T.H.E. Show… The Home Entertainment Show of 2018… back after being abandoned by the creation of the Los Angeles Audio Show (LAAS ) in 2017, which died a sudden and yet sort of expected death in 2018 after its first show near LAX in 2017, left many with a sour taste and not sure what to think 2018 would offer. Wait… let me start again… not so much abandoned but splintered as many supporters went off to form the LAAS leaving the T.H.E. Show to flounder till this year when it was announced it would happen the week prior to the LAAS, which blew up or imploded a month prior to its own dates the week following in June. Wait… once again… T.H.E. Show was Richard Beers' child that was born out of the need for an option to CES, but was then moved to Los Angeles, well Newport Beach, wait, make that Irvine, and was partnered with the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society and for several years, became a really great show. The year prior to Richard's passing he had brought in someone to groom as his "assistant" and, upon his passing, passed it onto, well someone else who now owned the show in 2016, but still with the person that was being groomed to, well run the show. But then that person left (the groomee) and formed the LAAS (still with Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society involved) which had an auspicious debut with the show held at the Sheraton near LAX (which depending on who you talk to was either fine or terrible... for us that would lie somewhere inbetween). That same year, T.H.E. Show tried a few dates and locations but, in the end, pulled the plug for 2017. This year was to be a return of the LAAS to its original location in Irvine for the second weekend in June… all looked good, then things got shaky, then it looked good again, then it got shaky again… and then the groomee, who is now the LAAS owner and show organizer, pulled the plug with hotel rooms booked, travel plans set, a hundred plus exhibitors holding nothing, the LAOCAS left in the wake of destruction… and… well the T.H.E. Show had scheduled and booked a hotel for their own show a week prior to that of the LAAS, just a mile or so across the freeway, but there were a lot of questions, doubts, concerns… and yet T.H.E. Show goes on… and so here we are.
Alright, there is a lot of controversy between the shows, with the shows, among the people involved (organizers), along with confusion, anger, and bitterness from the other people involved (attendees and exhibitors)… and so on. It is not my intention here to take sides, support one over the other, denigrate or whatever… but just to tell it like it is as too many people who did not attend are asking for us... .
So, tell me more. T.H.E. Show offered some 40 exhibit rooms on two floors (based on my count from their own maps taken from their site), but in attending the show, and as shown in their own guide, at my count, some 26 rooms were booked to exhibitors. Why so few? Well it could be that with the LAAS already having booked a good number of exhibitors (though prior to its demise I saw only 60-70 possible rooms booked which compared to either RMAF or AXPONA is pretty poor considering the area) and so that was all they felt they could sell... or that is all the hotel would offer... or that is all they could afford to book from the hotel? Either way, not a lot to cover and rather disappointing. There was also a large ballroom for a marketplace as well a couple of larger exhibit rooms on the main floor. The marketplace featured the usual record sellers, headphones, and audio accessories… as well as a couple of high pressure sales cosmetic booths, a cigar booth, and a handful of other "life-style" vendors which were an odd assortment of "fillers." Perhaps 30 booths total? We both found the cosmetic booths to be in rather in poor taste and offensive in terms of the approach used in selling their products. Just too close to a used car salesmen thing. Truth is, not welcoming and somewhat demeaning.
We got there at like 10:30 (parking was advertised as $15 at a lot a block or two away, but there was nothing we could find in terms of getting the ticket stub validated—so it was actually $20 and even the guy at the garage was clueless about any $5 discount), the Press badges lacked any names for one's publication, the registration desk had two people manning it—well three if one counted the individual accepting monies—which tells me that they were either not expecting a crowd or were seriously understaffed... the line at 10:30 was three people. We covered the show in like an hour, had lunch, and then covered it again leaving by 3 or so. We did experience a decent crowd for a Friday, but then since it was a small show that makes it hard to tell if the attendance was great or not. Put 10 people in a room and it is crowded... but times that by 26 rooms and that is only 260 people. Add in a hundred or so here and there to fill out the bar, marketplace, hallways, etc. and you got what for any given time... 500? Maybe 600? Over the course of the three days this could easily evolve into 1500-3000 total attendees, but with 15 million people living in SoCal, why the area can't produce 10k for an audio show is rather surprising… or disappointing. Of course if T.H.E. Show had 10k people there it would have ground to a halt.
I will also add that while we saw people and companies we know quite well, there was nothing new for us Press-wise, being pretty much what we saw and heard at AXPONA. A lot of local dealers and distributors showing what they would show locally.
The rooms were quite nice, as was the hotel. But as a change to being carpeted, the hotel rooms were furnished with laminated "wood" floors making the rooms rather reflective sound-wise. Plus, they had high ceilings offering another obstacle to getting decent sound. Lots of space, but more square than rectangular. Many exhibitors brought in carpets and room treatments, and all things being a show condition, most rooms sounded rather decent though not exceptional (there were some really good rooms in our opinion, but that is further down in the show report). Sadly, with it being only two floors, many rooms were side by side resulting in audio bleed-through from whomever either wanted to play louder or had bigger woofers. Not the best for auditioning any system or component. I asked one exhibitor if his stand mount speakers were actually producing the bass we were hearing and he shook his head no, that it was coming from next door… sigh. Not good for anyone.
