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Steph Says: CEDIA Expo 2022 Day 1 Thoughts

Welcome to the latest edition of my series in which I deliver my thoughts no one asked for about the trade shows I attend! To preface, this is my second CEDIA Expo. My first was in 2021, and while that was a great first trade show since COVID rocked our world in 2020, I didn’t think it was indicative of what a CEDIA Expo “normally” looks like.

Attendance

This is quite a busy show! In speaking with Jason McGraw on rAVe [TV] Thursday, Jason mentioned that CEDIA Expo had 16,000 attendees so far. Gary guessed that it would actually end up being closer to 18,000 by the time the show closes Saturday evening.

On the show floor, the aisles have been crowded and at certain booths I haven’t even been able to scoot in and see things because there are so many attendees everywhere! So all in all, that’s great for the manufacturers that are here.

Show Floor Trends

While I haven’t been on the show floor quite as much as I would like yet, there have been a few things I’ve been noticing from what people have been mentioning to me or when I’ve caught bits and pieces of attendee conversations. There are also a few things I’ve been noticing myself.

Sound Bar City

I was just talking to Gary yesterday about how people slept on sound bars for YEARS. I get it. They’re small. They don’t seem like they would be that powerful. But if anything, this CEDIA Expo is proving all of that completely wrong. Leon Speakers makes custom covers for Sonos (and other) sound bars that can match any TV’s width.

Samsung was promoting a sound bar to go with its TVs (like the Frame).

Bang & Olufsen released a new sound bar (at a hotel down the road from the show, actually) that is just as loud as a few surround-sound systems I’ve heard in my day — and B&O says its 6.5-inch woofers are the biggest on any sound bar. It also helps that it’s incredibly beautiful to look at.

bang and olufsen sound bar

Simulators — They’re Not Just for Golf!

This doesn’t seem like something that wild, but simulators are really having a moment here at CEDIA Expo. Of course, Crestron has a great racing simulator that the crowds are loving. But have you seen SemCraft? This company was at the show featuring two different “sems,” one with six points of motion and one with four.

They even let me drive the one with four. I crashed it immediately :).

steph simcraft cedia expo 2022

Also at the show this year is a skiing simulator from SkyTechSport — made for everyone from kids to skiing pros. I did not try this simulator because I was too afraid I would fall down. Also, it’s gigantic so if you’re looking to put this in your house it had better be big.

skytechsport

BotBoxer also featured a boxing simulator that was also driving all kinds of crowds near it.

Seasonal Depression Who?

Something I thought was so interesting was the number of products here that were for people’s dim and dark rooms — to make them brighter and happier.

From a new shading system from Hunter Douglas that includes light that softly emits from behind the shades to emulate sunlight (great for those folks in the Seattle, Washington, area or for those winter months when the sun goes down just a bit too early).

In the same genre but slightly different, check out the LiquidView Virtual Window from Leon Speakers. This is a fake window that looks quite real! You can add it to your basements or for those random little home office spaces you were forced to create in a closet. You can pick anything from the scene to the weather.

Leon Speakers To Show LiquidView Virtual Window Product at CEDIA Expo 2022

That’s all from me for now! Check out my thoughts about Day Two coming your way very soon!

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