NY Audio Show 2013 - My impressions

[JackD201]

You know you are in trouble when you look at the turntable before you look at her "ahem".

I guess I'm not as far gone as I had thought. Turntable? What turntable?

 

[HedgeHog]

You know you are in trouble when you look at the turntable before you look at her "ahem".

LOL...or get a bit agitated wondering what gear her head is blocking.

 

[Occam]

LOL...or get a bit agitated wondering what gear her head is blocking.

and behind that -

 

[KeithR]

While I was not there-- a couple of my NYC audio friends were pretty disappointed in the show this year. Too few rooms, too many people, and the hotel choice w/ crappy elevator routes (all floors not avail to all elevators) made things difficult. Folks like MBL did like 45+ minute demos with long lines. What's the point of that?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

While I was not there-- a couple of my NYC audio friends were pretty disappointed in the show this year. Too few rooms, too many people, and the hotel choice w/ crappy elevator routes (all floors not avail to all elevators) made things difficult.

It was not great but it was better than last year and infinitely superior to the year before. If there was an increase in traffic this year, it bodes well for further enhancements next year.

 

[mep]

I think it's brilliant marketing to have a hot woman standing outside of your door beckoning in horny men (or men who used to remember what it was like to feel horny) to come and listen to the gear in your room. I think your room traffic would increase dramatically, specially if you had another hot woman standing inside the room as eye candy for all of the horn dogs. Sex is used to sell virtually every commodity known to man on TV. Why not high-end audio?

I semi-joked at last year's (2012) RMAF dinner at the Bent Fork that there should be a 1-900 number for men to call to talk to women about their stereo systems and their latest purchases where the women would pretend to be hot and bothered over the latest purchases made by the guy calling because God knows most wives don't give a damn. Steve's wife got a hoot out of my suggestion.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

For some reason, very few lines have been written about the show not just here but everwhere else, at least compared to post-show coverage of RMAF, CES or Munich....

We will start the videos next week... be patient

 

[MylesBAstor]

It was not great but it was better than last year and infinitely superior to the year before. If there was an increase in traffic this year, it bodes well for further enhancements next year.

I don't think the number of exhibitors nor traffic this year was any better than the year before and the overall sound IMHO was markedly--and this is being charitable--worse (loved hearing jackhammers!). The year before that really wasn't a show as it was thrown together (and looked it) in two months.

The Gold Standard is still the Stereophile shows and it was but a shell of those shows. IIRC, the Stereophile shows drew 12-14,000 attendees and the new show around 2000. Again being charitable maybe 3000 attendees this year but certainly both the number of exhibitors and audiophiles attending the Chicago Axpona killed the NYC show. WTF?

If Stereophile never made any money on their shows (eg. why they were eliminated), how big a loss is the Chester Group taking on the NY shows?

 

[puroagave]

The Gold Standard is still the Stereophile shows and it was but a shell of those shows. IIRC, the Stereophile shows drew 12-14,000 attendees and the new show around 2000. Again being charitable maybe 3000 attendees this year but certainly both the number of exhibitors and audiophiles attending the Chicago Axpona killed the NYC show. WTF?

the stereophile shows were epic. the SF bay area show they did in the '90s was the best of its kind ever. mfrs brought out their big guns like the Infinity IRS and Martin logan statements and best reference gear of the day. i read somewhere the newport show last year brought in ~6000, still seems like it was no more than 2011s show. i hope i'm wrong but im not seeing any of used vinyl vendors that showed last year on their exhibitor list for 2013 its one of the highlights for me.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

If Stereophile never made any money on their shows (eg. why they were eliminated), how big a loss is the Chester Group taking on the NY shows?

Who said that Stereophile never made any money on their shows? Other factors caused them to be discontinued.

 

[Tonepub]

From an exhibitors perspective, we need, in a short space of time to impress or leave a positive impression on as wide an audience as possible. If an exhibitor thinks that his primary market is going to be audiophiles then he is going to play a lot of "audiophile standards".

I tried to play as large a selection as possible. From orchestral to electronic dance music. Without the EDM we would lose a large potential and growing market. On Friday, I watched one lady sprint into our room when we put on Swedish House Mafia.She told me that her Dad would kill her if she played that on his system. Way to go Dad! You lost a music lover there and we the industry are the poorer for that.

