Since 1998, I’ve attended every CEDIA Expo except two: the one in Indy in 1999 and “the CEDIA that wasn’t” in 2021. That makes for a lot of “data points” for comparison and to notice changes that have happened over the years. While I still love Expo, there are definitely ebbs and flows that have happened over the past 28 years. And regardless of how many exhibitors are actually on the show floor and how many friends and colleagues may come and go from the industry, the one resounding thing that never seems to change is the heart of our industry. We are a community, and you truly feel that at Expo. To everyone who stopped me to say “hello” or even just give a quick wave, I thank you. (Todd Anderson: Oel ngati kameie. Thank you.) Those moments are the real highlights of Expo.
If you were lucky, you might have had the chance to stumble across two absolute industry legends at this Expo: Noel Lee and Sam Runco. For the youngsters out there, Lee founded Monster Cable, a brand that revolutionized the cable industry, and Runco founded, well, Runco, a company that was synonymous with God-level video and had the industry’s must-see demo for many years.
In this wrap-up, I’m not going to talk about my pre-Expo CEDIA Pickleball event. Nope. I’m not going to tell you that this was the third straight year of doing it, that everyone had a great time, that we had nearly 50 players, and that we raised over $5000 to benefit the CEDIA Foundation. Nope. And I’m definitely not going to tell you that we’re planning on doing it next year in Vegas. (But you can read my report about the event here.)
Beyond that, these are the things that really stood out to me at this year’s show. No matter how hard I try to see everything, I know there are booths and products and people I missed, and if there’s something you think I should know about, please send me an email at [email protected] and let me know!
Lutron’s Ketra Experience
Lutron brought a new booth to Denver this year, and along with that was a new Intelligent Lighting demo. This space was well-designed and thought out, and in the roughly 10-minute demo, you were taken through all the benefits of Lutron’s Ketra full-color tunable lighting coupled with automated shading: How light can be used to set a mood, to enhance artwork, to change the look and feel of a space, to highlight architectural elements, to relax, to work, to play. You can explain the benefits of tunable lighting until you are blue in the face, and people will likely just nod and smile. But when they actually experience how it can improve their lives, that’s how you close sales.
New Projectors
I expected to see some new projectors at Expo, but I was not expecting to be so impressed with the new X-Wall TITAN Noir Ultra projector by the new joint venture of AWALL and XGIMI. Kind of tucked into a small booth that you entered through what felt like a tent flap, was the new TITAN Noir filling up a 170-inch, 0.8 gain screen with video quality that had me write “shockingly good!” in my notepad. Images were bright and full of color, with impressive black levels and tons of detail. With a 12,000:1 native contrast and 8000 ISO lumens, this RGB Triple Laser, Dolby Vision-capable projector selling for $6500 will be disruptive at the low end of our market and now includes lens memory with motorized zoom, focus, and lens shift. Impressive at the other end of the price range is the Sim 2 UltraNero 4S Duo, which included a double-stack of projectors to deliver both high brightness and high contrast. This $80,000 combo looked gorgeous on the 164-inch wide 2.35 aspect screen. Also impressive was Christie’s new 4K1000-KS projector, which retailed for around $15,000 and put out a massive 10,050 lumens.
Cinemotion Posters
Sitting outside of SR7 were two LED panels in portrait mode showing cool, full-motion poster art of upcoming and now playing teasers from a company called Cinemotion Posters. While these were cool on their own, what was even cooler was that this company was founded by Troy Cuvelier, an integrator out of Michigan, who saw a need in our market and who went out and developed a solution. He installed another product for a client, and when he kept getting calls about it not working, he decided to make something better. That’s the very essence of custom installation, and it’s awesome to see a product come from us, for us! In this vein, a shout-out to Brian Staller who did the same thing with his company Amp Genie, a signal-sensing automatic remote that allows easier and more reliable integration of products like Sonos, HEOS, and Bluesound into AVR systems.
Kaleidescape
Kaleidescape was having all the moments at Expo! First off, the company was celebrating its 25th anniversary, which is a major accomplishment. (And I feel like I was practically there from day one, being the first reviewer to get the product back in 2003!) Second, the company introduced its largest movie server ever, the Compact Terra Prime with 246 Terabytes of solid-state memory. This big boy can hold 4000 4K movies, and three of them will hold the entire Kaleidescape store! (Pricing is by request only, meaning, if you have to ask…) Finally, with its new Strato K and 4K Cinematic format with full 4:4:4 chroma, Kaleidescape was literally everywhere at Expo, powering over 50 different demo systems. You would have a harder time finding a system that wasn’t using Kaleidescape. The point wasn’t lost; if you want your video to look the best, you use the best. I give the Strato K “Product of the Show.”
