RMAF 2019 Official Thread

[PeterSt]

11 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I was in a few rooms where the motto was, “Ain’t no problem we can’t overcome with a little more volume.”

 

They were acquainted with my wife ?

[barrows]

13 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I was in a few rooms where the motto was, “Ain’t no problem we can’t overcome with a little more volume.”

 

 

I thought, for the small rooms (like Sonore's) the sound was pretty good,-certainly better than at the previous RMAF venue.  The higher ceiling really helped.  I did find that the room was very critical of volume level, plus or minus a dB or two could make all the difference.  And with that being the case, and with the wildly differing average levels of recordings, it was often challenging to always have the volume at an appropriate level. 

[barrows]

16 hours ago, Jud said:

 

We need more RMAF food recommendations.  🙂

I do not go to Denver very often, but along with Lola for coastal Mexican, I can recommend Jax in downtown Denver for fish, it is excellent.  (BTW, Jax and Lola share ownership...)

Of course being the west there are a bunch of steakhouses, but that is really not my thing...  

[chrille]

On 9/10/2019 at 3:44 AM, ray-dude said:

Because no RMAF trip is complete without a trip to the mountains, absolutely GLORIOUS day at Maroon Bells today!

 

 

Very nice shot!

 And good  composition with the reflections in the water.

Makes me regret I sold my motorhome in Canada.

The Rockies both in the USA and Canada are wonderful in September October.

But I guess you shot it on an iPhone or similar?

With  lack of resolution and a bit short depth of field, showing a bit especially when magnified.

And what's that grey area in the bottom  left corner?

 A bit like a dac  without the HMS.

Nothing new from Chord  at RMAF I guess?

Cheers Chrille

[rando]

@chrille he partially covered the lens field of view with a fing... I mean that sure looks like he stepped on the bank there and just caught the sediment in frame.

[ted_b]

It was a pleasure seeing audio friends at RMAF last week (my no.1 goal for any audio show).  Meeting Jud, a long-time audio buddy, for the first time, was especially nice!  And seeing Todd Garfinkle, Chris, Vinnie Rossi, Chebon (Mytek), and several others is always a pleasure.  It's nice to stay in touch, even if it's only every six months or so.

 

As I told Marjorie in the hall on Friday morning, I think the new venue (now 30 min and a toll road from my new residence in Parker, as opposed to 12 min up I-25 to the former RMAF site) brought many positives and only a few negatives.  Yes, the parking fees sucked (Marjorie was nice enough to give us a free pass ) and the layout (an average of 6 rooms per floor on a 30 room floor) was a bit problematic, but then again the crowds were VERY manageable (on Friday), the rooms sounded much better than the Marriott's, and the overall Gaylord resort was a cleaner, more up-to-date venue than previous RMAFs could ever be.  I'd have made the convention center level 3  "you are here" maps a little more friendly, and would have attempted to allow pre-registration to mean something (waiting in same long line as new tickets seemed unproductive on Friday morn).

 

My favorite rooms, in absolutely random order, included Wharfedale, Klipsch, Vinnie Rossi, ELAC, ATC and Prana.  There were very few ear-bleeding rooms, although Nola, Raidho and Wilson were quite forgettable.

 

Yes, this RMAF was quite small in comparison to the ever-growing Axpona, to previous RMAFs, etc.  But I think the new location can be ironed out and be a great new home for an always-wonderful Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in my new home town.

[barrows]

Hey Ted, sorry to have not seen you at RMAF.  I mostly agree with your assessment of the new venue.  From an exhibitor's perspective it is quite a bit more expensive, and that, along with some uncertainty about the new venue, probably caused some exhibitors to take a wait and see approach.  I suspect that the show will grow pretty quickly for next year.

The extra day for press and dealers was a total failure.  There was almost no one at the show, and every exhibitor I talked with expressed the same experience.  Considering the additional expense to exhibitors of an additional day, I suspect that this will be eliminated for next year.  Perhaps Friday morning until noon could be reserved for industry...

 

The good news is that the rooms, especially the small rooms, sound quality was much, much better the in the old location.

[ted_b]

Barrows,

Yes, sorry, somehow we never got over to see you.  I ran into Andrew in the headphone room but that was about it.   Saw Jason andTyson (Audio Circle guys) at lunch, and Mike Garner at the registration line, so ran into a few old Denver audio buddies, but missed seeing you. 

 

Yes, Todd (MA Recordings) said he had zero visitors on trade day, and that it was a complete failure.  Agree on all other points, too.  I'm hoping I can get Jared to co-sponsor a multichannel room with George (exaSound) next year (and Axpona too).

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, ted_b said:

...and the layout (an average of 6 rooms per floor on a 30 room floor) was a bit problematic...

 

Hi Ted.

Whoa, were the exhibit rooms really located on 30 different floors?! That seems nuts...

[NOMBEDES]

On 9/6/2019 at 3:44 AM, firedog said:

And those in the picture are not the big model, correct. 

 

 

 

PS has not built the big model yet.  I think it is still in development.  

[NOMBEDES]

On 9/6/2019 at 12:36 PM, AudioDoctor said:

I bet those Pearl 3's are sounding amazing!

 

 

I would give my left nut (which is not doing me much good anyway) for the Pearl 3.  I have the Floorstander Perspectives and they are great.  

[ted_b]

15 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Hi Ted.

Whoa, were the exhibit rooms really located on 30 different floors?! That seems nuts...

No, each floor (3 thru 11) had approx 30 hotel rooms per floor...but only an average of 6 of them were taken by audio exhibitors.

