A few final comments from the show.
The plane ride home was awful. I needed 2 flights to get home to Tucson because I wanted to be able to stay the full morning if I could at the show.
Security lines in Seattle are horrible. I got to the airport a good 3 and 1/2 hours before my flight because of the 12 noon checkout time and the lines would horrify Disneyland. You snake up and down and think you've made it to the end only to go to the other side and snake around again. Over an hour in these lines moving slowly. I, at least, didn't have to worry about missing my flight. I overheard a lot of people who were going to miss their flights. The one good thing was that hotel was an easy walk from the airport and walk back.
My flight from Seattle to Phoenix was a bit late but not too bad and I was supposed to have a two hour layover in Phoenix. I kept getting messages from the carrier that my flight was delayed and moved to different places. Phoenix is great (sarcastic great) because you have to leave the terminal and go out of security to get to another terminal which means you have to go through security again. Fortunately, it was almost empty at the time of night I got there. But the terminals are big and the gate B7 had a sign saying that the gate had been changed to A9. That was a 20 minute walk to gate A9 only to find a sign there saying the gate was moved back to B7. So while I was walking, a lot of restaurants closed. Drag. I was supposed to get to Tucson at 9:49 and instead got to the airport at 12:10 am the next day. I could have driven from Phoenix to Tucson 4 times over (about an hour and 15 minutes) for the length of time I waited. I told my wife, no more traveling for me.
The room set ups were all different. Sometimes they didn't do a good job. The Cabasse speakers I liked so much on Saturday were having a lot of trouble with bass on Sunday. Also, I've noticed that the music played for the speakers is deliberately sparse and not complicated. Once I got to request music, the speakers struggled with my selections. I listen to indie/alternative music which is raucous and sometimes trebly and speakers can struggle to make that sound coherent and good. The Cabasse speakers really came down to earth with my selections. They want to play things like ACDC "Back in Black" which is sparse with guitar hits and stops or things with strange sounds over sparse accompaniment.
In the Spatial Room with the Q6s, they were happy to play any type of music, classical, blues, or rock though they were limited to downloaded files so they couldn't take requests other than what they had. Once again, I really liked those Q6s.
The schedule wasn't that great for me. The show shut down about 5 pm and then didn't start up again until 10 in the morning. I found a good breakfast place about a half mile walk away but I was getting up about 6 so I was down with breakfast abut 7:30 so had to pass the time until 10. Plus, I swear I always made wrong turns on this crazy hotel layout.
Spatial with the X4 Ultras played some Malia and Boris Blank (the man who wrote the music for Yello) which is right in line with type of music that these companies play to show off their systems. It's a mix of electronica, jazz and blues. They played other stuff including a request from me.
I heard several systems with turntables and heard all sorts of crackle and pops with the records. I really didn't know what high end systems would sound like. I guess I thought that these expensive TTs would eliminate those noises. Made me feel a bit better about my set up.
So this crosses off something I haven't done before though I'm not sure if I will ever seek out another show.