Video Walls
As expected, MicroLED video walls were prevalent at the show, and while they’re still nowhere near “inexpensive,” they are definitely getting less expensive. A great example is Just Video Walls, which had a pretty massive price drop just prior to Expo, with panels now starting at under $19,000 MSRP. It’s tough not to love this technology, as the walls have brightness that easily competes with ambient lighting, achieves true-black, has HDR for days, and can be configured into practically any size. The big discussion — and price — revolves around pixel pitch with some systems as tight as 0.6mm. Just Video Walls and AWALL had great demos of what different pixel pitches looked like, which would certainly help a customer to make an informed decision. As impressive as these walls are, I find myself very prone to seeing seams or lines or grid structure, as well as motion judder in many of them. For me, once I see this, I can’t unsee it, and it ruins the experience.
The two panels that most impressed me at the Expo were the Barco Residential Runar and the Quantum Media Systems its XDR5-8K, a 0.9mm pixel pitch, native 8K panel purpose-built for the luxury residential market. I feel like a broken record saying it, but the Quantum Media Systems continues to provide the best image quality at the show. Year after year, it delivers the ultimate in picture quality, and this year’s 20-foot-wide by 9-foot-tall 8K display once again raised the bar of what reference-quality video can be, making you wonder how you can come up with the $350,000 needed to get it in your home.
Floor Layout
Expo made a couple of layout changes this year that I thought were really smart. First, they made the walkways between exhibitors wider. Was this made to make the show feel bigger? Maybe, but I don’t care. What it did was make it easier to get around and not feel like a salmon fighting your way upstream. Second, they moved the big demo Sound Rooms to the back of the hall. Kind of like a casino making you walk through the gaming areas to get anywhere, this brought traffic to these always-crowded rooms through the floor to help spread traffic around and make sure people visited the entire floor.
MIA
I feel like I can’t talk about the floor layout without also mentioning some pretty major companies that were MIA from this year’s Expo. The list of notable absences includes Hunter Douglas, Steinway Lyngdorf, Legrand, and Sound United. Those last two are particularly major as they include Chief, Middle Atlantic, Luxul, On-Q, Da-Lite, Sanus, Vaddio, and Vantage on the Legrand side and Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Classe, and Boston Acoustics on the SU side. These are companies that frequently had their own booths for years, now all absent. Additionally, Samsung (who now owns all the Harman and SU brands) and Harman Luxury both left the floor in exchange for space in meeting rooms. Hopefully we’ll see them back in Vegas…
Savant AI Touch
It’s not often that I’m stunned at a press event, but that’s what happened at the Savant event, where I literally said, “Woof!” when founder Robert Madonna held up the company’s upcoming touchscreen, the Savant AI Touch, and announced the price. But, Woof! good, not bad! (Like when you heard the price of some of the demo theaters at last year’s Expo!) These full-color panels have a very cool look with a tactile knob at the bottom, will include voice control for the company’s “Hey, Savvy” AI voice agent, and will also be able to control a lighting load. The 6-inch portrait panel will retail for $500 and the 8-inch landscape version will sell for $600. These will bring full Savant whole-home control to the market at under $1000. That is game-changing, and I can’t wait to get a review sample! Also cool from Savant is its Blueprint AI, which will greatly reduce the time required to create a proposal. With this you can drop blueprints into the system which then auto configures a proposal with full design layout, part list, and basic programming.
Foldable Walls
While MIcroLED walls are cool all on their own, why not have one that can move and transform, going from ugly black surface to something elegant that disappears and benefits its visual environment when not in use? The two coolest examples of this were from C SEED and Stealth Acoustics. The C SEED Bugatti N1 “transforms from sculptural object to immersive cinema experience in just 45 seconds,” turning from elegant floor/base into 137-inch image before your eyes. Inspired by the Bugatti Tourbillon, this display looks beautiful whether in use or not, and is a bit hypnotic as you watch it fold and unfold back into place. However, just know that the actual Bugatti Tourbillon would hit 400 km/h in about half the time it takes the TV to unfold.
