HE 2004 West Cancelled

F-100 · « **on:** 28 Oct 2004, 08:54 pm »

Due to the recent escalation of the hotel labor issue in San Francisco, the Home Entertainment Show scheduled for November 4-7 has been cancelled.

http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/sfhome.html

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 08:55 pm »

BIG bummer

- was looking forward to it.

F-100 · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 09:19 pm »

Yup!! Me too

. I was hoping to meet Klaus and a few other folks from AV123 forum at the show. Oh well, will have to wait for the CES show.

R_burke · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 09:38 pm »

I bet if all of those

hotel workers knew what they were doing to us, they'd reconsider and go back to work for a week.

F-100 · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 09:48 pm »

Union workers!!! Why do they have to go on strike at the wrong time?

audioengr · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 11:25 pm »

My wife and I went to this show last year. The union labor issues really spoiled the show for us. Everyone has their hand out and wants to control your every move. No place to park or unload. It sucked. The street people even kept me up all night with their battery powered guitars and drums..... never again.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

PhilNYC · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 11:32 pm »

Quote from: audioengr

My wife and I went to this show last year. The union labor issues really spoiled the show for us. Everyone has their hand out and wants to control your every move. No place to park or unload. It sucked.

I'm surprised by this only because the unions in NYC are supposed to be worse, but we actually had a pretty easy time with stuff at HE2004 East this past May...

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Oct 2004, 11:41 pm »

Quote from: audioengr

My wife and I went to this show last year. The union labor issues really spoiled the show for us. Everyone has their hand out and wants to control your every move. No place to park or unload. It sucked. The street people even kept me up all night with their battery powered guitars and drums..... never again.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Not that I'm not bummed to hear this about my fair (but waaay odd) city...but you DO live in the woods where folks are scarce, Steve. Some folks may have interpreted your experiences as 'fun' - believe it or not.

Me, I live far enough from the weirdness that is San Fran to enjoy every day, but love to get my fix of big city weirdness weekly.

Anyhow, sadly, I do feel SF is living on a former well-earned reputation as a very liveable city...now not quite so

Danny Richie · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 04:49 pm »

I had a client that went to the New York show that was complaining about having to pay an extreme drayage fee (labor Mafia) to get his speakers brought in to the show.

$1,200. to have them brought in and then $1,200. to have them brought out when the show was over.

We're talking about no more than the job of a good bell hop.

Down here in good old Texas we might just whip a guys ass before we pay him $1,200. to bring our stuff in.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 05:01 pm »

Quote from: Danny

I had a client that went to the New York show that was complaining about having to pay an extreme drayage fee (labor Mafia) to get his speakers brought in to the show.

$1,200. to have them brought in and then $1,200. to have them brought out when the show was over.

Really? How big were the speakers?

FWIW, we brought all of our gear to HE2004 in a pair of minivans and unloaded at the garage. Bellhops charged us $15 per luggage-cart (we had 3 carts, not including the stuff we carried ourselves) to get our gear up to the room (and again at the end of the show). Had we shipped our gear to the show, the drayage fee would have been $1000 ($500 to the show, $500 after the show) according to the exhibitor manual. I actually thought Stereophile had done a pretty good job at minimizing all those fees...

BradJudy · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 05:19 pm »

Quote from: PhilNYC

Really? How big were the speakers?

If it's the client I'm thinking of, they are VERY large.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #11 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 05:23 pm »

Quote from: BradJudy

If it's the client I'm thinking of, they are VERY large.

eh...probably couldn't fit them on a luggage cart..

Danny Richie · « **Reply #12 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 06:45 pm »

That was the fee he had to pay to get them taken to the room after he paid a trucking company to ship them there.

He didn't show up with them to unload.

One pair of Epiphany 12/12 speakers. Yes they are fairly large.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #13 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 07:02 pm »

Quote from: Danny

That was the fee he had to pay to get them taken to the room after he paid a trucking company to ship them there..

Did he complain to Stereophile at all? The drayage fees listed in the exhibitor guide were significantly lower than that, even for speakers that size...

Danny Richie · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 07:11 pm »

Quote

Did he complain to Stereophile at all?

I have no idea. I know he complained to me.

Now that I think about it there was a pretty large sub-woofer too, that might have weighed 300lbs.

BradJudy · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 Oct 2004, 11:04 pm »

Quote from: Danny

One pair of Epiphany 12/12 speakers. Yes they are fairly large.

Those aren't too bad - I thought maybe they did a pair of 21/20s with a pair of those 24" cube subs. Even I might have charged a pretty penny to haul their big puppies.

BTW: I got a chance to hear the big ones at the RMAF right before they started to break things down.