After a two-year absence, the Audio Expo North America (AXPONA for the audio nerds out there) is back with a vengeance!
AXPONA 2022
invades the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center April 22 – 24,
and it promises to be a doozie! Regardless of your flavor of music and audio
love, there will be something for everyone. The Ear Gear experience, the Record
Fair, multiple seminars,
concerts, 500 exhibitors and
over 37,000 listening rooms! Well, would you believe more than 130 rooms? I
speak from experience when I say that AXPONA is a music lover’s paradise. My
notes from 2017,
2018,
and snowy 2019
are available to get the juices flowing.
Cheers!
From the folks at AXPONA, here are ten to-do’s to fill your
weekend:
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1. Shop Till you Drop
The Expo Hall, which is home the Record Fair will showcase a vast array of Turntables, Cables, Accessories, Racks and Stands, Tonearms, Cartridges,
Vinyl and desktop Speakers in the growing world of mobile and high-end
personal listening.
2. Ear Gear Experience
The Ear Gear Experience
will be in its new home, one of the convention center’s large ballrooms to
enhance listening experience for personal audio. Everything from open-back, closed-back, in-ear headphones
and accessories, cables and players
that go into a personal audio rig will be on display at the Ear Gear
Experience. Leading global brands and
manufacturers such as Audeze,
HiFiMan, T+A, Mytek, Cardas Audio, Earmen LLC, ifi Audio, Swan Song Audio, Warwick
Acoustics and more will debut new products and have
dedicated booths.
Experience superbly designed, high-performance systems in
over 130+ dedicated listening rooms
(on 10 floors) crafted by the best in the business. Attendees are encouraged to
experience listening rooms by listening and comparing the superbly designed,
high performance systems and components from some of the world’s most
prestigious manufacturers. In all, more than 500 global manufacturers,
retailers and brands will gather at AXPONA, including MBL, ELAC, Bluesound, Wilson Audio, Focal Naim America, Hegel, Krell
Industries, Quintessence Audio, Scott Walker Audio and SAE all of whom will
showcase the newest high-end products and services to attendees.
4. Industry Expert
Talks and Seminars
Get front row seats to compelling seminars all weekend,
including “Meet the Legends of High End Audio” featuring Siegfried Amft of
Theory + Application Electroakustik (T+A), Bill Duddleston of Legacy Audio and
Gayle Sanders of Eikon Audio. Are you “Correcting or Creating a Listening
Room? Hear from the Pro’s” including Dave Malekpour, president of Malekpour
Design Partners and Pro Audio Design, Luis Roquette Valdez of Jocavi Acoustic
Panels, and interior designer, Carly Moeller of Unpatterned.
5. Live Evening Concerts
When the show closes, the afterparty kicks off with live
music nightly. This year Toronzo Cannon,
an American electric blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, will headline on Friday, April 22nd. The
blistering Chicago guitarist, soulful vocalist, singular songwriter and city
bus driver fuses his muscular, rock-inspired blues guitar playing with his
original, keenly detailed slice-of-life songs, blazing his own blues trail.
Lori
Lieberman will be performing live Saturday, April 23 with
Chicago-based pianist, Jeremy Kahn and his quartet. Lori Lieberman has toured worldwide since the
70's as a Capitol artist, and in recent years, performed twice to sold out
audiences at Carnegie Hall, and the famed Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, with the
noted Matangi String Quartet. The evening will feature songs from her most
recent release entitled, “Lori Lieberman, “Truly”, as well as a retrospective
of songs from her earlier catalogue.
6. Product Debuts
from World-Renowned Manufacturers
More than 500 manufacturers will convene at AXPONA to unveil
the latest Headphones, Speakers,
Turntables, Cables, Accessories, Streaming Music, Racks and Stands,
Tonearms, Cartridges and more. Touch, test and shop the best in high-end
audio equipment and gear by the world’s most prestigious manufacturers.
Highlights include: Vanatoo Transparent Zero and Transparent One Encore
Speaker Systems, ZestoAudio Bia 200 Select Stereo Amplifier, Holm Audio Lumin
P1 Network Player, Warwick Acoustics Bravura Headphones, Hifiman EF-400
Headphone Amp, JS Audio Wilson’s Original WAMM Serial Number 1 Speakers, Alta
Audio Alex Floor Standing Speaker, plus
many more!
7. AXPONA Swag
It has been two
years since AXPONA convened in person and you don’t want to miss some
collectibles including the official AXPONA T-shirt, 2022 collectors
pin, a reusable AXPONA water bottle, and signed copies of Lori Lieberman’s new
album.
8. Master Class
Theater
This world class theater on the Expo floor will feature
curated content presented by industry experts including Chicago-based record
pressing plant, Smashed Plastic on the process of how a record gets made
and discuss what makes a pressing sound superior. And don’t miss David
Solomon from Qobuz, who will talk about getting the best performance
from streaming non-adaptive, Hi-Res music and how to get the best performance
at home and on the road.
9. New on the Scene
AXPONA is known for featuring world-renowned companies and
manufacturers, showcasing the most innovative products and services in the
high-end audio industry. It is the place
where manufacturers and dealers unveil their latest offerings, and this year
AXPONA will be joined by more than 20 new manufacturers and dealers including: Aretai,
Aries Cerat, Atlast Cables, AV Room Service, Brisea, Brodman Vienna, Devialet,
Direct Audio, Echowell Electronics, Estelon Speakers, Ferrum Audio, Inakustik, Jorma, Keith Monks,
Mathew Bond Audio, Marten, Mon Acoustic, Rockna, Speaker Physics USA, VPE
Electrodynamics and Zingali.
10. AXPONA Health and Safety
The AXPONA team is excited to welcome back exhibitors,
attendees, and partners to AXPONA 2022. They are committed to creating an event
experience where everyone attending can safely conduct business and enjoy the
show. AXPONA will follow all CDC, state, city and building guidelines for our
event. We are currently not requiring vaccine checks and/or negative COVID
tests. Following, the Cook County Department of Public Health, masks will
be recommended but not required.
AXPONA will be open Friday and Saturday 10 am – 6 pm; Sunday
10 am – 4 pm. The Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center and Hotel is located
at 1551 N. Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL 60173
To purchase tickets or for more information about the event,
please visit www.axpona.com or call
203-371-6322.
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transactions in the markets it serves. For more information, visit: http://www.jdevents.com.