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California Audio Show-why I hate audio conventions

I decided to check out the California Audio show today-
had one particular room i really wanted to listen toand was the main reason I drove to the show, as in past shows their rooms have always sounded great. I thought to myself, if their room sounded good again, I really have to consider buying a pair of their speakers.

I went into the room, and saw the owner whom I have met and bought from many years ago when he had a small retail shop. His room was empty, so I figured it was a great chance to play my own CD I brought. I asked if it was ok to play my CD, he said yes, and took out the Diana Krall CD and threw mine in-

My CD played for no more than 1 minute, and he came back into the room and put the Krall CD back in----The CD i wanted to play was a track of the Kate Bush Aeriel CD, not some gothic death metal -I guess as in my past experience, all too many exhibiters seem to want to demo their gear with music they prefer, not what the public may be interested in. While I understand, you want to play what may make your gear sound best, but in my specific case and I suppose others, I do not choose what I buy based on whether it sounds good playing Diana Krall tracks.

This gets me to my point, all too many shows I have been to, the manufacturers play the same CDs, the same genre of music over and over----It is like each show is Co-Sponsered by Diana Krall. ---While I own her entire catalog, there is more to music than hers---you would never get that from the shows I have been to.

The show itself in all seriousness was worth going if any of you are in the area--

Some standout rooms were the Music Lovers Audio of Berkeley room --the Wilson Watt/Spectral one in particular. They played both CDs/and LPs and they actually played a nice mix of music---while I was there, older Santana on LP, and Talking Heads on CD-

the Electrocompaniet room was also nice sounding.
128x128justlisten
bizango1
276 posts
 
Justlisten, I've had similar experiences at dealers. For demo purposes some of the CD's I take along are very poor sound quality and the dealers hate it when I play them. I don't do it to make their systems sound bad, it's just that some music that is essential to me happens to sound terrible and I need to see how their equipment handles it because there's no better sounding version of it. A dealer one day told me it was okay but asked that I change it if another customer came in. My own system is set up for a decent balance between revealing and forgiving so I can enjoy most of the music most of the time and is compromised in some ways but I like it.
If I was a seller at a show I'd play slam-dunk stuff too but as a buyer like you it's a different story.
shay123
72 posts
 
I hate Diana Kralls music. I like the way she looks though. Im sure that sells a lot of albums.
thedautch
329 posts
 
@Shay: +1
emoonie
20 posts
 
A huge thank you to Constantine and all the vendors who showed. I have to second the opinion that this was the best show for me also. It was very possible to end up in a sweet spot seat so necessary for giving many setups a fair shake. Vendors were MUCH more easily approachable with less pressure that what you discussed had to be condensed. Even fellow attendees seemed to have their guards lowered in interacting with each other. Two of the most enjoyable low pressure days of listening to cool sounds. By far more rooms "did it" for me than didn't. That's never been the case. Long live California Audio Show!
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
ar ces you can play anything you want in 90 + % of the rooms.

it is difficult to deduce the motivation of the exhibitor.
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