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Industry is Abuzz – What’s Happening With Sony TVs & Audio? What is China’s TCL’s Involvement?

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Sony is selling its TV and audio business to TCL

The industry is all abuzz ever since this past Tuesday, when Sony Corporation announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TCL “for strategic partnership in home entertainment field.” The announcement goes on to describe, in really sketchy terms with virtually no details, an idyllic or almost utopian vision of how this “partnership” would operate.

But it’s all code. The media has scrambled to spread the news of what they know…which is virtually nothing. Let me help you decode the important meaning of this announcement.

Learn more about this new Sony & TCL ‘partnership’…

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CES 2026: With Onkyo, Premium Audio Co Proves It Can Walk & Chew Gum at the Same Time

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At CES 2026, Onkyo was featured in the VOXX booth

See Onkyo at CES 2026, VOXX Booth #17204

I have to say that the team at Premium Audio Company (PAC), part of the VOXX division of Gentex Corp., does a nice job of paying homage to the long, 80-year history of technical innovation and market success of its Onkyo brand, while at the same time, launching innovative new models to propel the brand into a space-age future. While conventional wisdom might suggest otherwise, you could say that they prove that they can walk and chew gum at the same time.

See more on Onkyo & Klipsch at CES 2026…

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Just Video Walls Displayed Wall-to-Wall Video Walls at CEDIA Expo 2025

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A 217" video wall from Just Video Walls

Ft Lauderdale, FL-based Just Video Walls, a specialist supplier of custom MicroLED video walls, had a massive showing at CEDIA Expo 2025, situated in two large booths on the main floor. The company, which has had a huge growth spurt over the last couple of years, has added many new employees, introduced new product models, brought on new accessory & control options, and had its largest presence ever at Expo 2025.

Learn all about Just Video Walls’ growing momentum in custom integration…

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At CEDIA Expo 2025, Attendance Continued Its Multi-Year Decline

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A sparse crowd gathered for the CEDIA Town Hall at CEDIA Expo 2025

Emerald Expositions, part of Emerald Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EEX) and owners of CEDIA Expo and CEPro, has reported that final attendance at CEDIA Expo 2025, “the premier event for the custom systems integration industry,” establishes it was yet another year of declining participation. This rather sobering news is consistent with feedback I received from several exhibitors at the event this year – almost all of whom told me that attendance was noticeably off, with several saying it was significantly down from last year.

Now we know with certainty, even with Emerald’s attempt to hide the real attendance figures, that attendance at Expo 2025 was in fact appreciably below attendance at Expo 2024 last year.

See more on the decline in attendance at CEDIA Expo 2025

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Daisy Adds New Franchise in Ocala, Fl with a Familiar Owner

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The Daisy Ocala, FL team including franchisee Bert Herrero
Bert Herrero (Ocala franchisee), Sean Williams, Jose Zapata (Daisy Ocala) & Suzanne Keoghan (Daisy corporate partnerships & marketing) [Click to enlarge]

Daisy, the new national brand that is both acquiring and franchising custom integration businesses, announced today that it celebrated the Grand Opening of its newest franchise location in Ocala, Florida on January 25th. This new location, owned and operated by Bert Herrero, joins the ever-expanding Daisy universe.

But wait! That name…Bert Herrero…sounds familiar. Isn’t he already a part of the Daisy organization?

Read on to learn the interesting twist in this story

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Troubling Trend: 2024 CEDIA Expo Loses Hundreds of Attendees This Year

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Scene from the 2022 CEDIA Expo
On-site registration and badge pickup at the 2022 CEDIA Expo

Data from the 2024 CEDIA Expo in Denver, CO this past September shows a troubling trend – attendance actually declined…and declined appreciably – from the 2023 version of the event. And this decline took place even though the promoter has combined CEDIA Expo with a new event (new last year), the Commercial Integrator Expo (CIX), which was probably an effort to boost attendance numbers.

See more on the attendance at CEDIA Expo 2024

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Themes That Were Key in ’23 on Strata-gee

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Themes that were Key in 2023

Wow! It’s crazy that 2023 is now just about behind us, and what a dramatic and dynamic year it was! What were the key themes of the year? At the beginning of the year, I think most would say their greatest concern was the economy and their least concern was the tech industry. Yet the year turned out to be almost the exact opposite of that.

See more on the themes that were key in ’23 on Strata-gee

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WiSA Stock Value Crashes on News of New Stock Issue & Possible ‘Strategic Transaction’

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Image from WiSA website

Current Stock Price Violates NASDAQ Listing Rule…Again

On Monday, WiSA Technologies, a developer and licensor of spatial, wireless sound technology, publicly announced the pricing of a new $4.8 million public offering of Series B convertible redeemable preferred stock and warrants. Separately, and a little less publicly, the company also filed a Form 8K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealing that it is “pursuing a potential strategic transaction.”

The result of both of these pieces of news is that the company’s stock value nosedived as investors turned thumbs down on this latest turn of events at the troubled organization.

See more on the new WiSA problematical issues

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CEDIA Expo 23: We’re Going to Need Crowd Control

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Another busy day at CEDIA Expo 23

The crowds on Day 2 of CEDIA Expo 23 were equally as impressive, if not more so, as they were on Day 1. I had a mid-day meeting at the Snap One booth and as you can see in the image above, I couldn’t even get into the booth! Of course, I can only give you my impressions as there is no official count as I write this, but to my eyes it sure looks like attendance is going to be a pleasant surprise when Emerald announces the final count.

See more on Day 2 results in my final show report

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A Reinvigorated Crestron Says, ‘Welcome Home’ With New Crestron HOME OS 4 Release

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Crestron residential showroom for Crestron Home
Crestron’s new residential showroom in Rockleigh, NJ [Click to enlarge]

Crestron Electronics Corp. (Crestron), one of the largest and most popular custom integration control brands delivering literally thousands of products to both the commercial and residential smart home channels, announced today the launch of Crestron Home OS 4. This exciting new update brings much to the party, not only a more polished and graphically appealing look and feel but also a more intuitive end-user operability. Oh, and not to mention, some exciting new functionalities.

All of which, I got to see for myself in the company’s completely renovated residential-specific showroom. This company is on the move…

See more on Crestron Home OS 4 and my visit to the company…

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