NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part of the East Coast Expo

NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part of the East Coast ExpoBroadcast audio likely to get greater emphasis than at co-located showsBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - 7:00 am

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It has become as familiar as pumpkin-spiced anything this time of year: the NAB Show New York will be back at the Javits Center Oct. 22-23. But there is a major change: for the first time since the NAB established the New York City edition in 2018, it won't be co-located with the Audio Engineering Society's own expo. Instead, the AES Show is going it alone, as it has most years since it began in 1949, with a convention in Long Beach, CA, Oct. 23-25.

NAB Leaves the Door OpenAccording to Matt Raymond, director, media relations, global connections, and events, NAB, the organization would be open to further collaboration with AES in the future.

NAB's Matt Raymond: We would be open to continuing [the AES] partnership in the future. And their exhibitors and attendees are always welcome.

We have great respect for AES and the professional-audio community it represents, as well as a very productive and positive history with them, he says. We would be open to continuing that partnership in the future, where and when it makes sense. And their exhibitors and attendees are always welcome at NAB Show New York or NAB Show in Las Vegas.

He cites pro-audio exhibitor stalwarts Solid State Logic, Lawo, Stagetec, Sonifex, Cedar Audio, and Dale Pro Audio as an integral part of NAB Show New York, adding that attendee registrations from audio/video engineers are currently about 50% ahead of last year.

These companies are finding a lot of value in reaching the pro-audio community in the Tri-State area and on the East Coast in the fourth quarter, Raymond says. As workflows converge across audio, video, and cloud-based production, [the] NAB Show and NAB Show New York continue to be where pro-audio professionals connect with the broader content community.

Offerings Tailored to Broadcast AudioIn fact, the AES-less configuration may even offer new opportunities to focus on broadcast audio more intensely than the AES' broader portfolio, which also comprises music production and acoustics.

Dale Pro Audio intends to emphasize broadcast audio. While we were initially worried that the audio-centric crowds of the AES show might not be as present at an NAB-only event, notes Joel Guilbert, Technology Development Manager, Dale Pro Audio, we are looking forward to offering a more broadcast-specific tailored offering that we wouldn't have considered for a show like AES.

The company will feature two daily sessions of three presentations by booth partners Sennheiser, Voyage Audio, and Radioactive Designs in collaboration with the Dale Advanced Wireless Group.

Changes at AESThe AES itself is in the midst of management changes. Last week, the professional-audio organization announced a shared-resource arrangement with the Illuminating Engineering Society. The IES, like the AES, is a professional technical organization but is focused on the lighting industry. IES Executive Director, Colleen Harper, who served as AES executive director from 2019 to '22, will take on simultaneous executive-director duties for AES, commencing in December.

The shared resources, such as management expertise, will enable the AES, she says, to add new resources and tap into the strength of a team that already has critical experience working with a highly technical society.

The exhibitor complement at this week's AES Show in Long Beach is extraordinarily sparse, with fewer than 50 floor exhibitors listed as of press time; a decade ago, a standalone AES Show at the Javits Center had nearly 300 exhibitors. However, its sessions program this year is considered one of the best in some time. Among the topics are several broadcast-audio-related, including Immersive Audio for Broadcast Delivery and Transitioning to Broadcast, which chronicles the shift some audio professionals have made from music production to broadcast careers.

Still Plenty To Hear HereA number of high-end audio brands will be absent from NAB Show New York - including Audio-Technica, Q5X, TSL, Shure (sponsoring but not exhibiting), and Wisycom - although many of them were part of the AES side at co-located events.

It's likely that the most comprehensive exposition for the pro-audio sector will be in January, at the NAMM Show. Although that four-day event is historically and nominally focused on the musical-instrument trade, its pro-audio component has mushroomed in the past two decades, with an entire new two-level wing of the Anaheim Convention Center now dedicated to professional sound brands and products.

However, East Coast attendees this year won't be getting the silent treatment. The NAB Show New York will have plenty of sonic exhibitors: Calrec, Clear-Com, Lawo, Solid State Logic, Riedel, RTS, and Telos Alliance among them.

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