AXPONA 2025

Hello and welcome to Part 9, the final installment of my AXPONA 2025 show report series. One of the more surprising — or maybe the more accurate term is unexpected — items I saw and heard at AXPONA this year was something that Michael Børresen designed, the new flagship Aavik R-880 phono preamp ($70,000) that made its North American debut at the show.

Until now, I’d only ever expected to hear playback from digital sources in rooms with Børresen-designed equipment across the four lines under the Audio Group Denmark umbrella comprising his creations — Aavik, Ansuz, Axxess, and his eponymous line. For starters, a pair of Børresen M2 loudspeakers ($190,000/pr) made their world premiere here. Driving those speakers was an Aavik P-880 power amp with pure Class A topology ($70,000) in the chain behind an Aavik C-880 control amp/preamp ($70,000), with a Børresen Bass Module subwoofer (price TBD) rounding out the system. Created in collaboration with Flemming Erik Rasmussen — also known for his work as Gryphon Audio’s founder — the flagship Aavik 880 series components have copper-lined and titanium-trimmed chassis, and they incorporate Børresen’s approaches to resonance control and airborne noise rejection.

But here in the Epiphany Ballroom, as presented in partnership with local dealers Next Level HiFi, the full system at hand had a (mostly) classic analog playback setup — headed up by a Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable.

I mentioned “mostly” in that there was a modern cartridge in use with that table, the DS Audio DS Master3 optical cartridge. These DS Audio optical carts require their own EQ parameters, but in recent years, the Japanese company has licensed the technology for inclusion in some other maker’s phono preamps. Fittingly, the new Aavik R-880 phono preamp had the DS Audio EQ tech inside. (We’ve also been told the R-880 will begin shipping in early June.)

Lars Kristensen, who often handles demos for this group, promised to put a big smile on our faces. Affable as ever, as readily seen above, he spun some fine vintage vinyl — including The Beatles’ “And I Love Her,” from 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night on Parlophone (Side 1, Track 5), with George Harrison’s classical guitar arpeggios sounding sweet and gorgeous, Paul McCartney’s double-tracked vocals pure, and Ringo Starr’s claves coming through cleanly and clearly.

Next, Kristensen played Yello’s “The Race (Club Mix)” — which was aptly club-ready, seeing how he wasn’t afraid to crank it up. The system remained solid as it delivered huge, full, and musical sound. With “The Race (Club Mix)” — the original version of which is on Yello’s 1988 Mercury/Fontana LP Flag — he also demonstrated the R-880’s polarity inversion capability for the output signal. Deep yet controlled bass seemed to pressurize the room to provide plenty of slam, sans smudging. The side-to-side stereo panning on this track made for good fun.

Finally, among the many enjoyable systems and listening environments that coaxed me into a longer-than-anticipated visit was Room 646, which was presented by DeVore Fidelity. Instead of going with more standard equipment racks, the supports here came from Box Furniture Company, including some shelves with closed side- and back panels for a more homey, furniture-like appearance.

Back to the system. A Well Tempered Lab Versalex turntable — and tonearm ($4,850), fitted with a Well Tempered Lab Kauri MK II MC cartridge — connected to their CTRL motor controller ($1,750). The signal went to a Fonolab Qvattvor Pacto step-up transformer ($2,750) and a Leben RS-30EQ tube phono preamp ($3,495), followed by a Leben CS-600X integrated amp ($8,995) deploying EL-34 tubes and outputting 30W per channel to power a pair of DeVore Fidelity gibbon Super Nine speakers ($9,990/pr).

A couple of tracks from my own Delvon LaMarr Organ Trio Close But No Cigar 2018 LP on Colemine — “Concussion” (Side 1, Track 1), and a bit of “Al Greenery” (Side 2, Track 1) — showed excellent imaging, with LaMarr’s Hammond B3 organ full of body and textural detail. Separation of instruments also stood out, notably the crisp cymbal taps and shaker. David McGraw’s drum fills sounded snappy and energetic, with plenty of punch.

And that’s an official wrap on my nine-part AXPONA 2025 series — just in time for us all to catch our collective breaths before we head across the Pond in less than two weeks’ time to report for AP at High End Munich 2025!

Author bio: Julie Mullins, a lifelong music lover and record collector since age 10 who takes after her audiophile father, is also a contributing editor and reviewer on our sister site, Stereophile, for whom she also writes the monthly Re-Tales column. A former fulltime staffer at Cincinnati’s long-running alt-weekly CityBeat, she programs and hosts a weekly radio show on WAIF called On the Pulse.

For even more AXPONA 2025 coverage, go here on our sister site Stereophile.