It may be just a subway ride away from the biggest Apple, but to some inveterate Manhattanites, an audio show in Brooklyn sounds like it's from another planet. In reality, the third New York Audio Show, which opens to the public on Friday, September 26 at 2pm and continues through Sunday, September 28 at 5pm, takes place at the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, just a short distance across the East River from Manhattan.
No matter how you parse it, the show's line-up is looking quite good. At press time, the show's sponsor, the UK's Chester Group, predicted 45 exhibit rooms, including a "Headzone;" no less than 79 exhibitors, and at least 174 brands.
They also promise lots of goodies (in addition to raffle prizes). No less a personage than Richard Vandersteen will demo his liquid-cooled High Pass amps in a system that also includes gear from Audio Research, AudioQuest, and Basis. Naim presents the US consumer show launch of their massive Statement Amp, and KEF follows suit by playing their new Reference line loudspeakers. Other product launches and new product showings include the Alta Audio speaker line from Mike Levy, Townsend Rock 7/Merlin motor and Excalibur tonearm; a new Merrill-Williams turntable, new components from Jolida and Backert Labs, the new Verity Audio Parsifal loudspeaker, new cables from Unity Design Cables, Muraudio's first omni-electrostatic loudspeaker, Legacy Audio's new on-wall loudspeakers, WAX RAX's record racks (in the "Made in Brooklyn" room), and GamuT's new Wormhole Reference speaker. Also keep an ear open for new Master & Dynamic headphones.
Much of the publicity for the New York Show has been intentionally funneled through social media channels. "It's no longer about how many people you can stuff in," Chester Group's Roy Bird told Stereophile. "It's about attracting a better variety of attendee. We're aiming for show buyers, not just show goers. The industry still needs shows, but it needs the right sort of quality shows that bring in new faces. That's what we're trying to do."
A week before the show opened, Bird's strategy appeared to be working. With ticket downloads surpassing last year's by several hundred, Bird expected to equal or exceed last year's attendance figures of 2700 unique visitors plus 250 members of the press. This despite the unfortunate scheduling of the show to overlap with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, whose celebration ends on Friday evening, September 26, a little over an hour before the close of the first day of NYAS.
Stereophile print-edition readers are already aware of a Letter to the Editor in the Ocotber issue announcing that "New York City specialist audio retailers" Sound by Singer Ltd., EarsNova, and Stereo Exchange will not be participating in the show because it is "scheduled to begin on the Jewish Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah." As it turns out, Stereo Exchange is now not only participating in the NYAS, but also hosting their own concomitant three-day Fall High-End Audio Show at their Broadway store.
Whether the one-day overlap with Rosh Hashanah will affect attendance remains to be seen. What is clear is that those who do walk through the door will have an opportunity to hear a lot of exciting set-ups, and attend a host of seminars that include presentations by Stereophile's Michael Fremer, Steve Guttenberg, Art Dudley, Herb Reichert, and Michael Lavorgna. At least three workshops will focus on computer audio, three on high-resolution audio, three on vinyl, and others on vintage, speakers, headphones, and the 21st century audiophile. And no one will go wanting when it comes to finding nearby restaurants and diversions of every stripe imaginable.
Unless Con Ed decides to drill in the streets surrounding the hotel, a water main floods, or the Brooklyn Bridge closes for unexpected renovations—as Bird acknowledges in the show program, variations on all of the above manifested like the wrath of God during the second New York Audio Show at the Palace—it should be a great show. Return to this website during and after show weekend to discover what John Atkinson, Art Dudley, and the rest of the magazine's NY-based team have to say about what took place.
