A lot of people were disappointed with CEDIA Expo in
Read more: Final Day’s Impressions, 3D Video, Sensibly Priced Speakers and Second Thoughts
The SoundStage! SnapShots! photo galleries are new addition to our show reports. These galleries feature high-quality photos from in and around each show. Browse the new galleries through the links below:
Few people have made as big of a contribution to the loudspeaker industry as Dr. Floyd Toole. Toole is the well-known researcher whose work at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) in the ‘70s and ‘80s established a clear correlation between objective measurements and subjective listening impressions that, in turn, gave many of the Canadian loudspeaker designers who worked with him a leg up in the industry and helped to make their companies into world-class leaders in loudspeaker design. Toole left NRC in the ‘90s to work for Harman International where he continued his research on loudspeakers and their interactions with rooms. Ultimately, his decades of research culminated with the release of his outstanding book, Sound Reproduction: Loudspeakers and Rooms, which was released in 2009, the same year he retired. He is seen in the picture below with Kevin Voecks (right), who he worked with at Harman for many years and was also at CEDIA Expo.
The dismal economy has hurt the specialty-audio business. Bringing any new product to market these days is risky, even for established brands, and most would agree that starting a new company at this time is next to impossible. But don’t tell that to Sandy Gross, one of the driving forces behind GoldenEar Technology, a brand-new company that made its debut at CEDIA Expo 2010 with several new products.
Sandy Gross isn’t new to the audio business, nor is he naïve. Gross helped to cofound Polk Audio in the 1970s, and then he and Don Givogue went on to cofound Definitive Technology in 1990. Both companies became speaker-making powerhouses. Gross and Givogue are the founders of GoldenEar Technology.
By most accounts, CEDIA Expo 2009 was a disaster. Exhibitors were fewer and farther between and overall attendance was way down. Part of it had to do with the economy, which was in the worst part of its tailspin. The other had to do with its location: