Enjoy the show!

Nirvana A

Joseph Audio showed its $52k three-way four-driver Pearl Graphene Ultra floorstander, driven by Doshi Audio electronics, sourced by a J.Sikora table, and wired by

Cardas. Despite being a little shouty, forward, and abrasive on vocal fortes (the first instance of what was to become a show-wide trend), the Pearl Graphene Ultra had superb delicacy on cymbals and decent though slightly loose and underdamped bass. Midrange was lifelike on Blossom Dearie “Do I Love You,” but still piercing on transients.

Nirvana B

The $200k Credo Cinema LTM multi-driver line source was driven by EMM Labs electronics and sourced by EMM Labs, Meitner, Feickert, and DS Audio in a very large room. Once again, the sound was piercing on vocal fortes and slide guitar transients.

Nirvana C

Acora Acoustics huge, five-driver, granite-enclosed $218k VRC, augmented by rears and center and sub and driven by CAT electronics, had huge depth of stage on “Avalon.” The speakers disappeared; their sound was dark, sweet, vast, and beautiful, with next to none of that piercing quality on transients, even on “Coal Train”! A contender.

Utopia D

Wilson Benesch’s £100k Omnium, a tall, slim, seven-driver floorstander in a biocomposite monocoque enclosure (with a silk-carbon hybrid tweeter and isobaric woofers), was being driven by Audia Flight electronics and sourced by WB’s fabulous GMT One record-playing system. The sound was very open, with lovely treble, a huge stage, and notably good decay. The speakers were facing straight forward (no toe-in) in a giant room, so the center image on vocals was a little diffuse. Bass was also a bit thumpy and cool in timbre.

Prosperity

The $54k, two-and-a-halfway, five-driver (one diamond tweeter, four 7” ceramic mid/woofers) Marten Parker Quintet Diamond floorstander, driven and sourced by Luxman and wired by Jorma boasted a neutral balance, surprisingly natural timbre on female vocal, and fine definition in the bass. A good showing.

Euphoria

Another set of Acora Acoustics’ $218k, three-way, five-driver (one 1.25″ beryllium dome tweeter, two 4.5″ midranges, and two 12″ woofers) VRC floorstander in a massive, solid-granite, ported enclosure was here being driven superbly well by VAC tubes, and sourced by Wadax and an SAT turntable. Although I haven’t been wowed by these speakers in the past, this year’s showing was an unalloyed triumph. On a cover of “Sound of Silence,” the bass went incredibly deep, midrange timbre was gorgeous, instruments were extremely dense in color, dimensional in imaging, and vast in staging. The overall balance may have been a bit dark, but so what? Despite a hint of room mischief on the lowest notes of the organ, the incredibly lifelike staging and imaging of the choir on the Rutter Requiem, which seemed to be huge in number, freestanding in space, individuated in presence, conjoined in harmony, and nearly life-sized in stature, made for what was perhaps the most realistic reproduction of a large choir I’ve ever heard. This was the best AXPONA sound yet and certainly a BOS contender.

Schaumburg C

The $65k Stratton Element 12 two-way stand-mount was being driven by Burmester amplifiers and Acoustic Signature’s new Apex phonostage preamp and sourced by an Acoustic Signature Ascona turntable with TA-9000 arm and MCX4 cart. This was a very good-sounding small system, aided no doubt by Acoustic Signature’s new phonostage and its wonderful table and arm. The sonics took me a bit by surprise given the speaker’s configuration and the largish size of the room it was parked in, but the Stratton had dense dark tone color, good though not earthshaking bass, and a very attractive treble without bite or edge (for once). A very nice showing.

Schaumburg D

Estelon’s $296k Extreme Mk II, 5-driver (two 11” Accuton CELL aluminum-sandwich woofers, one 11” Accuton CELL aluminum-sandwich mid/woofer, one 7” Accuton CELL ceramic-membrane midrange, one 1” Accuton CELL diamond tweeter), four-way floorstander in a large, ported, hourglass-shaped, marble-composite enclosure with remote-controlled height-adjustable tweeter/midrange module was driven by Vitus Signature Series SM-103 MK.II monoblock amplifiers and an SL-103 linestage preamp, sourced by a Vitus SD-025 MK.II DAC and two Sonorus ATR10 mkII tape decks with Arian Jansen sampler tapes, and wired with Crystal’s Da Vinci cable and Infinity power cords. On the tapes, the sound was extremely open and present, with bass that was very powerful and extended albeit a little underdamped and a mite thumpy and a midrange and treble that were highly detailed but (yet again) edgy and aggressive on fortes. The tapes had great staging outside the speakers, thanks to Jansen’s Holographic Imaging software-treatment of the high-res digital files from which the tapes were made, but virtually everything recorded on them suffered from that same upper-midrange brightness and aggressiveness. I thought at first this might be due to off-axis diffraction, as I was initially sitting to the side, but when I asked distributor Aldo Filippelli what setting he was using with the Vitus amps—which never sounded even remotely bright or edgy when I used them in my system—he confessed they were running in “rock” mode rather than Vitus’ “traditional” Class A. I immediately asked him to change the setting, and the result was like a different system—far smoother, more neutral in balance and natural in timbe, without a trace of brightness in the upper mids and treble. It still wasn’t one of the very best sounds I heard at the show (the room was too big, IMO), but it was a whole lot better.

