Last year on Christmas Eve, while I was in the midst of preparing our annual prime rib feast, I got a message from a friend telling me that T.H.E. Show was moving to Long Beach, CA in 2019. What? At long last an audio show in my back yard? Too good to be true! As it turned out, that's exactly what happened, and in early June there was an audio show a mere five minute Uber ride away! Imagine, after an exhausting day covering the show, and then dinner with out of town audio friends at a favorite hangout downtown, I went home and slept in my own bed. Heaven! We have been told that the show will return to the Hilton in downtown Long Beach again next year. It's a great location, but then again, I am a bit biased about the city I've called home for more than thirty years.
Before I dive in, let me mention what you can hope to find in this report. Dave and I attend the shows together. He shoots all the pictures, I pick up literature and eventually write up the report. Here you will find pictures, and when the exhibitor provides a sheet outlining what is in the room, I will add that to the caption. If there is not an information sheet, you will find what is listed on the door sign as a caption. What you won't find is a detailed description of the sound, or lots of information on what's in each room. This is more of a virtual tour of the event. (I will add that for the most part, many rooms had to deal with bass issues that caused the music to not, well... sound right. Just too much bass. On the other hand, there were a group of rooms that were able to sort that out and had pretty decent sound. Along with that, there were issues with the power and WiFi—both fluctuating causing all sorts of problems. Am sure next year will see a lot less of these issues as exhibitors will come ready to deal with such problems. Oh, and yes, the hotel was quite nice, crowds rather solid, and the food and drinks were better than found at other shows - Dave Clark)
And now, on with the report.
The check in area on Friday. Granted, it doesn't look that busy, but Fridays at shows usually aren't. It was very well organized, and the staff was friendly and helpful. On Saturday there were lines, but they seemed to move quickly.
To give you an idea the extent of the show. And, here's a first, one rarely had to wait long for elevators. (They had six running smoothly with doors open between floors - Dave Clark.)
Brooks Berdan. Moon by Sim Audio, Vertere, VPI, Jadis, Spendor, Gold Note, Revel, TM-8, Mark Levinson.
In the Brooks Berdan room they had a new room treatment by AirHush. Although the surface appears reflective, Michael Quinby of AirHush assured us it is not. These panels will also combine to form a soundproof "room within a room" if needed. Keep scrolling for an example of that. For more information, see the AirHush website.
Outside the Brooks Berdan room.
Audio Limits. Thrax Audio Lira/Basus loudspeakers, Spartacus 300B amplifier, Dionysos preamplifier, Vatras direct drive turntable, Orpheus phono preamplifier. Weiss Engineering Medus DAC. Antipodes CX and EX music servers. Soul to Sole Audio Stiletto rack system. Hemminway Series cables and power cords. This room sounded really good.
Audio Limits, display of cables.
Mag-Lev turntable.
Mytek Manhattan DAC II.
Mytek Manhattan DAC II.
Mytek products along with some ELAC loudspeakers.
Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV, Chris Sommovigo of Black Cat Cables, and Todd Garfinkle of MA Recordings in the Marketplace.
Because Dave is rarely pictured in these show reports, I snapped this picture of him with Chris Sommovigo. It was great spending time with Chris. The show badges, by the way, were 2-sided, a plus! (Though the press badges were big enough to kill someone, and lacked the writer's publication's name - Dave Clark.)
Chris telling Mark and me something important I'm sure.
The Marketplace portion of the show, Danny Kaey perusing the records.
Bob Donnelly selling records, of course!
Here is a picture of the AirHush soundproof room. This was their booth in the Marketplace. (They really muffed it by stating that these will save many marriages from breaking up by making the wife happy... words to that effect - Dave Clark.)
Aurender Cast-Fi 7 in the Marketplace.
Bob's Devices in the Marketplace.
Another shot of the Marketplace. This year there was only one cosmetic booth, I managed to avoid it altogether!
Butcher Block Acoustics in the Marketplace.
Muraudio loudspeakers and Triangle Art.
Muraudio loudspeakers.
Triangle Art.
