After a series of unexpected events prevented us from sending out The Audio Voice newsletter last week (…following a planned break in the previous week), we have a lot of catch up to do for this one. Particularly, because the past two weeks were extremely rich in announcements, and the break did allow us to get a better perspective on what happened at CEDIA Expo 2022. A lot of news followed that very inspiring show, including the announcement that the Connectivity Standards Alliance had released the much anticipated Matter 1.0 specification.

But let's start with the show. CEDIA Expo 2022, September 29 to October 1, was an extremely good trade show. Strong attendance, very high-quality exhibits, many of them with many new announcements at the show, and a very positive environment for business. Overall, attendance was strong for a post-pandemic show, with visitors clearly in a business mood - not just “tapping on the back” and more "it's good to be back" talk. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, TX was very suitable, and the city, and most importantly the weather, all helped to create a vibrant and enjoyable experience.

CEDIA Expo is now owned by Emerald Expositions, a company with its roots in trade publications that is now dedicated to promoting events and trade shows, and which has naturally suffered like all similar organizations during the pandemic-related cancellations. Following two very challenging years, CEDIA Expo 2022 was a lean but well organized event, basically made successful by exhibitors and attendees. CEDIA, the association, is basically just another exhibitor at its own show and the master of ceremonies of all the training, education, networking, and special events, while the company now simply called Emerald manages the show floor production.

The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is a decent facility that lacks glamour from the outside, but is directly connected to the 1,001-room Omni Dallas hotel via a skybridge, which is basically the real front entrance to the convention center. In fact, many listening rooms and business events related to the CEDIA Expo (or not) took place at the Omni hotel - as I found out a bit too late. Just as a curiosity, on February 9, 2022, the Dallas City Council voted to take steps toward demolishing the convention center and replacing it with a new one. So there's that.

More important is what happened on the show floor. There clearly was a sense of urgency in the way the industry in general embraced the opportunity to be in Dallas for CEDIA Expo 2022, and I have a feeling that Emerald had nothing to do with that. In fact, many of the trade shows sometimes are great events not because the promoters did anything special, but just because there really is a strong need from companies and people to do business. And after two years of postponed projects, Zoom calls, and virtual meetings, everyone was ready for that.

The custom integration sector, as the CEDIA space is characterized, was always a strong market in North-America and is slightly different elsewhere, where system integrators tend to combine commercial and residential, and there's a strong crossover with the hi-fi and consumer electronics dealerships that also do installations. In fact, when I returned from the 2019 CEDIA Expo, which coincided with the same week of the now defunct Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I couldn't help thinking about why wouldn't more hi-fi and high-end audio companies exhibit at CEDIA? While hi-fi shows are intended to appeal mainly to potential buyers and end users who visit the show rooms to listen and buy, the CEDIA show is an ideal space for that channel - dealers, reps, and distributors - as well as the always crucial installers, which are a natural and essential extension for great home audio.

But CEDIA Expo, as I have highlighted previously, is now also increasingly a converging event toward the smart home. While installation, home theater, and even outdoor systems are still the core of the audio exhibits at CEDIA Expo, side by side with the screens, displays, and projector companies, the new exhibitors are increasingly selling lighting, energy management, security, motorized blinders and shaders, and anything that can be remotely controlled in the "smart home". And increasingly, there's now Google, Amazon, Sonos, and a series of new technology companies invested in dominating the space through new forms of remote control ecosystems. Amazon alone had four different exhibits for all its technology brands, that I could count.

To get a sense of how vibrant this show was I looked for the official figures, and I was happy to see that Emerald finally revealed the final figures for CEDIA Expo 2022 this week. Those confirmed 15,497 total registrants with a verified attendance of 11,946 industry professionals and 317 exhibitors. It's irrelevant to compare this with previous editions, given how much has changed with the industry and the scope of the show. More important, is that over 40% were first-time attendees, which speaks volumes.

And that gives me a great segue for my take-aways from CEDIA 2022. First, there is a latent "other" show that Emerald needs to know about and accommodate in its plans. A show such as CEDIA Expo is not only about the suppliers that sell gear to custom integrators and installers. It's also about all the technology suppliers and OEM manufacturers that deliver solutions to those companies and brands represented in the largest booths. Not surprisingly, many of the small booths at CEDIA Expo 2022 were from that segment, including WiSA Technologies, a presence by engineering house StreamUnlimited, and a welcome combined booth from LibreWireless and Hangsong, among other specialized suppliers.

I could imagine speaker driver companies such as LaVoce, Morel, Beyma, Radian, SB Acoustics/SB Audience, or even SEAS benefiting from exhibiting at this show. And in fact many were walking the show floor.

Exactly like at CES, Mobile World Congress, and other much bigger trade shows, a large percentage of the visitors and business done is B2B. Meaning, companies that supply products, technologies, and services to the consumer-facing, or end-user-facing brands and companies. At CEDIA Expo 2022, I was pleasantly surprised to find visitors from all over the world that were in Dallas to talk to their customers, the exhibitors - in most cases, for the fist time in-person after almost 3 years! Many of these B2B visitors told me that they regretted not having set up a booth or a business suite. Something that is bound to change in the 2023 edition of CEDIA Expo, returning to Denver, CO (September 7-9, 2023).

This series of articles - this being the third one - continues to follow Ethan Winer's fascinating journey of building all the modules for a Guitar-Controlled Synthesizer. The two previous articles described the core circuits he developed for this project that uses an electric guitar instead of a keyboard to control an analog synthesizer. This article continues with two components that are essential for all analog synthesizers: The Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) and the Attack Decay Sustain Release (ADSR) envelope generator. Both of these circuits generate voltages that control other modules in the synthesizer. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2022. Read the Full Article Now Available Here

This article by Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific) provides a valuable overview of the latest Thin-Film Coatings and Treatments solutions that are available in the market. Highlights include a new a state-of-the-art REACH-compliant CVD coating process from Oerlikon Surface Solutions, applicable on multiple substrates, such as aluminum, titanium, PEEK, and composites, and Nanovate, a metallurgical nano-coating technology based on electrodeposited nano crystalline structural metal from Integran. The report also highlights Antiviral/Antimicrobial Coatings from Integran, Kastus Technologies, and Nanowatt, among others. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2022.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here