Live 2000 Event

 

At the Marantz booth they had dancing girls! While a DJ (left) kept the music going, Nancy and Syrah danced along joyously. On the left we have the blonde beauty Nancy or the right is Syrah. Hmm, as this is my fourth show report in the past three weeks, maybe i am getting a bit lonely eh? Ok, enough of the girlie photos... for now.

 

While we blokes in America have been deprived of some things digital, here in the UK they have Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). DAB is basically like radio broadcasting with a digital twist. The audio is sent through the airwaves digitally and then various auto, home and other devices decode the data in audio again. Seen here is a laptop computer receiving DAB. Not just audio is broadcast, but also an array of text messages that appear on the DAB receivers screen. While a representative of DAB claimed that it is typically better than MP3, the signal (and receiver) can handle dynamically scaled signals upwards of better than "CD-quality" sound. It all depends on how a provider uses their allocated bandwidth.

Many different companies broadcast their content for DAB. There is Digital One and the BBC who have national licenses. Then there are local multiplex operators (two in London) whose broadcasts cover a small land area. Lastly, there are regional license to cover counties. Regional covers more area than local while national is the largest. While there are no costs for listening to DAB, you need to buy the receiving hardware. Many companies such as Technics, Alpine, Pioneer, Sony and many others sell these devices. In October there will be a first in low pricing. For under £300 a DAB receiver will be offered by Video Logic while £500 or so seems to be the current average pricing of receivers.

 

Live 2000 Event allowed the public to see various car audio, DJ, cellular phone, and many more normal consumer devices. Seen above is Yamaha's new DJX-IIB (£199.99) offers 700 built-in grooves and other sounds (cheesy 70's beats, hip-hop, trance, house, etc). The right side of the unit is a "scratch pad" (you DJs know what i mean). Other sounds can be added in while a fader knob can allow for fading in and fading out of sounds. Their keyboard is model DJ-XII (£299.99) has a built-in six-channel recorder, built-in sampler (6 seconds) and as it is a keyboard, you can play it as a normal keyboard as well (203 various sounds). i DJ'ed many years ago and it is always interesting to see and hear the new products that make my old "two turntables and a microphone" seem archaic by comparison.

 

One promotion specialist company had a few creatively dressed representatives strolling the exhibition centre.

 

Genesis Automotive Amplifiers had this interesting Nissan Scargo van with their amplifier and loudspeakers. Inside the van was a television and DVD player. They were playing the Eagles Hell Freezes Over.

 

Ok, just one more girlie shot and that's all. i promise (please scroll down).

 

The End

And that concludes our four shows in three weeks coverage. Goodnight Gracie.

Click here for main Live 2000 show page.