Welcome back to my coverage of AXPONA 2025. I want to send out special thanks to our friends at Vera-Fi Audio, manufacturer of matchless amplifiers, loudspeakers, subwoofers, power conditioners, noise reduction systems, and isolation products for the budget audiophile, for selflessly sponsoring this coverage despite not participating in the show themselves.
IASCA Competition/Mick Newton
As I mentioned in my first part of my AXPONA 2025 coverage, one of the more exciting additions to the show was a Car Audio Showcase. This touched me personally for two reasons, one is that some forty-eight years ago, my entry into the audio world as a profession was in car audio, the second and more important reason is that it represents a new way to bring fresh blood into the community.
Unfortunately, as one might guess, car audio is more of an aural experience than a visual, in fact, for obvious reasons, most of the hardware is hidden away and not visible from the listening area, so I don’t have many photos.
Half of the Car Audio Showcase was dedicated to an IASCA (International Auto Sound Challenge Association) Competition. Pictured above is an entry by Mike Newton.
trulli Audio
The most interesting exhibit in the Car Audio Showcase was trulli Audio, a speaker driver manufacturer dedicated to car audio who have created a new unique type of speaker driver, dubbed the ThinDriver, where the voice coil is placed at the outer ring of the diaphragm, rather than at the center allowing for a larger magnet, and voice coil, making the driver much more efficent, distributing the energy more evenly across the diaphragm for less distortion and greater accuracy, while giving the driver a much shallower depth.
Stillpoints/Viola Audio Labs/Rockport Technologies/Bricasti Design/TIEN Audio Ltd/Phasemation/ANALOG HIGH FIDELITY/Revox/Madison Audio Lab/Telos Audio Design
The Stillpoints room was one of the first rooms I checked out because it was across the hallway from my sleeping room, and it turned out to be one of the most pleasurable experiences of the show, in no small part due to Bruce Jacobs’ music choices, but also due to his presentation. Most of the exhibitors set up to impress, which means a “larger-than-life” sound profile, rather than a realistic recreation of the musical performance. As an audiophile, musician, and music lover, I prefer the latter, and Stillpoints provided that in spades. The system comprised of a Viola Audio Labs Sonata Two Chassis Preamp ($33,800), a Viola Audio Labs Cadence Amplifier ($35,000), a pair of Rockport Technologies Atria II’s Loudspeakers ($38,000) on Stillpoints Ultra 10s ($12,000), a Bricasti Design M1 SE Mdx DAC with network card ($12,000), a TIEN Audio Ltd TT5 turntable with vacuum and Viroa Tonearm ($22,000), a Phasemation PP2000 Cartridge ($8,000), an ANALOG HIGH FIDELITY Phono/Tape Head Preamp ($18,000), a Revox PR99 MKIII with Rebuilt and Updated Output Stage ($5,000), a Stillpoints ESS Ultra 34-40 ($44,282), a Stillpoints ESS Ultra 34-20 ($31,445), a Stillpoints Component Stand ($1,995) with four Stillpoints Ultra 10s ($1,500/ea), eight Stillpoints Apertures ($960/ea), four Stillpoints Aperture Stands ($719/ea), Madison Audio Lab Eclipse AG XLR 9M Cables ($3,500), nine Madison Audio Lab Eclipse AG XLR 1M Cables ($1,950/ea) Madison Audio Lab Eclipse AG Speaker Cables 2M ($3,000) and two Telos Audio Design QRC Line Conditioners ($13,250).
(Note: In part 2 of my show report, I confused the images from the other TIEN Audio Ltd room with the Stillpoints room, that entry has been reedited to correct this and more accurately reflect my experience.)
Danville Signal/PlanarBASS/Magnepan
I entered the Danville Signal’s room seeking out the latest iteration of Wendell Diller’s PlanarBASS dipole dynamic subwoofer ($2,500/pr – must be matched with Danville Signal dspNexus 2/8 DSP Audio Processor, the first dynamic subwoofer to successfully pair with planar speakers. The system on display consisted of the Danville Signal dspNexus 2/8 DSP Audio Processor ($4,000), two Danville Signal Amps ($2,000/ea), a pair of Magnepan 1.7i Planar Magnetic Loudspeakers ($2,995/pr), and a pair of the PlanarBASS dipole dynamic subwoofers. Not to put too fine of a point on it, the sound was jaw-dropping.
