OK .. yes, I was there Tuesday afternoon and left at 3 today. My wife came with me .. not to the show, but we did some touristy stuff and ate well.
I did look for Kevin (@adj2ent ) and Brian, but didn't see them. I ran into @Cap Capello on Tuesday and chatted briefly. Didn't see anyone else other than the aforementioned Arnoldo that I talked to for a few minutes. He was freelancing for Blizzard (who really didn't have any DJ level gear there) .. doing "social media" stuff he said. It was a cordial 5 minutes ..
My spin ... like Kevin, I thought it waayy too loud everywhere. I brought hearing protectors and it cut down the SPL, but it all sounded like mush. Similar in the demo rooms upstairs (Avante, RCF, Bassboss and Yorkville). Bassboss was overpowering everything .. all you heard was the walls rattling. They should have been setup outside and we probably still could have heard it indoors .. the stuff slams. A bit much for mobile work .. they didn't even bring any smaller gear this year.
Demo Rooms ....
The demo rooms upstairs weren't bad (except for the overpowering Bassboss) ..
The things that looked nice included the Avante AS8 (I'm sure much to Rocky's chagrin) ... it actually sounded pretty nice .. on par with say a Bose Compact ... and they had them UNDER $400 at the show ... AS8 - (https://www.avanteaudio.com/as8) .
I also liked the concept of the Yorkville Synergy (I had the Unity system previously) .. I didn't get to hear it though as every time I went there they were playing one of the speakers on a stick. Also liked their small battery powered speaker EXM-Mobile ( Yorkville - (http://yorkville.com/loudspeakers/excursion/product/exm-mobile/) ) .. about the same price as the Bose S1 .. and unfortunately, they didn't have it hooked up to listen to it. They also have released a 12" version, but it wasn't at the show.
RCF had basically the same stuff as before (EVOX and HD series), only new speaker .. the HDM 45A ( HDM 45A - (https://www.rcf.it/en_US/products/product-detail/hdm-45-a/1013924) ) .. they were demoing it and it sounded OK, but nothing spectacular, though it did get loud. They also some decent pricing on the HD10A and HD12A (if memory serves me, like $349 for 10s and just under $500 for the 12s).
Show Floor ..
Reiterated .. loud and loud .. and dark (I'm guessing the lighting guys complained it was too bright).
Trends in lighting were physically LARGE moving head spots, beams and washes ... the size that would be tough without a road crew. Almost every booth had them. I did look at the ADJ Focus beam for @prodjay . It was pretty darn bright. When I first got there, they had it pointing at the opposite wall (as in the long end, as in 300+ feet away) and it held a pretty tight beam and was bright enough at that distance. I took some photos with my Canon, so I'll post when I load them. Not much else at ADJ that I was excited by. I wanted to see the Focus Spot 1 and 2 movers, but they only had the smaller Pocket Pro and the larger ones. The Pocket Pro was supposed to be 25w, but it really had a hard time shining a gobo 25 feet away. They did have the myDMX Go set up and I talked to the support guy. He did say an update was in the works "soon" .. whatever that means.
The JMaz booth was pretty interesting. A battery powered mover could be cool, but not sure I'd need it and the cost must add a few bucks onto it. They had the ATTCO Spot 100 ( ATTCO SPOT 100 – JMAZ - (https://jmazlighting.com/product/attco-spot-100/) ) for $440, which was a nice price for a 75w mover with prism and motorized focus.
One cool machine there was the Chauvet Hurricane Bubble Haze ( Hurricane Bubble Haze | CHAUVET DJ - (https://www.chauvetdj.com/products/hurricane-bubble-haze/)). It was throwing these milk-colored balls out that would pop and disappear into a little cloud of haze. It was only $360 at the show and had everyone mesmerized. Could be a cool effext for a wedding and would add a little backdrop for lighting. The balls had a small amount of moisture, but you could barely feel it.
View: https://youtu.be/RpIx4txeKfk
I was also impressed by a little moving head light from Colorkey ( ColorKey Mover Halo Spot - ColorKey - (https://www.colorkeyled.com/product/colorkey-mover-halo-spot/) ). I'm guessing all plastic, but the Halo Spot was $180, was pretty bright (30w LED) and had a separate led ring around the barrel that was also controllable.
View: https://youtu.be/GNvIIlQvSfc
Not a lot of great deals there ... I did buy another Gator bag for 4 PARS for $40. They had the newest all black RnR carts (they were flying out the booth).
The controller booths were all the same as last year ... and you could hear the crossfader fapping and wicka-wicka-wicka EVERYWHERE .... Not much on the speaker/amp side other than what was upstairs in the demo rooms.
