This year's "Best In Show" panelists, from left: Gayle Beacock, Greg Billings, Brad Boynton, Alan Friedman, John Grabowski, Brian Reardon and Gordy Wilcher

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
JAN. 24 I NAMM I GEAR
'Best In Show' Names Top Gear

The last day of The NAMM Show 2011, Jan. 16, began with "Best In Show," a gathering of music retail and gear experts who discussed their favorite products and services at the convention. Held at the Anaheim Hilton, the NAMM University session was moderated by Music Inc. Publisher Frank Alkyer.

Nearly 700 attendees listened as the panelists discussed their top choices in four categories, including:

Something Small— A great product that's either small in price or small in size.
Gotta Stock It— A product that retailers want to stock right now.
Companies To Watch— An exhibitor with trendsetting products or services.
Best In Show— The best product or service that panelists saw at NAMM.

This year's panelists included:

• Gayle Beacock, co-owner, Beacock Music, Vancouver, Wash.
• Greg Billings, owner, Steinway Piano Gallery, Naples, Fla.
• Brad Boynton, owner, Rhythm Traders, Portland, Ore.
• Alan Friedman, partner, the accounting firm of Friedman Kannenberg & Co., Farmington, Conn.
• John Grabowski, director of purchasing, Sweetwater Sound, Fort Wayne, Ind.
• Brian Reardon, owner, Monster Music, Levittown, N.Y.
• Gordy Wilcher, owner, Owensboro Music Center, Owensboro, Ky.

Billings
iKlip universal microphone
IK Multimedia
Seven million people have iPads, and if you want to bring them into music stores, this is the product you need.

Boynton
The Finger Shot and Qube
Latin Percussion
The Finger Shot sounds great in the air, and these work great for guitarists and keyboardists, as well as percussionists. The Qube is awesome. It lets you do 16th notes with one hand.

Friedman
FirstMix DJ USB/MIDI Controller
Gemini
If you ever want to be a DJ, all you need is a computer and some music. You take your iTunes library, and it basically lets you sync up tunes. It does scratching, and the transitions are phenomenal.

Grabowski
VRM Box headphone monitoring system
Focusrite
The VRM Box features 10 different speaker models for around $100. This product is amazing.

Reardon
Superior Vocal Health voice sprays
Superior Vocal Health
You can't sell singers their instrument, but you can help them care and maintain their instrument. These voice sprays are ideal for that.

Wilcher
GHC-200 Guitar Humidifier Controller
Crafter Guitars
This humidifier is really neat. It shows the temperature inside the guitar, as well as outside the guitar. You are really going to do well with these.

Gotta Stock It
Beacock
What Music Means To Me Book/CD by Richard Rejino
Hal Leonard
The stories and the pictures in this book will move you, and they will teach our customers. The book reinvigorates me and my staff with exactly why we are doing what we do. I've used the paperback version of this book as a recruiting tool for school districts.

Billings
Rollicking Piano Bar
Hal Leonard
This is the ultimate baby boomer piano book. It has every song that you are going to want to play at a party if you are over a certain age, with songs such as "American Pie" and "Proud Mary."

Boynton
Formula 602 cymbals
Paiste
The line originally had 20 cymbals, and they brought back to about five, which means retailers can stock it without having to go too deep. But because there are only five cymbals, if you have a lot on your wall already, you could put these on a kit so people can play them.

Friedman
Led Zeppelin Complete Lyric & Chord Songbook
Alfred
The book is made exactly how the band members wanted to present it. It is the ultimate play-along book for Zeppelin freaks like me.

Grabowski
Kronos Music Workstation
Korg
This is a home run. It has nine different synth engines and 4.7 GB of memory. It looks great, sounds great and is designed great.

Reardon
Grip Studios Custom Guitar Hangers
Grip Studios
These guys initially created these because they wanted to hang their guitars in a creative way in their own studios. They are really easy to mount, and they do a good job holding the guitar. Because they are not available everywhere, people feel like they are buying a really unique product.

Wilcher
Kirlin Cables
Kirlin Industries
Everyone sells cables. I didn't want to share these with everybody because it's such a great secret. We've sold hundreds of these. They are great people to work with, and they have phenomenal cables.

Companies To Watch
Beacock
Minarik Guitars
They make great products, fill a category and they are great people. Minarik is known for very custom, handmade guitars. They have a guitar called the Lotus, and it has all of the high-end features that the custom guitars have but at a great price point.

Billings
QRS Music
QRS's PNOScan can be installed into any piano in 15 or 20 minutes. It is simple, it works and it is not really expensive. They are also shipping everything they make with it installed.

Boynton
Meinl
They are a company that has really come up in the last decade. The product design is great, and they are an innovative company. The main thing as an independent dealer is that they just plain get it. The understand that it is important to forge long-term relationships.

Crush Drums and Percussion
They have terrific-looking drums that sound great. Their snares are awesome. They have an interesting use of materials, not just maple but acrylic and carbon fiber.

Friedman
Radial Engineering
They make truly practical applications and tools for guitar players and owners of recording studios. They have a segment of their business called Prime Acoustics that makes all kinds of small and medium-sized acoustical products for the studio to reduce noise and sonic rumble. Radial's new product, the Workhorse 500, is a modular rack and mixer that features high-quality components and is reasonably priced.

Grabowski
Avid
Avid has been doing a lot of interesting things lately, especially with ProTools being available to a larger market than ever before. M-Audio has done really great things with all its interfaces, as well as with its new Venom Synth. It's current and edgy, and it's really going to appeal to younger customers, as well.

Reardon
Tycoon Percussion
It's a family-owned business, and they own their own factory. There is a tremendous consistency in what they produce. Therefore, you can see it in the woods, the hardware and the skins.

Wilcher
Two Old Hippies
This is a company that cares. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've seen their great marketing. Their exciting news is that they have acquired Breedlove Guitar, and I think that that is going to give them a chance to continue to improve.

Best In Show
Beacock
YSS-82Z Soprano Saxophone
Yamaha
We have been waiting for this saxophone for a long time, since the 62 was discontinued. As far as I can tell, they have perfected the soprano sax with this instrument. This sax comes in four finishes and comes with a curved neck or straight neck.

Billings
V-Piano Grand
Roland
They have taken the V-Piano, which was a breakthrough in and of itself, and they put it in the right cabinet with the right amplification and the right keyboard. It is the price of a lower intermediate grand piano, and it performs like a concert grand piano.

Boynton
Gen16 cymbals
Zildjian
These acoustic-electric cymbals have two microphones underneath, and they basically record the acoustic sound and run it through a sound processor. When you hit the bell, it feels like a bell. Its feel is terrific. It blurs the distinction between digital and acoustic, which I think is great.

Friedman
The Game Changer guitar pickup technology
Ernie Ball
They have effectively come up with this product that leaves the guitar alone, unchanged, wired normally, but lets you maintain different sounds and combine pickups.

Grabowski
Tempest analog drum machine
David Smith Instruments/Roger Linn Designs
There is a market out there for drum machines. If you want an instrument like this, there are not too many options out there, and if you would choose anyone to make it, it would be these guys.

Reardon
Lâg Guitars
Korg
They are incredibly affordable. They start at around $200. But even at that level, they have carved headstocks, really beautiful binding and solid woods.

Wilcher
NAMM University
This year, NAMM U has been better than ever. And how can you beat it? It's free with great advice.