The first MasterTech Expo held this week in MESA, AZ was a maker-fest in fabrication, new machine tech (CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing), design and all forms of installer/business seminars.
Classes were full, demos at the CNC and 3D printing booths were 10-deep, and as one supplier put it, “the people here are here to learn.” Founder of the MasterTech Expo and Mobile Solutions Bryan Schmitt said about 900 people attended the event.
Theresa Anthony of Rockford Fosgate called it “one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time,” and Ryan Gunther of the MESA buying group called it “next level.”
On the show floor, among the non-car audio booths was CAMaster, showing industrial grade CNC machines that range from $10k to $45K. MTi, the retailer and custom enclosure vendor, owns three CAMaster machines, said CAMaster. It focuses on dealer support and can remotely take control of the user’s CNC control software to trouble shoot problems. It supplies dozens of hours of video instruction and says a dealer can be up and running with CAD drawing with 15 to 20 hours of instruction.
Industrial 3D printing was shown by bigrep. Its $70K machine is used by some of the leading custom fab shops and suppliers including Rockford, and even EV car maker Nikola Motor, said bigrep. We spoke to at least one dealer who is looking to buy one. The machine can print a door sized speaker panel in about 60 hours, or a smaller panel in 25 hours. The company claims the 3D printer acts as a silent employee, to free up your techs to handle other jobs. The panels were printed in lightweight plastic that can be painted or wrapped in leather.
Apex leather was on the show floor for dealers who want to try wrapping their sub enclosures in leather rather than vinyl or to offer leather upholstery. Apex, family-owned and located in NC, makes its own leather (it’s not just a distributor) and has been in many a Sony SEMA demo car, it said.
If you have an upholstery job that requires a sewn design (such as BMW signature diamonds or Lamborghini hexes), you can send out your leather to Automated Upholstery Designs. It offers standard or custom sewn patters for $125/panel up to 45 x 26 inches. Turnaround time is typically two weeks.
About two dozen traditional 12 volt vendors also attended the show including Kenwood, Sony, Rockford, JL Audio, Firstech, AudioControl, Metra, VOXX, AAMP, MSC, HKI, AudioFrog, Orca, JBL, Morel, Wet Sounds, ESCORT and Arc Audio. See a full list of exhibitors here.
We attended the show on the fourth and last day in time to hear Rockford CEO address dealers (we’ll report on that later), but not before he plied Schmitt with a much deserved glass of bourbon on the show stage. Mark Fukuda, SPL champion of the 90s, Rockford manager and President of Wave Electronics also gave a presentation on his build design for an iconic Rockford van.
Schmitt said all seminars at next year’s MasterTech Expo will be completely new.
