I thought the Borresons were one of the best rooms as well. I went into the Tekton room a couple times and wasn’t that impressed but it could have easily been the music that was playing.
Overall, I thought the rooms sounded better this year than last. There were only a few rooms that were truly terrible. I tend to give the exhibitors a lot of benefit of the doubt since I know how challenging it is to set up a non-optional room with only a day or two to get it dialed in.
I liked the Spatial X4s with Don Sach’s and Lynn Olsen’s new electronics, particularly given the reasonable price point compared to many rooms. But I do have a preference for open baffle designs.
The big Genesis speakers were a disappointment again this year, although I thought they sounded better than they did last year. But for the price ($680k I think), I would expect to be blown away.
This was my first audio show, so I don't have context, but I was prepared for room issues based on other people's experience. I guess I was surprised at how bad it actually was in some rooms.
The Tektons themselves were fine, what impressed me was the cartridge played through the Atma-Sphere Class D monoblocks. I particularly noticed how well resolving the chimes on the classical piece they were playing at the time (clear, and appropriately set back in the mix). All the while the piece itself had an appropriate sense of scale. I think you are right that the source itself was a big part of my experience there.
The Spatial room was definitely good, I spent a fair amount of time in there. The only other room I really enjoyed was the GoldenEar room with their new T66, but that's mostly because he played the Pixies for me which was a real departure from the Brubeck-fest that was happening everywhere else (I heard it in 4 different rooms within the span of 2 hours).
The Genesis was in some ways the most disappointing, mostly because they looked impressive but sounded meh. Actually I don't even like how they look, but I could tell a lot of effort was put into making them look expensive. I was also disappointed by the Triangle Art room, but I couldn't tell if that was the source since it sounded like they were playing vintage jazz recordings both times I went in. The first time I went in the speakers were calling attention to themselves with no center image, but the second time the image was straight down the middle (I assume it was a mono recording). Puzzling choices.
What I got out of the show was a sense of where I thought I should target my efforts with my system, and a sense that my current system of almost entirely DIY gear sounds pretty darn good all things considered. I also learned definitively that I am not a headphone guy after trying on several pairs of $1000+ cans. They just don't do it for me.
Back to the original question of this thread, I am partial to imaging and soundstage and the magic trick good speakers can perform. I also enjoy the attack and decay of percussion and guitar within the soundstage. Finally, you need to be able to crank it from time to time without it falling apart.
