PL+S opens its doors in Guangzhou
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Show season in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou kicked off this week with PL+S Guangzhou opening its doors on the 22nd February for the annual four-day event and the GET show following hot on its heels on the 27th February. Whilst the two shows do not overlap this year as in the past, the close proximity of both has always been a topic of some frustration amongst exhibitors and attendees. Therefore, the announcement that in 2018 PL+S Guangzhou would be moving to a May slot in the show calendar was met with a noticeable sentiment of approval. This year however marked the 15th event held at the sprawling China Import & Export Fair Complex with the organisers claiming it “the biggest ever” with reportedly 1,230 exhibitors from 25 countries enveloping some 130,000 sq-m of floor space.
In addition to the increased show footprint, new and expanded product zones were promised, and for the first time the ‘Theatre K Pub’ was introduced to highlight customised installation and smart digital A/V and systems integration products, as well as mini and home theatre systems. Outside under grey skies, the line array demo area expanded to incorporate more international brands including CODA, VUE and SE Audiotechnik.
Inside, however, Bosch Security Systems was celebrating not only the 90th birthday of EV and the 70th anniversary of the Dynacord range but also its very first independent outing in Guangzhou having previously left its dealers to fly the flag at the show.
Over on the EAD booth, visitors could take a look at the recently launched TG 500 and TG 1000 ranges from beyerdynamic as well as the digiMIX24 mixer from Ashly. Fresh from its launch platform of ISE in Amsterdam, the new Delta amplifier from MC2 Audio could be found on the ST Audio stand, and SE Audiotechnik presented the Chinese market with its first glimpse of the L35 ultra-compact line array system.
French loudspeaker manufacturer APG was making the most of the exhibition to not only showcase its modular Uniline line array on a dedicated booth but also to insure the market was aware of how its new distribution setup was being implemented within China, entrusting BVCAM to look after all the touring and pro customer bases and TR Audio to take care of the entertainment sector.
Having just recently taken on distribution for Automated Processes Inc (API), the Budee booth was kept busy and Mills Xu, director of strategic alliance, had seen engineers who’d flown in specifically from cities outside Guangzhou to see both the rackmount gear and mic preamps and the distributor was already in discussions regarding setting up a dedicated service centre for the brand.
Mid-way though its second decade, Pl+S Guangzhou’s aim for a show that has ‘successfully evolved from a regional event to a global business platform that bridges local and international markets’ certainly seem to be on the right track, but there’s still a fair bit of road left to negotiate. Rare moments of a business-like atmosphere could be experienced through the day but for the most part the decibel levels were breached on a far too regular basis, making business conversations for even the most hardened ears incredibly difficult to manage.
PL+S Guangzhou continues until the 25th February 2017.