[youravhandyman]

So I just came back from my yearly pilgrimage to the CEDIA convention.  One thing that seemed to be taking off is higher end audio integration this year with several high end displays at the hotels attached to the convention center.  The usual suspects were there showing, Harman group, Sony, KEF and such but names like Wisdom, and Steinway Lyngdorf were there showing home theater systems as well.  James speakers again had an impressive showing of outdoor and inwall speakers that blow away a good number of floor standing offerings from some big name companies as well.  And Totem again somehow showed incredible clarity and imaging in the middle of the show floor with their Element series with Tribe surrounds powered by Cary Audio.

Learn anything you ask?  A whole bunch about control systems and distribution that are a topic for another forum of Bob's.  But this high end noob did learn that NAD is a Pioneer company and always has been.  And right across from the TAD display was this beast...
 
The company was Pro sound something or the other but they did have a great display in the Runco booth.  Most home theater showings at CEDIA tend to be so loud that they are screechy and somewhat painful, but their showing at the Runco off site room was clear and sharp with great vocal clarity in a rather large conference room.  No, the beast above wasn't playing.

Freebies?  It seemed that everyone at the show was giving a beer out at their booths.  So this guy got his fill everywhere and didn't break the budget.  I won a receiver from URC but no review until it is shipped to me.  Still waiting to hear if I won a car...

Vendor shows are always a big draw and the ADI party had Cheap Trick this year.  The guys sounded great and still jump around a fair bit.  Warning...the pictures below may make some feel a bit old.  Rick Nielson is 65 so time does fly.




Oh, and JVC wins the foodie award of the show having served Ahi Tuna, scallop cerveche(sp?) and individually caught river trout along with this nice cheese spread.


It was a good time for sure.  There are some videos of the Cheap Trick guys jumping around a bit in my photobucket account riversideav if anyone is interested.

Matt

[Bob in St. Louis]

Very cool Matt, thanks for the pics! 
Interesting about NAD, I would have never guessed.

Bob

[catastrofe]

Did you mean that TAD is a Pioneer company?  They are (I believe).  Not so sure about NAD...

[youravhandyman]

 
Thank you...  Yes, TAD.  Geez, so much for proofreading.

[Mr Peabody]

That would be cool to attend one of the CE shows.  Just curious if JVC is still making receivers?  I don't remember them in any of the big box stores.

I've also noticed 4k resolution upscaling or capability on some HT gear, did you see any 4k images?

[youravhandyman]

Mr P,
I can't say for sure if JVC is still making a receiver or not.  At least that I have seen their booth at CEDIA has not had a receiver in the last 4 years.  Come to think of it, I don't remember one at CES last year either.
On the 4K front I saw several 4k displays and projectors.  JVC was showing their 85" direct view 4K this year(see the cheese spread above) along with their projectors.  Sony, LG and Samsung all had 4K 85" models.  Personally of those the best image was on the JVC followed by the Sony.  But the hands down winner was the 85" displayed in the Runco suite under the Planar name.  This display and the images they were showing were jaw dropping.  The image was of a Japanese girl(crazy hot) and they were making all sorts of food dishes for her.  You could see that her eyelashes were braided and that there were extremely small flowers on her contact lenses.  It was almost 4D the image was so real.  I swear I almost smelled the food.  And no, it was not a 3D image.  Now having gone on a bit about this display it will be a pro panel and likely near $80k in cost.  It is Runco afterall...
Receivers will be mostly passing 4k content with some basic scaling available.  Lumagen was touting their 4k pro line processors for the videophiles out there. 
Backhanded honesty award goes to Sony that stated their 4K display will do it's best to scale your current HD and SD content to fit screen resolution.  By saying it that way they are covered if the image isn't what you might expect...

Matt