Why do so many audio shows disappoint (and what should the industry do about it)?
By Roy Gregory
Take a look at the current landscape when it comes to audio shows and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s a mess – a mess that’s in danger of collapsing in on itself. It’s hard to imagine that show-goers are any happier with the situation than the exhibitors. Marc Mickelson once famously remarked (of the US) that, “We’ve got a lot of shows – but they’re all the same show.” He’s not wrong. On the one hand, the plethora of medium-sized shows reflects the absence of a single, dominant event –the role that used to be occupied by CES. On the other, it reflects that all of these shows suffer from the same fundamental challenges and problems. Not so much a case of “All the same show” as “All the wrong show”.
Events in the UK have already followed the US path; events in Europe are going the same way. The Munich High-End show, which has been THE major international event for the last two decades, has relocated to Vienna, a move that is fraught with difficult questions; questions that few people are asking and the organisers definitely aren’t answering. Time will tell, but we can certainly expect (significant) bumps in the road. Meanwhile, the industry sits around, wringing its hands and weeping quietly into its beer, vainly hoping that either someone will miraculously sort out the mess – or some huge rent in the time-space continuum will magically transport us all back to the 1980’s, when the general public were lining up to buy hi-fi and the only question was which hi-fi to buy.
Well guys (and it is, almost invariably guys), here’s the skinny: ain’t nobody gonna sort this out but you. The industry needs to generate public interest and one way of doing that is through audio shows: but they need to be the right sort of shows. So perhaps now would be a good time to look at the issues with the shows we’ve got?
Same old, same old…
Once again, whether you are a visitor or an exhibitor, the problems with shows are familiar and easy to list: too many rooms that are too small; acoustic issues and acoustic breakthrough; poor electrical and network provision; unpleasantly claustrophobic conditions. Easy because they’re obvious to anybody who bothers to look: familiar because they translate so directly into excuses. But by far the biggest problem – the one that, if it was solved, would help ameliorate all of the others – the one nobody talks about – is lousy sound quality in lousy demonstrations. Face facts: most systems at most shows sound somewhere between uninspiring and downright dreadful. Want to hear an exciting new product? You are unlikely to do it at any of the existing audio shows. The very best you can hope for is some hint of its potential – and that’s rare enough. As for those writers and commentators who base their opinions on the relative performance of different components “having heard them at shows” – they’re delusional and frankly, should know better.
