AXPONA 2023

AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), the largest audio show in North America, will get underway April 14–16 in the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center in the Chicago suburbs. As exhibitors begin the often challenging task of assembling their gear, Jim Austin, Ken Micallef, Michael Trei, Rogier van Bakel, et moi prepare ourselves for the discoveries that lie ahead.

"How much do you think everything here is worth?" asks my husband as he peers at a cart filled with boxes of Audio Research components. A short time later, as I pass those boxes scattered in a manner that Picasso might have appreciated, I realize that my little pea brain cannot possibly wrap itself around the value of everything that will be on display.

In an open area in the hotel that Ken Zelin, McIntosh Director of Sales and Training, usually stakes out as his own, 10 pieces of McIntosh gear await their chance to sing. Amazingly, in the midst of all this, Liz Smith, Event Coordinator at AXPONA (below), looks as relaxed and confident as usual.

What lies ahead? A good 200 active listening rooms, 24 exhibits in the Ear Gear Experience, and 35 exhibits in the Expo Hall from over 500 exhibitors and brands. Three days of seminars and master classes, organized by Bill Leebens, with 12 events on Saturday alone. Evening concerts from Anne Bisson and Amber Rubarth. And more greetings, smiles, intent listeners, and epiphanies than one can possibly catalog.

Please stay tuned, boys and girls. It will take many days for all our coverage to make it online. Until then, if you're at AXPONA, please say hello.