ISE 2025: Crowds Flock To Custom Install Mega-Show in Barcelona

The Custom Install Pro AV business is booming and ChannelNews Steve May was there. 

This year’s Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) audio visual show, held at the Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, attracted 85,351 visitors, from 168 countries; a whopping 15.5 per cent increase over ISE 2024. 

Crowds flocked to explore 1,605 exhibitors, from established AV giants, like Samsung and Barco, to innovative startups, like customisable signage provider Solum.

Futurologist Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, provided the opening keynote address, setting the scene with an overview of tech developments in a post AI world, before confessing “No, I can’t predict the future.”

For those that have never experienced ISE before, the show is a breathtaking mix of commercial AV and residential sound and vision. Huge digital signage displays wow with their invention and scale, while household names surprise with fresh gadgetry. It’s ostensibly a trade show of AV professionals, but you’ll find familiar brands here launching innovative products that signpost future developments.

Sonos Era 100 Pro is a safe bet

ISE 2025 was a big show for Sonos, which appeared with a much larger booth than previous visits, plus an all new speaker, the Era 100 Pro. This is the first enclosure from the brand that will only be available to its pro installer base. 2024 was a rough one for Sonos, so going all-in for a bigger slice of commercial pie in 2025 probably feels a safer bet.

The ERA 100 Pro is Sonos’ first PoE (Power over Ethernet) speaker, making it exceptionally easy to install. You no longer need a mains socket to serve every speaker location, The challenge is to produce a PoE speaker able to deliver a genuinely musical performance, with clarity and dynamics. My first listen indicates that Sonos has accomplished just that.  The soundstage is wide, boasting 240° of horizontal dispersion.

The Pro features the same acoustic design as the original Era 100, using two 16 mm silk angled tweeters and a carbon filled-polypropylene low-frequency driver. While the Era 100 Pro is optimized for PoE+ it can also be used with standard PoE. There’s no question that it’s a beautifully executed piece of kit.  

Monitor Audio blurs the lines

Monitor Audio used ISE to blur the lines between outdoor and indoor Hi-Fi with its new Climate Series 3G speakers from its CI-centric Creator line. Comprising the compact CL2 S and mid-sized CL2 M models, these IP66-rated cabinets are made from dense ABS and reinforced with glass-fibre, so they’ll survive outdoor life just fine, yet sound like they have genuine Hi-Fi DNA.

Later this year, they’ll be joined by Creator In Wall – Large Speakers, intended for home cinema and Hi-Fi use, and an all new trio of Vestra active subwoofer series, with up to 500W amplification on board.

Monitor Audio also presented an extensive range of installation-specific products, such as rack-mount Installation amplifiers, streamers, active subwoofers, and Cinergy cinema speakers, alongside the company’s lauded Hi-Fi products, including the high-end Hyphn.

Sony offers convincing glasses-free 3D

Sony Professional had some head-turning displays at ISE, from Crystal LED panels to virtual production monitors. 

It also demonstrated an intriguing AI-powered monitoring application from StratosMedia, integrated within AITRIOS, an edge AI sensing platform provided by Sony Semiconductor Solutions. Utilising the world’s first intelligent vision sensor, IMX500, with AI processing capability, it can monitor in-store consumer traffic and track buyers around a store, and has Gaze Detection and People Counting functionality. Cleverly, the platform only supplies raw data on those it tracks, not video likenesses, so there are no privacy concerns. Captured onscreen, consumers appear merely as shuffling blocks.

Sony was also showing off its ELF-SR2 Spatial Reality Display. This 27-inch monitor supports 100% of the Adobe RGB colour gamut, and uses a second generation vision sensor to track the user’s eyes and presents a stereoscopic image that looks pin sharp and three dimensional. There’s even a sensor add-on which allows the user to manipulate on screen objects, using virtual hand movements.

ISE is known for its state of the art home theatre demos – and this year’s event had a couple of crackers. 

The Ultimate Home Cinema Experience, a joint presentation by Acoustix Design, Adeo Group, Barco Residential, madVR Labs, Screen Research, StormAudio, and Wisdom Audio, hinted at what’s possible when price isn’t an object. Sequences from The Wild Robot and Deadpool and Wolverine dazzled attendees.

Elsewhere, Barco offered visitors an immersive 360 degree journey through the evolution of home entertainment, in a circular space flooded with artful projection mapping.

My favourite presentation though was a 13.14.6 theatrical collaboration between audio specialist Trinnov, demonstrating the latest iteration of its Waveforming technology, loudspeaker maker Perlisten, acoustics company Officina Acustica, Sony and Kaleidescape.

The resulting immersive experience was a real show highlight.

The quality of the Sony SXRD projection was mesmerizing, and the infra-bass of the audio thrilling – I’ve never heard the gun retorts from John Wick 4 sound quite so violent before.

High-end Blu-ray player maker Magnetar also appeared at the show – and while it didn’t have any new disc spinners on display, it did confide that at least one new Blu-ray model would be launched at the High-End Munich Hi-Fi show (May 15 – 18).

Other notable appearances included Harman JBL’s Conceal plaster-over speakers, some stunning examples of LG transparent OLED tech, and a dramatic demonstration of MicroLED from Samsung, with an almost 3D implementation of The Wall.

Move over Munich

Interestingly, the show also pushed the exhibitor envelope (much as CES has done with automotive and quantum computing), opening an eSports arena, alongside robotics and drones, in the newly opened Hall 8.1. The esports arena streamed live matches between professional esports teams.

These additions are part of the show’s efforts to emphasise the entertainment aspect of the AV ecosystem. You can expect more in a similar vein next year, when the show adds dedicated listening rooms for audio brands to show off their systems, away from the hubbub of the show floor.

Watch out, Munich High-End. It looks like ISE has you in its sights.

ISE returns to Fira de Barcelona, February 3-6 2026.