T.H.E SHOW 2016 - An Exhibitors Persective


I did this once before briefly a few years ago, and have been asked by many to do it for the again. So I will try to put in as much as possible for one last view of this.

Generally planning for a show can start 1 month before - like at Capital Audio Fest or 1 year before, as in THE Show, Axpona and RMAF. All shows encourage repeats with goodies, as well as the ability to keep the same room. The same room could be good or bad. New good rooms are hard to come by, so sometimes the bad room is the devil you know. The line for good rooms is very long and usually starts a few years ago to get into the back of the line. Then you hope either exhitibtors consolidate or don't do a show, and the room is yours or you move up the line by 1.

I tried bribing the organizaers, getting them drunk, sending pictures of them hugging speakers to their wives but nothing worked. So we are at the rooms we are at for a reason.

This will be my 2nd year at THE Show. Richard Beers, RIP and God Bless his soul, picked this room for me 2 years ago when he first move to this Hotel. So while I had the pick of rooms, it was only the small rooms that were left. It is at the top floor, near the elevators and across from some very big rooms. Nice as everyone comes to the top, then walks down. Traffic is excellent, access is good and the views are very nice. It is also quiet. There is not too much bass problems. The ceilings are a nice 8 feet.

More to come. I will post as many pictures as I can. Let me know if you would like something specific to be covered and I will do it if I can. 
merrillaudio
Merrill - Thanks.  An insider's view as it were.  Very interesting to me.  I look forward to reading more.  One specific to cover might be room set up...time involved, common gremlins encountered, etc.   

So still with a bit of History.

main Partner is German Physiks. They have a new US Distributor who happens to be a Merrill Audio Dealer, so a lot of synergy. This was agreed in August last year. Most partnerships happen 6 to 9 months before the show and some have been there for years. Others evolve over time.

for myself, I try to partner with different companies as demonstration that the equipment works well across the board. Some companies like this and others just want the same partners every year. Of course some requirements for partnership are a little bizzare so the least said about that the best.

After working on the speakers, the rest slowly came together.

VPI Avenger Signature Turntable with Magentic Platter and 12 inch 3D printed Arm. $22k.

Steve Leung provide at the very last week, a brand new VAS Nova Signatue priced at $3.5k

Stillpoints agreed to provide the Acrylic Rack with 4 shelves. $10k

GIK will provide Tri corner bass traps with Range Limiter Techology.

Electronics will be
Merrill Audio  
VERITAS Monoblocks
Jens Reference Phono Stage
and the World Premier of the Christine Reference Pre-amplifier.

Distinctive Stereo will provide the Emm Labs DAC2x

Cables will be from Merrill Audio.

With that we have about 1,000 pounds of equipment to be shipped!!!

That is also 1,000 pounds of equipment to setup.

Put some cost in there - $0.70/pound+surcharge+special even fees. That is close to $900 in shipping each way. In the scheme of things, this is not a lot but each item adds up of course.

Everything has to be shipping no later then 20th May to guarantee arrival on time for the show. So the rush was on to get everything prepared - equipment from all the partners, brochures, signs, music and all the little items like remotes, tablets, correct number of cables, working computers were all in.


The expectation is that Thursday morning 8am, June 2nd, 2 weeks later,  when we walk into room 1417,  One Thousands pounds of equipment will be in that room 13 x 19!  

More to come!




Merril,

Guess we will be neighbors - we are in room 1413 with Madisound and our Liberty Audio division will be in room 1415.

The Madisound room will also feature all Liberty Audio Electronics and a new speaker kit I designed for them, the ScanSpeak B1371, utilizing top shelf ScanSpeak Drivers.

And yes Shows take a lot of preparation - this is my 25th year in business and have done 2-3 shows every year so the planning gets somewhat rutine with experience.

Luckily we are somewhat close to Irvine so a 26 foot Uhaul will haul the several thousand pounds of equipment we will be bringing to fill a total of four rooms, we share in two rooms 1148 and 1149 together with Purist Audio Design and Alnic Audio .


Have a Great Show


Peter