NY Audio Show 2016

New York Audio Show 2016 A Small Affair

Michael Fremer  |  Nov 5, 2016

More than 12,000 hi-fi fans will crowd three hotels in Warsaw, Poland this weekend. Here in New York, the show is small, limited to three floors of the "petite" Park Lane Hotel plus a few second floor exhibits. It's sad really, though there was an interesting mix of equipment and it was an opportunity to get acquainted with some area dealers.

How many people will attend? I don't know. I covered it all in one afternoon and it was crowded during the press-only hours and the narrow corridors were very crowded once the public was let in , though my analog perspective made that pretty fast and easy since there was little that was new that's not been already covered here. For more complete coverage, please visit Stereophile's website. The magazine had more than a few people covering the show from a more complete perspective.

Among the few new analog products I saw was this $1595 A.C. synchronous motor controller from Croatia imported by Robyatt Audio that's said to be favored by owners of vintage Garrard and Lenco turntables:

There was also this handsome Soulines turntable from Serbia fitted with a Rega arm:

and a new one from T+A, Germany that uses a Clearaudio tone arm. Otherwise, honestly, unless I missed something, there was little else in the way of new analog gear.

The picture at the top is the top of the line Pear Audio Blue Kid Thomas turntable.

As far as best sound—which is something I try to avoid since hotel rooms are by definition generators of poor sound—as usual, the veteran companies like Sonus Faber, YG, Gamut and a few others produced (for my tastes) the best sound. One room I particularly enjoyed was the Prism/ATC room, where a pair of fully active $13,000 ATC speakers using Prism DAC sounded particularly linear, dynamic and just plain "right".

The embedded video is a stroll through the show but also the first time I used a new stereo shotgun microphone that will require some getting used to:

COMMENTS
c1ferrari's picture
Submitted by c1ferrari on Sat, 2016-11-05 15:12

The sound around 2:35 was nice. :-)

analoglarry's picture
Submitted by analoglarry on Sun, 2016-11-06 09:49

was in the Robyatt room with those amazing OMA speakers. the turntable at 5:26 is gorgeous. wish this show had more exhibitors! as you said, it took a few hours to get through everything. what a tease.

K.Reid's picture
Submitted by K.Reid on Sun, 2016-11-06 19:55

Mike,

I just got back from the show. The Soulines turntable offerings looks to be an exciting new series of turntables. Building quality appears quite good. Are you planning to get their top table in for a review. I would strongly encourage you too.

K.Reid's picture
Submitted by K.Reid on Sun, 2016-11-06 19:58

Just a note that at the show's end many people were in the Paradigm and T+A room jamming to some nice tracks on the flagship Paradigm Personna series.

Stringreen's picture
Submitted by Stringreen on Mon, 2016-11-07 00:42

It looks like the audio industry is going away.... this is a sad ghost of passed years

audiof001's picture
Submitted by audiof001 on Mon, 2016-11-07 03:45

Attended the NY Audio Show a couple of times over the weekend. The Charney speaker room was a standout. Last year their large speaker bowled us over. This year Charney showed their smaller offering this year. An absolute steal at $6400/pair... and they can be driven with 1/2 watt. A very musical speaker.

audiof001's picture
Submitted by audiof001 on Mon, 2016-11-07 03:47

For those of you interested in digital reproduction, the Memory Player Mini was introduced by Sam Lauffer.

AnalogJ's picture
Submitted by AnalogJ on Mon, 2016-11-07 07:44

That was a really entertaining video. I wish there was a show like that in the Boston area.

Flash's picture
Submitted by Flash on Tue, 2016-11-08 12:30

It's too bad this show was so small, but there are too many audio shows. AXPONA, Vancouver, Montreal, THE Newport, RMAF, plus Northern Cal., Capital Audiofest, and others. Plus dealer sponsored events. Retailers rely on manufacturer support and there are only so many marketing dollars, in addition to other costs like airfare, hotel, etc. Sleeping rooms at the Park Lane we only $400/night!
None of the major NYC retailers participated in this one.

Chriswilford1's picture
Submitted by Chriswilford1 on Wed, 2016-11-16 08:32

Sound By Singer had a room on the second floor.

Eskisi's picture
Submitted by Eskisi on Wed, 2016-11-09 18:41

When I lived in London 20 years ago, I was always surprised by how England was full of music but London had so little, especially compared to NYC of the time. None of the great bands came out of London and all the hi-fi shows were in smaller towns. Then it occurred to me, but of course! Central London was 2-3X as expensive as NYC. Only the -- older -- rich and foreigners could afford to live there, only the biggest bands, biggest shows could play or take place there.

Well, sadly, NYC prices have caught up. That was clear when local shops started closing, replaced by high end chains...artists, galleries moved out to Brooklyn and further out. So now we have smaller audio shows...

But there is hope. NYC will get hit with 15,000 new hotel rooms the next two years or a 20% increase to supply. Hotel rates have already slipped, also helped by AirBnB. There will probably be additional 10% declines next year. May be that helps bring bigger shows back.

X