A few systems heard at the Rocky Mntn. audiofest

Why let the music chase you away?

I don't get it, are you there to listen to music and hear systems and components or dump on other peoples' musical tastes?

There's a good chance that the music playing was a request from a visitor to the room, who happens to like that type of music. The exhibitor will politely let the visitor play a song, and if the music was, um, less than pleasant to the ears, it will go off quickly and the system is open for the next song.

Chances also are that the exhibitor will welcome your request.

In otherwords, don't sh*tcan the room because you heard a song that YOU personally do not like. Another person might roll their eyes at YOUR selection, but that's no reason to reject the exhibit room.

You're also the loser because you didn't have the patience and tolerance to wait it out for a couple of minutes. You may have missed a great system!

I agree with Golden ears.

Golden ears and Plelko,

Respectfully, I must disagree with your assumption. I did bother to sit and listen in many rooms and wasn't given an opportunity to choose the software. I'm not sure what these folks were trying to accomplish except showcase some sonic attributes of their gear but they were not playing music. My impression is that many vendors were reluctant to offer up real world music which covered a large frequency range. So, I was trained by the very people that wanted to sell to me to not bother sticking around.

I'm very sympathetic to the setup constaints these folks faced in these smaller rooms. Perhaps the source material used was a result of failing to overcome the room problems. The thing is, those that did know how to overcome these issues were fearless in what they presented to the listener. These were the rooms that I enjoyed most.

I could be wrong but it seems that many vendors were unprepared for showing their wares. That's not the listeners fault.

Hi Lugnut,

I'm glad to hear you were well enough to make it to the RMAF, and I hope you enjoyed it.

My experience is that there are very few rooms at CES events where I have not been able to go in and ask them to play a CD that I had.

You said that you were not "given the opportunity to choose the software", which is ambiguous. Does that mean you asked and were refused, or that no one offered you the opportunity, which is an entirely different thing. One has to speak-up if they want to play something.

The only time that this is difficult is when the room is being exhibited "presentation style", like the way Jeff Joseph does it. But even he will let people throw a disc n the player between "shows". I know there are exceptions to the rule, but most rooms will let you play a CD.

I have seen more intolerance in room visitors at shows, the guys that peek inside, shake their head and walk away like they are some kind of expert or something. (What were you looking-for anyway?) Or the goofs walking down the hall bitching about the type of music playing in a room after not even hanging around for more tha a minute to see how things really sound. Or the narrow-minded twits who think Classical music is the ONLY type of music, and absolutely refuse to stay in a room that plays anything else, and are rude enough to say-so and everybody around hears it.

These shows are great - our chance to hear almost everything in one place. If someone is REALLY interested in hearing things that they have not heard before, and compare them to other components, this is their opportunity. How many times do we read threads on Audiogon, where people are offering their "opinions" and advice, informed or not, about the difference between different components? Here is a chance to actually take some time and listen.

So why avoid a room just because you don't like the music playing? It'll only take a couple of minutes to wait it out, and then try something yourself!

Mr. Behr, I want to thank you for your response to our demo. It was a joy to have you in our room. I love to see people get emotionally engaged with the music. You seemed to truly enjoy it.