Newport 2015 Show Report Index
Adding this index now to try and make it easier to manage the chaos of all these photos and see what rooms are up. The hotel internet bandwidth is a little less broadband-y this morning…
Update: show’s over. Think there are photos of just about everything. Now to get them all here in the report…
This was the hardest I’ve had to work to get every component in every room photographed. Even back in CES’s heyday, when I had to do the hour walk between the Alexis Park and the Venetian, it wasn’t this intense. Part of the problem is that the new ‘Industry Day’ is useless for me because a significant portion of the rooms aren’t set up yet – so any photographs I take then will just have to be done over when they finally get done setting up [i.e. at CES there are 4 days… here there are only 3 to get all the rooms visited and photos taken].
Otherwise, this hotel [the Hotel Irvine] rocks. Exhibitors like the rooms better than most of the other shows and, the kicker, the hotel staff goes out of their way to help make it a pleasant, successful experience for everyone.
… and………………….. we’re back.
The Extraordinary Delay 1/3 way through this show report
Sorry about the extraordinarily long delay. [We were staying at Fort Marcy in Santa Fe and they had recently installed a new wireless internet system with great [sic] new routers and, unfortunately for us, a new load-balancing system. To balance the load across all the routers [each of the, say, 20 buildings, had its own router] it would disconnect everybody every 20 seconds or so, and then reconnect them to one of the other routers. The real problem for us was not just the way this load-balancing scheme was poor, from any number of viewpoints, but that everybody was having a hard time getting them to do anything at all to fix it. ]
The rooms at this hotel
This show was a good show. The vast majority of rooms got good traffic, were fairly easy to setup [Klaus (Odyssey Audio) had the worst room to setup in; and rooms like ours which were a larger version of his were also more difficult than just blapping down the speakers in the usual position].
Maybe it was that this hotel is only 4 months old, but the rooms just felt better, more robust – the hallways wider, more easy to navigate.
The staff at this hotel
The hotel staff went out of their way to help. The cleaning people were cheerful [albeit with life-problems like the rest of us]. When they had insufficient staff to deal with room service on both Saturday and Sunday mornings [We had to let the phone ring for 10 minutes to place an order, and the order itself arrived about a half hour later (not too bad for most hotels, but with these guys it usually took 15 minutes or so)], the room service breakfast was delivered free of charge. [They delivered the breakfast in sealed tubs in a slightly upscale paper bag to the door of our hotel room, much nicer than having them wheel in, or carry in, a breakfast tray – less invasive of our privacy and we didn’t have that awful chore of having to find a spot to clear away to make room for any breakfast tray…:-) ]
Our lost crate and, yes, they found it 🙂
The guys working for 5Logistics, who manage the shipping to and from this Newport Show, and RMAF, put one of our very large creates [containing the horns for the speakers] we did not know where. So I spend 4 hours and Neli 6 wandering around the halls of the hotel looking for where they put them. Although we did learn where everything was, got to see all 14 floors, the loading dock, the service elevator rooms (on all 14 floors) and the Mezzanine (where the hotel offices were secreted) we still managed to omit the building out beyond the pool where Headphonium was being setup – and where our crate had been miss-laid. After a somewhat sleepless night [Neli was trying to figure out what we were going to do with a room with horn-less speakers ], they found them for us late the morning of the ‘industry day’ of the show. Yay! 🙂 Hermann from Acapella did spend time the previous day setting up the speakers which still had the frequencies below a couple hundred hertz and about about 5000 hertz – so we just had to attach the horns and do minor adjustments to the setup in the 3 1/2 hours we had before the show opened at 2:00pm.
As we poked our heads during the search phase into almost every large room at the show (multiple times) you would be surprised at how many crates look like your crate but have those annoying differences in size and shape and labeling that make them not your crate. 😉 Thanks So Much to everybody who helped and/or expressed their concern/horror.
Report
159 rooms….
