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CES 2006 Blunders, Deceptions and Other Goofs
Wednesday, January 11 2006


CES 2006 Blunders, Deceptions and Other Goofs


While we enjoyed ourselves at CES this year (in the way that people who get 2 hours of sleep and like to spend 20 hours a day on their feet define enjoyment) there were a number of booths and demos which fell under one of the following categories:

they failed to impress
they were intellectually dishonest in making a point or comparison
they were just downright silly
I'd like to give just a few examples of this from particular booths and demos I experienced at this year's 2006 CES Expo in the hopes that future attendees are not duped or otherwise disillusioned into thinking something is one way, when it is, in fact, not.

Of Cables and Magicians
We sat in on one of Monster Cable's demonstrations and were amazed at how many nodding heads and sounds of awe we heard from the crowd. It was like being transported back into the 1800s where an ignorant crowd of bystanders were duped into a state of euphoria by little Jimmy casting away his crutches after drinking some miracle remedy provided by the selfless snakeoil salesman. While the Monster Cable demo seemed to be accurate in its results - it was deceptive in its set up and application. Here's a rough paraphrase of how the presentation went:

Monster Cable: Gather 'round folks, let's see how Monster Cable products stack up against that "other" speaker cable brand.

Crowd: mild interest and curiosity

Monster Cable: By the way, we have some free tickets to go see Stevie Wonder.

Crowd: Woo-hoo! Show me your magic, oh Monster Cable!

Monster Cable: Here you will see a light bulb. We are sending 12VDC voltage down the typical speaker cable you see installed in many homes. Notice how dim the bulb is.

Crowd: Oooh.

Monster Cable: Now BEHOLD as we send the same 12VDC voltage down one of our Monster Cable brand speaker cables! The light bulb gets brighter.

Crowd: AAAAHHHH!

Monster Cable: So you see, Monster Cable passes signal better. Just as the lightbulb got brighter, your speakers will sound equally better, with more accurate music production, greater overall clarity and maximum bass response as they pass more signal correctly from the amplifier to the speakers.

Crowd: Claps, cheers, begging for t-shirts...

Behind the Scenes: What no one in the audience knew, aside from the fact that Monster Cable had tickets to Stevie Wonder, was that this was simply a comparison of speaker wire gauge, not the brands. Monster was comparing hundreds of feet of what appeared to be 18 or 24 gauge speaker wire against their 12 gauge wire. While this is certainly a neat test, it says nothing about the Monster brand. Do they have the right to do a test like this? Absolutely. Is it good marketing? Absolutely. Does it really say anythng about Monster Cables specifically versus other brands? Absolutely not. A true demo would have been to take Monster Cable's 12 gauge brand versus another 12 gauge brand. The problem is they would have had to have used an LCR tester, as the lightbulb test would not have shown any visible difference. LCR measurements aren't as neat as light bulbs, so while we congratulate the marketing people, we also want to warn consumers and professionals that they should be careful to note the details when anyone is doing a presentation.

Oh Brother! Nothing like truth in advertising, eh? And this little demo was NOTHING like truth in advertising.

It floors me of the number of folks who buy into marketing schemes such as this. Maybe I'm lucky in that I've always had a sixth (common?) sense in being able to see though outlandish marketing ploys and unorthodox hocus pocus. My theory has always been 'If it looks looks too good to be true, it must be'.

It's definitely misleading, and some would consider this fraudulent. I would hope that people attending CES would see through the crap. Thank God for the folks at Audioholics. Thanks for posting that.

Seems like someone shoulda called "bullshit" right there at the convention.

I would have been afraid to try a stunt like that with so many "knowledgeable" folks in attendance!!

Kinda like pushing six volt batteries and generators at a car show.

I do agree that this was very gutsy. I have never been to CES, but I would assume that there is a good number of people who would be able to smell bull-crap. I am surprised that no one called them out on this at CES.

Probably because the people who already knew better, didn't bother showing up to their presentation. Although, I might go just to watch the mularkey.

That really sucks!!!!

There ought to be a law.

The real problem is, that people like myself , before I started reading forums like this and decided to educate myself on HT, fall hook line and sinker for that stuff. Yeah I know a little more now, but probably several months ago I might have bought it, as will alot of the general public. It stinks, but it's also good marketing. If you really look at most stuff marketed today, they do the same thing, all smoke and mirrors.