RMAF 2019!

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. 

Speakers are $150k

For $150K, I do expect the speakers to sound good.  :^)

I'm really surprised by the positive reactions here to the PS Audio system.  I've been saving up for a DirectStream DAC, but my time in that room caused me to rethink that.  There was something very harsh about the sound of the system.  I enjoyed their new speakers better at last year's RMAF when they were still being worked on.  I'm going to assume that there was something awry during the time I visited the PS Audio room, because the reactions here don't match up at all with my experience there.  I was really bummed.

On the plus side, the show convinced me that the amp that replaces my VTL ST-85 absolutely must be a Nelson Pass design.

Did parking really cost $30 for the day?  I was so offended by that price that I parked offsite and walked to the hotel.