It’s been a long time, but the big one is back. AXPONA opened its doors to the public this morning, and I was so happy to be there!
When I attended AXPONA back in April of 2019, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to wait three years until the next one. But then COVID-19 swept in and turned the world upside down, making it impossible to have such a huge gathering.
But today I walked into the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg IL, and and it was like coming back home. I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, because the show was packed despite it being a work day and inclement weather.
To be honest, the show definitely seemed scaled back a little, but it was still bigger than any show I’ve attended other than AXPONA, which is a testament to the sheer size of this show during previous years.
That said, there was a lot of familiar sites like the Ear Gear Expo with all the headphone rigs on display, The Expo Hall with all the records, CDs and knick knacks, plus all the local dealers (and salesmen) showing off the latest gear from their favorite manufacturers.
This first day, I hit all the big rooms, with the huge speakers filling up the space with sound, and those are always impressive, even if they’re not always the best sounding rooms. That’s not to say none of them sounded good. Klipsch had their massive Heritage Jublilee speakers on display, and they were really fun to listen to, with huge scale and dynamics.
I also had a good time listening to the Estelon/Krell setup in the Audio Experience room…the speakers were quite sexy to boot!
On the other hand, I was sad to see that PS Audio didn’t come with their new speakers (they brought them to Toronto!?), and while The Gryphon had their usual impressive display, there were no speakers!?
Anyway, I have a bunch of stuff to share from my first day at AXPONA, please subscribe to the site to get updates via email, or follow our Twitter and Facebook accounts to get the scoop via social media!
I’m an audio writer who started as a young audio salesman/consumer electronics professional back in the late 90s. That’s where I discovered the magic of 2-Channel sound. My hunger for great sound has led me on a delightful music quest that continues today.
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