RMAF 2019!

Ohm published a wrapup in the news section of their site.

https://ohmspeaker.com/news/rmaf-2019-wrap-up/

How was the sound in the rooms in general? The last few years at the Marriott, it was pretty bad. I've read many posts here and other places that registration was a nightmare, huge place with rooms a good distance apart, bad sound, etc..  Would you go again at this new location?

East Texas guy here.  I was there all three days. 

The YG room was just fantastic.  Incredible imaging, clarity, dynamics, realistic sound.

The Revel room actually demoed the new F226Be, the smaller brother to the F228.  Amazing the amount and quality of bass they get out of a relatively small tower, which seems to be the same size as the F206.  I want the new F328Be! 

Prana Fidelity.  This was one of the best rooms in the show, fantastic sound, and I kept coming back to listen more.  He was demoing a new powered tower speaker.  Just, wow!

Salk demoed the new SS9.5, which sounded great to me.  Great for full scale orchestral music, with its deep and impactful bass response. 

The hotel is incredible, but expensive.  I attended RMAF last year at the Tech Center and I thought the sound was noticeably better this year. 

I attended all three days of RMAF, the venue is beautiful, as in very well appointed. I did not
stay at the hotel so I can't comment on pricing. I had no trouble eating lunch at the Mountain
Pass sports bar on premises, but I tend to eat early.    

Have to agree with the OP of rooms to check out. The one that stood out to me was the 
Bryston Room.  Not exactly inexpensive, but sounded really good. The Goebel room was
the best as far as I'm concerned. At $225K those speakers should sound that good.
I also thought the Audio Research/Sonus Faber sounded excellent, they had no digital it
was all vinyl. Again $200K plus speakers.

The biggest disappointment was the Wilson room, seemed like a half-hearted attempt to
me. I'm not a Wilson fan, but this was really poor. 
 

The PS Audio reveal of their next iteration of the AN3 speaker (still pre-production) was a
game changer for me.  For a "paltry" ~$15K those speakers imaged so well I couldn't make
them stop imaging.  Sounds a little crazy, but most speakers I listen to develop an image
that's gets better as I listen.  These powered speakers (700w each) instantly create an
image and if I stare at one of them attempting to disrupt the image it just won't collapse.
No, I'm not a shill for PS Audio. They just hit a very sweet spot. Granted they had $50K of their gear running them.  Too bad they are going with a direct sales approach, so the final design won't be available at a dealer for a demo.

Interesting to me is that both the PS Audio and the Bryston rooms were the only two that
were using all of their own equipment and both of them sounded excellent.  I didn't go in the
Sony room, but I suspect they were using all Sony gear.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought by far the PS Audio room was the best.  Paul McGowan's new floor standing speakers were just incredible sounding.  They really played neutral and the built in subwoofers were so articulate.  They were not slightly boomy and the mids and highs sounded colorful but not over done.  These are the kind of speakers you can sit and listen to all day without any fatigue.  Paul really knows what he wants to hear and he knocked things out of the park this time.

The one thing I always noticed is how most systems are being played through $20,000 to $100,000 systems.  Almost any speaker is going to sound when pushed with that much clean power.  It would be nice for them to demo speakers hooked up to something most of us can afford like an affordable $3,000 to $5,000 integrated amplifier.  

I was also really impressed was the Extreme Audio.  The Sigma Accoustics MAAT Vector XAC floor standing speakers were breathtaking in sound.  They were also one of the most efficient speakers at the show being driven by  AGD Productions  GaNTubeTM Sound Tube monoblocks.  I couldn't believe these two tiny amplifiers could drive those enormous size speakers and make them sound so incredible.  $15,000/pair for that sound was a real steal.

However, I was very frustrated with check in.  Only two people there to check in.  It took forever and they didn't know how to efficiently check in preregistered guests.  They also should have marked the registration door with an arrow because I walked the full length of the hall and then had to walk all the way back to the registration table.  They had a bunch of flags where the exit door was located, but no sign with an arrow pointed to registration entrance.  Parking also cost me $18.  My two day pass cost me $15.  I was in shock and I thought this was in really bad taste.  It in fact really ticked me off.  They should have opened the gates for this show.  Last year there was free parking.  Won't attend next year if they charge for parking.