View Poll Results: Do you care about new products?
Voters: 23. You may not vote on this poll
2009 Products/CES - Interested?
01-15-2009, 02:29 PM
#11
Administrator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 16,855
^ Do day-to-day consumers need 1000w+ amps? 5kw+? Lots of those around. How about woofers that take two people to lift? Lots of those too..
Further to that, do day-to-day consumers NEED an indash touchscreen DVD player? Many want it though and I bet if you could get CarPC for under $500 there would be a decent size market for it. Plus, companies like Alpine and Clarion have offered $1000+ CD players in recent/semi-recent history. Talk about something NOBODY needs!
Show me something really new. Small f/r speakers with great SQ for reasonable prices. Alternate speaker design - flat panel, flexible panel, point source, etc. Amps are about the only thing IMO the manufacturers have done a lot with with respect to size, output, and cost. Still, wouldn't it be kickass to have your bluetooth deck send signals to your bluetooth amp wirelessly? No loss, no noise, no RCAs to run.. OR how about we toss the seperate amp concept altogether - now instead of your fancy comp set having a pair passive crossover boxes it has a pair of 2ch ClassT amps with built in processing all controllable, wirelessly again, from your bluetooth deck! Run a 10ga power wire and ground to each cigarette pack size amp/processor 'box', speaker wire to your mid and tweet and you're laughing.
Yeah - show me THAT!
Further to that, do day-to-day consumers NEED an indash touchscreen DVD player? Many want it though and I bet if you could get CarPC for under $500 there would be a decent size market for it. Plus, companies like Alpine and Clarion have offered $1000+ CD players in recent/semi-recent history. Talk about something NOBODY needs!
Show me something really new. Small f/r speakers with great SQ for reasonable prices. Alternate speaker design - flat panel, flexible panel, point source, etc. Amps are about the only thing IMO the manufacturers have done a lot with with respect to size, output, and cost. Still, wouldn't it be kickass to have your bluetooth deck send signals to your bluetooth amp wirelessly? No loss, no noise, no RCAs to run.. OR how about we toss the seperate amp concept altogether - now instead of your fancy comp set having a pair passive crossover boxes it has a pair of 2ch ClassT amps with built in processing all controllable, wirelessly again, from your bluetooth deck! Run a 10ga power wire and ground to each cigarette pack size amp/processor 'box', speaker wire to your mid and tweet and you're laughing.
Yeah - show me THAT!
01-15-2009, 02:45 PM
#13
You should start a company and build/market these things.......... well, design it for China to build........ and then you market. Then again China is toxic. So........ I got nothing.
I say bring back the 8 track player and the mono speaker on the tranny hump
01-15-2009, 03:10 PM
#14
Administrator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 16,855
Could even toss the idea of a deck... Especially with some of the nightmare new cars out there that have the seat heaters, rear view camera, and electric nut scratcher all built into the factory display..
How about a processor with line-in for the factory radio, a couple sets of RCA inputs, bluetooth in and out, and a nice small display for system settings and volume controls, etc - something about the size of a satellite radio maybe... There's a number of products on the market that could be >< that close with a few mods..
How about a processor with line-in for the factory radio, a couple sets of RCA inputs, bluetooth in and out, and a nice small display for system settings and volume controls, etc - something about the size of a satellite radio maybe... There's a number of products on the market that could be >< that close with a few mods..
01-15-2009, 04:26 PM
#15
Yankee
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
Clarion introduced some computer interface stuff... I didnt hear the pitch but it sounded like a Ford Sync take off.
Most new stuff was improved Nav/ multimedia.
Everyone is introducing Marine audio/ nav
Kenwood had a nice display (similar to last years setup)
Alpine, Rockford, Harmon MIA
Audio Control is in a great position as their market niche was always a product between the HU and amp. Now with factory HU they can take line level or speaker level inputs and perform what ever level of DSP you need. They had several great new products (or additions to the model line) and with the way even aftermarket HU are loosing DSP this may be a great way for affordable integration of DSP to stay in anyone's system.
I think everyone displayed a thin mount woofer
Audison had a new Thesis
MTX's car sounded VERY good
The wild fiberglass cars are becoming passe, lots of North American muscle though
They had an SQ vehicle demo area which I thought was a nice touch
Beat Sonic had tubed high end amps and pre fab a-pillars for mids and tweets
A chinese firm was displaying their neons in a water tank
BOO to B&W no aftermarket car audio and their display on the South Hall was EXACTLY the same as last year
Most new stuff was improved Nav/ multimedia.
Everyone is introducing Marine audio/ nav
Kenwood had a nice display (similar to last years setup)
Alpine, Rockford, Harmon MIA
Audio Control is in a great position as their market niche was always a product between the HU and amp. Now with factory HU they can take line level or speaker level inputs and perform what ever level of DSP you need. They had several great new products (or additions to the model line) and with the way even aftermarket HU are loosing DSP this may be a great way for affordable integration of DSP to stay in anyone's system.
