I have friends that live in Castle Rock, Colorado and he is an audiophile also.
We attended on Saturday and I have to say that I absolutely had a blast.
Most of the rooms were nice, and most of the demonstrators were very nice and cordial.
I loved the Martin Logan room with Dan De Augustino (spelling?) amplification.
The Vandersteen/VTL room was my favorite and Vandersteen the person was very open and personable.
The Audio Research room with the Martin Logan Neolith speakers was excellent. Same for Wavelength room. I think those were Wilson Benesch speakers with the Wavelength 8 WPC amps and it was absolutely wonderful.
Lots of rooms with Focal Speakers. The one with Krell electronics was a bit too bright for me. Great music tho.
Mark Levinson/Revel room was excellent.
Many rooms with Magico speakers and they were very nice.
Same for Roger Sanders equipment was outstanding and roger Sanders himself was quite nice to speak with.
I met Ralph of Atmosphere and he was very friendly.
Constellation makes some very nice equipment.
Bob Carver was friendly and his speaker system and electronics were quite nice.
Didn't get to hear the Legacy systems because they were talking and explaining their system for so long that we couldn't wait any longer. I was disappointed.
Lots of small manufacturers that knew their stuff and had some nice equipment. I really liked the Rogers electronics.
My one complaint was that there were entirely too many rooms where reviewers or people were talking entirely too loudly with the representatives and others could not enjoy listening to the music and equipment. Why they wouldn't take that crap outside was beyond me and was very rude.
I tried to visit each room and took the time to do each floor and have lunch and return for more.
We took our time and had an absolute blast.
There were more "high end" manufacturers represented than what I expected and the names (people) were there to meet the public also.
The Headphone/earphone floor was mind blowing. I didn't realize how many were out there. The competition is rough.
The staff was very friendly and helpful.
I am so glad I attended. I would do this again.
Some equipment I really wanted to hear was there and I was fortunate to hear some.
Some rooms played music that left me wondering, what were they thinking? some didn't complement the systems at all.
Many rooms had sound absorption equipment, but many more did not and suffered for it.
But, you could hear through the problems with rooms and set up and still could discern quality in most equipment.
It was nicely done, in my opinion.
enjoy