It was fun, but kind of disappointing to me ... though I'll probably go next year for the fun ...
I did look for Kevin (@adj2ent ) and Brian, but didn't see them. I ran into @Cap Capello on Tuesday and chatted briefly. Didn't see anyone else other than the aforementioned Arnoldo that I talked to for a few minutes. He was freelancing for Blizzard (who really didn't have any DJ level gear there) .. doing "social media" stuff he said. It was a cordial 5 minutes ..
My spin ... like Kevin, I thought it waayy too loud everywhere. I brought hearing protectors and it cut down the SPL, but it all sounded like mush. Similar in the demo rooms upstairs (Avante, RCF, Bassboss and Yorkville). Bassboss was overpowering everything .. all you heard was the walls rattling. They should have been setup outside and we probably still could have heard it indoors .. the stuff slams. A bit much for mobile work .. they didn't even bring any smaller gear this year.
Demo Rooms ....
The demo rooms upstairs weren't bad (except for the overpowering Bassboss) ..
The things that looked nice included the Avante AS8 (I'm sure much to Rocky's chagrin) ... it actually sounded pretty nice .. on par with say a Bose Compact ... and they had them UNDER $400 at the show ... AS8 - (https://www.avanteaudio.com/as8) .
I also liked the concept of the Yorkville Synergy (I had the Unity system previously) .. I didn't get to hear it though as every time I went there they were playing one of the speakers on a stick. Also liked their small battery powered speaker EXM-Mobile ( Yorkville - (http://yorkville.com/loudspeakers/excursion/product/exm-mobile/) ) .. about the same price as the Bose S1 .. and unfortunately, they didn't have it hooked up to listen to it. They also have released a 12" version, but it wasn't at the show.
RCF had basically the same stuff as before (EVOX and HD series), only new speaker .. the HDM 45A ( HDM 45A - (https://www.rcf.it/en_US/products/product-detail/hdm-45-a/1013924) ) .. they were demoing it and it sounded OK, but nothing spectacular, though it did get loud. They also some decent pricing on the HD10A and HD12A (if memory serves me, like $349 for 10s and just under $500 for the 12s).
Show Floor ..
Reiterated .. loud and loud .. and dark (I'm guessing the lighting guys complained it was too bright).
Trends in lighting were physically LARGE moving head spots, beams and washes ... the size that would be tough without a road crew. Almost every booth had them. I did look at the ADJ Focus beam for @prodjay . It was pretty darn bright. When I first got there, they had it pointing at the opposite wall (as in the long end, as in 300+ feet away) and it held a pretty tight beam and was bright enough at that distance. I took some photos with my Canon, so I'll post when I load them. Not much else at ADJ that I was excited by. I wanted to see the Focus Spot 1 and 2 movers, but they only had the smaller Pocket Pro and the larger ones. The Pocket Pro was supposed to be 25w, but it really had a hard time shining a gobo 25 feet away. They did have the myDMX Go set up and I talked to the support guy. He did say an update was in the works "soon" .. whatever that means.
The JMaz booth was pretty interesting. A battery powered mover could be cool, but not sure I'd need it and the cost must add a few bucks onto it. They had the ATTCO Spot 100 ( ATTCO SPOT 100 – JMAZ - (https://jmazlighting.com/product/attco-spot-100/) ) for $440, which was a nice price for a 75w mover with prism and motorized focus.
One cool machine there was the Chauvet Hurricane Bubble Haze ( Hurricane Bubble Haze | CHAUVET DJ - (https://www.chauvetdj.com/products/hurricane-bubble-haze/)). It was throwing these milk-colored balls out that would pop and disappear into a little cloud of haze. It was only $360 at the show and had everyone mesmerized. Could be a cool effext for a wedding and would add a little backdrop for lighting. The balls had a small amount of moisture, but you could barely feel it.
I was also impressed by a little moving head light from Colorkey ( ColorKey Mover Halo Spot - ColorKey - (https://www.colorkeyled.com/product/colorkey-mover-halo-spot/) ). I'm guessing all plastic, but the Halo Spot was $180, was pretty bright (30w LED) and had a separate led ring around the barrel that was also controllable.
Not a lot of great deals there ... I did buy another Gator bag for 4 PARS for $40. They had the newest all black RnR carts (they were flying out the booth).
The controller booths were all the same as last year ... and you could hear the crossfader fapping and wicka-wicka-wicka EVERYWHERE .... Not much on the speaker/amp side other than what was upstairs in the demo rooms.
It was fun, but kind of disappointing to me ... though I'll probably go next year for the fun ...