A quick link to this index is always in the sidebar over there —–>
A quick link to the maps…
Floor by Floor Maps
Floor 1
Headphonium: Newport 2015
Focal, Audio Plus Services, The Source AV: Newport 2015
On the way to see Headphones: Newport 2015
MBL North America: Newport 2015
Precision AV, Thrax Audio, Enklein Systems: Newport 2015
Source AV Group, Sony Electronics: Newport 2015
Concert Fidelity, Diasoul, Kotobuki: Newport 2015
Ayon Audio USA, KEF Loudspeakers, Mark Levinson, USA Tube Audio Labs: Newport 2015
Audio Association, Evolution Acoustics, Dartzeel, Wave Kinetics, Durand Tonearms, ATR Services, KLAudio, Ortofon: Newport 2015
Tweak Studio, Burmester, MIT Cables, Torus, Music Hall: Newport 2015
Kanso Audio Furniture: Newport 2015
Kubala-Sosna, GTT Audio, YG Acoustics, Audionet, Kronos: Newport 2015
On A Higher Note, Eclipse TD, Luxman, Mola-Mola, Vivid Audio, Shunyata Research: Newport 2015
EMM Labs, Meitner, Kimber Kable, IsoMike: Newport 2015
Kimber Kable, WBT-USA, Wattgate, IsoMike: Newport 2015
Perfect8, Bergmann Audio, Ypsilon: Newport 2015
Scott Walker Audio, Synergistic Research, Magico, Soulution, Berkeley Audio Designs, Acoustic Signature, Sonorus, Soundsmith: Newport 2015
Cake Audio, Rockport Technologies, Balanced Audio, Technology, Brinkmann, Nordost, Kuzma, Dynavector: Newport 2015
Synergistic Research, Scott Walker Audio, Magico Speakers, Soulution Electronics: Newport 2015
TM-8 Super Record Cleaning Fluid, Daven Super Amplifier: Newport 2015
Music Vendors and Exhibition Booths: Newport 2015
Floor 2
MOFI Distribution, AVID HiFi, Koetsu, Balanced Audio Technology, Mobile Fidelity, Quad, Solidsteel: Newport 2015
Icono Audio: Newport 2015
VANA, Moon by Simaudio, Vienna Acoustics, E.A.T., Isotek: Newport 2015
Perfect8, Bergmann Audio, Ypsilon: Newport 2015
Audio Element, Aesthetix, Cardas Audio, Clearaudio, Grand Prix Audio, Musical Surroundings, Wilson Audio: Newport 2015
Audio Element, AMG, Audience, Ayre Acoustics, Cardas Audio, Grand Prix Audio, Wilson Audio: Newport 2015
Zesto Audio, WyWires, Merrill-Williams, TAD, Tri-Planer: Newport 2015
Piraeus Audio: Newport 2015
Perla Audio: Newport 2015
AAudio Imports, Finite Elemente, Ikeda, Lansche, Stage III, Ypsilon: Newport 2015
Boulder Audio, Source AV: Newport 2015
Magnepan, Hi 5 Stereo: Newport 2015
Cabasse, Esoteric: Newport 2015
Coin Audio: Newport 2015
Whammerdyne Heavy Industries, Zu Audio, MSB Technologies, Jenna Labs: Newport 2015
Sound Decisions, Source Systems, Avantgarde, Ziro Audio: Newport 2015
TriangleART, NAT Audio, Acapella Audio Arts: Newport 2015
High Water Sound, TW-Acustic, Tron Electric, Horning Hybrid Systems, Silver Circle Audio: Newport 2015
🙂 Acapella Audio Arts, Audio Federation: Newport 2015
Technics, Panasonic: Newport 2015
Floor 3
Sanders Sound Systems: Newport 2015
PranaFidelity, Groove Note Records, Basis Audio, Miyajima, Luxman, Audio Conductors, Ampex: Newport 2015
Covenant Audio Consulting, WAVAC Audio Lab, Silverline Audio, Esoteric Digital, EMT Cartridge, Well-Tempered Turntable, Accustic Arts: Newport 2015
Covenant Audio Consulting, Technical Brain, Silverline Audio, Esoteric Digital, Accustic Arts, Timbernation: Newport 2015
Profundo, Syncopation, Heed Audio, Trenner & Friedl, Transfiguration, Viva Audio: Newport 2015
PurrezAudio, PurrezRecording: Newport 2015
Harbeth, Acoustic Signature, Tellurium Q, Vinnie Rossi, Stein Music, Fidelis, Gene Rubin Audio: Newport 2015
