Tampa Audio Expo 2022

I thought it was me as I walked into a room only to walk right out as there was no reason to listen further. That bad, 

I was shocked that there were 3-4 rooms per floor so maybe 40 rooms total for this show. 

VAC seemed to be represented the most as they were in 5-6 rooms. 

The MBL room was interesting but would be cheaper to get a mortgage for a ocean front property than the asking price of those speakers and amps.

That’s pretty concerning when such a high percent of supposedly “special gear” fails the test. Someone may be a bit out of touch with things.  Why even bother?

For the amount of money that most of these rooms had invested in their equipment that sounded pretty bad, 2 rooms for me stood out that weren't that expensive: the Black Ice room and the room with creek gear. This was the best sounding Creek gear I ever heard, the downside was they were hooked up to $100k speakers that were just decent. For $100k, there are much better speakers at that price level or many times less IMO: Von Schweikert, Wilson, Usher, Revel, Raidho, Magico, etc....

I heard a rumor during the show that RMAF will be coming back later this year. If so, that would be good to go to. 

Gershman  Acoustics I believe on 12th floor I was impressed with 

When I asked the owner how much for their monitors I was taken back at the price. I literall]y asked how are you making any money? They were extremely nice couple (man and wife) and you could feel they lived and breathed this business. 

Another room was Infigo Audio out of Canada. They had amps and a DAC and it was impressive. Very knowledgeable gentleman. Hans was his name. I remember as he was very personable. 

I struck up a very interesting conversation with Volti Audio with horn tweeter and nice looking audio stands. I point blank asked him there is no way you are going through distribution at this price point and he confirmed they were market direct. 

The passion from these three stood out and funny enough their rooms did also. 

I look for the good in things. so even though the show was nor CES or RMAF I took it for what it was and utilized my time there.

I was mesmerized by the Volti Audio Rival II Horn speakers. That SET amp and those horns were wonderful sounding. I think the little DAC was also quite impressive.

The other speaker that left an impression on me were the granite Acora speakers. I walked into that great Hall and saw these two diminutive granite towers that just didn’t seem to go with the great sound filling this giant space. I went back that evening to hear a talk about the 24 Channel mix tape of Bohemian Rhapsody and marveled even more at the bass these speakers can deliver. The Mastering Engineer presentation was interesting and informative as well.