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

The shows are a great place to engage with the customers. I had a customer  visit us for three years straight at Axpona In the 4th year he brought a full loom of cables and now he is considering our Amp or a streamer. I enjoy it. It allows the buyer to understand our technology our products and what we do.  Great place to also discover new music and fellowship with audiophiles. 

If the statement made that "AXPONA should be only for dealers and that the rest of us are stupid", is what was actually said - that’s enough to ignore and avoid such a negative and self-serving person directing you only to what he sells. Good grief.  

Industry reflection - 

Think back, 3-4 years ago coming out of the pandemic, there were so many multi-generation audiophiles sharing worry the next generation of earbud and headphone kids had no interest in home audio systems, and lots of banter about how the industry was not likely to survive and thrive. The Axpona show indicates otherwise.

Since I could not attend Axpona in person, being able to watch several videos of reviewers and attendees was refreshing to see just how many NEW components, speakers, so many new/different amplifiers is quite reconfirming to see. Promoters, distributors, dealers, all spent a good deal of time, money, energy to make all of it accessible to attendees to see in person.  How cool is that! 

They should be commended and supported for that.  Someone talking crap about it all is not worth wasting time with. Imo, its fantastic having one place to go to and see it all in person over a few days.  We are lucky to have the experience. 

As a Dealer/Seller/Retailer you need to have thick skin. Yes, there are many different types of time wasters(tourists) in this hobby as a dealer it’s your job to navigate this issue. Axpona is only 3 days to let the time wasters, dreamers. frugal naysayers, vintage and DIY guys to spew preconceived notions and misinformation that form illogical and ignorant opinions. Surprisingly(to some) a majority are open minded attendees that want to learn and gain as much possible information before purchasing a $10k+ component. The bottom line is Axpona provides the perfect setting for the good, bad and ugly!

@decooney He pretty much lets loose. Talked forever. Here's a couple choice moments from the transcripts.
April 12, 2026, On Axpona:

"But the audio tourists don't discern. They hear their buddy say something sounds bad and they don't think about—well, what system does that buddy have? Oh, that buddy has some homemade stuff that he made in his room. That has no relation to something coming from David Chesty. But the audio tourists don't discern. They're just blind. And this is the herd chewing their cud. It's like a herd of cows, you know, chewing the cud. They're not individual thinkers. They don't think out. They don't think in realism. They just think in terms of group herd thought, you know? And it's very frustrating as an exhibitor to know that you're dealing with a herd that is just under the ether of the masses chewing the cuds. You're just dealing with cows, you know? And it's frustrating that they don't think in precise, professional thought patterns. They just don't. And as a professional, when you're exhibiting, you would expect at least people to be able to discern that and understand that."

"However, to discount a brand because you don't like that the novel idea that they put a solid state device inside a vacuum tube—stupid reason. Stupid reason. If you had a stronger mind and brain, you would realize that only half of AGD amps have a vacuum tube like that. The other half are for people that tweak about the looks of the solid state inside a vacuum tube...to discount a brand because of its look without listening to it like a true professional person with integrity would. You don't listen to it like a cow with your eyes, okay? Anybody that listens to audio with their eyes, they're part of the herd, okay? We've got you captive. I can hustle your ass now. Now I know you're easy to hustle."

On magazine journalists:
"And it's a craft. Okay? I give them kudos for that. They're good at it. But you know, at some point, you realize what a clown show it is, what a facade, and what a bunch of—charade is probably the better term. What a charade it is. You're just doing this act, this dog and pony show for fake judges, you know? It's ridiculous. Like, when you really break it down, it's ridiculous. So that's why I have that resentment, you know, in my tone...I mean, once you realize that the journalists are just journalists that are paid because they can write well—it's not because they know audio. It's because they can write better than we can. You know? That's what—and it's a craft. Okay? I give them kudos for that. They're good at it. But...f*ck you magazine writers. You guys are just journalists. You guys don't have the systems that we do. We are more qualified to talk about audio than you bozos are."

Later that week:  April 15, 2026:

"I don't really want to go to those forums myself. My days of doing that are over. It's not worth it for me. I know exactly what they're saying. There's no use in defending myself there. I've done it in the past, and I'm not going back. But I will ask that you guys go and listen. If you feel like sticking up for your boy, then do it. And don't be afraid. Just tell them about your experience or what you think about me, what you like about me, if you do like something about me. Otherwise, tell them why you hate me. But understand where you'll find the audiophile douchebags are probably right there on those forums."

"Audiogon is like Audio Science Review. Armchair experts. You just nailed it, dude. Those three words right there totally exemplify Audiogon. Armchair experts. These guys have no rigs. If they do, their DIY rigs that they made themselves and they sit there. These are the know-it-all jackasses that I talk about. The guys that are talking smack on that thread are exactly. If you guys want to see what I'm talking about in that video, go to that thread and just look and you will see exactly what I'm talking about. You'll see people talking about me that don't even know me. And how they spread vitriol and what they do. And it's like, and then you're like, clearly, some of these douchebags make it to the show. And when they come in your room you can tell. You can just tell who they are. There's the nice guys that come in and then there's some of them that come in and you're like something a little wrong with this guy. He's really demanding. He's not even smiling. He's totally grumpy, you know? And you're just like, whatever. You know, whatever you guys want to be audio weenies, fine, go be audio weenies somewhere else.

Instead of enjoying the music, they want to educate the world on how you are listening incorrectly. Exactly, exactly. And are they in the industry? Are they creating products that are successful products? No. Do they have a patent in audio design like I do? No. So they're just dweebs, dude. And I can't even go there. I can't go there. It's beneath me to go there and even talk."

Best to ignore it - now back to Axpona 2026!  

I'm enjoying seeing lots of different attendees, reviewers, and brand new folks kindly posting more videos on Youtube - many of them still catching up after getting home last week from Axpona.  

It's awesome to see new people getting into the show and audio, discovering it for themselves and everything that it is on its own - exactly how it is!