The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) annually marks the onset of several seasons: the pre-Christmas selling season; fall, in earnest; and for those in the industry, a warm-up to CES.
Compared to the trade-only CES in the manic, smoke-filled circus atmosphere of the Venetian in Las Vegas, RMAF is a more relaxed scene at the calmer, greener venue of the
Denver Marriott Tech Center. The open nature of the show means the attendees are both younger and less arrogant than your average, jaded CES-er.
And, oh: compared to CES, you'll see a lot more female attendees. In Vegas, most females seen are associated with exhibitors, and an unfortunate percentage of them are scantily-clad, and either hold signs or point at something. So much for equality in the industry.
But we digress. One female who's clearly in charge is the endlessly-patient Marjorie Baumert, whose show this is. As pretty much everyone knows, Marjorie's husband Al Stiefel was one of the show's organizers when he passed away unexpectedly. Marjorie took over the management of the show, juggling the unending stream of challenges with an uncommon charm and grace.
So we have a successful show that builds on its strengths from year to year. This seventh edition of RMAF will have exhibitors ranging all the way from Aaudio to Zu. We'll have the popular Can Jam area sponsored by Head-Fi, with a variety of exhibitors featuring headphones and portable gear. We'll have a variety of interesting seminars covering everything from computer audio to speaker design, featuring some of the best-known designers and writers in the business. For the cost of a freakin' audiophile CD--$25-- you can go all 3 days. If you're a student, you only pay half that. If there is a screaming deal to be found in audio today, this is it, friends.
And that doesn't even begin to address the variety of gear that'll be seen in the exhibits. Killer headphones and amps from Sennheiser and the infamous Schiit, amongst others; budget gear that doesn't sound at all budget from Virtue, Peachtree and Audioengine, among others. Speakers will range from the tiny Amphion Ion to monoliths from Wilson, YG, Magico and Tidal.
Horn speakers? There'll be examples from Oswalds Mill, Classic Audio and Horning, along with many others. Electrostats? King Sound.
You'll see more analog products that you would've in 1973. Turntables from Galibier, TT Weights,SOTA, VPI,Artemis Labs and many others. Tonearms from TriPlanar, Schroder, Durand, Thales, and more. Cartridges? Sound Smith, Miyajima, Dynavector, and lots more.
Cables? Ultralink, Cardas, Kimber, TelWire, JPS Labs and more. Digital? Wadia, EMM, MSB, the Memory Player and many others. Servers, streamers, every form of digital you can imagine.
Take a look at the full
exhibitor list, and you'll see the full array. See you this weekend!
SHOW HOURS:
Friday, Oct. 15 – noon to 6pm
Saturday, Oct. 16 – 9am to 6pm
Sunday, Oct. 17 – 9am to 4pm
