AXPONA 2019

Illinois dealer F1 chose the sonically challenged, glass-encased Nirvana Lounge, on the second floor of the Renaissance Schaumberg's Convention Center, to stage its $428,871 crate-décor system complete with an important premiere: the Dan D'Agostino Momentum HD preamplifier.

One of my first stops this morning—the first morning of AXPONA 2019—was the Shunyata room in the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel. Shunyata, as you're probably aware, has long been one of the more scientific-minded of the companies focused on quality power for home audio systems.

The show was scheduled to open at 10am today (April 12), but at 9:55am there was already a line of people at the registration desk. AXPONA looks on track to replace CES as the premier audio show in North America.

Last year, American audio shows felled more than ten million 100'-tall trees—just for their ink-on-paper floor plans. They had to reopen two nuclear power plants just to keep the elevators running in Las Vegas. The Chicago River backed up like a toilet—clogged by discarded show guides. This year, all you need is a smart phone, the the AXPONA app—and the stamina to visit almost two hundred rooms filled with some of the world's finest, most exciting, new audio products. Are you ready?

Stereophile’s moment-to-moment coverage of the largest audio show in North America is about to begin.