Venice Audio, Naim Audio, Harbeth, Well Tempered Lab: Newport 2015
Stein Music: Newport 2015
Austin HiFi, Crimson Products, Tocaro Loudspeakers, Resolution Audio: Newport 2015
Optimal Enchantment, Audio Research, AudioQuest, Basis Audio, Harmonic Resolution Systems, Vandersteen Audio: Newport 2015
Profundo, Blackbird Audio Gallery, VIVA Audio, Heed Audio, Transfiguration, Trenner & Griedl: Newport 2015
Skogrand Cables, Angel City Audio, 2L: Newport 2015
Perla Audio: Newport 2015
Angel City audio, Melody HiFi, MG Audio: Newport 2015
Highend-Electronic, Langerton, Scansonic, Wall Audio, Valvet, AuroraSound, Highend Novum: Newport 2015
Voxativ, KR Audio, Gregitek: Newport 2015
Meridian Audio: Newport 2015
Amplified by Audio, SGR Audio: Newport 2015
XLO, Angel City Audio, Melody: Newport 2015
LMC Home Entertainment, Sonus-Faber Extreme, Sonus-Faber Chameleon, McIntosh, Wadia, Audio Research: Newport 2015
LMC Home Entertainment, Martin Logan Neolith, McIntosh, Linn: Newport 2015
Floor 4
Affordable Audio, Fritz Speakers, Triode Electronics, WyWires: Newport 2015
ZU Audio: Newport 2015
Affordable Audio, ATC Loudspeakers, Exposure Electronics: Newport 2015
Deep Sea Sound: Newport 2015
AudioEngine: Newport 2015
ESS Speakers: Newport 2015
Red Dragon Audio, Spatial Audio, Anticables, Spiritual Audio: Newport 2015
Rethm Speakers, Core Audio Technology, Hidiamond Cables, Worldwide Wholesales: Newport 2015
Von Gaylord Audio: Newport 2015
INEX Innovation: Newport 2015
Woo Audio, MA Recordings, Stax, Abyss, Sennheiser, Audeze, Beyerdynamic: Newport 2015
D’Agostino Audio Systems, The Source AV: Newport 2015
Electra-Fidelity, Horning, Resolution Audio: Newport 2015
JVM Acoustics: Newport 1015
Positive Feedback, Dartzeel, Evolution Acoustics, Exasouce Audio Design, Kubala-Sosna, Stillpoints, Merging Technologies: Newport 2015
Pearlevo: Newport 2015
Cary Audio, Tannoy: Newport 2015
Brooks Berdan, Jadis, Spendor, Scheu, Thorens, Kubala-Sosna, Hugo TT: Newport 2015
High Resolution Technologies (HRT), Furutech, Kuzma, REL: Newport 2015
Silverline Audio: Newport 2015
McIntosh: Newport 2015
Raidho Acoustics, Dantax Radio: Newport 2015
Floor 10
Audio Note UK: Newport 2015
The Kubotek Corporation: Newport 2015.
RIVA: Newport 2015
Wells Audio, Voce Audio, Wywires: Newport 2015
The Astell & Kern: Newport 2015
Sweet Spot High End Audio, Aurender, Berkeley Audio Design, Collean Cardas, Endeavor Audio, Oracle , Snake River: Newport 2015
Channel Islands Audio: Newport 2015
LA and Orange County Audio Society Hospitality Suite: Newport 2015
Stillpoints, Exemplar Audio: Newport 2015
Elac America by Andrew Jones II: Newport 2015
Elac America by Andrew Jones room at Newport 2015
Von Schweikert Audio, Constellation Audio, Masterbuilt Cables: Newport 2015
Constellation Audio, Von Schweikert Audio, Master-built Audio Cables: Newport 2015
Margules Audio, Atlas Cables, Densen, Tangerine, Shape Design Furniture, Dreamvision: Newport 2015
Ocean Way Audio, Viola Audio Laboratories, Zensati APS: Newport 2015
Herron Audio, DR Consulting, Audience: Newport 2015
Auralic, Ryan Speakers: Newport 2015
Dynamic Design AV, Modwright Instruments, TAD, Stillpoints, Sound Marketing: Newport 2015
Floor 11
Audio Precision: Newport 2015
Shelley’s Stereo, Magnepan: Newport 2015
Katli Audio, Usher, Pass Labs, Accuphase, Transroter. Siltech, Cocktail Audio: Newport 2015
Ginko Audio, Danacable, Wells Audio, Lampizator, Salk: Newport 2015
Lambert Company of New Zealand: Newport 2015.