Stealth’s Folding LED TV is a concept that I could see having real-world application. When closed, the unit will have a customizable outer finish hand-fabricated by Stealth, but then folds open to reveal a 105-inch display. This is the perfect solution for TV-over-fireplace, where it could be an art element that enhances the room when off, but deliver a cinematic screen size for movie time. This is a definite case of technology solving a design problem!
Origin Acoustic’s Game Changer
As a member of the press, I have been asked to not reveal too much about this product. But if you attended Expo and went through Origin’s booth, then you know… I watched the company’s Facebook video where Marc Fisher, president of sales, and Nick Berry, CEO, did a roughly 80-second video with the two of them teasing some groundbreaking new product to be revealed only at Expo. “This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” Fisher said. Let’s just say, I was not expecting the product they announced, and I can see it being a true gamechanger for the industry. Think back to when speakers went from stereo to surround. Now instead of selling two of something, we could sell seven or more. Think about a solution for the issue of integrators always being last to the party, where the ceilings are already full of lights, HVAC, plumbing, smoke detectors, and more. Also, when I wrote “color me intrigued” in my post about things I was looking forward to at Expo, I wasn’t too far off… Origin is planning to launch it to the public next year, so stay tuned! Also, I thought it was incredibly cool that Fisher and Berry (they took turns) were available at the end of every demo to personally speak with everyone that attended. That is how you lead a company and connect with your dealers!
Magnetar ULTIMA
When I finished reviewing the Magnetar UDP-900mkII universal disc player back in May, I kind of felt like that was going to be the last word in high-end disc players. I mean, at $3300 and over 34 pounds, it isn’t like this thing was lacking in the build and quality department. But Magnetar said, “Hold my beer…” and dropped the ULTIMA, which they are calling the “new reference in luxury universal media transport.” This $12,000 player is a transport only — no DAC on board! — that actually comes in two components weighing 70 pounds! This is the disc version of those cost-no-object turntables you used to see at CES. Besides looking absolutely gorgeous, this boss unit utilizes a revolutionary battery-assisted DC architecture with a dedicated BYD lithium-based power stage to isolate critical processing and signal pathways from “microscopic fluctuations, electrical contamination, and noise.” It also features a synchronized master clock architecture built around a unified 10 MHz master reference clock for exceptionally low jitter. For the client with a large physical media library, the ULTIMA says I will settle for nothing less than the very best, ensuring every 0 and 1 is given the Black Card treatment. At least until the ULTIMA mkII drops…
Demo Material
Last Expo’s shining demo was definitely the opening of F1, which I think I saw a half-dozen times. This year, the demo material was far more varied — thank you, exhibitors — however, we did have a clear winner: Tron: Ares. Honestly, I think this was chosen partly because of Kaleidescape’s Strato K with full 4:4:4 chroma that had the vibrant reds from Ares really pop! Second most demo’d were the dance scene from Sinners, and “having a moment” from Project Hail Mary. A few of my favorite demos included the train scene from Disclosure Day used by L-Acoustics in its theater, which had incredibly tight and articulate bass, the Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and Avengers: Doomsday DCI-graded trailers used by Quantum Media that looked absolutely gorgeous, and the SR10 partner room that included the ASCENDO Panoramic Surface On-Wall height and surround speakers for an incredibly immersive and enveloping experience. Special mention to Stealth Acoustics who made sure I didn’t leave Denver without seeing “In the Shallows” from A Star is Born one last time!
The Paul Hales Theory Audio Experience
My demo lasted a full hour. And it was clear he was trimming near the end. But you don’t even care, because being in the room with Paul is getting to watch a master at work. The man works a room like Sinatra. First off, the demo opened with a slide that read, “Hold onto your butts” and then had a drum beat so loud and massive I literally flinched in my seat. (The last time that happened to me was the opening gunshot in the movie Dunkirk, which happened to also be on a Theory Audio system. Says something about their dynamics!) I’ve seen Paul’s demos many times and consider them a must-see. In fact, it was the very last thing I did at Expo before getting in an Uber to the airport. However, this year it finally dawned on me what is truly different about Hales’ demos. With other companies, you sit there and see pretty pictures and nice sound, and then they thank you for coming, and you walk out and go to the next one. Paul is actively trying to sell you on his products; challenging you as to why you aren’t, and why you think the brands you’re selling are better. (He’ll also have you rethinking if using room correction is a good idea.) Theory offers 37 speakers that deliver a solution for everything from architectural to outdoors to theaters to large venues. Come to the Hales demo and leave a better salesperson. And possibly a Theory dealer.
