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In the wrap-up of his coverage of the 2013 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal, which took place at the end of March, Robert Deutsch asked if there were too many audio shows. The Chicago AXPONA show was held two weeks before SSI, the second New York Audio Show followed less than three weeks later. In May, there was the humongous High End 2013, in Munich, followed two weeks later by the third T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, followed by: the Capital AudioFest, in Washington, DC (July 26–28); the fourth California Audio Show, in the Bay Area (August 8–11); the tenth Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (…
A Response from Roy Bird, The Chester Group
I wish I could say, and as is usually said, "I read with interest" John Atkinson's recent leader in Stereophile . . . but alas not a day goes by it seems when someone somewhere feels it necessary to not just question the amount of shows, or the point of shows, or in the worst cases deride them; although I'm certainly not accusing a fellow Englishman of the latter.
There is a saying John that goes something like "if shows did not exist right now, then they would very soon be invented " and that's a truth.
Ever since the Great…
A Response from Marjorie Baumert, Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the question "Too Many Shows?" I am not sure the show organizers are the best ones to answer this question. Perhaps the exhibitors should be the ones to answer—after all, they are spending a significant portion of their marketing budget to exhibit at these shows, and at some point, I imagine they will decide which shows are the most productive for their individual companies. It seems to me that eventually, the number of shows will be such that the cost of attending them all will be too…
A Response from Gary Gill, Capital Audio Fest
John Atkinson's story is well-written and I agree with most everything he says. A few things that may be considered include:
Companies that are mail-order only and or do both mail order and sell to sticks and bricks (SAB) strongly effects the SAB stores. It's hard to compete with a mail-order retailer as the margins are not the same on a comparable product. On the other hand most buyers want to kick the tires of the products they are interested in so how does one resolve this?
The relationship between manufacturer and SAB…
A Response from Sarah Tremblay, SSI, Montreal
Like any other industry, the more direct contact you have with the public, the better it is to awake awareness on your specialty. Dealer shows are very good and necessary, even if in most case they reach a limited number of their already established customers. Consumer Regional Shows are playing a different role, as you know; beside the very positive influence on the spirit of the industry members, they allow manufacturers to find new dealers or distributors, they allow the loyal customers of store X to look and listen to what store Y has to…
A Response from Richard Beers, T.H.E. Shows Las Vegas and Newport
The recent outbreak of Audio Shows does, indeed, warrant the question: "Are there Too Many Shows?" The answer to the question cannot be answered with a simple "Yes" or "No". It depends entirely on one's perspective.
This increase in shows does place additional burdens upon the Audio Press and, in some cases, the manufacturers of fine high-end audio products. However, these might be considered necessary evils as the industry continues to evolve and try to find new ways to thrive.
Twelve years ago, I worked…
A Response from Stephen Davis, AXPONA
"Too many shows?" This is an interesting observation that I can address from several perspectives. As a past brick and mortar retailer, distributor and consultant with over 35 years' experience in this industry, you can imagine I've seen my share of shows. I've attended CES since the early 1980s and worked in the industry since the middle 1970s.
Past companies I've helped develop have displayed at CES, CEDIA, RMAF, Montreal and the Stereophile Shows of past.
I've also attended shows in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and all around…
Simple, beautiful, majestic: The video for Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Despair," the second single from their recently released Mosquito, has the band on top of the Empire State Building, rocking joyously as the sun rises over the unreal city.
I grew up with the Empire State Building outside my bedroom window. It seemed close enough to touch, but also a million miles away. These days, I walk by it every morning on my way to work and again every evening on my way home. But I've never been to the top.
It was the first time for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, who grew up not far from me…
Tune those young ears, Mr. Anderson! After a 30-year career in audio engineering that's seen his name appear in the credits of over 1700 albums, Jim Anderson, who won the 2013 Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album, for his remastering of Patricia Barber's Modern Cool, thinks education is the key to stemming the tide of degraded sound that threatens to swallow the recorded-music industry. Anderson, who's taught for a decade in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, starts his students early.
"In ear-training class, I try to get the students to hear and recognize…
After graduating with a degree in music education in 1973 and starting work on his master's in that subject, Anderson scored a tour of NPR's studios on M Street, in Washington, DC, where he landed a job as broadcast technician in November 1974.
"I was in the second generation of NPR people. The early folks were Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer. I was in the next bunch. We were sort of inventing it as we went along. I was Carl Kasell's first engineer. I was doing a weekend All Things Considered as it developed from a half hour to an hour, and the first host was Mike Waters, and then we…