AXPONA 2026 Video Number One—Mostly Turntables

More to follow

As I've already written in the written coverage, AXPONA 2026 was the biggest and best AXPONA ever with spill-over crowds each day and a demographic that skewed younger than ever. It was more like the Warsaw or High End Munich shows and that's good for the high performance audio industry! And that's despite the economic uncertainty.

Show organizers included car audio and headphones aimed at a younger crowd but from what I saw, the youngsters were upstairs in the hotel rooms and in the big convention rooms too enjoying "state of the art" gear as well.

This first video begins in the P.S. Audio room since they had their press event 8:30 A.M. Friday morning. Then it moves on to the Mo-Fi Distribution room and the new Mo-Fi Ultraphono demoed by designer Peter Madnick.

I sign a young fan's iPod, then there are debuts either outright or for North America from Graham Engineering, SME, Denon, Audio Research, T.W. Acoustic, Ferrero, Koetsu, Primary Control, Lampizator and Acora Acoustics, where this video ends in the big Acora/VAC/SAT/Cardas room.

There's a very special moment at the end of the 14:41 segment shot in Jeff Catalano's High Water Sound room you don't want to miss. The thumbnail background is a photo taken during Caelan Cardello's outstanding performance with a recruited Chicago area bass and drum duo that have been playing together for 30 years. The results thrilled the audience of nearly 400 that filled the big Schaumberg theater. More videos to come.

There was so much to see and more than I could possibly cover but there's still plenty here. So enjoy!

00:00-00:08 introduction

00:09-03:47 P.S.Audio

03:48-06:02 Mo-Fi debuts Ultraphono pro

06:03-06:20 I signed a fan’s iPod

06:21-08:18 Graham Engineering debuts Phantom Platinum tonearm

08:19 -13:02 SME Model 35 and SMEModel 8 debuts

13:03–13:57 Denon DP-3000NE & DP-500BT debut

13:58–14:40 Döhmann, Wilson-Benesch, Supatrac, DS Audio, dCS, Wilson, Audio Research

14:41-17:51 T.W. Acoustics, Cessaro, Fuuga, DAVA, Ferrero, Alieno

17:52-23:24 A.M.G., Benz-Micro, Aesthetix, Vandersteen, Cardas, Viv Labs, Sorane

23:25-28:53 Koetsu, Art Manzano