Not all electronic music is good but there is great stuff out there. Infected Mushroom was founded by members of the Israeli Philharmonic. Yello, Swedish House Mafia, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, all of which we played all are very well produced and I personally think more engaging music than the majority of audiophile offerings.

Hats off to Gary for playing FGTH. Thats a fun record and when they cranked it up, really showed what the Burmester/Genesis system could muster. The people in the room were smiling and rocking out, and for this writer, that's what it's all about. Not sitting around, tugging your beard and listening to string quartets....

 

[rockitman]

The people in the room were smiling and rocking out, and for this writer, that's what it's all about. Not sitting around, tugging your beard and listening to string quartets....

Well said, but I do the latter too.

 

[Tonepub]

Well said, but I do the latter too.

I do too, but I think at a show, it's more about a bit of "entertainment" factor, not necessarily serious listening. And it's as much about meeting the people making the gear and asking them questions, than whether these systems are optimized to their fullest.

That's why we have never bothered to write show reports. I always just point my readers to Stereophile. They do a nice job, and keep it on point, without getting caught up on all that "best sound of the show" nonsense.

 

[NorthStar]

Is it free to enter the 'Audio Show' premises? ...Or is there a cover charge?

 

[Alan Sircom]

Is it free to enter the 'Audio Show' premises? ...Or is there a cover charge?

Most shows have a cover charge now, even if it's a token gesture (the Estoril show in Portugal appears to be on hiatus, but used to cost 1€ admission). AFAIK, it's only TopAudio in Milan that is free now, I believe (although solo dealer shows should be always free, wherever you go). Generally, it seems to depend on how much a show costs, how many manufacturers attend and the potential for audience size. For every 100 people who walk through the door prepared to pay $10, as a show organiser you need to work out how many more would visit if the show was free, or nearly free. In most places today, if you made a show free admission, you might add perhaps 10-20% to the audience figures, and those numbers just don't add up.

The logic also runs that if you are attending a high-end show, where everything costs $20,000, then no-one should complain about paying to see a lot of those high-end brands under the one roof. Of course, the problem then arises when you get a show that doesn't feature enough high-end brands and still has a high admission price. That's one of the problems we have in the UK (the National Audio Show in the UK is not supported by some of the UK's biggest brands).

 

[Ethan Winer]

It was not great but it was better than last year and infinitely superior to the year before. If there was an increase in traffic this year, it bodes well for further enhancements next year.

Sorry I missed you at the show Kal. I hope I'll see you sooner rather than later.

--Ethan

 

[NorthStar]

Thanks Alan for the fact, your take, your own vision, and your geographical experience on that.

I'm sure that each 'Audio Show' from each part of the globe has different philosophies and main goal's intentions.
And that each visitor to these 'audio shows' must have their own take on them.

Me, I don't have enough experience with this to know the real true intentions of each one of those 'shows'.
But I'm certain that business is part of the equation.

And I cannot generalize because I'm sure each one is unique in its own particular way.
I do have an idea regarding cover charges or not, but it is simply too vague to have substantial value.
Anyway I'm going to say it: they should be all free!

Now, I won't go into this as the why of my reasons. ...It is my personal view, and other people are free to do as they please.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Sorry I missed you at the show Kal. I hope I'll see you sooner rather than later.

--Ethan

Yeah. I went only during the press hours on Friday, before official opening on Saturday and late afternoon on Saturday.

 

[garylkoh]

Hats off to Gary for playing FGTH. Thats a fun record and when they cranked it up, really showed what the Burmester/Genesis system could muster. The people in the room were smiling and rocking out, and for this writer, that's what it's all about. Not sitting around, tugging your beard and listening to string quartets....

Thanks, Jeff. I enjoyed spinning Relax a great number of times. As many times as I played the Shostakovich Festival Overture. I chickened out at playing the Annihilation mix of Two Tribes - but Alan Sircom thought that it would be a more PC message than Relax. May be I'll play it at the next show we do - however, I didn't like the idea of mutually-assured destruction especially at this day and age.

 

[mep]

Gary-If you have the 12" 45 RPM version of "Relax," the bass must have been incredible. That cut will separate the men from the boys with regards to amp power and speakers being able to reproduce the bass cleanly if the amps are up to it.