Alma, Audiopax, Avantgarde, Dartzeel, Evolution Acoustics, MSB and Auralic: Newport 2015
SonicFlare, Einstein, Wilson Audio, Brinkmann, Sonorus, DartZeel, Playback Designs: Newport 2015.
Alma Music and Audio, Avantgarde, Dartzeel, MSB, Auralic, YG Acoustics, Evolution Acoustics, Solid Steel: Newport 2015.
Daedalus Audio, Zesto Audio, Wywires, Modwright Instruments, VPI: Newport 2015
Upscale Audio, Primaluna, Kiseki: Newport 2015
Eclipse by Fujitsu Ten: Newport 2015
Janzen: Newport 2015
Harmon Luxury Audio Group, JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon III: Newport 2015
Harmon Luxury Audio Group, JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon II: Newport 2015
Harmon Luxury Audio Group, JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon: Newport 2015
Floor 12
Purist Audio Design, Allnic Audio, Audio Prana: Newport 2015
High Fidelity Cables: Newport 2015
KYRON Audio: Newport 2015
Sunny Components, Wilson Audio, Audio Research, HRS, Aurender, Transparent, Spiral Groove, MSB: Newport 2015
Sunny Components, T+A, REL, Golden Ear, Triton 3: Newport 2015
Pietra, Bricasti Design: Newport 2015
DEQX: Newport 2015
Emerald Physics, Exogel: Newport 2015
Dan D’Agostino, Sunny Components: Newport 2015
Goldmund: Newport 2015
Robyatt Audio, ENIGMAcoustics: Newport 2015
Bel Canto: Newport 2015
Floor 13
NFS (Not For Sale): Newport 2015
PTE (Precision Transducer Engineering), Soundsmith, WyWires: Newport 2015
The other GIK Acoustics, Odyssey Audio room: Newport 2015
GIK Acoustics, Odyssey Audio: Newport 2015
Focal, Audio Plus Services, The Source AV Group, Naim: Newport 2015
Questyle Audio, Magnan Audio Cables, David Weinhart Design: Newport 2015
Essence of Music, Clarity Cable, Avatar Acoustics, Resonessence Labs: Newport 2015.
Cambridge, Focal, Mu-So by Naim, Cloth & Metal: Newport 2015
Chapman Loudspeakers, AmpsAndSound, DH Labs: Newport 2015
Theta Digital, Wilson Audio, Sunny Components: Newport 2015
Floor 14
 Gamut, Pear Audio Blue: Newport 2015
Audio Skies, Larsen, Gamut, Pear Audio Blue, Audio Distinction, Acoustic Sounds: Newport 2015
Audio Skies, Larsen, Gamut, Pear Audio, Audio Distinction, Acoustic Sounds: Newport 2015
Audiomachina, Einstein Audio, TechDAS, Graham Engineering: Newport 2015
Audiomachina, Einstein Audio, TechDAS, Graham Engineering: Newport 2015
Nordost, Jeff Rowland Design Group: Newport 2015
Merrill Audio, Advanced Tech Labs, Antipodes Audio, Alta Audio: Newport 2015
Hi-Fi One, Stillpoints, Enklein, Entreq, SMC Audio, Sonorus Audio, WADAX: Newport 2015
PBN Audio: Newport 2015
Quintessence Acoustics, PBN Audio, Auralic, Luxman, PS Audio:Newport 2015
Madisound Speaker Components: Newport 2015
Echelon Audio: Newport 2015
LH Labs, VI DAC, GEEK OUT V2: Newport 2015
Preshow
Newport 2015: A quick tour of the main floor
Newport 2015 – Audio University
Newport 2015 – Food Trucks
Newport 2015 – Live Entertainment
Newport 2015 – Maps