AXPONA 2025

I almost missed Audio Research and Acora’s pairing in the “Living Room” area of the mezzanine, adjacent to where people dined and lounged. I waited to stop by until first thing on Sunday morning, when music wasn’t blasting and people were in a far mellower mood than on eager-beaver Friday or crowded Saturday.

As AXPONA wound down, I stopped by the Supreme Acoustic Systems room hoping to catch up with CEO Hiram Toro. Instead, I was greeted by another familiar face: distributor Philip O’Hanlon of On a Higher Note, who welcomed me into a space humming with last-day energy.

Familiar faces, new form.

Before me stood a pair of stand-mounted Dynaudio Confidence 20 active loudspeakers, complete with DSP ($24,000/pair). Larger, higher-quality cousins to the Dynaudio Focus 10 active loudspeakers I reviewed a little over two years ago, the Confidence 20s sounded notably more refined and more convincing. That tracks: Each driver is powered by its own dedicated amplifier. While both models share the same DSP room correction protocol, nearly everything else is an upgrade.

Days after AXPONA 2025 wrapped, organizers announced a record 10,910 attendees—a 5% increase over 2024. Trade passes grew by 20%, which either points to a surge in legitimate press coverage or an uptick in blog-based glamor shots (aka audio porn) aimed at securing free entry.

For me, one of the biggest surprises at Munich High End 2024 was the performance of Constellation’s new Revelation 2 stereo amplifier ($30,000), preamplifier ($25,500), and phono stage ($29,000). I’d expected refinement, but not this level of clarity; previous Constellation gear had sometimes struck me as a little dark. In Munich, the sound was beautifully illuminated, with wonderful colors and an ideal amount of brightness in the treble.

AXPONA 2025 had the world premiere of ATC’s most compact active speaker, the ATC SCM20ASL ($9999–$13,499/pair, depending on finish). Designed for small to medium-size rooms, the sealed two-way speaker is hand-built in England and includes ATC’s proprietary 6" "Super Linear" mid/bass driver and 1" "S-Spec" dual-suspension tweeter. Both are powered by onboard class-A/B MOSFET power amplifiers that deliver 200W and 50W of continuous power to the bass and HF drivers, respectively.