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Overview
Attendance was about 5% better than last year, but where people
went was different. The traffic in our room was about 5 - 10%
greater than last year, but the flow of people was much more
steady. The number of people in the halls on atrium floors 4 and 5
was noticeably less than last year - and some rooms seemed to not
get very much traffic [reminds me of the 1st years. Maybe new
people are not able to find out how to get to those floors?].
This Show Report
149 rooms. Spending approximately 2/3 of my time in our own
exhibit room, the coverage is not as complete as we would have
wished. In particular I did not make it to the Hyatt where several
additional large rooms were located, I missed a couple of rooms on floor
11, a local dealer and friend of the family (Sound Science), and
perhaps others.
We also skipped those two or so rooms that do not
want their photos in our reports.
Next year we will skip rooms that a) video their
visitors [as opposed to their systems], b) those that berate Neli
about my inability to be all-knowing and all-seeing and/or for
having the gall to describe how their room was not The Best Room
Ever. Please email all such complaints to me at
mike@audiofederation.com
Unlike many other reporters, we do not require,
and in fact despise, ass-kissing and free-equipment in exchange
for fairy tales about how things sound - but, please, strive to be
polite.
During the show, I need to keep an eye on the
clock to be fair to the other rooms and if I sometimes appear to
be distracted, well, I am thinking about all the things left to do
and that I really need to get back to our exhibit room. Kevin and
Steve help out A LOT, but we get A LOT of people through our room,
and Neli likes me to help out once in a while ;-)
Having become very tired of all the long-winded,
hyperbolic, say-nothing, do-nothing B.S. inside and outside our
hobby, this year's report uses a style of short, clipped sentence
fragments, based on [a nice, sweet version of] the Rorschach
character,
The Watchman (Moore, Gibbons).
Different Kinds of Exhibitors
There are many different reasons for exhibiting at
a show. It is perhaps a mistake for show reporters and show goers
to lump them all together into the type of exhibit THEY want to
see. Incorrect expectations makes show reports seem even more
clueless and show goers unhappy.
Some of these reasons are:
-
To demonstrate state-of-the-art
quality
Typically comprised of statement components that work
well together. Excruciating care is paid to setup and sound. This
is what the large Audio Federation room has aimed for the last 3
years. Nobody else does this at RMAF (except perhaps Audio
Unlimited, this year, with the big JM Lab speakers and big
Clearaudio turntable, and maybe, maybe YG Acoustics when they
bring the big amps).
-
To demonstrate affordable
quality.
Typically comprised of components that hit a particular
price point. Sometimes cables are more expensive than rest of
system. Excruciating care is paid to setup and sound.
-
To debut new components
Typically a mishmash of components most of which may
not even be plugged in. Often little attention is paid to sound
and setup.
-
To sign up new dealers / a
distributor
Typically a mishmash of components most of which may
not even be plugged in. Often little attention is paid to sound
and setup.
-
To be seen
Typically a mishmash of components most of which may
not even be plugged in. Often little attention is paid to sound
and setup.
-
To satisfy desires of the
manufacturers who wants to be seen.
Typically components of manufacturer dominates the
room. Attention paid to sound and setup depends on exhibitor.
-
Demonstrate
an experimental system
Special category for Ray Kimber's rooms [and Lamm did a few rooms
with Karmeli and some very large horns].
So, if, say, I, do not like the sound in a room,
and little attention is paid to sound and setup, then
their reason for being at the show may not have anything to do
with the sound quality of their room. Everything makes sense
[except all the show reports who laud each and every room].
A New Online Magazine
We are publishing a new online high-end audio magazine in
hopefully a few
weeks. This as-yet-unnamed magazine will use new technology that will allow us to
do things other magazines and websites cannot. It will also be
innovative in other ways in an attempt to better serve
manufacturers and dealers on the one hand, and audiophiles on the
other.
Why a new magazine?
Oh, there are so many, many reasons. :-)
But the primary reason is that they are all so damn boring.
'Reviewers' focus way too much on regurgitating cookie-cutter
equipment reviews in order to get loaned more free equipment. Bo-ring.
Music reviews are written in a manner that has little to do with
the way audiophiles actually listen to music. Snore.
The other primary reason is that the relationship between
manufacturers/distributors/dealers and the magazines is like that
of lobbyists and politicians. It is inherently corrupting to both.
The result is that everybody distrusts and fears everybody else.
So, yeah, we gonna do things way different. We are going to
focus on the fun and excitement of being an audiophile - all those
reasons why we are doing all this crazy stuff in the first place.
And we are going to provide several ways for
manufacturers/distributors/dealers to get their message heard -
without having to compromise their sense of ethics or take out a
second mortgage.
To this end, then, ...
We are talking with several people about writing for the
magazine. If you are interested we would like to talk with you,
too. We are not looking for and will not accept [most] reviewers -
we will not even have traditional reviews, per se. We are looking
for people who are extremely honest and can express themselves, who can bang on a keyboard a little [the Grammar Police
have left the building], or use a video camera, or
snap a few photos and share their perspective on why being an
audiophile is so fucking intoxicating.
We are also accepting press releases, installation experiences,
overviews of technological innovations, design perspectives,
industry perspectives, biographies, factory tours etc. submitted
by manufacturers/distributors/dealers [preferably full-page, but
we will work with you], once per month, and will publish them for
free. We are looking for serious submissions, in addition to the
press releases, that respect the reader's intelligence - something
a reputable manufacturer/distributor/dealer would say to someone
in their store or factory. We will also accept traditional ads,
preferably full-page, but any size will work, for which we will
charge standard prices.
We are also looking for one or more sponsors. Perhaps someone
who wants to remind their readership
each month that they are proud sponsors of the magazine. Or
perhaps someone who wants to take more of an ownership stake. We will be contacting
some potential sponsors
directly, but if any of you
want to contribute to the audiophile community in this way, please
contact us as soon as is convenient.
For now, send email to me at:
mike@audiofederation.com
OK. Thanks for reading all that. More later on the blog. Now
back to the shew.
The Most Favorite Of Show (in no particular order)
Floor 10
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