INTRODUCTION
T.H.E. Show Newport 2017, produced by the co-operation of Marine Presson and the Los Angeles Orange County Audiophile Society (“LAOCAS”) and others, became the most successful audio show in Southern California in many years. After that show industry observers commented that the Newport show was ascending the throne as the biggest and best high-end audio show in the United States. Even though the show has "Newport" in the name, that is for misleading glitz value, as the show's venues have been in Irvine, and not in Newport.
Success was not enough to satisfy the organizers, however, and they decided to snatch defeat our of the jaws of victory by splitting up over some disagreement, and by deciding to organize competing shows within weeks of each other. Marine and the LAOCAS decided to organize a show under the name of the Los Angeles Audio Show (the "LAAS"). Because most industry participants and audiophiles credited Marine and Bob with the success of T.H.E. Show Newport 2017 most industry participants and audiophiles decided to support the LAAS 2018 and not T.H.E. Show Newport 2018. It looked like the LAAS 2018 vanquished T.H.E. Show Newport 2018, which appeared to be withering on the vine.
Most people assumed T.H.E. Show Newport 2018 was on life support until just a few weeks ago when Marine suffered an emotional melt-down and pulled the pin out of the grenade and blew up the LAAS by canceling it. This left many manufacturers and dealers scrambling to secure rooms at T.H.E. Show Newport, the organizers of which had already released many previously reserved exhibit rooms back to the hotel due to lack of interest.
After the cancelation several weeks ago of the LAAS nobody knew how many exhibitors and visitors would support T.H.E. Show Newport 2018. Not surprisingly, several, or perhaps many, exhibitors were not able to secure exhibit rooms at the Marriott Spectrum Irvine because, again, the organizers of T.H.E. Show Newport had released many rooms since most people in the industry had decided to support the LAAS. Everyone knew T.H.E. Show Newport would be small, but no one knew how small.
After all the drama the surviving show went on without a hitch. There were only three (small) floors of exhibits, and most exhibitors did not bring their “A” game — meaning that very few exhibitors bothered to bring record players, which are a lot more difficult to transport and set up than are DACs and CD players. There were few tube amplifiers, fewer turntables and even fewer tape machines. I think only the MBL room enjoyed a tape machine, courtesy of Greg Beron of United Home Audio.
There were several elaborate set-ups, and they will be discussed in separate threads.
Overall, I don’t know how many people attended, but I would say the attendance was modest. The Marriott Spectrum Irvine is a brand new hotel, so the venue itself was beautiful. It was very high-end compared to the generic-looking Courtyard Marriott across the street. While many of the exhibit rooms were small I hope the show’s organizers figure out a way to utilize this hotel again next year.
Because the show was fairly easy to cover formally by Friday afternoon I spent the rest of my time at the show enjoying mostly the social aspects of walking around and listening to stuff with friends (Steve, KeithR, JeffT). I had planned to stay at the show all three days, but my wife and I left Saturday afternoon.
Right before we left we had the opportunity to see KeithR's super cool new car, a sinister gray BMW M2 with black wheels! Congratulations, Keith!
T.H.E. Show Newport 2017, produced by the co-operation of Marine Presson and the Los Angeles Orange County Audiophile Society (“LAOCAS”) and others, became the most successful audio show in Southern California in many years. After that show industry observers commented that the Newport show was ascending the throne as the biggest and best high-end audio show in the United States. Even though the show has "Newport" in the name, that is for misleading glitz value, as the show's venues have been in Irvine, and not in Newport.
Success was not enough to satisfy the organizers, however, and they decided to snatch defeat our of the jaws of victory by splitting up over some disagreement, and by deciding to organize competing shows within weeks of each other. Marine and the LAOCAS decided to organize a show under the name of the Los Angeles Audio Show (the "LAAS"). Because most industry participants and audiophiles credited Marine and Bob with the success of T.H.E. Show Newport 2017 most industry participants and audiophiles decided to support the LAAS 2018 and not T.H.E. Show Newport 2018. It looked like the LAAS 2018 vanquished T.H.E. Show Newport 2018, which appeared to be withering on the vine.
Most people assumed T.H.E. Show Newport 2018 was on life support until just a few weeks ago when Marine suffered an emotional melt-down and pulled the pin out of the grenade and blew up the LAAS by canceling it. This left many manufacturers and dealers scrambling to secure rooms at T.H.E. Show Newport, the organizers of which had already released many previously reserved exhibit rooms back to the hotel due to lack of interest.
After the cancelation several weeks ago of the LAAS nobody knew how many exhibitors and visitors would support T.H.E. Show Newport 2018. Not surprisingly, several, or perhaps many, exhibitors were not able to secure exhibit rooms at the Marriott Spectrum Irvine because, again, the organizers of T.H.E. Show Newport had released many rooms since most people in the industry had decided to support the LAAS. Everyone knew T.H.E. Show Newport would be small, but no one knew how small.
After all the drama the surviving show went on without a hitch. There were only three (small) floors of exhibits, and most exhibitors did not bring their “A” game — meaning that very few exhibitors bothered to bring record players, which are a lot more difficult to transport and set up than are DACs and CD players. There were few tube amplifiers, fewer turntables and even fewer tape machines. I think only the MBL room enjoyed a tape machine, courtesy of Greg Beron of United Home Audio.
There were several elaborate set-ups, and they will be discussed in separate threads.
Overall, I don’t know how many people attended, but I would say the attendance was modest. The Marriott Spectrum Irvine is a brand new hotel, so the venue itself was beautiful. It was very high-end compared to the generic-looking Courtyard Marriott across the street. While many of the exhibit rooms were small I hope the show’s organizers figure out a way to utilize this hotel again next year.
Because the show was fairly easy to cover formally by Friday afternoon I spent the rest of my time at the show enjoying mostly the social aspects of walking around and listening to stuff with friends (Steve, KeithR, JeffT). I had planned to stay at the show all three days, but my wife and I left Saturday afternoon.
Right before we left we had the opportunity to see KeithR's super cool new car, a sinister gray BMW M2 with black wheels! Congratulations, Keith!