I think everyone displayed a thin mount woofer
Audison had a new Thesis
MTX's car sounded VERY good
The wild fiberglass cars are becoming passe, lots of North American muscle though
They had an SQ vehicle demo area which I thought was a nice touch
Beat Sonic had tubed high end amps and pre fab a-pillars for mids and tweets
A chinese firm was displaying their neons in a water tank
BOO to B&W no aftermarket car audio and their display on the South Hall was EXACTLY the same as last year
Last edited by JohnVroom; 01-15-2009 at 04:33 PM.
01-15-2009, 08:37 PM
#16
01-16-2009, 03:04 AM
#18
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 200
i'll tell you exactly what it is - product saturation. No one cares about all that stuff anymore. It's new today, and tomorrow you can buy it on ebay for half the price.
All these "innovations" remind me of dish washers, washing machines and micro waves. There are so many but they all do the same thing.
On top of that, manufacturers try to out do each other and come with products and features that most day to day consumers have no need, demand or knowledge to even put to use.
I was hoping for companies like Alpine or Clarion who have a full line of car audio from door speakers to touch screens to signal processors to come up with a new technology or method which allows for easy in-car pc intergration. But instead we saw more decks, amps and speakers.....meh booooooooooooring.
All these "innovations" remind me of dish washers, washing machines and micro waves. There are so many but they all do the same thing.
On top of that, manufacturers try to out do each other and come with products and features that most day to day consumers have no need, demand or knowledge to even put to use.
I was hoping for companies like Alpine or Clarion who have a full line of car audio from door speakers to touch screens to signal processors to come up with a new technology or method which allows for easy in-car pc intergration. But instead we saw more decks, amps and speakers.....meh booooooooooooring.
there are some new sound cards comming out in 09 that should REALLY help with this. I was looking at doing a home theater pc\Processor\source but it didnt work, due to no sound cards i liked.
01-16-2009, 04:10 PM
#19
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 313
I was down at the show...and yeah it was pretty empty....compared to other years. But I dont feel thats a bad thing at all....there were less "me too" type vendors.....you know...same basket different cone type of guys, or the knock off brands. Hopefully those guys will all disapear.
Alpine showed nothing new and no DEMO car, they had a retail showroom set up....
Clarion looked like the same old 1982 Mercury whatever.....ugly as usual, nothing that looked coll at all IMO
Kenwood had some new deck products...more higher end Excelon pieces, and new PDX style mini-amps....
Azentek.....if you want a car PC product, they should have their unit ready to launch in 60-days...very cool piece, but it isn't going to be for the "everyday" customer....not at $3000 USD.
Hertz showed the new line of Hi-Energy speakers.....and Audison had a FORD GT, with the new Audison THESIS TH Speakers and amplifiers....sounded awesome !!
Audison also had great response from dealers on their BITONE processor / OEM integration product...this fixes many issues on putting gear in difficult cars.
JL - didnt see anything new..other than the HD amps they were supposed to show last year.
Bazooka had some really cool Marine products...their compression horn tubbies @ 103db will be HOT this year...good pricing. They also showed a Marine / RV Distributed audio type system, which gives dealers another opportunity to look outside their usual business for more revenue streams.
I think what many dealers have to do though...is not necessarily looks for manufacturers to bring out new products every year...but find new areas where thay can increase their businesses......ATV's, Marine, RV's, Car Dealerships are a lot more willing do to business these days, doing shows at their stores again.....yeah it takes more work...but if you want to make more money.....maybe we need to work harder and smarter.
Alpine showed nothing new and no DEMO car, they had a retail showroom set up....
Clarion looked like the same old 1982 Mercury whatever.....ugly as usual, nothing that looked coll at all IMO
Kenwood had some new deck products...more higher end Excelon pieces, and new PDX style mini-amps....
Azentek.....if you want a car PC product, they should have their unit ready to launch in 60-days...very cool piece, but it isn't going to be for the "everyday" customer....not at $3000 USD.
Hertz showed the new line of Hi-Energy speakers.....and Audison had a FORD GT, with the new Audison THESIS TH Speakers and amplifiers....sounded awesome !!
Audison also had great response from dealers on their BITONE processor / OEM integration product...this fixes many issues on putting gear in difficult cars.
JL - didnt see anything new..other than the HD amps they were supposed to show last year.
Bazooka had some really cool Marine products...their compression horn tubbies @ 103db will be HOT this year...good pricing. They also showed a Marine / RV Distributed audio type system, which gives dealers another opportunity to look outside their usual business for more revenue streams.
I think what many dealers have to do though...is not necessarily looks for manufacturers to bring out new products every year...but find new areas where thay can increase their businesses......ATV's, Marine, RV's, Car Dealerships are a lot more willing do to business these days, doing shows at their stores again.....yeah it takes more work...but if you want to make more money.....maybe we need to work harder and smarter.
01-16-2009, 09:25 PM
#20
500 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 537
I wouldn't use bluetooth, but something could be done without too much trouble. Any collaborators?
