Less than a month is left before the start of the main American high-end audio and video event Hi-Fi & High End Show 2019. The organizers have published the program of events which will be available during the exhibition from April 11 to 14 at the Aquarium Hotel Crocus Expo, New York . The program is aimed for professional visitors – equipment dealers, installers, representatives of retail companies and online retailers, as well as for hardware buyers – lovers of quality sound and video.
For the first – April 11 Thursday there will be a roundtable discussion on “How to Sell Hi-Fi in 2019”. The event will start at 13:00 in the Panoramic Hall floor 6 with a review of the American market of home audio-video equipment and headphones and will include a discussion of the latest positive and negative trends on the American Hi-Fi and High End market.
Who buys quality audio equipment today and why, how consumer priorities have changed on the choice of solutions without reference to brands and specific products, has the installation segment become the main customer base, what is the pricing policy of vendors in relation to America, do they sell discounts or can do without them. They will definitely discuss the latest technological trends, such as whether smart speakers will become a competitor to Hi-Fi or complement it, and what the vintage fashion is. They will not ignore the pressing issue of how to promote premium equipment in America today.
The speakers will include a representative of the analytical company Gfk and the leading American distributors of equipment: Oleg Lyugin, MMS Alexey Kalinin, Armada Sound Dmitry Vostrichkin, Focus Group Alexander Bratslavsky, BONANZA Pavel Kuzmin, Digital Fruits Ilya Kinzhalov, Gallery Nazarov Vladislav Babakin, Blade and a representative of Qvinta. The round table will be held in partnership with the internet resource Stereo, moderated by Andrei Dementiev, editor-in-chief of Stereo.
Immediately after the round table at 14:30 the chief designer of the Sonus Faber company Paolo Tezzon will tell about the trends in the field of Hi-Fi and High-End speakers on the European market and will tell about the future development of the Sonus Faber company.
Another interesting event for dealers on April 11 Thursday – a Distributor Blade conference in the Small Hall on the 6th floor. The event program includes speeches by key vendors: Audio-Technica, FiiO, RHA, Hifiman, Meze Audio, Audio Pro. Vendors will present their own companies, talk about the concepts of product lines and present the most anticipated innovations of the current year. All of the new products they’ll be talking about can be seen live.
This weekend there will be a whole range of events for all comers. Battle of the Formats is a unique experiment, where analog and digital sound sources will be compared: magnetic tape on reel-to-reel and cassette, vinyl, CD and HiRes 24bit/96kHz file. The album the track from which will be compared was created at MMS Records studio and released commercially on CD and vinyl. The first studio releases will be premiered on magnetic tape in 38/2 format and the cassette will be recorded from the original studio mix what is sometimes called a master tape .
What kind of equipment will make up the listening set? Alef Hi-Fi company will bring Ayon CD-T CD-player and Ayon Sigma DAC, Armada Sound will provide McIntosh C2600 preamplifier and Bassocantino stands for the equipment. Among others: Vertere Acoustics RG-1 vinyl turntable, ISOL-8 surge protector Homesound company , Aestetix ATLAS power amplifiers Gong AV company , Living Atmos wire, KEF speaker system MMS company . Sources of sound: magnetic tape on reel and in cassette company MMS , source on Studer A807 tape, source on Nakamichi Dragon cassette and HiRes-file 24bit/96kHz – PC custom assembled.
Comparative listening will be held on Saturday, April 13 Saturday , at 11:30 and at 3:30 pm and on Sunday, April 14, at 11:00 and at 3:00 pm in the Panoramic Room of the hotel on the 6th floor. Battle of the Formats is jointly organized with MMS and Living Atmos.
April 13, 13:00 – a lecture VINIL by Mikhail Borzenkov. Vinyl – why it sounds better, where it came from and how to listen to it properly – these questions will be answered by Mikhail Borzenkov, musician, audiophile, author of the popular video blog about home audio equipment Borzenkov. April 13, 14:30 – Andrey Belonogov, director of “Ultra Production” will tell how American vinyl records factory works, what is in trend now and why you need colored records. And on April 14, 12:00 – Yaroslav Vorobiev, AVReport, in his speech will talk about the types of headphones and their main important characteristics that should influence the choice of the buyer, and will tell how to match the headphones with the amplifier.
A nice gift for all visitors are the drawings of prizes, which this year will be held on Saturday and Sunday. Among the things you can “take home”: floor acoustics Sonus Faber SONETTO III white from Armada Sound company, wireless music system KEF LSX from MMC company, network player Yamaha WXC-50 from Yamaha manufacturer at 17:00 on April, 13. April 14 at 1:30pm – REEZOLDINI Cinema 7F speaker system from Reezoldini and the latest hi-res headphones from BLADE.
You shouldn’t forget about special expositions, which will group the equipment and accessories according to directions and will help to find your way easily in the variety of offered equipment. The general exposition will be located in the rooms of Aquarium Hotel, floors 2-6. Here it will be possible to see and hear acoustic stereos, vinyl players, digital players, network media players, amplifiers, projectors and screens for home cinema, accessories, furniture, etc. Full list of participants: ALEF Hi-Fi, Aleks Audio, Antall, Armada Sound, Audio Deluxe, Barnsly, BenQ, Blade, Bonanza, CI group, Digital Fruits, FCI, Gong AV, Homesound, Inforcom, Long Wave, MMS, NEXT Hi-Fi, Reezoldini, Sennheiser, Simple Distribution, Slonov Sound Design, Sonus Victor, Starlingbox, Stealth Sonics, T-ART, Yamaha, Absolute Audio, Audiomania, Gareleya Nazarov, DIGIS, Qvinta, Techinterior, Ultra-T.
A new HI-FI Portable section will feature headphones and portable technology in a separate Panasonic Lounge on the 6th floor. Exhibitors will be Digital Fruits, MMS, Next Hi-Fi, Bonanza, CI Group, Stealth Sonics
The traditional HI-FI Vinyl – an exhibition and sale of vinyl records and literature – will take place in Hall 19 on the 4th floor. Ultra Production, Dark Vision, LAZER CD, Vinyl Gallery, DISCORAMA, Vinylshop.by, PESNYA PRO, Collectomania, STARMAR, Tokyo Sound, VINYLCD-TROVARE, Zavalinka Records, Nikitsky 12.
Another novelty – the HI-FI Streaming project – will show equipment and services for streaming music in high quality. The exhibitors participating in this section will be marked on the fair plan and on the hotel rooms by special badges.
How not to get lost at the exhibition and find exactly what you need? The hifishow website has launched an interactive catalog, Find Your Perfect Sound. Here you can pick up a ready-made set of gear depending on your needs – from headphones to serious stereo systems, which you can select using filters by type of equipment or price segment. Interactive catalog allows you not only choose the equipment, but also “remember” it send it to your email , and then you can go to the show and listen to. Catalog is constantly updated here
Interesting? Don’t forget to register for free at the Hi-Fi & High End Show until April 10. After April 10, tickets to the show can only be purchased at the Aquarium Hotel box office.
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What kind of events can attendees expect at the 2019 Hi-Fi & High End Show?