Would I go back next year? Maybe. Possibly. Not sure. A better question is will T.H.E. Show be back? That I can not answer... all depends on if it was financially profitable for the organizers and were there enough attendees over the course of the three days to make it viable? Word from many of the exhibitors was that they were quite pleased with the crowds and felt attendance was solid, all of which could lead to more exhibitors wanting to show next year. Which would bring in more attendees. So, if it is to continue it needs to grow substantially in all aspects... and be way better organized and presented. Personally, I would prefer to see a show here in January. Perhaps one where someone said hello and welcomes you to the show as Press. Not expecting anyone to grovel or treat us special, but it is nice when the Press is recognized and welcomed—it is just good public relations.
Here are the images we took…
Bowers & Wilkins, McIntosh, Synergistic Research.
Synergistic Research, VAC, Magico, Acoustic Signature, Artesania, and Sony.
High Fidelity Cables.
On a Higher Note, Gryphon Audio. Pretty good sound considering the shape and room surfaces.
The Helius Alexia turntable with a Helius arm.
Airtight, Soolution, and Accuphase.
Transrotor turntable.
Steve Norber in the Prana Fidelity room. Pretty good sound here, but then Steve always has pretty good sound.
Merrill table... where was the focus!? Oh, right corner... nooooooooooooooooo.
Super Audio, Melton, Archangel.
Ryan Speakers with Cardas Audio Clear Beyond interconnects and speaker cables, and Clear power and network cables. Pass Labs integrated amplifier, PS Audio Directstream DAC with Bridge II network card, Small Green Computer SonicTransporter i7 with Roon, Audioquest Niagara 5000power conditioner.
Ryan and Cardas was a great sounding room! pretty much the best sounding regular hotel room at the show. A common thread among the rooms was keeping things at a reasonable volume.
Kevin Malmgren of Evolution Acoustics with Carol.
Evolution Acoustics EXACT Series Maestoso loudspeakers. Dartzeel NHB-108 Reference apmplfier, NHB-18NS Referenece preamplifier, LHC-208 integrated amplifier. Wave Kinetics NVS Reference direct drive turntable, Durand Tonearms Tosca prototype tonearm. This room also sounded good.
Wave Kinetics NVS turntable with Durand Tosca prototype tonearm.
A closeup of the Durand Tosca tonearm.
Joel Durand, Durand Tonearms.
Dartzeel crossover behind the Evolution loudspeakers.
Audio Concepts with Meridian 218 digital streamer, Primaluna Dialogue Premium preamplifer and amplifier, Vandersteen Treo CT loudspeakers, and Audioquest cabling.
Triangle Art, Usher Audio.
Aaudio Imports with Ypsilon, Wilson Benesch, Stage III, Metaxas.
This was one of the bigger rooms downstairs. Good sound, but also not playing too loud.
Dan D'Agostino monoblock Momentum M400 amplfiers and phono stage, Audio Research REF 10 preamplifer, and YG Acoustics Sonja SV Jr. loudspeakers, Kubala Sosna cabling.
The Marketplace.
Light Up my Holiday display outside the Marketplace.
Carol getting a demonstration she didn't want, $4600 infrared wand. Uh... no thank you.
MBL loudspeakers.
United Home Audio tape deck. Good sound here too.
Lunch! The hotel was quite nice actually.
Esoteric Audio N-03T network audio transport, Grandioso K1 SACD player/DAC, G-01X Rubidium master clock, Grandioso C1 linestage preamplifer, Grandioso S1 amplifier. Canton Reference 3K loudspeakers.
VAC with Magico. Nice here too.
Cambridge Audio.
Cambridge Audio Edge A integrated amplifier.
Edge NQ streamer, Edge W amplifier from Cambridge Audio.
Audio Logic. Aavik U 300 integrated amplifier, Esoteric K03X SACD/CD player/DAC, Raidho D 1.1 loudspeakers, Ansuz cables and power conditioners.
Ocean Way loudspeakers.
Vivace TaNTube monoblock amplifiers.
High End by Oz, MBL loudspeakers, Vitus Audio, Ansuz Acoustics cables.
MBL loudspeakers closeup.
The Audio Home in Fullerton, Audio Note (UK), Triangleart, Voss Audio.
This one was particularly annoying. The shill encouraged Carol to have a seat and she would be given a free sample. Instead, she got a fifteen minute sales pitch, and a promise of buying $199 worth of product if she would only allow the esthetician to take a photo of her skin. She escaped by saying she wanted to think it over, and would be at the show all weekend, a white lie.
And finally, the photographer at work, Carol snapped this picture.
