Wasn’t it great to be back in Denver for this year’s show? The weather was perfect and everything was really centrally located, especially the evening parties that were minutes from the convention center in our Uber-centric transportation world. Here are some thoughts I carried with me from the show:
Savant | USAI Lighting demo: Angie Larson gave George and I a thorough tour of the latest offerings from Savant. The demo of their partnership with USAI was incredible. Using an iPad, you can quickly change any component of USAI’s latest LED lighting products – from brightness levels to color changes – in a simple fashion. So let’s say you re-arrange your artwork every month; if you want to pick up more blue hues for a picture that you’ve moved into the dining room, you can simply dial it in in real time. Very impressive.
JBL Synthesis: the latest iteration of this classic is mind-bendingly robust. Incredible demo.
Lighting: There were many new players in our sandbox as the lighting manufacturers see the channel as a gateway to ever-increasing sales. Who else is poised to integrate new LED technologies, along with advanced whole-home control systems that create something truly special in today’s performance home? I really can’t single anyone out – we visited every booth – and they were all impressive and quite knowledgeable. As we all know, it is going to be a steep learning curve to get integrators up to speed on lighting design, and we got the feeling that the lighting companies understand this and are willing partners in the journey moving forward.
Control4: Dave Philips gave us an impressive tour of all things C4. They have so much going on that just that booth tour alone would take me an hour to explain. They had so many partners set up throughout the booth, which speaks volumes about collaboration in today’s wired community. It was nice to see Hunter Douglas re-surfacing at CEDIA after some years away. Those who read my recent article in TD about HD know that we think they represent a best-in-class product. Anyway, C4 was a highlight for us.
Leon Speakers: OMG! Did you catch the artistic on-wall speakers they were showing? Carolyn took us around the booth and showed us all the cool things coming out of the minds of these amazing artists and musicians. George told me he’s going to include Leon in his Architectural Speaker article coming up in the Fall issue of TD. We love those people!
Audio speakers in general: We had great meetings with DynAudio, Meridian, Focal, Sonus faber, MacIntosh, MartinLogan, Paradigm, MBL, Stealth Acoustics . . . . there is so much great audio in our industry, let’s focus on showing homeowners the good stuff before settling for me-too, mass market crap. In today’s rush to biophilic design, we believe great sound is just as important as clean air and purified water. If you don’t show the crown jewels, no one is going to buy them.
ELAN: Todd Pasternak wrote about the newest ELAN products in the Summer issue of TD. I cruised by to catch up with Bill Hensley and take a closer look at what they’re up to. And it was all good. I’m more convinced than ever that wall clutter might be on the endangered species list and in need of government protection. With voice and face recognition, you really never have to flip a switch. You can concentrate on the best parts of life – drinking wine and listening to the new Lana del Ray album.
Samsung, LG & Sony: 8K images that took your breath away. Amazing how far we’ve come in display technology. And the latest LED wall display technology is getting scary good. That’s the future, folks. And, on a personal note, all of the people who represent these three companies are stellar individuals.
The Women in Consumer Technology annual luncheon and reception: Sam Horn was great. So motivating. My niece decided she would move forward on saving coral reefs and take action – today, not someday. So that was pretty cool. We’re going to share some of our experience running the Elf Foundation and help her get off the ground. And special thanx to Danielle Karr over at Control4 for sponsoring the blini/mamosa networking hour.
Modus VR: Jason took a deep dive demo tour and was blown away. I’ve asked him to write up something that we can feature here at TIG. For those unfamiliar with this design tool that utilizes VR, go here.
Party, party, party: Thanx to everyone who entertained us when the day’s work was almost over (I think the networking parties qualify as work, but fun work, no?). The buying groups – ProSource, HTSA, Azione – all had great parties and they were all packed with the best of the best dealers and vendors. Samsung again rocked it – the bacon bar was not to be missed! The gang over at the Opera House put on an incredible party. And that by-invitation-only Saturday night soiree out in Lafayette was not to be missed. I’ve never seen people suck down vintage wines like that. And the food? Ridiculous! Bangkok lamb chops, BBQ chicken pizza, Pepper Shrimp, Smoked Ham and Roast Beef sliders with brie, Welsh cheddar, onion confit, and a variety of Maille mustards, and for dessert, Blueberry/Coconut sorbet. And a great group of people. And great music. If you missed it, maybe next year will be your year to get an invite.
There were tons of other booths we visited and I’m sorry I haven’t given everybody a shout out. Like Seura and Coastal Source, Luxul and Vantage, Lumastream and American Lighting. Lot’s o’ cool things everywhere you looked.
