The Canton Fair is the largest trade fair in China and the single most common first stop for an overseas buyer sourcing audio cable. It is also the fair most often attended in the wrong week: cable sits in Phase 1, and a buyer who books a flight for Phase 2 will walk three halls of furniture and find no cable supplier at all.
This guide covers which phase to attend, what the phases actually contain, and what to check at a cable stand so the trip ends in a specification rather than a bag of catalogues.
What the Canton Fair is
The China Import and Export Fair — universally called the Canton Fair — is held twice a year in Guangzhou, in spring and autumn, at the Canton Fair Complex in Pazhou. Each session runs in three phases with changeover days between them.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | China Import and Export Fair |
| Venue | Canton Fair Complex, Pazhou, Guangzhou |
| Frequency | Twice yearly — spring session and autumn session |
| Structure | Three phases per session, with changeover days between phases |
| Spring 2027 (141st), Phase 1 | 15–19 April 2027 — provisional; confirm against the official calendar before booking travel |
| Opening hours | 09:30–18:00 |
One planning note that matters: the gaps between phases — normally two days after Phase 1 and two days after Phase 2 — are changeover days, not exhibition days. Buyers attending more than one phase usually use them for factory visits, which is often the more valuable half of the trip.
Which phase has audio cable
Audio cable is an electrical and electronic product, so it sits in Phase 1. Phase 1 is the technical sourcing block; the later phases are consumer, home and lifestyle goods.
| Phase | What it covers | Relevant to a cable buyer? |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Electronics and household electrical appliances, lighting and electrical products, industrial automation, machinery, hardware and tools, vehicles and parts | Yes — cable, connectors and stage electrical all sit here |
| Phase 2 | Building materials, home products, gifts and premiums | No |
| Phase 3 | Textiles, garments, luggage, toys, office and health products | No |
Phase 1 is also the phase where exhibitors are set up for technical conversation. The stands are staffed by people who can discuss conductor size and shielding rather than by sales staff reading a brochure, and the samples on the counter are strip-backs rather than photographs.
What to carry into Phase 1
One printed page per product you intend to buy. Four lines turn a show visit into a purchase decision:
- Construction — conductor count, size in mm² or AWG, stranded or solid.
- Screening — none, foil, braid, spiral, or a combination.
- Jacket and environment — jacket material, outer diameter, and where the cable lives: touring, fixed install, outdoor, in-rack.
- Delivery format — reel, drum, pull box or coil, and the length per unit.
Hand that page across the table. A factory reads all four lines and marks what it can and cannot build. A trading desk nods at all four and quotes from a list. That difference is the most useful thing you learn at the fair, and it is not visible in a catalogue.
Five questions at a cable stand
- Give me the model code, not the category. “DMX cable” is a category; a model code is a repeatable purchase order. LBS builds single-shielded DMX512 models such as the 128 / 2 × 0.35 spiral-shielded construction and double-shielded variants across its DMX and lighting control range.
- Which part of the cable carries the shield? Spiral, braid and foil behave differently at the end of a long chain, and the answer changes the capacitance figure you will be quoted.
- Show me the conductor. A strip-back sample tells you stranding, copper colour and whether the foil is bonded. Ask for the sample, not the page.
- What is made on your own line? Extrusion, stranding, braiding and assembly are separate capabilities. For OEM work, see how LBS describes its OEM and ODM process and its manufacturing and quality process.
- Send the datasheet by email. A file you can archive is a file you can hold a supplier to.
Specifying network and loudspeaker cable
Two families generate most of the after-sales conversation in this market.
Network cable for audio over IP. The category label is a claim until the datasheet shows conductor size and bandwidth. LBS publishes screened and unscreened models as LBSFTP-C6A, LBSSFTP-C6A and LBSUTP-C6A, with the full network range covering Cat5E through Cat6A.
Loudspeaker cable. The loudspeaker cable range covers 2-core and 4-core constructions from 0.5 mm² to 6.0 mm². For long installed runs the conductor size matters more than the name on the jacket; for rental stock the jacket compound matters more than either. Connectors are specified separately because termination changes the answer more than the copper does — the LBS connector range is listed on its own for that reason.
LBS AudioCable at the Canton Fair
LBS (Linkwell Broaden Sonitive) Guangdong Cable Technology Co., Ltd. has exhibited at the Canton Fair across multiple sessions, showing professional audio cable across its loudspeaker, audio signal, DMX and lighting control, network, AV and connector ranges in Phase 1.
Buyers who want to work through a specification sheet before travelling can send it through the enquiry form on this site. The same four lines — construction, screening, jacket, delivery format — apply whether the conversation happens at a stand in Pazhou or by email, and a supplier who has answered them in writing before the fair is a supplier worth the flight.
A broader set of buyer-facing guides on specification, termination and selection is collected in the resources section.