Hearing is believing: WiSA Association at CEDIA 2012
Now that the dust has settled and the adrenalin receded, it’s time to reflect on just what the heck happened at this year’s CEDIA Expo. We’re used to being very busy at trade shows but utterly swamped from opening minute until closing second was beyond our expectation. It was one of those situations where you finally had to just give in and go with it; not fight it. 
The genuine interest in WiSA and the key message of wireless audio in the home theater being inevitable rang true with most all of the 400+ visitors to our sound room. The now familiar stunned look on the faces of those who sat through the demo said it all. It’s still hard for people to comprehend that the richness, clarity, and robustness of the audio could possible come from a wireless system.
This year we had not one but four speaker systems in and around the sound room along with a prototype Blu-ray player from Advisory Board Member Sharp which had both integrated WiSA audio and wireless video that worked flawlessly. The Blu-ray player was linked to a wireless 5.1 Klipsch system based on their Gallery design.
There were also a 7.1 and a 5.1 system from SB Acoustics and a prototype 2.0 system from Sharp. All these systems were meant to show the versatility and flexibility of WiSA-enabled products, each with astounding audio characteristics. 
If being inundated all day wasn’t enough, WiSA sponsored the annual “Shots in The Dark” party put on by the legendary Sam Runco and his lovely wife Lori. Despite a vicious thunderstorm and torrential rain, it was well attended by some thoroughly soaked party-goers. The party wrapped at about 2:00am, leaving only a few hours to get some sleep and be back on the CEDIA show floor by 9:00am. 
All in all, we performed about 50 demos from which about a dozen companies expressed interest in joining the Association to be part of the next big thing in home theater. It was obvious to me that the consumer is eager to embrace wireless speakers as long as they have the same, if not better, performance than their wired counterparts. Being able to transmit and receive 24bit and up to 96KHz, uncompressed audio it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference.
Our next stop will be at CES in Las Vegas where we will have two suites in the Venetian. If you are there, don’t hesitate to stop by because “Hearing is Believing.”
