CEDIA 2022

Some 15,000 residential technology professionals will descend upon the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas next Wednesday to attend CEDIA Expo 2022 where they will learn the latest tricks of the trade and explore new gear from more than 300 brands, nearly two-thirds of which specialize in audio/video and home theater. Here’s a sneak peek at what some of this year’s exhibitors are planning.

It’s been three years since I last attended CEDIA and one of the most notable changes in the product mix is the prevalence of 4K UST (ultra-short throw) projectors. These projectors are designed to sit right underneath the screen and project a big image. At this show, the standout UST demo belonged to Epson and its new EpiqVision LS800 projector, a new model that offers several advantages over its predecessor, the LS500. It’s my first hands-on experience with one and what I saw left a strong positive impression.

Fans of the JBL sound now have another way to enjoy the brand’s classic horn-based sound: Put them in the wall. Harman Luxury Audio Group has announced that the JBL Stage 2 Architectural Series previewed a few months ago are now shipping along with new Stage XD Series outdoor speakers.

Marantz is honoring its roots as an audio pioneer with a new Cinema Series that melds high performance with high style.

Pro Audio Technology (PRO), the Lake Forest, CA-based company specializing in professional-grade high-end speaker systems, is wooing CEDIA showgoers with a slender in-wall/ceiling speaker for installations where space is limited but performance is crucial.

This year at CEDIA Sony had a huge booth containing three home theater demo rooms. There’s the mega-system with the VPL-GTZ380, which I describe in this post. But that projector’s $80,000 price point and 10,000-lumen output are beyond what most home theater owners want to spend or need in terms of output. However, the company is quick to point out that in terms of how the image is created—with three of its new 4K-native 2160 x 3840 resolution SXRD chips its Z-Phosphor light source, and the X1 Ultimate for projector processor—the three new laser models share the same hardware with the big pro model.