others, Probably great for those disposed to school, not me and my 9th grade edu so I have no idea how those products sound and the demo did nothing to interest me.

@steve59 The Blade One Meta were there. Hegel integrated and Blade. That was the system. Excellent.

Joseph Audio, Doshi Electronics, J. Sikora room was tough to beat. JBL Summit with Mark Levinson was very good. Volti. Kii speakers. Magico. Marten with Luxman. Raidho sounded great. Rockport. Stenheim. 

The surprise for me was the Upscale room with Klipsch La Scala and some Rel subs. The audiophile community should lay off Klipsch. That room was brilliant.

@nogaps thank you we INFIGO AUDIO did all the electronics in room 454 with the Ribbonacci speakers with Altec Lansing. We did all the electronics and cabling we had a great sound. People loved it. We had our new streamer the LS 1 and our Dac Thanks! 

First time, really great.  For me the Rockport Technology, Morel, and Marten-Parker speakers along with Dynaudio Confidence 20A in the active category.