Another year, another road show! It's always exciting to learn about what's coming up from Sony! We're excited to share our experience at this year's show with all of you! We are even more excited for you to see the new showroom demos coming next month!
It was a beautiful day for a road trip, so Scott, Georick and I loaded up in the trusty old Windstar and headed north to the Windy City. The Sony Road Show is our opportunity every year to preview Sony's latest and greatest technology. This year did NOT disappoint. We came back to Morton excited and looking forward to receiving our new showroom demos! I figured it might be a good idea to share our experience with you guys, because there's just so much to look forward to!
Projectors
I was very excited for this presentation. Sony has some amazing technology coming out this year. What I was most excited for was to see their "big dog". I wanted to see first-hand what makes a projector worth $80k+.
The presentation started out with a quick reminder of where Sony has been technology wise, and quickly moved on to show us attendees what the future looks like. Lamp projectors are officially dead. Sony has moved on to all laser technology for their newest line of projectors. Boasting three new Native 4K projectors ranging from 2,000lm to 3,200lm, Sony still has the lowest prices on TRUE Native 4K technology.
The biggest differences I noticed between each picture revolved more around brightness. By the time we got to the "big dog", the light being projected was so bright that I almost reached for my sunglasses. Of course, this brightness brings out incredible color and clarity.
Truly, there wasn't a projector at the show that didn't thoroughly impress us. Whether you want budget friendly or the biggest and baddest projector out there, Sony's newest line has something mind-blowing for you to experience.
^^^ This is a photo I snapped of the "big dog". This beast puts out an incredible 10K lumens. Undoubtedly, this $80K+ projector produces the brightest, clearest image I've ever seen come from a projector intended to be used in residential settings. Fun fact: It's so bright that in order for us to install one of these, we have to have FDA clearance!
Mini-LED TV
With so much new technology making its debut every year, keeping up will all of the vernacular can sometimes be a daunting task. TVs get a little better year by year, and the improvement with biggest impact may very likely end up being the Mini-LED. This is an evolution of traditional LCD TV tech that uses THOUSANDS of tiny light emitting diodes to improve picture quality. What's so special about that? By using more, smaller LEDs to illuminate the screen, the TV can have far better control over its highlights and shadows. This means better contrast and image quality, ESPECIALLY with HDR shows, movies, and games.
I could talk about all of the new technology until I'm blue in the face, but that's never going to compare to actually seeing this new technology live and in person. The brightness and color saturation are truly a thing of wonder. Pitted against its biggest competitor, we attendees got to experience first-hand exactly how superior Sony's technology is.
With Sony, red is RED. Black is BLACK. White is WHITE. Seeing it displayed next to its competitor, the differences are abundantly clear. See for yourself in the photo below! Sony is on the left, and their competitor's newest TV is on the right:
Let us know in the comments what you notice about the differences between the two!
New OLED Technology
If you didn't take a good, long opportunity to check out the photo at the top of this article, you need to go back and do that. To me, this TV was the pinnacle of technology on display at the road show this year. In all of my life, I have never seen a TV so crisp and clear while maintaining such incredible brightness and color saturation. It literally looked like I could walk through the screen as if it were nothing more than a glass doorway and end up Tokyo. I'm not going to go over the specs or tech details, as we have articles that go into great detail already posted.
What I am going to say is that with Sony's new built-in heatsink, these TVs can be pushed harder than ever before. It's truly a wonder to behold! Our first demo models should be arriving in June. Get your appointment for a private demo scheduled today, because these TVs are going to sell quickly! If you don't want to end up on a waiting list, get in here, see it for yourself, and get it ordered!
Coastal Source
This was a new vendor for us. Despite it being 96 degrees outside, we schlepped our suit-clad selves out to the demo of these outdoor speakers, and we were not disappointed we did so.
Traditionally, the outdoor speaker market has been dominated by inconspicuous, lightweight contenders that produce fairly bland background music designed to not offend any neighbors. In the words of Bob Dylan though, "the times.... they are a'changin'". Coastal Source has quickly emerged as a SERIOUS player in this market, boasting a wide selection of premium outdoor loudspeaker and light designs. Actually, premium may not be the optimal word to describe Coastal's equipment offerings. The Coastal Source is the outdoor speaker market's Ferrari equivalent.
What surprised us was the price, as we all expected it to be far higher than what it was! A four-speaker system of the 8.0 mini bollard is somehow under $3k. That may seem high, but we're talking an incredibly high-end system that is built to withstand EXTREME weather.
I'm not sure if we will end up with any display models of this system this year, but I can say with absolute confidence that if you want absolutely stunning, immersive outdoor sound you cannot in any way go wrong by choosing Coastal Source speakers.
Kaleidescape
“Kaleidescape is an essential part of my life and has been since 2007. It’s allowed me to curate a great library of films over the years, to cross-reference titles and follow my own threads—in other words, to have a treasury of cinematic history at my fingertips. And these days, when movies are routinely devalued and streamed in forms that are often compromised, I’ve come to value Kaleidescape more than ever. From the presentation of uncompressed 4K to the meticulous attention to every aspect of the film as the director intended it, Kaleidescape is grounded in a true and deep love for the art of cinema. Frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without it.” - Martin Scorsese
This company was one we've seen off an on over the years. This is an innovative product that would be an amazing addition to any top-of-the-line home theatre!
Kaleidescape's Strato C + Terra movie system is a game-changing platform that makes it easy to find great content while offering access to a massive library of disc-quality (and better) 4K UHD, HD, and SD movies, shows, and concerts. Terra is a beast of a movie server, housing 24TB to 48TB of storage and possessing data capabilities that allow 4K UHD content to download in just 12 minutes. It can support up to 10 Strato C Movie Players simultaneously. Strato C is a generously sized player that can inconspicuously integrate into a room or rack system. With data rates exceeding 100mbps, Strato C can drive a mindblowing 4K experience.
Kaleidescape's instant playback capabilities, not to mention its ability to deliver jaw-dropping audio and video laced with the latest technologies, elevates Strato C + Terra to the top of the heap of 4K playback platform options.
Of course, Kaleidescape is a download platform, NOT a streaming platform. This means users need storage AND playback capabilities in their homes. Unlike app-based services you can find on various TVs and devices, this requires proprietary gear that's only manufactured by Kaleidescape.
This was a really neat bit of tech that was on display, and while cost of entry on this one is pretty high, if you are really big into films, and want to see studio quality versions of your favorites, Kaleidescape might be something for you to consider!
Leon
Leon was another new one at the road show this year, but one that absolutely captured our attention. So much so that we rushed back to the office to begin our training to become authorized Leon dealers.
This company is truly doing some serious innovating, and has found some incredibly clever and beautiful ways to seamlessly blend art with sound. Again, I don't want to get too specific as we plan to do a large write-up on Leon and all they have to offer.
I do know that we are all very excited to get several of their products into our showroom so that we can show you how amazing this stuff is!
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