NAMM anyone?

Anyone planning to be at NAMM this year. I will be there Thurs and Fri if anyone wants to meet up.

If you have heard about any new gear releases and want me to check them out, please post them here. I hope to return from the show with QSC's new CB10 battery powered speaker. So far that is the only new product I have heard of that falls squarely into our market.

NAMM starts in the morning. I will be picking up the CB10 tomorrow afternoon or Fri morning. Hopefully there is more good stuff to check out.

I saw the RCF J9 and J11s but didn't listen to them yet. Nice design. They are following QSCs approach regarding acoustics somewhat but with more configuration options. The product manager is an old friend.

The QSCs CB10s sound great. I have one in the car and hope to try it this weekend. Wish it had USB charging though.

The Astral Wireless gear blew me away. Makes Shure and Sennheiser solutions seem very dated. Alas, way outside a DJs budget.

EV was a no-show surprisingly.

Will report more Sat. Never made it to the main convention center today. Just stayed in the pro audio hall.

The QSC speaker is no different than other powered speakers in that you can either send it a BT signal and it will sum it to mono or, if used in pairs, you can send the right signal to one speaker and the left signal to the other one. I have only one right now as a courtesy. I will probably get a second one if I can find the storage space for them. That of course, assumes I will like the first one after I turn it on (maybe tomorrow).

So far, I have mentioned to the designer that they should have added a USB charge port and the ability to combine two speakers via a bus connection so that you can use all the inputs together.

The biggest surprise of NAMM was the imploding of EV. They were sold at the end of 2024 to a private equity firm. This year they did not exhibit but I learned the new owners did some extensive head chopping and other key people have bailed because they didn't like the changes going on. For instance, the product manager for the EV portable speakers we all seem to love now works for JBL. We'll have to wait a while to see how much damage has really occurred.

Meanwhile, JBL is on a path to reverse its lackluster product development over the last few years. They are apparently expanding their engineering in the US again and have a slew of new products they are looking to release in the next year or so. That will be nice to see. JBL had a huge booth once again like in days of old.

In other news, I learned even more stories of the depravity of Uli Behringer. His factory is basically a village that runs non-stop and they have a kitchen that servers 3 meals a day for all shifts. Apparently Uli became upset with the kitchen staff and stopped paying them but expected them to continue working. Eventually, the staff barricaded themselves into the kitchen for what sounded like days or weeks, eventually leaving to attack the corporate offices. Uli apparently called the Chinese riot police to arrest them. A former employee told me that the half-life of an HR employee there is measured in months because many would rather quit than follow Uli's command. Mind you, this story as told to me may have been embellished but I was left with the impression that it was just the tip of the iceberg.

I'll try to post pics of products soon.

Many have stated interest in the Rane System One controller. This claims to be the first all-in-one (no PC needed) to have motorized platters. I thought the cool part is that you run and sync your lighting with it. The effect controls were kind of cool via touch-screen but that is aimed more for the club jock than the wedding jock.

Peavey surprised me with a really small digital mixer, The Unity 8. This has four mics and two stereo inputs and can be powered from a USB battery pack or charger making it super portable. It gives you the controls you expect from a digital mixer in a really small footprint. Price will be $399 and it should be available in April. I may get one.

OK, company just arrived. More to come tomorrow.