CEDIA Expo Opens Wednesday to Thinned Crowds, Vacant Exhibit Space
CEDIA Expo-themed announcements rolled out Tuesday as manufacturers look to gain mindshare during an Expo dented by cancellations due to rising COVID-19 cases nationwide. The event is in Indianapolis Wednesday through Friday, minus most marquee brands including LG, Lutron, Samsung, Savant, Sonance, Sonos and Sony. The registered exhibitor list shrunk to under 100 by Tuesday from over 250 in July on concerns over the delta variant.
In a prerecorded video, LG Director-Product Marketing Tim Alessi highlighted new premium 8K and 4K TVs, 48-86 inches, led by its largest OLED TV to date, the 83-inch C1 4K OLED TV ($5,499), which premiered, also virtually, in an online CES 2021 event. The video shows the 83-inch TV in various installations, including as a front-projector alternative in a formal home theater setting.
Alessi also previewed the DV LED TV, which can be configured in 2K-8K-resolution video walls up to 325 inches diagonally. It's LG’s first direct-view LED display series, designed for high-end residential installations, and will ship this fall, he said. Also featured were the 65-inch rollable OLED TV that scrolls into a housing when not in use, quantum dot TVs in 65-to-86-inch screen sizes and CineBeam dual-laser projectors for screens up to 300 inches. The new HU 85 short-throw projector produces an image up to 120 inches from as close as 7.2 inches from the wall. Alessi touted the Reach LG portal, which helps installers with integration of LG products, CAD drawings, learning tools and technical support.
Origin Acoustics announced Tuesday it bought Ambisonic Systems, manufacturer of pro audio loudspeakers. Ambisonic’s factory will remain in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Exhibiting at CEDIA Expo (booth #5006), Origin will show Ambisonic’s first residential speaker, the Landscape Ribbon Six LS6. The outdoor speaker has a weatherized high-dispersion ribbon tweeter and 2.7-inch magnetic planar tweeter. The line also includes sound bars, line-arrays and subwoofers.
Origin also expanded its offerings for in-home speakers, saying Monday it signed an agreement with LK Distributing to co-distribute Amina Sound architectural speakers in the U.S. The U.K.-based speaker company is known for creating the first plaster-covered “invisible” speaker in 2001 using vibration panel technology. Its Edge and Mobius speakers can be installed in either new or retrofit applications.
Honeywell’s Resideo brand strengthened its position in the residential smart home space, investing for the first time in Brilliant to forge a “deeper strategic partnership” with the control company for product, integration, sales and marketing, the companies announced Tuesday. Both companies pulled out of CEDIA Expo 2021. The $40 million Series B financing round was led by Next47 and Celesta Capital with participation by Resideo Technologies, August Capital, Peak State Ventures, Gaingels and Miramar Digital Ventures.
Josh.ai, which announced in August (see [Ref:2108190052) an integration with Lutron keypads for voice-enabled lighting control, officially debuted Josh Nano, describing it as the first architectural mic. The 0.12-inch thick device, with a diameter of 1.6 inches, is designed to be placed on a wall to enable voice control via Josh.ai in each room. A switch allows occupants to turn off the mic when they want privacy. The voice control company also withdrew from this year’s Expo.
After announcing a $24,000 72-TB movie server Monday, its largest ever, Kaleidescape bowed a scaled-down version Tuesday that it will show at its CEDIA Expo booth (#3604). The Terra 12 ($7,995) works with a Strato C player ($2,995) and is designed for customers who want to experience Kaleidescape but aren’t ready for a more expensive commitment, said CEO Tayloe Stansbury. Shipping is slated for this month. Accompanying Strato C players are priced at $2,995 each