Pro Light & Sound opens with mid-market focus
Published: ASIA
WORLD: The first day of Pro Light & Sound in Frankfurt has seen the usual wealth of releases and product upgrades. But there has been much more to day one of the event than new products, as some notable trends were visible on the show floor.
Starting with notable products, the morning was dominated by consoles. Yamaha got the day started with its three-member TF Series, swiftly followed by DiGiCo with its S21 and Cadac with the CDC Six. Rounding off the morning of new desks saw Avid’s Venue | S6L console.
The interesting factor uniting the first three launches was their focus on the entry-level market. The desks all share a focus on high-quality performance and intuitive functionality with large touchscreens and a plethora of high-end features which have trickled down from the various manufacturers’ top of the line products.
And it was not only with consoles where the focus for new releases was away from large-scale systems. Many of the releases on the first day centred on mid-market solutions. Meyer Sound revealed Leopard, the latest addition to the Leo family, Martin Audio’s CDD Series looks to bring higher audio performance to smaller venues while d&b audiotechnik’s D20 four-channel amplifier is equally aimed at smaller systems and L-Acoustics’ X series offered options for installers as well as rental companies.
Of course, there were those that bucked this trend. The new S Series from Adamson and Alcons’ LR28 are both aimed at the larger end of the market.
Dante has grabbed its fair share of headlines as more manufacturers sign up to the networking standard. While Avid were on board to do this with its S6L, another interesting development was the announcement from Audio Precision that its APx500 Series analysers would now have the added capability of testing Dante-enabled devices.
Away from the new releases, there are also some interesting trends that are evident at the show. Over the last couple of years, Pro Audio Asia has often noted the seemingly arbitrary decision to position all Asian manufacturers together in Hall 9.1. This year that appears to have changed. While the space is still dedicated to manufacturers from the region, it appears to have more of an OEM focus and many Asian manufacturers can once again be found in Hall 8. There equally seems to be a better flow of traffic through the hall. While clearly not as busy as some of the other halls, there was an encouraging footfall.
The high profile announcements are set to continue for the next few days as more products are unveiled and strategic decisions are announced. Pro Light & Sound continues at Frankfurt Messe until Saturday April 18th.