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

I enjoyed AXPONA again. Seemed bigger than the last one I went to a few years ago. Highlights for me:

The MBL room always impresses. “Another Brick In the Wall” never sounded so unearthly. I also really enjoyed the Third Ear Audio room. Those speakers really were impressive, especially being powered. 
 

Klaus’ room for Odyssey was vibing as always and sounded really good. His new Meilenstein amp is impressive. I just picked up a pair of Kismet monos from him so the comparison was interesting. 
 

Magico’s demos drive me crazy. The new S7s were set up but again playing classical at Muzak level volume. Yawn. Someone really needs to show them how to demo a speaker. They did the same thing the last two times I listened to them. 
 

Had a relisten to SVS’s Pinnacles, and they still impress first the money. Also really dug the Stenheims. That whole rig was megabucks, and sounded like it. 
 

All in all was a good time. The elevators were worse than usual. 

@douglas_schroeder I was at the show all 3 days and attended your seminar. I really enjoyed it especially your testing and conclusions about BURN-IN. I 100% agree with you by the way!

@douglas_schroeder I've always found your writing and thinking interesting. The RMAF has videos up from a lot of great talks. Any chance this talk of yours was filmed? Would love to watch it.

@zgas-music I listened to the LTA/Sound Lab room and it sounded very good. I was so happy they finally attended an AXPONA show since Sound Lab usually goes to the Capital Audio show. It appeared LTA was using their new amplifier to drive them. Loved the combination.

@dayglow 

I was especially startled by the statement about Dan D'Agostino, "That f*cker's dead in 10 years" It's said almost casually, almost as a throwaway observation while making a demographic point, delivered with a kind of breezy indifference — "hopefully he's not" is tacked on almost as an afterthought, which if anything makes it worse rather than better. More than that, the "cattle/herd" language throughout is perhaps more ugly in its wholesale dehumanization of an entire group of people. 

I'm sure he thought he was just creating colorful demographic commentary in the moment, but we'll see how it ages. I'd not want to have it representing me, personally or as a brand he sells. My two cents.