Schaumburg E

Dali’s $120k Core five-driver floorstander driven and sourced by McIntosh electronics surprised me. This was a good sounding room—dark and rich in color in the midband and treble, just a tad vague in center imaging, and a bit overblown in the bass, but very listenable with a wide soundstage and decent resolution. A fine showing.

Schaumburg F

The five fabric-driver (two 12″ woofers, two 6.5″ midrange drivers, and one 1″ soft-dome tweeter in an D’Appolito array), aluminum-enclosed, $165k Stenheim Reference Ultime Two, biamped by four VTL 450 monoblocks, sourced by dCS and Gran Prix Audio, and wired by Nordost, was sensational last year (Robert gave it a BOS award) and (after a late Thursday night recalibration by the great Stirling Trayle) proved to be just as wonderful sounding in 2025. From Robbie Robertson’s electric Sinematic (with Van the Man) to Hans Theessink’s mostly acoustic Jedermann Remixed to a completely acoustic Blossom Dearie and all stops between, these were best-of-show-worthy contenders, with super solidity and three dimensionality top to bottom, uniformly rich dense tone color, outstanding (and outstandingly well controlled and articulated) bass, sweet treble that never shrieked at you (as the tweets in so many other rooms did), and the phenomenal dynamic range that makes these very high sensitivity transducers so alive sounding. Once again, the Stenheims were instant Best of Show contenders.

Innovation

The $100k Monitor Audio Hyphen with 11 drivers (an AMT tweeter surrounded by six two-inch midranges—called the M array—on a center strut and four 8-inch force-canceling woofers built into the stone-acrylic side towers, making for an H-shaped form factor) was driven by McIntosh and sourced by Bluesound. The room the Hyphen was being shown in was very loud and busy, full of talkative people, so the sound of the speakers was hard to suss out. However, from what I could hear, they were quite neutral and natural, one of the few transducers I heard that seemed lifelike in balance. I liked them in spite of the noise.

Connection

The $50k, four-driver, three-and-a-halfway Sonus faber Stradivari floorstander with its distinctively thin, wide, gorgeously finished, soundboard-like enclosure was being driven by ARC 330M monoblocks and an ARC Ref 10 preamp, and sourced by dCS, Clearaudio, and DS Audio. The sound was simply gorgeous—dark in balance but superbly dense in color, texture, dynamics, body, dimensionality, and staging. Meltingly beautiful on strings, high and low, it may not have been the last word in resolution, but it was breathtakingly lovely to listen to. A BOS contender.

Perfection Boardroom

Wilson Audio’s $367k seven-driver Chronosonic XVX in a tall, immensely adjustable “enclosure” was being driven by D’Agostino electronics and sourced by dCS and Clearaudio with DS Audio cart. Wire was by Transparent. The XVX produced a dark solid sound with notably good speed and impact on transients. Bass was a little wooly in the narrow room in which it was ensconced. The XVX was not as rich, rounded, and ravishing in timbre and texture as the Sonus faber Stradavari with ARC—just a touch leaner and drier by comparison—but it was still quite listenable.

Third Floor

Despite being parked in a relatively tiny corner room of a large room, the four-driver $55k B&W 801 D4 Signature, driven by Marantz electronics and sourced by a Marantz DAC, had a very listenable sound—scarcely the last word in resolution or dynamics or staging but as smooth and sweet as a really good FM tuner broadcast. It would be nice to hear these handsome looking and sounding speakers in a larger space where they weren’t jammed against and between walls.

Fourth Floor

The $63,400 YG Acoustics Hailey 3 three-driver three-way floorstander in two stacked and finely fitted together aluminum cabinets was driven by Zesto tube electronics and sourced by Zesto’s new tube DAC, with cables by Cardas. Despite bass leak-through from nearby rooms and the confines of a small narrow hotel room, the sound was impressively open, neutral, lively, pacey, and lifelike on Miles and Trane. Staging was limited by the room, but tonality was quite natural and appealing. A good showing for YG and for Zesto.

