What were the best and worst rooms at RMAF 2009?

Lesson learned: instead of passing negative judgment on Friday, next time I need to arrive Sunday and leave Monday. Or perhaps vendors should arrive early and take more time for careful set-up.

Dgarretson, right you are. Friday is useful only to see what you need to come back to hear, to buy software, and to visit with old friends. It is dead on Sunday night, but there are a few of us still around.

Incidentally, this is true at CES also.

Norm, my feeling about underpowered amplification exactly. . . I felt that the Vandy 7 could have used the more powerful Ref 220s to shine. Guido

Tbg, I see your point, but it doesn't explain how many exhibitors manage to obtain great sound from the get-go on Friday. If "big" room showcase exhibitors take several days to sort things out, then they are failing the majority of attendees. And if the "true" sound of the show is available to just an exclusive few on the last night of the show, this accomplishes little for the industry or for the state of the art.

With respect to GamuT, any casual visitor walking into that auditorium-sized room on Friday would understand that speakers positioned 25' apart are challenged to produce minimally acceptable performance.

For me the treasure at these shows is off-piste in the small rooms.

Dgarretson, I did not visit the GamuT room until Sunday, but I don't believe any of the first floor or mezzanine rooms sounded at all good on Friday or even Saturday. Some never! The Acapella room, the YG room, and the Synergistic Research rooms were examples of what I am saying. I would concede that the YG room sounded better than I have ever heard YGs sound, but on Sunday they were much better.

You are suggesting that manufacturers are failing those that attend. I agree, but most can do very little about this as they cannot install until Thurs. and often the equipment has just been finished up for this show and even CES.

I have been to at least forty "shows" and have never heard any exception. I must say that this is only one of the problems, however. Lousy rooms are another. I remember that Quad 57s always sounded good as they did not overload their room and took very little time to breakin. So I entirely agree with your last sentence, but neither problem has a likely solution.