[jrebman]

Yup, another great one.  This one somehow seemed more relaxed than in past years though.  More courtesy, more patience, less SOB factor (though not entirely absent) and great folks from AC.  I very much enjoyed meeting and hanging out with lone wolf, top round, FredT300B, Alan Kafton, Richidoo, carlman, double ugly, a brief hello to Zybar, deadfish and a few others, hooking up with vendors like Wayne, Bill O'Connell, Hugh, Dave Ellis, Mike Dzerko, Brian Pape, Dave Schultz, Lou Hinckley, and probably a bunch of others that I'm just totally spacing on at the moment.

Very sorry I missed daygloworange, Danny, BRJ, Mike Galusha, TedB, Dan Wright, the crew at AV123 and more, but my stamina is limited and I did the best I could.  I didn't get to hear anywhere near enough systems, and most of what I heard was at the very least, "interesting".  As somebody said, price was not a factor in listenability and listenibng satisfaction.

My wife, who was at the show with me last year noticed a few other interesting thing about the demographics -- all of which seem to bode well for the future of our somewhat obscure hobby/profession:

1.) There were more women -- not just wives tagging along, but women as customers.

2) there were more people of color.

3.) there were more people in their early 30s

So, nice to have met those who I did, hopefully next year (or sooner for the locals) for the others, and the new ones that I don't even know of yet.  We really need at least another full day for this thing.

-- Jim

[RodMCV]

Does anyone know attendance compared with last year?

Did seem really busy on Friday and more room in halls and rooms on Sat and Sun.
Friday night met The Man Chris- thanks for the discs, they got plenty of SP tech Rev III run in.Now I know what the wolf looks like.

I really enjoyed the Vinyl table set up review seminar with Roy Gregory and the Hi-def sound with John Atkinson.

I agree the 2.5 days go so fast, sacrifice seeing one thing for another.

I was able to spend Saturday night at reefrus(Steve's) house relishing in the sounds of the SP TECH Revelation Mark III and rubbing elbows with many circle fortunate sons. That night seemed to last forever ,my mind swirlling to find more old favorites to re-experience in the SP-TECH way.
Deep organ music, string bass, complex orchestral, solo female opera, Techno punk(thanks Steve , its a whole new world)the sound continued to be Magnificent.


And I missed other social fun I'm sure to my loss.

Funny how on Friday it seems to be so much time and then BAM
it's Sunday night and the rooms are packing up.

Well there's always next year!

Rod

[BradJudy]

Does anyone know attendance compared with last year?

Sometime during the show I was told that pre-show registration was 3x greater than last year, but I don't know if that is accurate.  Nor do I know what the total attendance was. 

[SMc Audio]

Note to Carl...

Thanks for stopping by the SMc Audio / Audience room - I enjoyed meeting you, as well.  Sorry the sound didn't work out for you but... it is what it is.  I got a late start on show preparation, so I was happy to find someone local to me (Audience) to share a room with.  It would have been nice to have my own room, but I will have to grow a bit before that will be an option.  The Audience folks brought both a small and a large version of their full-range, crossover-less speakers, and we ran the small ones on the first day.  I thought they worked pretty well in our small room, but they had put so much last-minute effort into the bigger arrays that they really wanted to show them.  Anyway, I was happy to get some exposure for the new preamp after busting my ass on it for the past 3 years.  I hope you will get a listen to it in your own system one of these days.  And I have to say that I enjoyed the show, even if I didn't get to see much of it (the exhibitors traditional curse).  I will look forward to doing it again next year.

Cheers!

Steve McCormack, designer
SMc Audio

[zybar]

Note to Carl...

Thanks for stopping by the SMc Audio / Audience room - I enjoyed meeting you, as well.  Sorry the sound didn't work out for you but... it is what it is.  I got a late start on show preparation, so I was happy to find someone local to me (Audience) to share a room with.  It would have been nice to have my own room, but I will have to grow a bit before that will be an option.  The Audience folks brought both a small and a large version of their full-range, crossover-less speakers, and we ran the small ones on the first day.  I thought they worked pretty well in our small room, but they had put so much last-minute effort into the bigger arrays that they really wanted to show them.  Anyway, I was happy to get some exposure for the new preamp after busting my ass on it for the past 3 years.  I hope you will get a listen to it in your own system one of these days.  And I have to say that I enjoyed the show, even if I didn't get to see much of it (the exhibitors traditional curse).  I will look forward to doing it again next year.

Cheers!

Steve McCormack, designer
SMc Audio

Steve,

It was nice finally meeting you in person after our phone and e-mail exchanges. 

While it was basically impossible for me to say what your preamp was doing in a totally unfamiliar system, I can say it was well made and has a lot of great functionality packed in there.  If it is as good or better than the DNA amps you designed, you will certainly have a hit on your hands.

Best of luck with the new preamp and future products.

George

[AB]

Worst of show (probably for me only) goes to McIntosh.  I know the gear well, I own it and have friends that own more of it.  It sounded a bit harsh with no imaging.  The rep 'Ron' was a cocky SOB... who mocked my music throughout the 10 seconds he let it play... and I got the impression he was ready to say, 'scram kid, I got real customers here'.... That experience annoyed me to the point I wanted to ditch my McSystem.  I don't think he/they want to target my demographic at all.  That was the only 'audio snobbery' I ran into at the whole show... So, it really stood out... plus it was one I was excited to see, it was the first room I went to, etc... So, I was surprised... but I regrouped, got coffee, breakfast, then went on to have a supremely nice day and night.

My photos are here...
-Carl

Carl, Was your Mcintosh experience in the room with the Aerial 20Ts?

If I remember correctly there were at least a couple of rooms with McIntosh gear.

Just curious is all...

[lonewolfny42]

RodMCV....

Funny how on Friday it seems to be so much time and then BAM
it's Sunday night and the rooms are packing up.

Yes....how true.....just goes SO FAST.....

[Imperial]

"How many have you sold ?"

"Ah.....none"

Are they a good buy at $44,000.00 a pair.....guess not.

I'd buy a pair in a heartbeat ... then there is the price of admission 
I like the look of these behemoths.
  So where did I put those 44.000 ... Uhm... over there? No... Blast!

As an avid tubelover... And a lover of unusual design! I love the look of these amps.
I wonder how long the tubes will last...

And double rectifiers  aa, I believe the designer has up to 4 rectifiers in some of his designs (Cy Brenneman)

Imperial

[Mike B.]

I took a look at the exhibitor list and there are many more main stream manufactures showing this year. Is anyone concerned that this is a bad direction for the show? I think the initial idea was to offer a show for the smaller companies?

[bpape]

I don't think it's bad at all.  I think it's a great way for people to hear what some of the smaller companies are doing in comparison to the larger ones.  From the little I heard this and last year, many of the bigger high end companies rooms didn't sound all that great.

Also, if it gets more people to come listen because there are some names that they recognize, again, it's a good thing.

Bryan

[Brian Walsh]

I took a look at the exhibitor list and there are many more main stream manufactures showing this year. Is anyone concerned that this is a bad direction for the show? I think the initial idea was to offer a show for the smaller companies?

Hi Mike,
No, I'd say it means the larger manufacturers are realizing RMAF is an important show. This will become increasingly apparent since I understand that Stereophile is not holding a show in 2008.

[Mike B.]

Hi Brian,
Any chance this show will eventually overshadow the high end part of CES? I don't particularly have anything good to say about Vegas.

[kyrill]

any news on the new Aspen Soraya amp?