Von Schweikert’s demure, 6-driver, $59,000 VR.thirty floorstander with ceramic cones, a diamond tweeter, a rear-mounted ambient ribbon tweeter, and active bass was driven by Class A Westminster Labs electronics and sourced by a Lumin streamer and a Rockna DAC. The sound was reminiscent of the YG Hailey 3, in part because the VR.thirty was situated in the same small narrow room. It, too, was impressively neutral and lively with a little less tube bloom, of course, than the Zesto-driven Haley but with faster transients. Another very good showing.

The second pair of $63k YG Hailey 3 three-driver three-way floorstanders (in the same tiny room) was driven by Class D bel canto electronics. They had a beguiling warmth and body and chewiness and the same openness as the other pair on Willie Nelson “Blue Skies” vinyl and Greg Brown’s “Brand New 64 Dodge.” Another nice presentation.

The $89k Altec Lansing Ribbonacci bipolar membrane loudspeaker with separate DSP’d woofers, driven by Lampizator tube electronics and sourced by a Method 4 DAC, was the fullest-bodied speaker I heard on Floor 4. It had rich dense tone color on all instruments, very lively dynamics, and a natural tonal balance. Though played a little too loud for me, it was still an outstanding system.

Fifth Floor

The $65k Cessaro Mendelssohn hybrid loudspeaker with compression-driver tweeter in a spherical horn and cone midrange and woofer, driven by Alieno tubes and sourced by a TW Acustic table and tonearm, had more stage depth than other speakers in small rooms.

Despite the too-loud playback level, the Cessaro was still marvelous on piano—extremely clear and natural. Unfortunately, voices had that Schaumburg edge on fortes, though they sounded well controlled at lower volume. All in all, a mixed bag that showed great potential for a larger space.

Bayz Audio’s always interesting-sounding, albeit plumbing-fixture-looking $60k Courante 2.0 omni, driven by Burmester, sourced by Burmester and Aurender, and wired by Shunyata, once again, exhibited that now-familiar shoutiness and edge on vocal and instrumental fortes, although the musicians were free standing and three-dimensional, as if not sourced by a loudspeaker. That omni effect alone made the Bayz worth a long listen, even if it was fighting the room and sometimes losing.

Sixth Floor

The $82.5k GIP 4165 replica of a WE full-ranger from the 1930s with a 105dB-sensitive 12” field-coil driver in a horn-loaded baffle with a separate TW 38 tweeter mounted atop the enclosure, driven by $55k 6L6 GIP amps and $48k GIP preamp, was being played piercingly loudly in a small hotel room! Though it had reasonably good timbre and dynamics on trumpet and piano, the excessive volume level obscured its virtues.

TriangleART’s $65k Metis loudspeaker with solid walnut spherical-horn-loaded midrange, ported cone woofer, and RAAL true ribbon tweeter was being driven by TriangleART’s tube electronics and a TA turntable. The Metis had good density of tone color on Diana Krall’s Live In Paris but, like the GIP 4165, was being played too loud in a small room, so sounded rather piercing on vocal and instrumental transients. Center imaging was also a little vague. That said and level aside, the sound was not unappealing.

Seventh Floor

The $70k Fourier Transform active loudspeakers with subs and amps is perhaps the weirdest speaker I’ve ever seen—a veritable jungle gym of 12 unenclosed cone drivers stacked atop each other, with an array of ribbons and planar tweeters to their sides and an outboard subwoofer. But surprise, surprise, the Fourier sounded great—open like an omni (which is what it is) with free-floating images of extremely natural timbre, save for the bass, where the subs were boxy and poorly blended. That aside, the Fourier Transforms were best-of-show realistic-sounding in the mids and treble.

Eleventh Floor

Italy’s $82k Albedo Audio Acclara SHS, a five-Accuton-driver three-way floorstander, developed quite a nice soundstage, wide and deep in a narrow room. Tonal balance was dark and moderately rich with a sweet treble. Instruments sounded dense in timbre and texture, and the bass was very deep going and well controlled on a Mino Cinélu drum album. A Tape Project tape of Nat King Cole and George Shearing was also impressive, though the Sonorus deck wasn’t quite as delicate in the upper mids as the Cinélu vinyl. Devin Hoff LP of standup bass was simply superb with very deep extension. A notably good-sounding room.

The $78k Rockport Lynx three-driver three-way floorstander with custom drivers and enclosure was being shown in two spaces. Here it was being driven by Absolare. The narrow room and large window behind the speakers weren’t helping, but aside from the usual brightness in the upper mids on fortes, the Lynxes were very detailed with excellent stage depth and height and deep going low end. Too bad about the room.

