|
Bronze Member Username: EnjoythemusicPost Number: 49 Registered: Sep-04 | Hi Everyone @ eCoustics, Enjoy the Music.com has just completed the preview and daily updates to our CES / THE Show 2012 report. Right now we have eight pages filled with well over 100 photos covering approximately 130 products that were being shown in Las Vegas. In the coming days, Enjoy the Music.com will be updating our CES 2012 show report and T.H.E. Show coverage so check back often! See www.enjoythemusic.com/ces_2012/ |
|
Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 15236 Registered: Feb-05 | Oops |
|
Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 15237 Registered: Feb-05 | Fixed...see next post. |
|
Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 15238 Registered: Feb-05 | http://www.enjoythemusic.com/ces_2012/ |
|
Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 17082 Registered: May-04 | . The curmudgeon I've become must ask; is this what CES has become? The featured components are all in the League of Very Expensive Gentlemen. What if you don't want to pay $20k for a limited edition JBL? Or, what if you don't think you really need a 1" thick faceplate on your DAC to have decent music in your home? Have all the small, interesting start up companies been run out of CES? I suppose that's why the Rocky Mountain festival has taken on such importance. You don't need really deep pockets to show your product there. . |
|
Gold Member Username: Stu_pittStamford, Connecticut USA Post Number: 4535 Registered: May-05 | You make a good point, Jan. I haven't been to either (nor any other audio trade show), but I'm under the impression that CES isn't just limited to hifi. Rather, it's pretty much all facets of electronics and a much, much larger event. I'd assume the cost of entry is probably far greater. If that's the case, the small upstarts may not be able to afford it and/or probably realize RMAF is far more worth their time. I'd imagine RMAF would be more audiophiles per dollar than CES. Regarding RMAF, I haven't seen much press about afordable gear being displayed. It seems like the overwhelming majority of it is demoing gear to the crowd with more money than common sense. Again, I haven't attended, so no idea if my feelings on it hold any water. Regarding the shows - I never attended nor most likley will because I have better things to do than spend money to travel to a show just to window shop and ooh and aaw at stuff I'll never be able to afford nor really want to buy if I could afford it. People look at it as a vacation. My idea of a vacation involves sun and a beach. Furthermore, there's something not right about a stereo system that costs more than a Toyota Corolla. Everyone's entitled to buy what makes them happy; to each their own. There was a show in Manhattan a few years ago. I almost went, but the whole idea of paying to hear stuff I couldn't afford made me change my mind. Furthermore, it's not like I can play with whatever I want to my heart's content. Sorry if I'm ranting. No disrespect to people who like going to these shows. Everyone's idea of a good time is different. Simaudio unveiled a music streamer. Seems pretty interesting. Times they are a' changin. |
|
Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 15240 Registered: Feb-05 | I find RMAF coverage to be far more interesting for the reasons outlined by Jan. I like to gawk at things that are realistic to own. Don't get me wrong seeing where the state-of-the-art is at present is interesting just not quite as much, to me. That said, like Stu, I would only wind up attending any such event if it just so happened coincide with my being in town for another reason. That would leave CES out as you couldn't pay me enough to visit Vegas. |
|
Gold Member Username: KbearCanada Post Number: 1175 Registered: Dec-06 | Well, I went to the Toronto show last year with a buddy of mine. There were affordable items on demo. I don't know, it's doesn't cost much ($20 I think, plus ~$7 for a train ride in). Depends how far you have to travel I guess...this show was basically five minutes away from my work, so I travel there almost daily. It was like any other day for me, except that this time I was downtown on a Saturday and I was listening to reproduced music instead of working. To me, it's simply a chance to hear more systems, systems that are different to what you are used to. Maybe one or two really stand out and you end up buying it or something like it down the line. It just exposes you to different designs and helps open your mind up to new possibilities. I plan to go again in 2012. |
|
Gold Member Username: Stu_pittStamford, Connecticut USA Post Number: 4536 Registered: May-05 | If their was a show around the corner, I had a free day, and it wasn't too much to attend nor a hassle, I'd go to one. I skipped the one in Manhattan because Manhattan is... Well, Manhattan. It's a 30 min or so train ride. By the time I drive to the station, pay for parking and the train, get something to eat, admission, etc. it's easily a $150 or so day. There's no going to Manhattan for 2-3 hours. Every time I go, it's an all day thing. It's a great town, but I guess I'm getting old in my 35 years. I hate lines, big crowds, etc. Glad I'm moving back to Albany. There's room to breath and think. 3 more weeks. If their was a show in Albany, I'd attend. There won't be one any time soon, as there's practically no hifi scene left their. About 2 shops left. One is a very good one with a somewhat limited selection of lines, the other sells hifi and appliances. |
|
Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 17083 Registered: May-04 | . CES is expensive, even more so since it has moved from New York to Las Vegas. And it is, for many attendees a time for extravagance. CES has grown to the point where it is now more for the consumer electronics of extravagance and is no longer about the hobbyist. Video, computers and mobile electronics dominate the main floor of the exhibition hall. But high end audio has long been a somewhat absentee portion of the entire CES experience. High end audio manufacturers set up their rooms in two - maybe even three by now - hotels removed from the main exhibition halls. To cover all that exists at CES is a daunting task for any magazine and the more widely read magazines send a team of 6-10 members to do the coverage. I suppose, most writers would rather be hearing the best offerings when time is limited but that does little to serve the hobbyist community IMO. Call it the 99/1 syndrome or whatever you care to, I remember when Tim Forman - who at one time was an active member of this forum - tried to get his speakers shown at CES and was virtually ignored out of business. CES is about excess but with so many readers growing more weary of the magazines reviewing the mega-buck models they'll never even see let alone hear, I'm surprised at the coverage the show is receiving. It seems to me the coverage is such that a small company called Dynaco with its ST70 tube amp (the most successful and popular amp ever produced in high end audio) would today be ignored out of existence. . |
|
Bronze Member Username: EnjoythemusicPost Number: 50 Registered: Sep-04 | Art, thanks for fixing the link. Much appreciated. |
|
Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 15263 Registered: Feb-05 | You are welcome. |