AXPONA 2025 Highlights, Must-See Audiophile Innovations, And Top High-End Audio Trends
12th And 14th Floors: Schaumburg's annual high-end audio event for USA audiophiles.
Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker 

1428   Well Pleased AV, Choice Audio, GigaWatt, Merason, QLN, SGR, Vinnie Rossi, And Innuos
The Well Pleased AV room was set up similarly to the previous room, but with a different cast of characters, as you can see on the front scrim. SGR Audio makes speakers and the outstanding racks that were seen here and in the previous room. Check these out if you're looking for something as visually appealing as they are effective. This was another very fine-sounding room.

I've been paying more and more attention to Qln speakers from Sweden. They play big, with high-quality sound in a relatively modest-sized form factor. Fit and finish were excellent. Here again is a manufacturer who has switched from spikes to vibration-absorbing footers. Also, notice the use of the Stillpoints Aperture II sound panels ($960/ea.), mentioned in the previous room, on both the side wall and behind the speaker to quell the port noise.

The GigaWatt power conditioner was showing 117 volts in this room, which is enough of a drop to compromise sound quality, but it was probably the same throughout the venue. The Merason component with an HRS damping block on top of it on the middle shelf is a new product. Innuos gear for streaming was on the lower shelf. Look for the new Innuos product to be presented at High End in Munich.

1434   Vandersteen Audio, Ultra Fidelis, Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS), Analog Manufaktur Germany (AMG), Audio Research, AudioQuest, Aurender, And Lyra
The Vandersteen Quatro CT Evo speaker ($23.9k) was driven by Vandersteen M5HPA monoblocks, seen beside the speaker with dedicated 30” silver and copper bi-wire speaker cable ($21k). The relatively new Vandersteen L5-ACC Audio Control Center, otherwise thought of as a preamp, but capable of more, was $15k. An Audio Research Reference Phono 3SE phono stage ($22.5k) was used with an AMG Viella Forte turntable equipped with a 12J Turbo tonearm ($32k for both) that was fitted with a Lyra Atlas Lambda MC cartridge ($13,195). Using a top-of-the-line, or near, phono cartridge is practically standard procedure at today's shows.

On the digital side, an Aurender N30SA server/streamer ($25k) was used with an Aurender MC10 master clock ($16k), and an Audio Research DAC9 ($12k). Using a separate master clock is a trend that is now trickling down to less expensive DACs. A Harmonic Resolutions Systems (HRS) rack used here was $8,175.

Power conditioning and cables were provided by AudioQuest, with moderately priced ones on most gear and more expensive cables on a few critical connections. A Niagara 5000 and 7000 power conditioners ($5.9k and $11k, respectively) were listed. And some power cords were under $200 and $350.

Richard Vandersteen was holding court near the entrance to the room, along with Jim White from Aesthetix on the right. Here again, this room was sounding very fine. The 14th Floor was sounding hot.

1441   Kii Audio
Kii was featuring a floorstander that combines a monitor with a woofer unit to make a full-range speaker. Unfortunately, the conversation was long and involved here, and I didn't get to hear it.

I ducked past the host to grab a shot of their active speakers and noticed the absence of thick, expensive cables.

1442   SVS Immersive Music Sound System
In the first of two SVS rooms, I encountered a surround-sound video-oriented presentation, so I grabbed a shot and moved on. There is usually a lot of talk in SVS presentations, so their rooms fill up, leading to endless questions. I expect that format leads to lots of sales for them.

1444   SVS Stereo System
The second SVS room was a music-oriented presentation, but I dropped in on an interview recording session. They were being recorded by a tech person. I marvel at the compactness of today's video recording equipment. Obviously, I didn't hear much music here either, so I moved on. I had my first good listen to their floorstander and already reported on them weeks ago at Montreal, and I was impressed.

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