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What HiFi Show 2020 – Mumbai (Part 1)

In light of the current scenario of Covid 19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc all over the world, it was still astonishing to see that the show took place to begin with. The organisers, hotel and exhibitors must have all collectively sighed a huge relief that they could all continue to carry on ‘business as usual’ as things quickly got out of hand in the days that followed.

Was it right to continue with the show, what with so many international shows which are much larger & reputable in nature cancelling one after the other is something that did play in the minds of a lot of people who are part of the circuit as well as that of the target audience that definitely had the resulting impact on the show in more ways than one.

Firstly, the number of exhibitors was very small and to be honest laughable to have a show to begin with.

Secondly, the turnout of the visitors was also low, but then that was to be expected keeping the nature of the beast we are all grappling with, in mind.

The show did go on and remarkably all that were part of it be it via organising, exhibiting or attending have not been exposed to the dreaded virus or we hope so!

Plenty of things to ponder on and for sure would have been discussed behind closed doors but anyhow, this is all in the past now, so let’s get to the show coverage itself.

This year the show was split into 2 floors only, the 8th & 16th.

8th Floor :

Benq:

Using the large stateroom to show case as many models as they could Benq Showcased every model worth their salt in all angles possible. Plenty to see (all in the dark that is) but nothing that really stood out worth talking about. Thankfully no crowding otherwise it would definitely be avoided at all costs!

PTC:

Having taken two state rooms, one of them had a static display largely consisting of Monitor Audio Speakers, from their various ranges.

The new Bronze Series(not yet officially launched) was occupying the lion’s share of the room, by means of static display, though we can’t write anything further or show pics as per instructions of PTC.

The Platinum Series speakers of Monitor Audio, along with Accuphase E480 Integrated Amplifier with Denon DCD1600 NE were to be on demo, though when we visited the same wasn’t connected which was a shame.

The adjoining stateroom had a Dolby Atmos enabled Home Theatre demonstration that was consisting of Ascendo loudspeakers, powered by a Storm Audio processor and Powersoft amplifiers. Very loud and lots of bang bang!

That ends the coverage of the 8th floor.