VAC/Acora Acoustics/SAT/Lyra Analog/VPI Industries/HANA/Esoteric/aurender/eversolo
Always a treat at AXPONA is the VAC/Acora Acoustics room, and one of my favorite large ballroom presentations. The main system was made up of a VAC Statement Phono Stage ($82,000), a VAC Statement Line Stage ($82,000), VAC Statement 455 iQ Amplifiers ($82,000), Acora Acoustics VRC Speakers Tempest Quartz ($318,000/pr), an SAT XD1 Turntable ($238,500) fitted with an SAT CF1-09 Pickup Arm ($71,100) and an Lyra Analog Atlas Lambda Phono Cartridge ($13,195), an ESoteric N-01XD Streamer/Renderer/DAC, and an aurender N 30 SA Streamer/Renderer/Storage ($25,000), with Cardas Clear Beyond Cables throughout.
A second system featuring the epic VPI Industries Avenger Direct Statement Turntable and Fatboy Gimbal Tonearm ($50,000) with a HANA Umani Red Cartridge ($3,995) and VPI Industries Vanquish Stand ($60,000), running through a VAC Master Preamplifier with Phono Option ($42,000) and VAC Signature 202 iQ Musicbloc ($22,000) driving Acora Acoustics MRC-3 Botticino Loudspeakers ($15,990/pr) and Acora Acoustics MRB-1 Monitors ($7,990/pr) on Acora Acoustics SRS-G Granite Speaker Stands ($6,250/pr), again with Cardas Clear Beyond Cables throughout and digital source provided by an aurender A-100 Streamer/Renderer/DAC with onboard Storage ($3,900).
ampsandsound/ANK/DENON
ampsandsound though known mostly to us for the phenomonal headphone amplifiers, most of their line are for two channel loudspeaker, as was evidenced by their room in the tower which offered a complete ampsandsound system using their ampsandsound Sasquatch 2-Way 18″ Woofer Horn Loaded Speaker ($17,000/pr) driven by an ampsandsound Black Pearl XL Special Edition ($19,000) and ampsandsound Yellowstone Preamplifier ($25,000) using an ANK Quad C-Core DAC 5.1 Signature Digital to Analog R2R Converter ($5,250) and a DENON DP-3000NE Turntable ($2,499) with a DENON OJAS DL-103o Cartridge ($549) as source.
JosephAudio/doshi Audio/Cardas Audio/J.Sikora Turntables/Berkely Audio Design/aurender/AIDAS CARTRIDGES/HRS
Another of the ballrooms to catch my ear was the JosephAudio/doshi Audio/Cardas Audio/J.Sikora Turntables/Berkely Audio Design/aurender/AIDAS CARTRIDGES/HRS room with its wonderful J.Sikora Turntables Reference SE Turntable ($49,250) fitted with the J.Sikora Turntables KV 12 MAX Tonearm ($14,500) and AIDAS CARTRIDGES Tru-Stone Violet Limited Edition Cartridge ($6,500), running through a doshi Audio EVOLUTION Phono Stage ($22,995), into a doshi Audio EVOLUTION Preamp ($22,995), to doshi Audio EVOLUTION Monoblocks ($45,995) driving a pair of JosephAudio Pearl Graphene Ultra Speakers ($51,999) using Cardas Audio Clear Beyond Cables throughout and set up on an HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems) EXR Rack ($8,175), HRS E1X 23″x23″ Platforms ($3,175/ea), HRS SXRC-2123-1V ($4,195), and HRS M3X2-2123 ($4,895).
Saturday Audio Exchange/MONITOR AUDIO/McIntosh Labs/Kevro International/AudioQuest/BLUESOUND
Saturday Audio Exchange had several rooms but one of note was the MONITOR AUDIO room which center pieced the MONITOR AUDIO HYPHN Loudspeaker ($95,000/pr) driven by McIntosh Labs MC1.25KW 1-Channel Solid State Amplifier ($13,500) from a McIntosh Labs C55 Preamplifier ($9,000) with a BLUESOUND NODE ICON ($1,199) as source.
GTT Audio Video/Kubala-Sosna/Grimm Audio/Mola Mola/Vivid Audio
GTT Audio Video shared a room with Kubala-Sosna featuring Mola Mola electronics driving Vivid Audio Speakers, to wit, a Grimm Audio MU-1 Roon Core Streamer ($12,000) using a Dejitterit WiFi X WiFi receiver ($850) and a Dejitterit Switch X Ethernet Switch ($3,500) to provide signal for a Mola Mola Built-in DAC in a Mola Mola Makua Preamp ($12,500) fronting a pair of Mola Mola Perca Stereo Amplifiers ($9,850/ea) in a Vertical Bi-Amp configurations driving a pair of Vivid Audio Giya G3s2 Loudspeakers (($47,800/pr), powered by a Kubala-Sosna Xpander Power Distribution Unit ($5,400), and wired throughout with Kubala-Sosna cable.
That concludes Part 3 of my coverage of AXPONA 2025, once again, I would like to thank our good friends at Vera-Fi Audio for sponsoring our coverage. Stay tuned for Part 4
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