(Note: This video was 'down' for a few days because of a "copyright strike": there was a small section of a 60 year old Dave Brubeck tune in the background in one room. Sony chose to "ban" the video until the section was muted. Meanwhile you'll hear "Stairway to Heaven" in the background of another room and that was permitted by the publisher, which made the correct decision to allow it and share in the video's monetization).

It was good to be back at AXPONA after a two year Covid-caused hiatus. The show wasn't as big as before, nor as well-attended but it was big enough and sufficiently well-attended for their to be plenty to see and large crowds in the rooms, hallways and elevators. Super show, but will it turn out to be a superspreader event? We'll soon find out. AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer having contracted Covid during his recent U.K. trip where he witnessed SME's launch of the new Model 60 turntable, arrived at AXPONA loaded with antibodies and so wasn't all that concerned. There were a few product debuts at AXPONA, notably the new Avantgarde acoustic Trio G-3 with optional i-TRON current drive power and the North American debut of Luxman's PD-151 MKII turntable featuring a brand new Luxman engineered tonearm to replace the previous JELCO arm following that company's decision to close. Kronos introduced a replacement arm for its Black Beauty, but unfortunately we missed the room and it wasn't purposeful. Stereophile sent a full crew for detailed coverage so please visit the website for that. AnalogPlanet's coverage is mostly for watching with less attention to detail you'll find on Stereophile's website. Enjoy day one's video coverage here, which of course concentrates on analog. Thumbnail is of MoFi's FenderX PrecisionDeck turntable.

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