ESS Audio - Show&tell 2023 - Report

It is known not from today that in Poland quite popular are meetings at distributors of the type "Open Day", "Training with", or other such. Of course, all these meetings have one goal. To introduce the products distributed by a given company, direct sales and integrate the company in a pleasant environment. It was no different on Wednesday, June 14, at the Palace complex at 2 Foksal Street, where ESS Audio organized a "show&tell".

At the venue we could see brands from ESS distribution such as JBL, TiMax, AKG, DPA, NewTek and many others. There was also the manufacturer of top-of-the-line Riedel intecoms, or Stage Source - which, in addition to actively participating in the talks, provided most of the lighting to color the spaces. We went there with a camera - below Our short vlog report - I recommend watching before the next part of the article!

It wasn't an art to go around all the stands with a camera and trot out a 2-hour film about everything that was on site, because the tape would run out. Let's focus on the meeting itself. What is the form of "show&tell" you already know from the video, so let's answer the question posed, was it kept?

And yes and no - the form itself rather indicated that there was to be a backlash. And there was a backlash! All talks were held in the form of a panel discussion and the topics discussed, thanks to the presenter (Łukasz Kornafel from AVintegracje.pl), did not pour on endlessly and touched on the most important issues. In addition to the product presentations themselves, we could listen, for example, to the ills of modern implementation of "multifunctional" facilities (Stage Source, ESS Audio) and how, using the indicated technologies, we can create an immersive room in relation to multimedia (Sharp/NEC, GreenHippo). Well, I must say, a very nicely woven product presentation into the general topics!

TiMax Immersion System

Of course, a lot of the attention of the entire event was chained to immersive systems, because it's trendy now, and well, ESS Audio has TiMax in its lineup. The company presented this system using TiMax processors into which were plugged 5 JBL SRX906LA clusters in the front and JBL SCS8 speakers mounted on the envelope around the listening area. In addition, several trackers were used, which, interestingly, were integrated not only with the sound inputs from the stage, but were also "dropped" into the GrandMA3 system. This allowed us to track both sound and light using the same system.

Well, and now I have cool, because I will tell you as a "regular listener". I'm a skylight, so I generally know enough to say whether it was cool or not... I'm not convinced by the application of this system to conferences. While Michal Baranski and Lukasz swapped sides on stage and talked to each other it was ok, there was a clear difference in feel - "who is standing where" - but I got the impression that during the stage axis transition, when the two microphones were in the center zone relative to the X-axis there was a slight skip audible when swapping sides.

And referring to the presentation of programmed sound FX, which moved along the designed track, the effect "blew your mind". No matter where you stood in the listening area, it was possible to locate from which side a helicopter was flying, or in which direction a motorcycle was going, just like on the street! Shivers guaranteed, yes I know, the excitement of the green head... In the same way, listening to a different cross-section of music with staggered tracks was impressive.

The icing on the cake was the first concert in Poland realized with this technology. (Nick Sinckler with a full band performed). The brass section was armed with trackers, and indeed one could clearly hear the movement of the musicians on stage. Although, as a whole, I was not captivated by the whole realization. But here I have to defend the system a bit, because I myself travel to concerts, listen as a "spectator" to various systems, and know that many factors influence the realization of concerts. As my warm colleague Filip Dzięcioł told me, this is something new on the market, where no one yet knows how to fully use in live realizations - so it's just a matter of more time spent with a given system and you can do wonders with it. But also, to be fair - it wasn't bad, I just didn't feel the WOW effect.

This is something that everyone definitely needs to check out for themselves and bend their head to it. What I can say is that the system definitely works, it works well. The rest is in the hands of the user!

Summary

In summary, in addition to the talks - presentations, which took place on two stages, of course, there was no shortage of classic mini-booths with products, where representatives of ESS, or the brands in question, were very eager to discuss and advise on any issue.

I must admit that the venue itself was also very pleasantly organized, the weather was fine, and the outdoor area with loungers - catering in the form of food tracks and pouring for various NAPOI was conducive to the aforementioned integration and conversations of all kinds. I think it's definitely worthwhile to attend this type of event once in a while.  

I, for one, extend my sincere thanks to ESS for the invitation. I won't tap any more. And so statistically no one wants to read more than 3 minutes. And you, as if you would like to learn more, of course I refer you to the guys from ESS Audio!

PS During the event you could collect stamps from various booths of ESS Audio partners and cool prizes were in the drawing. But we didn't win anything 🙁.