AXPONA 2020 is Cancelled. Show Not Taking Place in 2020

AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) was originally scheduled to take place in April 17-19, and ended up being rescheduled to August 7-9, 2020 out of concern for the health and safety of all participants due to the growing coronavirus situation. The event would still take place at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center. But now, under pressure from concerned exhibitors, the promoters announced the show cancellation for 2020.

A member referendum on April 14, 2020 produced a unanimous vote to turn ownership and management of Audio & Loudspeaker Technologies International (ALTI), formerly known as the Association of Loudspeaker Manufacturing & Acoustics (ALMA) International to longtime Executive Director Barry Vogel, effective July 1, 2020. According to the announcement sent by the association, this is being done to streamline operations and decision making as well as opening the door to more opportunities to help the Membership with new programs and services.

The High End Munich show, promoted by the High End Society Service GmbH, returns from May 14 to 17, 2020. During four days, the entire world of audio experts and professionals gather in Munich, with hundreds of exhibitors from more than 40 different countries showcasing their latest innovations in the halls and atriums of the MOC event center. The High End show promoters confirmed that the show is once again booked solid for 2020.

Post-CES 2020 Impressions. "CES is over but we’re just getting started!" That’s the optimistic vision propagated by many companies who just attended the gigantic Las Vegas event and they leave without really knowing if it was a success or not. Because this is no longer the old days when audio companies would leave CES with their order books filled. Currently, all you have are “contacts” and “great meetings” and little else to backup the promises of future business. And that’s the most important game after all at a show like CES. That and the media hallo effect that new product presentations might have caused.

CEDIA Expo 2019 connected nearly 20,000 attendees and 500 exhibitors during the 2019 show held September 12-14 at the Colorado Convention Center. The over 200,000 NSF show floor space was filled with technology integrators, manufacturers and design professionals and saw a debut of show floor programming which highlighted new-to-market brands, trending discussions within the industry, and business development for the ever-evolving custom integration and residential design channels.

While I visited the exhibits at the excellent Colorado Convention Center during the 2019 CEDIA Expo in Denver, I was frequently asked about my impressions of the show - but often it was as if people were asking me to validate their own negative impressions - because "this industry has seen better days...", and "the show is smaller than ever." I saw the show in a different perspective, which I will address in this report.

The 2019 High End show at the MOC München event complex (May 9 - 12, 2019), promoted by the High End Society, was once again a huge success, with a continuously increasing number of exhibitors (+ 3.8%), more visitors in total (+ 6.5%), more trade visitors from 72 countries (+ 8.6%), and most important, a high level of satisfaction among all participants. For trade visitors, it was one of the world's most significant events in the audio industry, for the public it was a unique world of experiences.

I learned to attend trade shows in the era when it was crucial to bring back a large bag weighing 80 pounds filled with catalogs, price lists, and product manuals. In fact, I quickly learned to look at the global trade show calendar and sometimes attended regional trade shows just to find new products ahead of the major international events and establish an early relationship with a new company. Those local shows were mainly targeted at meeting final clients and end users for the region, but they were an effective way to meet key people with more time available, and learn how they defined their sales pitch in their own - sometimes more mature - markets.

From May 9-12 2019, Munich will be once again the meeting place for all those interested in getting up to speed on the latest products related to high-end, consumer and lifestyle audio. As the global meeting-place for the hi-fidelity audio industry, the High End 2019 Show is now fully booked. The entire capacity of the exhibition grounds, which cover an impressive area of 29,000 square meters, is now completely filled. And companies have already started to pre-announce their product launches for show!

In his report of the High End 2018 show in Munich, Ward Maas shares his findings in speaker design, amplification, turntables, and anything that showed innovations, an important improvement, better design, or simply because he couldn't resist it... Enjoy all his highlights while he walks the Munich Order Center (MOC) in this exciting edition, which was also complemented by a small but very enjoyable concurrent CanJam show in a nearby building.