AXPONA 2025 Part 7: High-End Audio's Fantastic 5th Floor
Great gear reveals and audiophile trends for music lovers.
Audio Expo North America (AXPONA) 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker 

550  ampsandsound
Ampsandsound is a manufacturer of high-quality tube gear and high-efficiency horn-loaded speakers. Russ Stratton is shown here about to change an LP. That's their Sasquatch two-way speaker, which features an 18" horn on the compression driver above an 18" woofer ($17k). It has a frequency response of 32Hz to 18kHz (+/-3dB) and an efficiency of 99dB/W/m, making it an easy drive for their low-power tube amps. Having just watched a documentary on Little Richard on PBS last night, this speaker reminds me of a room-friendly version of the Altec Voice of the Theater speakers I owned at two different times in my life.

The amp on the bottom right side was their new Black Pearl XL SE with 300B triode tubes putting out 8 Wpc ($19k).

The Yellowstone preamp ($25k) shown here has completely separate circuits for the line and phono stages. A cover for the open area is available. The turntable is a Denon and was fitted with a Denon Ojas DL103 cartridge.

554  AV Luxury Group International, Aurender, Bayz Audio, Chord Electronics Ltd., Margules, Raidho Acoustics, RSX Tech, Scansonic HD, Shunyata Research, And VIABLUE
The AV Luxury Group out of Las Vegas, Nevada, put together a fine-sounding system with Bayz omnidirectional speakers from Hungary driven by a system comprised of Burmester electronics from Germany. Sometimes I get delayed by audiophiles (or perhaps spies?) waiting forever while they finally decide to click their shutters. I gave up on this guy, thinking maybe he was trying to record the entire song.

The Burmester gear was on one of Solid Tech's many styles of racks. A ShunyataEiger 6/T power conditioner was used, not the Denali mentioned on the list below. If I were going with this Burmester rig, I would strongly consider emphasizing the elegance of the chrome with a suitably designed rack from Codia Acoustic Design.

The Burmester turntable and MusicCenter 111 were seen in a previous room with the all-Burmester system on the 6th Floor in Part 6. These being expensive brands, the room was not jammed with listeners this early in the morning.

558  American Audio & Video, Audiolab Audio Components, Cyrus Audio, Dual Turntables, Mission Loudspeakers, And Spendor
American Audio & Video is a global importer/distributor of consumer electronic products, which markets products through major consumer electronics chains as well as independent brick-and-mortar stores. Their room featured a series of Cyrus Audio components that I haven't seen before. Don't let the size of these components fool you. This is serious gear that can perform quite well when paired with good speakers. Note the stand-up sign for QED cables from the UK, and the Pangea Vulcan audio rack.

560  American Audio & Video, Audiolab Audio Components, Cyrus Audio, Dual Turntables, Mission Loudspeakers, And Spendor
In this room, American Audio & Video went with a Dual turntable, Audiolab electronics, and Mission 770 speakers while continuing with the QED cables and Pangea racks.

564  Nirvana Audio Co., Ltd.
The name Nirvana struck a chord because of the American rock band, but I couldn't picture any audio components with that brand name. When I entered the room and saw some familiar gear hosted by a pair of Asian gentlemen, I still could not connect the dots. As I took a seat among the others in the room, it became apparent that the room was dedicated to a comparison listening test. But what?

Eventually, I realized the little dark item on the counter at the right edge of the photo was the Chronos pictured on the scrim in front of the window. A segment of music was played, and then two Chronos thumb drives were removed from the room. The music immediately collapsed behind the plane of the speakers, whereas before, it filled the room with glorious sound. It was very obvious to me, as this kind of tweak has been a specialty interest of mine for many years. But everyone else in the room was picking up on the difference, too. In fact, throughout the weekend, they shot video clips of people's reactions and posted them on their website.

The people I saw in that room on two occasions were just as enthusiastic. And most of them were not sophisticated "golden ear" types. I sat through a couple of rounds of this comparison.

I was already familiar with the Boenicke W5 speaker, having heard it at at least one show previously. I had taken a special interest in the Swiss Boenicke speakers because they incorporate some technology from LessLoss in Lithuania, which I have reviewed in the past. The Boenicke speakers have intricate transmission lines routed out of solid wood. The two halves of the speakers are then glued together. When I first heard this speaker some years ago, I was disappointed that the sound didn't escape the cabinet as completely as I had hoped it would. The sound was a bit overdamped. It sounded the same here—when the Chronos were taken out of the room. But when the Chronos were again brought in and placed on each side of the room, the music completely escaped from the box. It also improved in resolution, became stronger in the bass, produced more air in the soundstage, and had more tonal color. The music was no longer trapped behind the plane of the loudspeakers, but came forward to fill the entire room. I was excited.

I am familiar with the Heed brand, too, having heard it at two Capital Audiofests. On one occasion, I gave the room a Best Rooms Award. It is a very good, high-value brand from Hungary. The CHUPEI cables are a brand created by Chu-Pei Lin, the director of Nirvana Audio. From the photo, you can see they are not massive, but massive is not always an indicator of quality or cost. The CHUPEI company is also an importer of select brands to Taiwan and offers consulting services. Chu-Pei Lin has an extensive background as a tenor on a global level and in acoustics and material sciences.

I had an interesting conversation with Chu-Pei Lin and his associate, Huo, Kai-Yuan (Ian), from Taiwan, and they graciously offered me a review sample, which they would give me late on Sunday afternoon. That was a good idea, because what if I had the Chronos with me, and every room I went into at the show started to sound this good? On numerous occasions, I have returned from shows with a review sample, but never have I been so excited to review one like this. They cautioned me not to insert the Chronos into a computer, so I took the longer way home through Ohio, rather than risk being stopped at the border when taking the shortcut through Canada. I have been experimenting with the Chronos for weeks while I've been writing about AXPONA 2025. All I can say is "Stay tuned!"

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