AXPONA 2023 Was Bigger, Better, And Bolder
Taking it from the top with the uppermost floors.
Audio Expo North America 2023 Show Coverage By Greg Weaver

  The message containing the official attendance for this year's edition of AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) landed in my Inbox Wednesday, April 19th, at 3:35 pm. Coincidentally, that was just about the same time that Audio Group Denmark's Peter Hansen and I had decided to take a cigar break. Peter had swung by my place with a pair of the new Børresen X3 loudspeakers and an assortment of their Ansuz Noise reduction gear... but that is another story.

It was while Peter and I were herfing that I received the email from Liz Miller, VP and Event Director of JD Events, sharing the news that a record 9,115 attendees had assaulted the beautiful Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center and Hotel for this year's event, held April 14th through 16th. Not only did this confirm a twenty percent increase in attendance over last year's event, the first AXPONA to be held in the post-CV lockdown era, but verified it as the largest AXPONA yet. With 12 floors of exhibitors, 200 Listening Rooms, over 500 brands, and with claims of hundreds of product debuts, it was not only the most well-attended, biggest, and most successful AXPONA to date, it was even more unlikely to be comprehensively covered than any previous AXPONA.

Now, as ridiculously large and well-planned as this event was – thank you Liz and the JD Events team! – I was shocked to find that many exhibitors, even ones that should be well enough acquainted with the show circuit and how it works, showed up with neither a printed list nor a QR Code to scan containing all the details on the gear, including brand, model, and price, in play in their room/s. Why would that be an issue? It's really quite simple.

First, in a show of this size, we, as working journalists, simply don't have the time to take down such routine details, especially when so many exhibitors have eagerly adopted this process to save us both the limited resource of the time it takes and the enormous potential it permits for errors, such as mishearing and/or mistakenly writing down a product name, model, or price. Or in some cases, even being given the wrong information by the room representative, for any number of reasons such as being too busy, a slip of the tongue, mistakenly recalling a name, model, or price, etc., for something so essential to covering any room. What was worse was that several of them, with confronted with their shortcomings, either didn't offer or flat-out refused, to text or email those details to me!

So I offer this note of understanding to any and all show exhibitors or sponsors; no equipment list – no coverage. Sorry. By way of illustrating my point, a very well-known reviewer for a large print magazine, one I used to write for published at least three glaring errors in his show coverage, including misidentifying models and prices of some flagship products, and even mixing product lineups between two rooms! Nope, if you can't bother making sure I have the proper information on the gear you want me to listen to, I can't bother covering your room.... Sorry.

With that pet peeve out of the way... let the coverage begin!

This year, well aware that I simply would not be able to cover everything, Friday morning found me headed for the 16th floor after breakfast, with a quick stop on 5, the highest floor that has a view into the Renaissance Atrium area, to make this time-motion lapse video. 

Click here to see the timelapse video.

Once that was shot, I was on my way to 16, and the game, as Billy Shakespeare first quipped in King Henry IV, "the game was afoot."

1607  Next Level HiFi And AGD
Walking into the first of the Next Level HiFi / Audio Group Denmark found me in the presence of a system comprised of AGD's entry-level products, featuring the introduction of the newest brand from AGD, Axxess. The room was being run by Frits Dalmose, a gentleman whom I had the pleasure of meeting during my January trip to Aalborg, where I got to see the entire AGD operation.

Axxess joins the AGD family of Aavik, Ansuz, and Børresen as their most affordable level of electronics, starting with the featured Axxess Forté 1, an all-in-one-integrated amplifier, DAC, streamer, headphone amp, and more. Here is the system lineup.

Axxess Forté 1 - 2 x 100 Wpc @ 8 Ohm / DAC / streamer / headphone amp - $5,500
Ansuz PowerSwitch A3 Ethernet switch - $3,200
Ansuz A3 Mainz8 power distribution - $3,700
Børresen X3 loudspeakers - $11,000
all Ansuz X2 series cabling throughout

Shut the front door! This sonics in this room really kicked butt. Even though I had the opportunity to hear the prototypical Axxess Forté 1 driving the Børresen X3s during my visit to AGD back in January, I will admit to STILL being stunned by the performance they pulled off in this room. Deep, fast, textured bass, remarkable midrange tonality and smoothness, with airy, spacious treble. JUST AMAZING!

Further, a set of the X3s came to my room right after the show via personal delivery by AGDs North American Sales Manager, Peter Hansen, so watch for my take on this stunning overachiever soon.

1608  Next Level HiFi And AGD
Walking in here, I was very pleased to see Morton Thyrrestrup as master of ceremonies. I had also met and founded a friendship with Morton during my January visit to Denmark, and this room was filled with products from nearer the upper tiers of the AGD family of products. Here is that list.

Aavik U-580 - A Unity Amplifier, 2 x 300 Wpc @ 8 Ohm, DAC - $35,000
Aavik S-580 Roon ready Streamer - $25,200
Ansuz PowerSwitch D3 Ethernet switch - $9,350
Ansuz D2 Mainz8 Power distribution - $9,350
Assorted Ansuz Racks
Børresen 01 SSE loudspeakers - $60,000
Ansuz D2 series cabling - starting at $8,800

Premium sound, even in this standard-sized hotel room, made it clear why so many of us (journalists and reviewers) are filling up space with coverage of these exceptional Danish products. And as good as this room was, just wait to see what I have to say about their third room, Serenity!

1621  Von Schweikert Audio And Scott Walker Audio
This room bordered on revelatory for me and for almost every other showgoer and journalist who heard it. Why? Because this was the first time in ANY show experience that an ULTRA level VSA product has been shown in a realistic size, i.e., not a ball- or meeting, room! This is something I have been urging VSA to consider doing for coming up on half a decade now and combined with their recent teaming up with retailing power-house Scott Walker Audio, just may be the realignment that will finally shine the spotlight on these exceptional loudspeakers in the manner in which they deserve.

Their proprietary crossover technology, which they describe with the terms A.I.R. (Acoustic Inverse Replication), and G.A.I.N. (Global Axis Integration Network), with their proprietary rear ambiance driver approach, allow them to regenerate a musical envelope with an authenticity I've never heard duplicated by any other loudspeaker manufacturer... period. Here is the system that made all that magic.

Aurender W20SE Music Server - $23,000
Aurender MC20 Reference Master Clock - $30,000
LampizatOr Horizon DAC - $49,000
Sonorus Audio ATR10 mkII Reel to Reel Deck - $32,500 - World Premiere
VAC Master Preamplifier with Phono Stage - $30,000
VAC Master 300 iQ Amplifiers - $84,000/pair
Von Schweikert Audio Ultra 7's in Diamond Graphite finish - $180,000/pair
   With the Critical Mass System 0.8" Speaker footers @ $650 each/ 8 used @ $5,200
Von Schweikert Audio Shockwave V-12XS - $16,500 each

This room was nothing less than superb, offering up refined definition and detail, while revealing musical nuance like the luster, sparkle, and shimmer of well-recorded piano, guitar, or human vocals. And GAWD could it hit! Macrodynamic scaling, speed, impact, and extension, in such a modest-sized room, routinely raised goosebumps. This system in this room merely served to highlight how completely and easily the VSA ULTRA speaker systems may be tailored to deliver the very best in any room size or condition. This room easily clinched a place in my Top Five Rooms at this show.

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