Exhibition «PLASE SHOW 2026» (professional stage and sound equipment)

   Comparing a dozen touring sound systems by ear in a single afternoon normally means flying to a European trade fair. Once a year Hanoi offers the same thing, and in a format worth knowing about: brands here do not leave their cabinets standing silent on a stand — they take turns driving them at full power, so you hear the difference rather than read it off a spec sheet.

   PLASE Show stands for Professional Lighting and Sound Equipment Show. The autumn Hanoi edition is the 15th in a series the organiser has been archiving since 2017, alternating between the capital and Ho Chi Minh City. The address changes this year: instead of the National Convention Center, which hosted the 2025 edition, it moves to VEC, the new exhibition complex on the north bank of the Red River in Đông Anh, reached over the Nhật Tân and Đông Trù bridges. It is run by Nam Bình Advertising Co., Ltd under the patronage of the Vietnam Electronic Industries Association.

   The exhibitor list goes public early, with booth numbers and line array positions attached. What is already confirmed:

• — 20+ companies already named on the published exhibitor list
• — Ba Sao Audio bringing JBL Professional's SRX-900 series, plus AKG and Crown
• — Techsound demonstrating 4Acoustic, alongside LEA and NST Audio
• — stands confirmed for Yamaha, Sao Mai Audio, Fill Acoustic, Khoa Tín, CK Audio, Stage Professional, Trung Chính Audio and SSQ Audio
• — exhibit sections: line arrays, amplifiers and pre-amps, stage sound systems, lasers and effects, professional lighting, mixers, microphones, headphones, karaoke systems and musical instruments

   The organiser names its audience bluntly: show promoters and event companies, karaoke and bar owners, restaurants, hotels, recording studios, rental firms, plus schools, hospitals and government offices — anyone who has to put sound into a hall. That said, the show has long stopped being a closed trade floor: at the 2025 Hanoi edition people queued in the rain simply to listen.

   Past editions give the scale. Hanoi 2025 filled 45 demo zones, two outdoor stages and 17 line arrays, with more than 60 brands on hand. This May's Ho Chi Minh City edition went further: close to 100 brands, 27 large display zones, 14 line arrays hung outdoors, and stage automation as the headline theme — rail systems that let LED walls and lighting rigs travel and rotate through 360 degrees. At the spring 2025 edition the longest queue formed around a JBL line array valued at 3.5 billion VND, while the workshop track ran through immersive audio, RF planning for wireless microphones and IEMs, and what concert-level sound pressure does to hearing.

   The venue is news in itself. VEC opened on 19 August 2025 after ten months of construction, covers 900,000 m² and sits where three of Hanoi's bridges meet. In its first year it hosted the national 80th-anniversary achievements exhibition and the first Autumn Fair.

   On entry: every recent edition, from Hanoi 2025 to Ho Chi Minh City this May, opened its doors free of charge to visitors. Terms for this edition have not been published yet, so check the organiser's page before you set off.

   Booth and exhibitor enquiries go to Ms Đỗ Như Quỳnh, [email protected].

   One practical tip: come early in the day and bring earplugs — the line array demos are genuinely loud. If you have spent the year wondering what a serious touring rig actually sounds like, here you can walk up and find out.