ISE 2024 highlights: immersive audio, high-impact displays and more

For anyone didn’t make it to the show, or those that did and inevitably didn’t see everything throughout the halls of the Fira Barcelona, Seán Holland compiles a handy roundup of HiddenWires’ show highlights.

ISE 2024 was my first ever time to the show, luckily I had colleagues who had been at ISE since its inception 20 years to guide me through a hectic but thoroughly enjoyable week. Read on to see what caught my eye when the show came to Barcelona, January 30 – February 2, 2024.

Focus on audio

There was a strong focus on audio at this year’s ISE. Manufacturers brought out all the stops in hall 2 and hall 7 to provide demo rooms of their newest and best performing products. There were long queues and waiting lists for many of the bigger demos. The ones that stood out to me were McIntosh and its powerful subwoofers and Sonos with its new 8-in ceiling speakers that produced a really clear powerful sound at a more affordable rate. The talk of the show in terms of audio was Trinnov and its update to Waveforming with Pressurisation. Pressurisation aims to leverage the power of each subwoofer in a room in adherence with Waveforming’s subwoofer placement guidelines. This is an attempt to maximise the performance of the complete system below the room’s first mode, adding impact and efficiency. There’s still some debate as to whether active acoustics is the best method to create the best sounding space but, one thing is for certain, the sound in Trinnov’s demo room was mightily impressive. The room itself was built in Italy and assembled at the show for a truly once off experience. If you didn’t get a demo at ISE, I strongly recommend you seek out one for yourself.

On the topic of immersive audio, in 2023 CEDIA finalised a new recommended practice for immersive audio system design in collaboration with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). CEDIA/CTA’s RP22 Immersive Audio Design Recommended Practice is attempting to redefine how system performance is quantified. With a few months since the standard’s publication, ISE was a great place to discuss its impact further and see first-hand how it will impact the market. At the Barcelona show, many integrators were looking to create homes and rooms that met these specifications. RP22 marks the first time that audio performance has been broken down into distinct levels, from 1 to 4. For example the Trinnov demo room in hall 2 had been certified as the highest specification, level 4 room. One of the main aims of RP22 is to put the end-user, the integrator and the manufacturer on the same page. The homeowner knows what to expect, the integrator knows how to design the room, and the manufacturer knows that its product will perform. This can only be a positive and the manufacturers and integrators seemed to be on board with the idea and excited to produce level 4 rooms in the future.

A new era of screens

At ISE there was a few novel approaches to screens for entertainment and home cinemas. C Seed presented what it claims is the world's first unfolding 137-in inch N1 TV.  This product features up to 180-degrees rotation with an automated opening that takes 60 seconds to rise to its height of 2.4m, and the MicroLED panels unfold silently within after a further 25 seconds. This is a striking screen to look at aims to combine quality viewing with a piece of luxury furniture. This was a key feature at ISE with brands such as Nexus 21 and Future Automation positioning themselves as part of a movement to create spaces where TVs can be hidden to not only keep the aesthetic of a living space but to also add a sense of spectacle when the screen does emerge.

Screen Excellence debuted a product which may also be the first of its kind. Its retractable acoustically transparent screens produce clear audio from directly behind the screen without compromising the picture on screen with movement.

Commercial to resi

A surprising but positive note from ISE was how many companies that are typically associated with commercial settings were focused on growing in the residential sector. Barco is focused on producing home cinema projectors of the highest quality. It teamed up with L-Acoustics at ISE to display its latest projectors in a great home theatre demo. K-Array is another brand who believe they can put further resources into the residential sector. Its passive speaker lines include the Lyzard and Python which are making waves in residential thanks to quality audio from compact form factors.

Old ways are best

Not everything has to be a new product to be important to the integrator or eventually the end user. Some products are built to last and especially those that power the flashier technology that was on show.  Torus Power is the epitome of that, with its AVR Elite range and RM series offering products that sustain power. Kordz offer its customers a guarantee that its cables have been individually tested, and are making an effort to reduce its plastic output. Kordz distinguishes itself as a cable company that produces cables that work every time and are built scientifically with the integrator in mind. Kordz also believes its work in cabling hospitals and military equipment where mistakes are more life and death highlights that they can be trusted to power home theatres.

So that was ISE 2024 in a nutshell. Of course there was far more on show and we’ve curated detailed write ups of some of the key launches that you can find on the HiddenWires website or watch on www.riseshow.tv

From my perspective was great to see so many people in the industry in the space of four days, ISE really brings the work of the manufacturers and integrators to life. I am already looking forward to ISE 2025.

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