[dB Cooper]

I actually based how I approached CAF this summer on an idea I got from Pez and Tyson- picking out very short tracks or very short excerpts from longer tracks. That way nobody gets bored listening to something that only I might find interesting anyway. I did have a few full length tracks that I got played on day one when the show was less "populated" but if someone came in, I'd offer to let the vendor "off the hook". (Going back thru the thread, I notice Don_S did much the same- tip o' the hat, Don.) Actually, I've discovered new music from letting others play their picks- at CAF I discovered "Beyond the Missouri Sky" by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny- a vendor brought it. So if I "insisted" on "my music", I might have missed out.

So it has been very enlightening to see the discourse here and very positive to have both showgoers and vendors participating.

[standub]

Why are people doing it? I don't have an answer that doesn't involve profanity about bestiality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ovXnZcb_A

[mal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ovXnZcb_A

Still one of my favorite movies.

[DEV]

Here are some thoughts for guys exhibiting in the CANJAM area;

I feel this is the fastest growing area within audio, I came to this section with my AK240 with intentions to hear different cables specifically along with cans and IE's - sure were allot of nice IE's and would have liked to have compared but ..

Some of us want to keep it simple and only use one device for portability reason but looking for options to improve.

1. Being able to compare IE's, sorry I'm not putting ones my ear that so many others have.

Should have someone cleaning the pads which are almost all removable and actual ear pce with a disinfectant, hygienically speaking. I can almost guarantee if I liked I would have purchased.

2. connection availability

I was disappointed that hardly any venders were prepared and had adapters, pretty simple to have from 1/4" to say 3.5 connection and 2.5 connection. I was wanting to hear my dap vs 3.5 - 2.5 connection and compare with different ear pces.

I was able to purchase one pair of Silver Dragon cables with a 2.5 connection from Moon Audio for my Shure SE846's but was looking for my Sennheiser HD800's but had to place order for the Black Dragon V2's - that was disappointing and didn't make any sense to me not to have at the show.

Using the 2.5 bal section of the AK240 provides more head room, hence more can possibilities.

I noticed most source units being provided had limited music selection on them along with how they were ripped, should be loaded with a variety for users if this is what they are going to use.

I did end up purchasing a pair of beyerdynamic's T5p's and sound marvelous with my AK240.

[mojave]

I'm not a vendor, but I coordinated the JRiver Media Center/JTR Speakers room. My day job is working as the office manager and network administrator for a small construction company. I attended RMAF once in 2009 and have never been to another audio show. Here are some thoughts from the show:

• I've always heard how hard it is to get good sound in the room. I guess others have a different methodology or priorities than me. I'm a big fan of room treatments and brought a trailer full of GIK Acoustics stuff (18 panels, traps, diffusors). Room measurements, tape measure, and laser were used for positioning of treatments,  speakers, and chairs. We took 21 measurements, added some 64-bit parametric EQ filters, took another 21 measurements, added/changed/deleted a few filters, listened to a variety of music to confirm final settings and positioning. Once setup on Thursday, no changes were made for the duration of the show.
• The nice thing about hotel rooms is the lossy nature of their construction. The windows/walls/floors/ceilings are all lossy and can really help reduce bass resonances and improve decay times. Measurements in our room showed no ringing below 30 Hz. The speakers were flat to 15 Hz before EQ. We experimented with a few bass curves and decided upon a 6 db rise from 100 Hz to 30 Hz with it tapering off to flat below that. Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem should have the upright bass notes sound similar throughout the seating area at various listening volumes. The bass notes have the following progression:  49  62  73  65  82  98  73  93  110Hz.
• I brought all my own gear except speakers and the 50" plasma monitor and didn't mind anyone touching it. I guess it helps that I have 5 kids from 10 months to 14 years. 
• Tommy O'Brien of Digital Amp Company had sent me some of his new Maraschino amps. I would only guarantee that they would be visible at the show since I hadn't tried them with the speakers. I had used my Cherry Plus Monoblocks with the 215RT speakers back in June and they worked and sounded great. I like lots of power, but using the Maraschino's is only 3 dB less headroom since they are 400 watts per channel. I ended up deciding to use them for RMAF and had my personal pair of amps sitting to the side of the room.
• Not a single person asked about the speakers cables (Realty Cables) or interconnects (Mogami Gold). There were a variety of questions about the other gear in the room.
• We tried to field any JRiver questions out in the hall and leave the room for listening. Sorry if a JRiver discussion was done in the room.
• It seemed like the Nola room up the hall played Hotel California and The Pink Panther on repeat for the show.
• Someone didn't come in the room because we had "video".
• Besides Tyson and Pez, only three others brought CD's and 2 brought USB flash drives. We played whatever they wanted for as long as they wanted.
• We had to "invite" people to sit in the sweet spot chairs. Most felt more comfortable sitting in the outer chairs.
• Someone thought the room treatments were surround speakers. 
• We let people listen several ways:
  1.  We had a select playlist of high quality CD, DSD, Blu-ray concerts and high resolution files and we picked the songs.
  2.  We took requests from the playlist based on artist, type (male vocal, orchestral, electronic), etc.
  3.  We let people browse either the playlist or other songs on an Android phone, iPad, or Mac laptop.
  4.  We let people bring their own music.
  Most people chose Option 1. "We like what you are playing."
• A number of other exhibitors stopped by to say "Hi." I was able to visit some rooms for about 30 minutes on Saturday and 30 minutes on Sunday.
• I brought 6 lbs of chocolate meltaways from Bakers Candies in Nebraska. 5 lbs were consumed during the show.
• We were probably the only room used for movie viewing. We watched the Act of Valor Blu-ray on Friday night after eating at Fogo de Chão. I hope the LFE didn't bother anyone.
• I can't listen to my system until I set it all back up again.  I didn't get home until 11 pm last night.

[jtwrace]

I'm really    I missed the Chocolate. 

[J-Pak]

Corollary to the point about letting people listen to their own music:

If you let someone listen to their own track, don't just switch to something else randomly in the middle of the track!  This happened to me quite often at RMAF this year.  There were one or two tracks that I wanted to hear in the rooms I was most interested in, and each of these tracks started slow and built over time.  They were often just about to get to the point that would really test the system when the vendor would just switch back to their own music.

I'm not saying vendors can never switch back - if a bunch of new people come into the room or something, I don't know.  But they should at least have the respect to ask the attendee that requested and is listening carefully to this track they care about if it's alright to switch back due to this or that.  It's no use to allow people to request music on your system if you're not willing to go all the way and let them hear their stuff.  Realize there will be some awful (to you, and probably other show-goers) music that is requested.  And it may sound like shit on your system.  But as Pez articulated quite well, that's should be fine, and is sometimes intentional on the part of the show-goer to see how the system sounds with shittily-recorded music. 

I, for one, would be fine with you telling others in the room that this was a request of an attendee, and that you'll be switching to something else shortly.  Hell, bring a sign that says "attendee-requested song" or something like that, so that when someone new walks into the room they know what's going on in there, and that you'll be cueing something else up shortly if they don't like what they hear.

I have several jazz and classical favorite tracks that do the same thing. What I did was edit out the "intros" or sections I wasn't interested in, in Audacity, exported as WAV and burned just those snippets to a CDR.

One of my favorite Coltrane tunes has a long bass solo by Jimmy Garrison, it was a bit awkward making people sit through that before the rest of the band comes in 

edit: I see others have made a similar suggestion

[leif8660]

Pez.........will you stop by room 8002 so I can meet you this time lol

[leif8660]

I agree with most of the comments here but I think it is unrealistic to think that each room should have the ability to play any music in any format that people show up with.  I would expect every room to have the ability to play CDs.  The popularity of vinyl with the audio show crowd would suggest to vendors that they have a turntable setup too.  And it doesn't have to be a $100k TT.  Beyond that, people are expecting too much from these people.

If they don't let you play your own music then they should expect people to be disinterested in their products.

I'm a little nervous putting thumb drives in my music server after having it wiped out by a virus after a show.