[Kimo]

On 9/9/2019 at 6:47 PM, barrows said:

We ventured out to the Cardas cocktail party Friday night, and a Thai dinner, and then I made sure we went to one of my favorite restaurants in the Highlands, Lola Coastal Mexican when my GF arrived Saturday evening.  The food in the Gaylord (Hotel) was OK, but in Denver one can do much better if one is willing to drive for a bit (or Uber/Lyft).  Being a semi local helps on picking places of course.

Then of course, after takedown, Misti and I went to the Paramount Theater for an incredible concert by King Crimson last night, AMAZING!

 

 

 

 

This is fake news.  I have never seen a female person happy and excited about attending a King Crimson concert.  Maybe, it is just a miracle.  

[barrows]

14 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

 

This is fake news.  I have never seen a female person happy and excited about attending a King Crimson concert.  Maybe, it is just a miracle.  

Hahaha!  She was ecstatic, and has seen KC before also.  She is a working musician.  We both had copious tears streaming down our faces and dripping off our chins during "Epitaph"!

I am very lucky...

[barrows]

One other thing about the gaylord, there was never a wait for the elevators, there are many of them, and they are very fast, so there was no need to use the stairs.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, NOMBEDES said:

 

 

I would give my left nut (which is not doing me much good anyway) for the Pearl 3.  I have the Floorstander Perspectives and they are great.  

 

I have heard the Pearl 3s. If I ever wanted to spend that much money on a speaker they would be right at the top of the list, that's for sure.

[ted_b]

46 minutes ago, ted_b said:

No, each floor (3 thru 11) had approx 30 hotel rooms per floor...but only an average of 6 of them were taken by audio exhibitors.

Actually about 60 rooms per floor.  Here is a worst case example (floor 5)

 

[botrytis]

Well, RMAF is very costly for exhibitors and keeps going up. I know some shops that went to that show and stopped because it just too costly.

[stuck limo]

Out of curiosity, what was the average age of the attendees? Darko is crowing on his site about the average age of the attendees going "down" but I'm looking through RMAF footage and I'm seeing like age 40s on up, generally speaking.

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 hours ago, ted_b said:

Actually about 60 rooms per floor.  Here is a worst case example (floor 5)

 

I loved it that there were only a few rooms per floor that had audio. This made the halls quiet and pretty empty. Perfect for listening. 

[barrows]

51 minutes ago, LHCommSquad said:

Out of curiosity, what was the average age of the attendees? Darko is crowing on his site about the average age of the attendees going "down" but I'm looking through RMAF footage and I'm seeing like age 40s on up, generally speaking.

While I do not know the average age, I have attended RMAF for at least the last 12 years or so, and indeed in the last few years I have seen more and more younger folks attending.  I am talking 35 and under types.  While for sure there are more folks over 40 than under, the increase in younger people is encouraging, and RMAF has a special section for affordable audio, and of course the headphone exhibits as well.

[barrows]

5 hours ago, botrytis said:

Well, RMAF is very costly for exhibitors and keeps going up. I know some shops that went to that show and stopped because it just too costly.

True, but it still way more affordable than CES used to be, or Munich is for US based companies.  I have not priced it out, but I would also expect RMAF to be more affordable than Axpona in Chicago, just considering the the relative expense of the two cities for hotels, food, transportation, etc.

As the so called Industry Day on Thursday was a bust for every Exhibitor I talked to, I would hope RMAF will go back to being a 3 day show again.  It appeared to me that no press showed up on Thursday at all.  One less day for exhibitors would save considerable expense.

Sonore attends RMAF as our single show, partly because I am local to the event, and we can save quite a bit of money by my being able to hand deliver most of our equipment to the site, and I can attend without any airfare as well.

 

I am really happy about the new venue, as the possibility for good sound quality in this hotel is much greater than at the previous venue.

[stuck limo]

26 minutes ago, barrows said:

While I do not know the average age, I have attended RMAF for at least the last 12 years or so, and indeed in the last few years I have seen more and more younger folks attending.  I am talking 35 and under types.  While for sure there are more folks over 40 than under, the increase in younger people is encouraging, and RMAF has a special section for affordable audio, and of course the headphone exhibits as well.

 

Good to note. Does anyone know the deal with CanJam NOT being held there this year? I was thinking about going this year but when I heard CanJam was not going to be an attraction, I decided to save my energy and resources. 

[ted_b]

Canjam was basically renamed to Headspace and was located on level 3 of the convention center.  It was smaller than previous Canjams, but 40 dedicated headphone vendors in a large ballroom nonetheless.

[botrytis]

On 9/12/2019 at 10:12 PM, barrows said:

True, but it still way more affordable than CES used to be, or Munich is for US based companies.  I have not priced it out, but I would also expect RMAF to be more affordable than Axpona in Chicago, just considering the the relative expense of the two cities for hotels, food, transportation, etc.

As the so called Industry Day on Thursday was a bust for every Exhibitor I talked to, I would hope RMAF will go back to being a 3 day show again.  It appeared to me that no press showed up on Thursday at all.  One less day for exhibitors would save considerable expense.

Sonore attends RMAF as our single show, partly because I am local to the event, and we can save quite a bit of money by my being able to hand deliver most of our equipment to the site, and I can attend without any airfare as well.

 

I am really happy about the new venue, as the possibility for good sound quality in this hotel is much greater than at the previous venue.

 

CES is dead for audio. So, I would not even worry about that show.

 

In talking with a friend, who owns a store (A Wilson dealer), and used to exhibit at RMAF, the expense there is killing the exhibitors. It is double the price of AXPONA.