[dB Cooper]

Happened to drive by the venue on my way home and saw a Salk trailer (among others) hitched to big SUV's nearby. THIS THING IS HAPPENING. 

[Letitroll98]

I'm in DC on business and plan to be there on Friday. Looking forward to seeing/meeting you guys.

Laura

Hey Laura, how late are you staying on Friday?  I would assume you'd be catching a flight Friday afternoon if it's a business trip, but we'll be checking in about 9 pm and likely hitting the bar if you're around. 

[jarcher]

Was there today helping with set-up (and ran into Scottdazzle). 

Had dinner @ Mi Rancho & can confirm it was great : and not to brag too much, but having mexican family with a very successful mexican restaurant in Mexico, can confirm it's the real deal. I'd definitely go back. Cheap too.

Already have seen some exciting stuff @ Command Performance AV room + the VPI / Joseph Audio room next door.  Will be there bright & early w/ Scotty.  Look forward to seeing folks @ noon + hopefully meeting new MAAC guy elader some time during the weekend as well. 

[pelliott321]

I was working the show also helping a bunch of vendors move a ton of equipment in.  The hotel is much better than last year and just a couple of blocks from metro
Below is a shot of Legacy speakers setting up electronic xover to even out the room

[vinyl_guy]

Hey Laura, how late are you staying on Friday?  I would assume you'd be catching a flight Friday afternoon if it's a business trip, but we'll be checking in about 9 pm and likely hitting the bar if you're around.

I'm staying over until Saturday morning. I just need to make sure I leave in time Friday night to catch the last train back to my hotel in DC 

[dB Cooper]

Metro runs until the wee hours on weekends, wmata.com

[vinyl_guy]

Metro runs until the wee hours on weekends, wmata.com

Thanks

[jarcher]

I'm staying over until Saturday morning. I just need to make sure I leave in time Friday night to catch the last train back to my hotel in DC

I'd take a taxi - 15 minutes & 15 bucks tops.  Metro late at night is painfully infrequent and a lame way to end the night, unless you're hotel on the other end if very close to the stop.

[pelliott321]

we got over 200 participants so far today

[pelliott321]

meant to post these

[HAL]

Was able to get to the show for a short time today.  Did get to meet up with some of the MAAC members walking around.

Got to listen to a few rooms along the way and things were sounding very good for day one! 

Hope other folks get out to the CAF show and give a listen.

[dB Cooper]

First day impressions:
First, although you'd never know it from the flash photos above, the lighting in a lot of rooms needs to be "re-thunk". Soft lighting is one thing. In a venue with dark walls, it can be carried too far. The lighting in many rooms seems better suited to a "Haunted House" than to a trade show. I was afraid of tripping over somebody's garden-hose-sized interconnects in the dark. In one room, I almost pulled out my keychain flashlight so I could actually see the equipment. If you are a proprietor of such a room, consider aiming one of your mini floodlights straight up at the ceiling to provide a little ambient light.

Second, if you are showing Sennheiser HD800s, make sure the earpads aren't worn out, and replace them if they are. One pair I saw was totally flattened out; the other was well on its way. In fairness to Set #2's owner, however, they were there for demo, not marketing, purposes.  If you walked into a high-end car showroom, wouldn't it seem odd if the floor model was sitting on the rims? But it would give me pause if I was in the market for them. I mean, these bad boys are fifteen hundred bucks. A demo set in good condition might "sell" them better for you. (Any HD800 owners here had any probs with earpads flattening out?)

And sound: With the exception of the Salk and Philharmonic rooms, the speaker systems that "grabbed" me seemed to be mainly simpler two way designs (although, to be fair, I still need to "hear" a lot of rooms.) One major standout was exceptional value as well as exceptional sound: the Odyssey Lorelei. Go hear them. Joseph Audio is showing a nice pair of mini monitors also, although there was a lot of "crosstalk" between that room and the one next door, which benefitted neither. Speaking of the Philharmonic room, Van Alstine's new T9 preamp was really sining in there.

4WPC system in the Deja Vu (IIRC) Vintage room sounded surprisingly good.

Even though I am a long time audiophile,  I have little if any experience with planars, and I went to this show intending to hear every planar system I could. I think I succeeded and found my experience interesting. Some "conventional wisdoms" seemed to be confirmed and others "busted". "Busted" first: I had always heard that Quads were "fragile" and had "no bass." The ESL63s I heard were playing pretty loud and to my surprise had plenty of solidity in the bass. The other CW is that both speaker location and listener position are extremely critical. Sadly, this one seems to be true. Move a foot to one side and the image (which is glorious in the "sweet spot") deteriorates. Two feet and it's just gone. That means two people sitting on the same sofa can't hear pretty much the same thing. What they do well, they do very well, but I learned that planars are not for me. I already have a pair of speakers that sound great to only one person... They fit on my head and say 'HD650' on them.  I heard several systems including ribbon tweeters and planar mids that had the 'air' and 'speed' often cited as a big benefit of planars, and held a stable image over a much wider area. To each his own I suppose.

Looking forward to hearing others' impressions and observations, and to hearing more rooms tomorrow.

[vinyl_guy]

I spent the afternoon visiting a few rooms and seeing some old friends as well as meeting new ones. I enjoyed meeting Rollo, Triode Pete, jarcher, Gene and Tom. Great seeing P-man and hanging out with him, Gene and Harry.

The surprise highlight for me was seeing and visiting with Marjorie from RMAF. She is a great lady and I'm looking forward to my 9th straight RMAF.

Klaus, you continue to get great sound at an incredibly reasonable price. Much better than many higher price systems. Loved the Deep Purple you played.

I really enjoyed listening to Lou Hinkley's new book shelf speakers, the Daedalus Pan. If you have a smaller room or are in an apt/condo, you owe it to yourself to check out the Pan. Very impressive as were the ModWright electronics driving the speakers. Scott, it was great seeing you and listening to some rock with you.

Here's a pic of the main Daedalus/ModWright/Wywires room on the main floor. The Argos version 2 are spectacular. Beautiful sound, imaging, tone and a nice wide sweet spot with those offset tweeters. Listening convinced me to have the version 2 upgrade on my DA-1.1s. Lou and Dan, what do I need to do to convince you to add vinyl to your room at RMAF? 



My only complaint was way too much jazz being played in the rooms.  More turntables would have been nice too.

Gary, thanks for all your hard work and good luck with the show this weekend.

Laura

[mix4fix]

One major standout was exceptional value as well as exceptional sound: the Odyssey Lorelei. Go hear them.

I like the Odyssey room as well.

Joseph Audio is showing a nice pair of mini monitors also, although there was a lot of "crosstalk" between that room and the one next door, which benefitted neither.

Those Pulsars are now $8K a pair. Also, they didn't have the big brothers this year.

[Phil A]

Yes the Argos version 2 were really nice as were the Pans

[Phil A]

The Salks and Philharmoics looked nice.  Rooms were busy.  I'll have to get to them again Saturday or Sunday

[Phil A]

The Merrill Audio and Sanders room sounded good too

[Phil A]

SVS had a nice room with both multi-channel and 2-channel

[Phil A]

I got to hear one side of the Legacy room




but not the other

[Phil A]

Classic Audio Atma-Sphere