Some General Thoughts About THE Show 2018

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I was there Friday and toured the rooms together with Ron. As it so happens he and I have virtually the same photos of each room so rather than posting the same pictures I would like to give my overall thoughts

1. The shenanigans that went on with the LAAS and its ultimate collapse clearly left the southern California audio community trying to figure out what happened. As KeithR pointed out, hopefully next year there will be participation by the LAOCAS to help with the success of THE Show. This will hopefully bolster attendance

2. As for attendance I was there on Friday only and there were only small numbers of attendees. Hopefully that improved over the weekend

3. The new venue IMO was terrific (I say that also selfishly as it was only a 20 minute drive for me from home to hotel). Having said that there were exhibitors only on the ground, first and second floors. My overall concern is that the rooms were all small and there were IMO only a handful of rooms that stood out with wonderful sound. My other concern with the hotel was the scarcity of large salon (banquet) rooms which typically have large speakers with ultimate set ups. I only saw 3 or 4 large salons on the ground floor. If THE Show is going to grow and flourish in years to come I see this hotel as being an impediment unless of course there are larger rooms on the upper floors. Virtually every room I was in had their speakers tucked up against the front and side walls.

4. I thought that the registration place where we got our badges was way around in the rear corner of the main floor and so many people who were there did not have badges suggesting they just took the elevators upstairs without paying or registering

5. Even though there are many members here in the LA area hoping THE Show will return to LA next year, personally I have always liked it in South Orange County and hope it remains there. My concern is the ability (or lack thereof) of the hotel to support larger systems in larger rooms

6. The hotel was clean and the staff was friendly. The food was OK and reasonably priced

7. I wasn't going to attend THE Show until I heard that my good friends Philip O'Hanlon and asiufy weren't only showing in their own rooms but supported THE Show hoping it would have a break through weekend

8. As stated, attendance on Friday was horrible. The only people walking the floors were old gamers like me who were either retired or took the day off.

9. I enjoyed what management was trying to achieve with the high end in audio, to wit the incorporation of other luxury manufacturers on the ground floor where there were 2 or 3 estheticians who were hawking skin creams and hair products, along with decorative lights for outside your house during the holiday season as well as a woman selling very expensive cigars. There was only a handful of vendors selling music and none were the big vendors who we typically see at shows. I was disappointed in seeing this. The typical muscle and vintage cars were as always through the hotel and outside and I always enjoy seeing them

10. Not only was attendance poor on day 1, but so also was vendor participation. I am certain this is due to the quagmire that occurred between the two shows and once the LAAS was canceled it was too late for vendors to move to THE Show. Having said all of this I can say that my friends Philip O'Hanlon along with asiufy have a strong desire to support THE Show and to see it thrive. This just won't occur as long as room size in the hotel is limited

11. So what did I hear that stirred my juices......

Hands down, IMO the best sound at THE Show came from asiufy and Fabio, The Boys From Brazil, aka Alma Music. Ron has shown pictures of the room with description of the components. In short this was a million dollar system and it was dialed in perfectly. I have learned from past experience that Alexandre and Fabio know how to set up a system and this one didn't fail. My only regret was that the Stromtank was inoperational when I was there as it was still charging. I was anxious to hear the sound with the Stromtank on and then off to hear the changes.

Second best sound at the Show was Evolution Acoustics once again showing their new speakers which debuted last year with an MSRP TBD. Well the speakers IIRC are $18.9K and they sounded simply fabulous when paired with DartZeel, Wave Kinetics along with Joel Durand's new tone arm called The Tosca. No longer is Joel making wands from woods but is now using metal alloys. The Tosca vaguely resembled the SAT arm. Also they were using the just released ZYXOptimum cartridge with an MSRP of $16K. I loved looking at the large external crossovers made by Kevin for this speaker. As always Evolution Acoustics room was fantastic. What I found amazing is tgatcKevin gold ne that EA was only building 100 pair of these speakers and then it’s done

My third favorite room was the MBL and UHA where Jeremy was playing a smaller MBL speaker than I have heard before. It was very good but again I feel the sound was restricted due to room size

Finally I thought Philip O'Hanlon put together a very simple and affordable sound system but around the Gryphon Mojo and Diablo receiver along with an entry level turntable. I was impressed with the sound of the Mojos


