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Quite frankly, I'm surprised when lower attendance is posted as the halls are just about as crowded as I'd like to see them. If RMAF were more heavily attended, I suspect I would beg off as it can already be a challenge to see and hear everything I would like to, especially in the more popular rooms.
I think they did a great job this year, and actually much preferred the "all in the tower" layout rather than having to do the tower than the atrium rooms.
If anything, there is a lingering disappointment with some of the vendors, who used to sell at RMAF at a slight discount. Instead, I overheard a few transactions where they needed to be begged to match their OWN Internet pricing; it's as if they are hoping the show buyers are not so much a way to meet their customers as a way to hopefully fleece rubes who don't know they could order the same product from them with free shipping online and save 20%.
The biggest pity of RMAF is that more companies don't take the opportunity to introduce area residents to equipment they can't normally hear as there are no local dealers or local dealers can't/won't stock their products; I saw a single pair of Magicos, few Rockports and one Esoteric K-03X. No MBL, never any Spectral, and this year not even Wilsons larger than the Yvette. Sonus Faber Lilium or Aida? Sorry, not this year. The only pleasant surprise being Mark Levinson brought a pair of No. 536 monoblocks.
Living in the Rockies almost inevitably means having to travel to a coast to audition higher end product, but to not even be able to hear any at the biggest show in the area shows one of the problems the industry faces when selling to customers who care about sound quality, not mere aspirational qualities.
In past years, I have been able to talk a manufacturer into directly drop shipping a unit to my local dealer so I could audition it, based on promise I heard at the show (as opposed to purchasing it and leaving my dealer stuck with it if I didn't like what I heard.)
Unfortunately, if you can't even hear it at the show, it loses consideration over what is presented, and that's a shame.
The industry needs to decide how they want to handle this; if they won't support regional shows like this, and they no longer show at CES, how will people ever hear their flagship products?