Ascendo Immersive Audio

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 8^th & 16^th.

8^th 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 8^th floor.

8^Th Floor

STATEROOM – 1

VINSHEK MARKETING

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

WATERFALL AUDIO

SONANCE

CORNERED AUDIO

GALLO ACOUSTICS

In typical exhibition fashion, the above brands were scattered all over the room, with demoes of Waterfall Audio happening side by side. Rest of the equipment from the above brands lay as static displays thereby covering all available room.

STATEROOM – 2

A.K. INTERNATIONAL

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

FOCAL

NAIM

Here the theme was static display & static display only! Covering almost the entire range of Focal loudpseakers from wall to wall, they had kept a couple of Naim Muso & Muso QB, at the centre of the room, as probably the only thing that could be showcased of Naim currently, since A.K. International have just been honoured with the distributorship of the Focal/Naim brands in India.

We were especially sad to see only & not hear anything in this room.

STATEROOM – 3

KEI

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

PIONEER

ELAC

FYNE AUDIO

JVC

NAD

PSB

TOTEM ACOUSTIC

BLUESOUND

KEI used the entire area in their room + used the lobby outside to their advantage in showcasing as much gear of their vast portfolio of brands as possible. Here it was Pioneer that got the entire lobby space dedicated to the reference CD player, couple of streamers post which it was their AVRS all the way. The star of the display albeit single & static facing the elevators was the Fyne Audio F1-10, which was kept as bait to attract visitors to their room. We hope to hear the same in the coming months as has been promised to us by KEI’s bossman.

Inside the room, NAD, ELAC, PSB, Fyne Audio products were on display along with an entire Bluesound wall showcasing the entire bluesound range of products. Star of the room and rightly so was the JVC DLA-NX9, the world’s first 8k E-Shift Projector that was on demo on an ALR Screen with Totem’s Tribe III On Wall speakers on each side with their Storm Subwoofers under each of them. A Pioneer UDP-LX500 Bluray Player & NAD M32 Integrated Amp were placed under the screen.

Overall, we can say KEI utilised their allotted space very wisely and to their advantage the most.

STATEROOM – 4

AUDIO EXCELLENCE + LAKOZY IMPEX & SERVICES +

SOUND & VISION

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

LEGACY AUDIO

PARASOUND

STORM AUDIO

SUPRA CABLES

SIM2

SCREEN RESEARCH

The coming together of 3 distributors to showcase their brands in a super hi end home theatre costing 1.5 Crores was going to be something special and thankfully we were not disappointed. After going through the static displays, we needed entertainment and entertainment is what we got! The bossman of Sound & Vision was in command of providing the demos of the set up and mercifully he knew how to go about the same, with each scene highlighting the capabilities of the sound & vision (Pun heavily intended!) Needless to say, this room was awarded our “Star of the Show – Home Theatre” (Cost No Bar)

Kudos to the trio for pulling off an amazing installation albeit with all the compromises a hotel venue can throw at you. We hoped that this was going to be the way the rest of the rooms will follow, sadly not!

GRAND CRU SALON

MCINTOSH GROUP

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

MCINTOSH

SONUS FABER

Having re-launched themselves very recently in the Indian market, McIntosh Group had to showcase themselves well and also use this show as a spring board for not only launching themselves officially as their direct presence in the Indian market, but to also scout for prospective distributors & dealers, to cover their portfolio of brands and products pan India, that include Audio Research & Sumiko. Time will tell, what will be the outcome and how will they proceed and be successful so let’s hope for the best and wait and watch. Besides a yet again static display of some of the McIntosh Amps, Powered Speaker, they also showcased Sonus Faber Olympica III speakers with Mcintosh MA8900 Integrated Amplifer playing music via USB from a laptop. Alongside this setup was a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica II speakers on static display.

To be honest the demo set up sounded below average and we were quite disappointed to say the very least.

ALHAMBRA

PREETI TRADING CORPORATION

BRANDS SHOWCASED –

ATI

ASCENDO

ACCUPHASE

DENON

DYNAUDIO

MONITOR AUDIO

ROKSAN AUDIO

This was a massive room and yet again, used to fill up to the maximum with various static and demo products strewn or sprinkled intermittently all over the place. In one word – CHAOS!

To say that we could not hear anything to even remotely enjoy would be a gross understatement, what with demos going on simultaneously, be it stereo or home theatre, hence we shall refrain to comment on the same.