In summary, it has been a tough few years watching the shake out between the two sparring audio shows with the demise of the LAAS. It is certainly my hope that THE Show can once again rise to the level where it once was along with the hope that the LAOCAS will add their participation in years to come. Whether it moves back to LA remains to be seen
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Considering the proximity to the film industry with it's budget-less resources and the plethora of audio dollars running around down south, I would have thought that LA rather than Munich would have been the ultimate audio show venue.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
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La Jolla, Calif USA
Considering the proximity to the film industry with it's budget-less resources and the plethora of audio dollars running around down south, I would have thought that LA rather than Munich would have been the ultimate audio show venue.

Not necessarily. The difference between S.Calif and Munich is that S.Calif is an outdoor lifestyle ( HEA is really an indoor activity), whereas Munich...well not so much.:D
 

jeff1225

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2012
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Considering the proximity to the film industry with it's budget-less resources and the plethora of audio dollars running around down south, I would have thought that LA rather than Munich would have been the ultimate audio show venue.

This show was about as far away from Los Angeles as you can get. It was closer to San Diego.

I thought the venue was terrible. The rooms were super small. Saturday it was much busier and there were several rooms you couldn't even get into. Also, Only a few vendors were smart enough to bring monitor speakers for these small rooms. Ryan Audio brought a really nice small monitor driven by Pass integrated.

And I have to agree with Steve, Philip's Gryphon system was excellent.
 

c1ferrari

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 15, 2010
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I appreciate reading your observations and commentary, Steve. :)
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Not necessarily. The difference between S.Calif and Munich is that S.Calif is an outdoor lifestyle ( HEA is really an indoor activity), whereas Munich...well not so much.:D

Outdoors lifestyle (S. Calif): Fighting forest fires, extreme heat, earthquakes and mudslides. ...Climate change and traffic jams and air combustion.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
Steve,

Thank you very much for your kind words on our work. We tried really hard to put together a unique system, and the sound, while far from perfect, was quite good overall. Given that I also represent the products in the EA/darTZeel room that you like, it sure means we're doing something right, at least to your ears :)

A few corrections, though: the Stromtank was operational throughout. Even when charging, it does improve the sound over going directly to AC or using another conditioner. Going 100% on battery power sounds better still, but as you remarked, the battery pack was still charging early Friday, and was only ready for all-battery action towards the end of the day.

From where we were, attendance was great throughout Friday and Saturday, only really slowing down today (Sunday). Kevin also seemed happy with attendance. People seemed genuinely thrilled and interested, and we played several requests.

I loved the hotel, it being brand new (opened last December), everything worked, and the staff was kind and efficient.

PS: Oh, the system was only HALF a million, not a whole million :)
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Thanks for the clarification Alex

AS I walked by your room several times on Friday it was always packed. Not so with any of the other rooms. It was a tribute to to you and Fabio and how good the room sounded
 

TheAudioAssociation

Member Sponsor
Jul 10, 2010
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Good Morning Steve

Thanks so much for your high praise of our room. We were extremely pleased and excited about the exquisite sound our gear was producing. As you mentioned we will have 100 pairs of the Maestoso speakers available for sale and once they are gone they will be gone forever. Based on the reaction at THE Show we anticipate that the pre-order line will fill up fast! $18,900.00/pair including the EXACT crossover.

We can be reach at info@theaudioassociaton.com for more information.
 

jeff1225

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2012
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Steve,

Thank you very much for your kind words on our work. We tried really hard to put together a unique system, and the sound, while far from perfect, was quite good overall. Given that I also represent the products in the EA/darTZeel room that you like, it sure means we're doing something right, at least to your ears :)

A few corrections, though: the Stromtank was operational throughout. Even when charging, it does improve the sound over going directly to AC or using another conditioner. Going 100% on battery power sounds better still, but as you remarked, the battery pack was still charging early Friday, and was only ready for all-battery action towards the end of the day.

From where we were, attendance was great throughout Friday and Saturday, only really slowing down today (Sunday). Kevin also seemed happy with attendance. People seemed genuinely thrilled and interested, and we played several requests.

I loved the hotel, it being brand new (opened last December), everything worked, and the staff was kind and efficient.

