RMAF was a lot of fun. The exhibit rooms were very crowded, but there was very interesting gear on display, and I enjoyed meeting people that I had only known through the AC forums. On Saturday, Dennis Murphy and I visited approximately 30 rooms, and Dennis' comments about the equipment and interaction with the manufacturers or representatives was very informative. There were a few rooms that we both liked a lot, particularly the Vandersteen room. The Vandy 7 are incredible, even in a little hotel room. They were set up well, and Richard had diffusion on the side walls and ceiling. I am sure that in a larger setting, the speakers would be incredible.
Dennis didn't come with me, but I liked the Avalon room. The room was large and fully treated, and the sound was great. The Salk/AVA room also sounded very, very good. The sound was clean and powerful, yet inviting. The room was among a tiny minority of rooms that I didn't feel like escaping from after a minute or two because of grainy, bright, harsh, overly warm, lacking range and definition, and/or bloated or boomy sound, primarily.
For me, the best part was meeting many Audio Circle members and discovering that they are even more like themselves offline than online, especially after moderate-to-excessive alcohol consumption. We had a lot of fun. The only time that I left the hotel all weekend was when Jim and Mary Salk, Dennis, Frank Van Alstine, Wayner, and I walked to a restaurant across the street from the hotel's parking lot for dinner on Saturday night.
If I had a compatible place, I would host a get-together, but my place is probably too small. If folks would like to get together, and if no one knows of a place, perhaps we could rent an inexpensive place for a day (such as a community center's room) and have a shoot out/food out, if there was interest.
