Stereophile
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- Apr 19, 2013
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<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060313-Hilton-600.jpg" /></p> <p>Photo: John Atkinson</p>
<p>
Location, location, location . . . and, from Richard Beers and Bob Levi, a generous helping of brilliant organizing acumen. That winning combination means that, in just its third year, T.H.E. Show Newport Beach has already laid claim to the title of the top consumer “fine audio” show in the U.S.
</p><p>
What exactly being No.1 means is another question entirely. While T.H.E. Show Newport Beach may have been spread over multiple floors in two adjacent hotels, as was T.H.E. Show Las Vegas of old, and offered, in addition to almost 140 exhibit rooms and an invaluable number of seminars, a corridor-long “cigar show,” a glitzy car show, wine show, gourmet food trucks, and multiple entertainment stages and markets, it’s hard to know if all that = “best.” And while attendance is claimed to be very high, it’s hard to know how many of the estimated 7500 attendees actually paid to get in, and how many took advantage of either generously distributed comps or membership in the Los Angeles-Orange County Audio Society.
</p><p>
What is certain is that, despite what JA told me was a surprisingly slow Sunday, there were people everywhere on Friday and Saturday. Everywhere, as in all over the place. And that means more than physically. People ran the gamut age-wise as well as interest wise, if less so in terms of the male-female ratio.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060313-MrTube-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>Not to be outdone by the aspirational automobile exhibition that ran in parallel with T.H.E. Show, Upscale Audio’s Kevin Deal parked his own exclusive set of wheels outside the Hilton’s lobby. (Photo: John Atkinson)</p>
<p>
If anyone can encapsulate the essence of the Third Annual T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, it is not I. I only attended the first two days, and departed Saturday night in order to perform back in the Bay Area on Sunday. Being true to my Cancer nature, I stuck to my assignment to cover as many floors of the Hilton as possible. Save for exiting the hotel for Friday night dinner, I stuck to the Hilton, and never set foot in the Atrium. I thus must leave it to John Atkinson, who somehow managed to cover the Atrium, Hilton floor 5, and other assorted exhibits between delivering one seminar and participating in two others, to flesh out this report with his own experiences.
</p><p>
I did experience a few consistent trends, not all of them positive. Most disturbing was the tendency on the part of both attendees and exhibitors to treat music merely as a tool for evaluating equipment. “Could you play the first minute of each of the four tracks on this CD-R?” was a line I heard repeated by one visitor whom I encountered more than once in the Lobby level exhibits.
</p><p>
Dismaying were the exhibitors whom, when asked if they could play me something that would show off their systems, replied with the question, “Would you like a female vocal, rock, or classical?” It seemed that Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter, to name just five female jazz artists, were interchangeable. Classical meant one of the RCA Living Stereo blockbusters, rock one of HDTracks and Mobile Fidelity’s best sellers. In all the rooms I entered, the only male jazz vocalists I heard were Louis Armstrong and Johnny Hartman. The joy of discovery, the musical thrills that I referred to in my April “As We See It,” "<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/theres-no-business-without-show-business">There’s No Business Without Show Business</a>,” were too often absent.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060213-Jason-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>Jason prepares to depart for home Saturday night, leaving JA to face Sunday alone. (Photo: John Atkinson)</p>
<p>
I make no secret of the fact that I’m an opera critic. But, at this show, I don’t think I played a single classical vocal other than in Sunny Audio’s wonderful <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/sunny-components-pairs-wilson-audio-audio-research">Wilson
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/another-opening-another-show]
<p>
Location, location, location . . . and, from Richard Beers and Bob Levi, a generous helping of brilliant organizing acumen. That winning combination means that, in just its third year, T.H.E. Show Newport Beach has already laid claim to the title of the top consumer “fine audio” show in the U.S.
</p><p>
What exactly being No.1 means is another question entirely. While T.H.E. Show Newport Beach may have been spread over multiple floors in two adjacent hotels, as was T.H.E. Show Las Vegas of old, and offered, in addition to almost 140 exhibit rooms and an invaluable number of seminars, a corridor-long “cigar show,” a glitzy car show, wine show, gourmet food trucks, and multiple entertainment stages and markets, it’s hard to know if all that = “best.” And while attendance is claimed to be very high, it’s hard to know how many of the estimated 7500 attendees actually paid to get in, and how many took advantage of either generously distributed comps or membership in the Los Angeles-Orange County Audio Society.
</p><p>
What is certain is that, despite what JA told me was a surprisingly slow Sunday, there were people everywhere on Friday and Saturday. Everywhere, as in all over the place. And that means more than physically. People ran the gamut age-wise as well as interest wise, if less so in terms of the male-female ratio.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060313-MrTube-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>Not to be outdone by the aspirational automobile exhibition that ran in parallel with T.H.E. Show, Upscale Audio’s Kevin Deal parked his own exclusive set of wheels outside the Hilton’s lobby. (Photo: John Atkinson)</p>
<p>
If anyone can encapsulate the essence of the Third Annual T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, it is not I. I only attended the first two days, and departed Saturday night in order to perform back in the Bay Area on Sunday. Being true to my Cancer nature, I stuck to my assignment to cover as many floors of the Hilton as possible. Save for exiting the hotel for Friday night dinner, I stuck to the Hilton, and never set foot in the Atrium. I thus must leave it to John Atkinson, who somehow managed to cover the Atrium, Hilton floor 5, and other assorted exhibits between delivering one seminar and participating in two others, to flesh out this report with his own experiences.
</p><p>
I did experience a few consistent trends, not all of them positive. Most disturbing was the tendency on the part of both attendees and exhibitors to treat music merely as a tool for evaluating equipment. “Could you play the first minute of each of the four tracks on this CD-R?” was a line I heard repeated by one visitor whom I encountered more than once in the Lobby level exhibits.
</p><p>
Dismaying were the exhibitors whom, when asked if they could play me something that would show off their systems, replied with the question, “Would you like a female vocal, rock, or classical?” It seemed that Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter, to name just five female jazz artists, were interchangeable. Classical meant one of the RCA Living Stereo blockbusters, rock one of HDTracks and Mobile Fidelity’s best sellers. In all the rooms I entered, the only male jazz vocalists I heard were Louis Armstrong and Johnny Hartman. The joy of discovery, the musical thrills that I referred to in my April “As We See It,” "<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/theres-no-business-without-show-business">There’s No Business Without Show Business</a>,” were too often absent.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/060213-Jason-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>Jason prepares to depart for home Saturday night, leaving JA to face Sunday alone. (Photo: John Atkinson)</p>
<p>
I make no secret of the fact that I’m an opera critic. But, at this show, I don’t think I played a single classical vocal other than in Sunny Audio’s wonderful <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/sunny-components-pairs-wilson-audio-audio-research">Wilson
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/another-opening-another-show]