I have always admired Bill Hutchins, the chief designer at LKV Research, because to me he embodies the true amp-builder’s spirit.

That Robin Wyatt (aka Robyatt) knows how to put on a show is obvious. That he assembles a fine sounding room is also a given. So, when Wyatt enlisted recording/mastering engineer Tom Fine to discuss and play records, representing the work of his parents, Robert Fine and Wilma Cozart Fine, the result was predictable: Standing room only crowds.

On the last day of the show, loudspeaker designer Jeff Joseph showed no sign of slowing down. Remote in hand, he bounced around his room like the battery bunny, welcoming attendees, switching his rig between analog and digital, and smiling his way through it all.

My three-day reconnaissance suggests that Mark Schneider and his company, Linear Tube Audio, scored big at CAF, downstairs in the Headphone Lounge and with a room I and many showgoers thought was a candidate for Best Sound at Show.

The other big room with spectacular sound on the Rockville Hilton’s atrium level featured products from Pass Labs, GT Audioworks, and Basis Audio.

Oswald Mill Audio (OMA) is known for thinking outside of the box, and its new division, Fleetwood Sound Company, looks to extend that tradition.

I’ve favorably reviewed both Gary Dews’ BorderPatrol amps and Greg Roberts’ horn-loaded Volti Audio speakers. Since I couldn’t afford to purchase either when I reviewed them, I was looking forward to seeing and hearing their wares at CAF.

Amplifier designer Vinnie Rossi has the looks of a dapper clotheshorse. His gear is also stylish and eye-catching, kind of steampunk-techno. But there's substance there, too.

With so many megabuck rooms fattening the floors of CAF 2019, it’s easy to miss the smallish, sub-$10,000 systems making absolutely first rate sound. One such room was manned by MoFi’s Jon Derda: the Tenacious Sound/MoFi/Quad room.

Walk through the glass entrance doors, then twenty paces straight ahead, and you find yourself standing at the lip of a dizzying precipice, with a full panoramic view of the Rockville Hilton’s vast LP-filled atrium. To your right is a spectacularly lit glass wall that measures about 25’ high by 75’ wide. Above the glass is a giant banner baring the turquoise Valve Amplification Company’s logo: VAC. Standing in front of the wall are groups of urbane sophisticates: handsome men in suits, beautiful women, bright-eyed children. This envy-inspiring display is assembled by The Audio Company out of Marietta, GA; who describe themselves as “purveyors of hi-end luxury audio.”