As always, the road to CEDIA is paved with phone calls. Lots of them. You can tell the competency of the PR company by how soon they begin sending product info and inquiring about booth appointments of those going to the show. The good companies (there are only a few of these) prep early and dribble email-based news and phone calls weeks before the show.

The companies staffed with morons who wouldn’t know how to promote a pile of poo to a fly colony, start calling and emailing about 7 days before the event.

This happens every year. Like clockwork.

It’s already begun and I am once again so grateful for the invention of CallerID. It saves me the hassle of having to pick up the phone every time some latecomer decides I should be really interested in setting up a booth appointment with his new company that has created a daring new product based on edible loudspeakers. I don’t care that it comes in 5 different flavors. Your product isn’t worth my time (actually that WOULD be worth my time due to the stupidity factor, but you get the point.)

The best, however was the email I got touting a new secret product from a Steinway company. No lie, here is the email I received:

Dear Clint,

I represent a new audio firm, Steinway Lyngdorf (www.steiwnaylyngdorf.com **the partnership between Steinway & Sons and Peter Lyngdorf) and I wanted to invite you to our exclusive, by-invitation-only, demonstration room at the Denver Convention Center. Steinway Lyngdorf will be launching 2 new products and transforming Ballroom #2-3 into a fully functioning audio demo site. I cannot give more details on the specifics of the products that will be showcased, however I would love to set-up an appointment with you and your team to experience these exciting new products.

Um, “I cannot give more details on the specifics of the products that will be showcased.” Apparently they mean they can’t give ANY details about the products. Are you kidding me? I haven’t seen this kind of brazenness since Von Schweikert invited us to an off-campus CES event, wasted 2 hours of our time, AND NEVER EVEN TURNED ON THE SPEAKERS.

I guess the mere drop of the Steinway name combined with “exciting new products” is enough to make me wet myself in anticipation and set an appointment. Guess what? Despite the fact that your website was down when I last checked it, we pretty much already know what you’ll be showing. It’s some variation of this.

Congratulations, you’re now another high-end company that can command hundreds of thousands of dollars for equipment that will be bought (mostly) by people who wouldn’t know an acoustic bass if it hit them in the face. I’m sure these systems will look lovely when placed in the acoustically nightmarish rooms we usually see them pictured in. Normally I’d move on here, but it didn’t end there.

You see, I sent back a nice mail about how we work under NDA from the likes of Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, etc… and that his little company can rest assured that we won’t leak anything he tells us. So he sends me an actual NDA that looked like it was written on the fly by someone who only vaguely knows what an NDA is. I sign it and send it back – cause that’s what we do.

His next email to me? He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him. Apparently they are too good for email.

I deleted the email and moved on.

The best thing about CEDIA (or any trip in my opinion) is the food. We got Tom to make the reservations this year (though I agreed to take the fall if any of the restaurants sucked) and it looks like we’re doing Italian and Sushi among other things. I’m a big fan of eating well when you’re on the road – especially when you’re up late and rise early. A good meal makes all the difference (though it also makes you want to take a nap…) We’re ditching the more traditional Sushi place we typically frequent each year for a new place. It will be cool to see if it’s any good.

Our coverage of the show this year will be based on product round-ups and technology advances. Instead of covering 100+ products individually, we want to do some on-the-floor comparisons and make sure we capture anything new or hot that debuts at the show (LED front projectors, perhaps?)

Stay closely tuned next week as we’ll try to do some fun things with AV Rant while we’re there.

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