Show Reports

Welcome to our multipart show highlights series about this year’s Capital Audiofest! The annual event, which has been increasing in size and market importance in recent years, was held just outside Washington, DC, at the Hilton Twinbrook in Rockville, Maryland, during the weekend of November 14-16, 2025.

Gary Gill, the CAF show’s primary founder and organizer (shown above), reportedly was able to maintain exhibitor pricing from last year’s event in order to entice and retain customers and attendees alike during these trying times. The high-end audio industry — like most sectors — is experiencing uncertain (if not rough) conditions due to tariffs, inflation, and other economic and logistical challenges. But happily — to paraphrase Leonard Cohen — we still have the music. And music there was, as evidenced by the central atrium marketplace full of record dealers and booths selling hi-fi gear, special demo sessions, and of course, hi-fi system demos.

This year, CAF was also host to approximately 122 exhibit rooms and 60 booths. Friday and Saturday nights also featured live music in the hotel’s Olive’s Bar. The Nighthawks played Blues on Friday, and the Ultrafaux Ensemble played gypsy jazz on Saturday. Later on, the latter group’s Connor Holdridge could also be heard playing a hot-jazz acoustic guitar rendition of “Hot for Teacher” — a version that Van Halen would no doubt approve.

In my CAF 2025 show report series, I’ll be sharing my impressions of the rooms I visited during my two days at the show on Saturday and Sunday — but first, a few initial comments before I dive into the room-related commentary. CAF differs from some other hi-fi shows in that it’s more of a dealer-driven event compared to, say, AXPONA, or the High End Munich show (henceforth to be known as High End Vienna). This meant CAF had comparatively fewer product debuts, but on the other hand, evidently more opportunities for dealers to do business and sell — and indeed, some did sell demo equipment off the floor, including some large and heavy loudspeakers.

I overheard many show attendees — exhibitors in particular — commenting on the attendees’ significant general interest level, and their “seriousness” about the hobby. Perhaps for the first time ever, I also noticed a handful of solo women in the exhibit rooms checking out gear all on their own.

The figures aren’t in yet, but this year’s CAF appeared to have healthy attendance, especially on Friday (as reported) and Saturday. From our analog-centric viewpoint, there were plenty of turntables to be seen and heard in many rooms, including (mostly) European models. (If you want to see a bunch of them, check out my colleague Ken Micallef’s “Turntables of Capital Audiofest” video report here, which posted on both AP and our YouTube channel on November 20, 2025.)

Notable was the absence of many Europeans themselves, who typically travel to CAF to represent the manufacturers. However, there were regional distributors on hand, as well as many manufacturers, including some from Europe.

Due to flight complications, I only had one full day (Saturday) and one short day (Sunday) at the show this time around — but I was on hand to attend an important seminar from a couple of experts in turntable, tonearm, and cartridge setup. On Saturday at noon in a curtained-off side area of the main lower-level atrium, WallyTools’ and WAM Engineering’s J.R. Bosclair (at left in the photo below) sat down with turntable setup guru Michael Trei, Spin Doctor columnist and reviewer for our sister site Stereophile (as well as his being an occasional AP contributor), for a conversation on cartridge setup and optimization for tonearms and turntables.

In addition to comparing their specific techniques and preferences, the expert pair also responded to a handful of questions the audience submitted. Examples of a few broad and specific topics included common turntable setup problems, the importance of good and clean contact for headshell pins’ connections, why headshell damping could be an overlooked concern, and tracking force as a primary parameter — something that could (arguably) be more important than, say, tracking angle or overhang.

Trei (at right in the photo above) discussed various alignment techniques, noting that he prefers Baerwald, which is technically Lofgren A. He also talked about some cartridge cleaning options.

Bosclair mentioned a general point that might seem obvious, but it’s one that bears repeating: Identifying errors of omission is more difficult than figuring out errors of commission. One approach that Bosclair suggested was for audiophile turntable owners to determine specific and measurable goals to aim for when optimizing setup. Wise words indeed.

Part 2 is coming soon, the first in my series of various CAF 2025 room reports, so stay tuned!