I have been to the show several times.
I enjoyed the Coup Defoudre rooms on the 8th floor. In particular room 802 with the DeVore 9's, and retro looking Leben amps using a Clearaudio TT.
Defoudre also had a nice room in 830 with Avalon Acoustics speakers and VTl amps.
The Parasound amps with the Oracle turntable in 822 was a good combination. I enjoyed the PMC speakers for the first time in that room.
Herald Audio in room 722 had good atmosphere and sound. Perhaps a little too much bass due to the hybrid monoblocks that use 300B's for the treble and 400 watts solid state for the bottom end but still it was a good room. The $1300 dual mono pre-amp was nice.
My favorite sound of the show was the Rossner and Sohn amps and turntable in Salon Frechette (Niveau/Level A). It had it all.
Outside the room, Larry Denham from TTweights Audio was showing his high quality and affordable record clamps. Great demonstration, not sure if they would work with my Michell Gyro SE MK2 but I may try them.
Another good room had a SME turntable, Artemis Labs phono stage with Audio Research amps, I think it was 701. They also had the DCS Scarlatti, which I didn't care for.
I can see why people complain that there isn't a huge variety of manufacturers, etc, etc. but I had a good time. There were enough rooms that had it right to make the 2 1/2 hour drive each way worth it to me.
As is usually the case I left the show feeling that my own humble set-up isn't too bad!