AXPONA 2025

Welcome to Part 6 of my AXPONA 2025 show report series. You know, it’s generally a good sign to enter a demo room where listeners are smiling and sitting at rapt attention. It’s even better to go in one and see a company rep/exec dancing about and headbanging to AC/DC.

AirTight’s Yutaka (a.k.a. Jack) Miura was doing just that when I stopped by Room 1129. This room — one of five rooms courtesy of AXISS Audio, a distribution company that’s been based in Nashville since Cliff Duffey acquired it in 2022 — featured two new show-debut AirTight components, the ATC-6 line-stage preamp ($14,975) and the ATE-5 phono preamp ($13,575). The ATE-5 phono preamp/EQ’s design is based on three 12AX7 tubes. It’s intended to be minimalist, with short signal paths and only one set each of RCA inputs and outputs. The ATE-5 (seen above) supplies 40dB of gain for MM cartridges, but MCs will need a step-up transformer (SUT) like the AirTight ATH-3S ($4,475) that was deployed in this system. It also contains new power circuitry said to further minimize noise.

On passive display was the AirTight ATC-6 line-stage preamp (seen below) that replaces the ATC-3. It also incorporates new power circuitry, plus three playback modes: stereo, mono (left + left), and mono (left + right). The line stage is equipped with an AirTight-customized Alps RK-501 volume control. It comes standard with three pairs of RCA inputs and two pairs of (unbalanced) XLR inputs, but these can be custom configured for other combinations. Tubes for both units are selected and matched by hand. Like all AirTight components, they’re built by hand in Osaka, Japan. However, connected within the active system (at least during the time I was in the room) was the reference-level AirTight ATC-7 Control preamp.

Back to the music for a moment. Yes, the LP playback of “You Shook Me All Night Long” hit the spot. It’s one of AC/DC’s best-known songs — not to mention their most overplayed, from the old-school airwaves to wedding receptions — but here in Room 1129, things played out differently. Clichés be damned, but I certainly heard the song anew. What made it worth reconsidering?

The system rendered “You Shook Me All Night Long” with all the rockin’ gusto you could want while delivering details that made it more compelling. The recording’s qualities struck me. Phil Rudd’s drumming and cymbal crashes sounded realistic, hitting hard with huge energy — and at near-concert-level volume. I noticed clear separation of instruments in their three-dimensional glory. I wanted to stay and hear the rest.

The AC/DC Atlantic LP where “You Shook Me All Night Long” resides, July 1980’s Back in Black, was played back on a Reed Muse 3C friction drive turntable ($27,975) fitted with a Reed 3P 10.5in tonearm ($7,414) with an armwand now available in Panzerholz that made its North American debut at the show. (In the U.S., it’s a $400 upgrade to the Cocobolo wood wand.) Originally developed in Germany in the early 20th century for tank armoring, Panzerholz — which is also bulletproof — is a composite material made from layers of birch pressed together under extreme pressure, which approximately doubles its density. The material is interesting for a tonearm wand application, as its vibration damping properties are reported to exceed those of other materials including carbon fiber, aluminum, and other metal alloys. (Some turntable makers — Clearaudio for example — also use Panzerholz for plinths and/or other parts.)

The Reed 3P tonearm was outfitted with an AirTight Opus 1 MC cartridge ($15,975). Speakers were Franco Serblin Ktêma floorstanders ($37,975/pr) powered by a pair of AirTight ATM-3211 tube monoblock amps ($99,975/pr).

Seeing how it was show-closing time, it felt right to go out with a bang(er). Big sound, big fun. That said, there’s still more to come in Part 7, which will be posting soon!

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 Ken Micallef’s video report on many of the various turntables he saw and heard at AXPONA, go here.

For our YouTube Short featuring cool gear from TEAC and Revox at AXPONA 2025, go here.

For Part 1 of Julie Mullins’ AXPONA 2025 show report, go here.

For Part 2 of Julie Mullins’ AXPONA 2025 show report, go here.

For Part 3 of Julie Mullins’ AXPONA 2025 show report, go here.

For Part 4 of Julie Mullins’ AXPONA 2025 show report, go here.

For Part 5 of Julie Mullins’ AXPONA 2025 show report, go here.

For Part 1 of AP editor Mike Mettler’s AXPONA: First Impressions series, go here.

For Part 2 of Mettler’s AXPONA: First Impressions series, go here.

For Part 3 of Mettler’s AXPONA: First Impressions series, go here.

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