Twelfth Floor

The $91k ceramic- and diamond-driver Marten Mingus Quintet 2 floorstander, driven by Goldmund electronics and sourced by Goldmund and a Garrard 301, were very fast and finely detailed. Bass was overblown in this small space; timbre, neutral to slightly warm.

Fourteenth Floor

The $78k Rockport Lynx, making a second appearance here driven by Vinnie Rossi tube electronics, sourced by Innuous, and wired by AudioQuest, was splendid sounding, despite a bit of thickness in the bass—gorgeous on female voice and piano and in spite of the small size of the room, no shoutiness in the mids and treble. This was a better showing than the first Lynx. In fact, in spite of bass issues, it was one of the most natural and appealing sounds at the show.

Audio Note UK showed its large $65k AN-E/SPx Ltd. Field Coil two-way stand-mount driven by AN’s Meishu 300B integrated and sourced by AN digital and analog. For a two-way, the AN-E was surprisingly full range, with a seamless blend of hemp cone woofer and dome tweeter. Tremendously rich, clear, and dynamic on drum and synth (-6dB at 17Hz!), it was one of the surprises at AXPONA and one of the best two-way stand-mounts at the show.

Fifteenth Floor

The gigantic, $750,000, six-driver (one 1.1-inch diamond-coated beryllium dome tweeter, one 6-inch Gen 8 Magico Nano-Tec midrange, two 11-inch Gen 8 Magico Nano-Tec mid/woofs, and two 15-inch Gen 8 Magico Nano-Tec woofers) Magico M9s were housed in a nearly 8-foot-tall, 1000-pound (per side), oval-shaped, sealed enclosure of astonishingly complex and sophisticated construction. Driven by top-line D’Agostino electronics, sourced by top-line Wadax DAC, server, and player, and cabled by Vyda, the M9’s low end was big, powerful, and solid on solo double bass, with superb pitch definition and good timbre. However, the M9 suffered from the same aggressiveness in the upper-midrange/lower-treble that plagued so many other transducers at Schaumburg. Soundstaging was terrific, but that brightness and edginess on fortes with male and female voice, ensemble voices, and solo guitar made it sound as if the tweet were sticking out. The room (low ceiling and near sidewalls) and the relatively close listening area were not doing these massive speakers any favors. In a different room with a different setup, I’m sure the M9s would sound like a million bucks, which is virtually what they cost. In this oddball Schaumburg venue, not so much.

MBL’s $91k four-way 101 E MkII omnis, driven by MBL 9011 amps and sourced by its outstanding C41 streamer, sounded astonishingly realistic on voice! Not as rich in color as the Stenheims (in part, I think, because of the electronic bass trap Jeremy was using, which leaned down the midbass but, alas, also leaned down the lower midrange), but so boxlessly open, bloomy, and dimensional that Mark Knopfler sounded “there.”

Sixteenth Floor

The $120k Avantgarde Mezzo G3 two-way floorstander with spherical horn tweeter and woofer and powered and DSP’d dual-12” bass, driven by Phasemation MA-2000 tubes and sourced by Wadax, was just plain terrific. A BOS right off the bat. No horn coloration, dark gorgeous tone color, rich texture on voice and instrumentals, and a dynamic range and ease that were nonpareil. The Mezzo was also incredibly detailed, effortlessly differentiating previously undifferentiated background vocals on “I Heard You Paint Houses” from Sinematic. The best I’ve heard these speakers sound and a BOS contender.

The $105k Vivid Giya G1 Spirit, driven by Audionet electronics, and sourced by Master Fidelity DAC and Kronos table, had an appealingly light, sprightly, open presentation devoid of darkness but lacking some bass, midbass, and lower midrange color, weight, and body. Nonetheless, it was quite expansive in staging and boxless-sounding bottom to top.

The five-driver, four-way $250k Gauder DARC 250 was being driven by Soulution electronics, including the new 717 amps. It was hard to tell for sure on speakers I’m not highly familiar with, but the amps seemed to be absolutely colorlessly neutral, supremely detailed (brushes on drumheads had to be heard to be believed), and breathtakingly natural on “Take Five” and other jazz cuts, completely disappearing the Gauders as sound sources. With terrific treble and midrange timbre and astounding resolution (though not at all analytical), the new amps were phenomenal!

Best of Show

Acora Acoustics VRC loudspeakers driven by VAC electronics. Runner-up: Stenheim Reference Ultime 2 loudspeaker driven by VTL electronics.

Best Buy

Sonus faber Stradavari loudspeaker driven by ARC electronics.

Most Innovative

Fourier Transform omnidirectional loudspeaker driven by its own dedicated amps.