PS: Oh, the system was only HALF a million, not a whole million :)

Congratulations Alex on one of the best sounds at the show. You brought the appropriate system for the appropriate room, I really think that was half of the issue with many of the exhibitors.
 

KeithR

VIP/Donor
May 7, 2010
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I concur with most of your thoughts, Doc.

as far as crowds - there were only 25 rooms. so even 250 people would make it seem "crowded". my guess is not more than 3-400 or so were on Saturday when I was there from 12-5. elevators never had lines, food trucks weren't busy, and the marketplace was only average. three years ago, i believe Hotel Irvine had 8,000 audiophile visitors over the 3 days.

I really don't remember LAX or Hotel Irvine having many room issues. The corner rooms upstairs def provided some challenges.

Dave Clark has a nice report here:

https://positive-feedback.com/show-reports/the-show-2018/

I thought the bar/restaurant areas were fantastic. And hope the show can grow larger with LAOCAS support as I mentioned in my original writeup. This location is the crown jewel of audio in the country and should have a great show, year in and year out.
 
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Simon Moon

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2015
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A very disappointing show. I bought tickets for Friday and Sunday. Only used my ticket on Friday, my Sunday ticket went to waste. I covered the entire show in a couple of hours.

I am assuming it is due to the LAAS show being scheduled a week later, then folding altogether.

Only 24 rooms, a few headphone vendors, 2 vinyl vendors, and a CD vendor. Then there were those annoying cosmetics sellers. What the hell was up with them?

The best rooms were the Evolution Acoustics and the JBL rooms. Almost every person complained about the rooms (those fake 'hardwood floors').

I believe every one of the previous Irvine "T.H.E Shows" had over 100 rooms, and the LAAS last year also had over 100. Attendance was also quite high for these shows. I am sure none of these shows had less than 6000 people attend.

Now, the question is, will anyone trust any show in LA/Orange County again? Late cancellations, on again off again, change of venues, changing management, animosity between event organisers, etc, can't be instilling a load of confidence in possible vendors.

I'm hoping someone can get their act together by next year. LA is too big a market to let high end audio shows go out with a whimper.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
There's always been one show, THE Show.
Last year was an off-year for it, and it didn't happen. But moving forward, that's the show we have in this area, and we're hoping it'll grow to be as big as it once was.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
There's always been one show, THE Show.
Last year was an off-year for it, and it didn't happen. But moving forward, that's the show we have in this area, and we're hoping it'll grow to be as big as it once was.

I hope you're right

I liked the venue but my biggest concern was the small size of every room as well as a scarcity of large salon or banquet rooms for large systems
 

KeithR

VIP/Donor
May 7, 2010
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Encino, CA
I hope you're right

I liked the venue but my biggest concern was the small size of every room as well as a scarcity of large salon or banquet rooms for large systems

Hopefully if the top floor suites are added next year, there will be a lot of improvement in that department. But its definitely a smaller hotel than the previous venues.
 

Sharp 1080

Member
Apr 20, 2010
284
9
18
Dallas,Texas
Steve,

Thank you very much for your kind words on our work. We tried really hard to put together a unique system, and the sound, while far from perfect, was quite good overall. Given that I also represent the products in the EA/darTZeel room that you like, it sure means we're doing something right, at least to your ears :)

A few corrections, though: the Stromtank was operational throughout. Even when charging, it does improve the sound over going directly to AC or using another conditioner. Going 100% on battery power sounds better still, but as you remarked, the battery pack was still charging early Friday, and was only ready for all-battery action towards the end of the day.

From where we were, attendance was great throughout Friday and Saturday, only really slowing down today (Sunday). Kevin also seemed happy with attendance. People seemed genuinely thrilled and interested, and we played several requests.

I loved the hotel, it being brand new (opened last December), everything worked, and the staff was kind and efficient.

PS: Oh, the system was only HALF a million, not a whole million :)

Hi Alex,

It was good to finally meet you and talk face to face. The system did sound fantastic and looked impressive in person. The hotel was very nice indeed.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
723
1,200
San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
Hi Alex,

It was good to finally meet you and talk face to face. The system did sound fantastic and looked impressive in person. The hotel was very nice indeed.

Likewise, Vern! Thanks for stopping by, and I'm glad you liked it!


cheers,
alex
 

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