It's true that one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel. But not this barrel. In my group's opinion this was a great show. This show proved time and time again you don't need to spend 300K to build a great system. I talked to a lot of people, made some excellent contacts , and heard some great music. I saw rooms hosts playing everything people asked to hear. Even handing them the volume control. When does that happen! This is an audio show for anyone who dreams of improving their system, even if they have yet to win the lottery. I hope we all understand if us audiophiles don't support audiofests like this, they will be no more.
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.
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.