Audiophile Insights At AXPONA 2025 Sixth Floor
Exploring next-gen high-end audio technologies.
Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker 

684  The Gramophone Inc. And EverSolo USA
Things get a little strange at this point, as it was now after 6 p.m. and the rooms were shutting down. Naturally, I kept pushing onward to finish up the 6th Floor. I don't recall going into this room, but somehow I came up with a flyer for it. I wish I had because Karl-Heinz Fink, designer and owner of Epos Loudspeakers and Fink Team, was at the show. I've heard Fink Team speakers at Capital Audiofest, and they are well worth hearing again. Hopefully, you can read the print in these photos.

Epos was a highly regarded, affordable brand back in the 1990s and 2000s. It has since been reborn as you read above. I've seen a couple of these speakers on silent display at the Toronto show, and I expect they are well worth hearing.

688  Refined Audio, Audio Mirror, Cube Audio, And Taiko Audio
This is another room I would love to have heard again with the Cube Audio speakers, especially after just hearing the Pearl Acoustics single-driver speakers in room 642. As I said earlier, these are both highly respected single-driver speakers.

690  Popori Acoustics And Atma-Sphere
The folks at Popori Acoustics were working late, so I got to hear these tall electrostatics being driven very well by Atma-Sphere Class D monoblocks. My earliest exposure to these Atma-Sphere monoblocks was disappointing, probably because Ralph Karsten had them sitting on the carpet in the hotel rooms. Since then, I've heard them on stands or in racks, where the music came into better focus, and the music has been very good. The Atma-Sphere MP-3 Hi-End tube preamplifier featuring a Balanced Differential Design was in silver face on the lower left rack. This preamp is now in Mk 3.3 version. Ralph invented the balanced differential design back in 1989.

The little poster on the left edge of the photo shows the large Popori speaker (which looks something like a sailboat) at the Florida Expo show earlier this year.

The price list here will fill you in on further details.

694  LAiV And PureAudioProject
In the last room, I missed meeting Ze'ev Schlik of PureAudioProject, who had speakers in four different rooms at the show. The Duet15 Voxativ AC-1.6  with a Voxativ full-range driver and a 15" woofer was in this room. Being more difficult to drive than most of the PureAudioProject speakers, it was teamed up with electronics from LAiV that came from Singapore. Harmony GaNM monoblocks ($4500/pr.) with 200 Watts into 8 Ohms have only balanced inputs. Upstream was the Harmony DAC ($2700) and Harmony HP2A preamp ($2700). And a Harmony uDDCreclocker ($849) with an I2S output was unusual in this price range. Very nice, unique styling on this gear. If we can survive the tariff wars, this could become a prominent brand in the USA. Unfortunately, I scribbled down some notes, but forgot to take photos.

Using Priceline, my wife had found a room for $100 a night near the show as I packed the car on Thursday night. I checked in, checked my computer for urgent emails, and started charging batteries. As I walked to the restaurant two blocks away, I passed an exclusive menswear shop with this dapper green tuxedo, complete with a matching robo-babe. It caused me to reflect on the expensive gear at AXPONA and the men with deep pockets roaming the show incognito in jeans, shorts, and T-shirts.

Friday is seafood day, so I stopped into the bar at Shaw's Crab House for a fish fry. It didn't take long to strike up a conversation with an old salt with a story as interesting as my own. Then there was the mixed group of four to my left who kept me chatting until my dinner arrived. A pro camera sort of invites that.

Back at the hotel, I studied the show booklet and set my goals for the next two days. With seven floors covered on Friday, it was evident the rest of the show was now manageable. I was grateful for a bed that night and eight hours of sleep.

Part 7 Coming Soon
Within Part 7, I will begin with the 5th Floor. Be sure to check back daily for more AXPONA 2025 high-end audio show coverage.

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