Overall, and considering what the show was up against (Marriott renovations) I thought that the show was excellent this year. Here's a few rooms that I didn't see mentioned that were producing some excellent sound.
Harbeth 40.2's driven by VAC tube gear. Midrange magic with Holographic staging and imaging. I could have listened in this room for hours.
ELAC's higher dollar range ($10K/pr) speakers driven with Audio Alchemy gear (ELAC now owns Audio Alchemy). These are not Andrew Jones designs. Everything (Timbre, Staging, Imaging, scale, drive) was spot on with this modestly priced (by today's standards) room.
Harbeth HL5+ speakers driven by Vinni Rossi Electronics. Somewhat warm, but very realistic sound from this set-up.
Acoustic Zen driven by VOSS electronics. I'm a trumpet player and this set-up played Miles Davis with genuine realism. I've never heard and of Robert Lee's speakers before (only his cables), but these are good ones. Retail is $22K/pair (too steep for me, but .... )
Hsu has a new point source (8" co-ax) speaker for $799 per pair that sounded far better
than the price point. Dr. Hsu said the will be available starting in Jan. 2017. For audiophiles on a budget these may be very tough to beat. Paired with Hsu's $400 sub the sound was very surprising. It was probably the Onkyo Receiver and the zip cord speaker wire that really made it all shine :-) And, Dr. Hsu is such a nice guy.
Regarding attendance: I was roaming the halls and tents and Pods all three days. As previously stated there were more women in attendance (mostly trailing spouses or significant others). Along with those of advancing age, I also notice a lot more young audiophiles in attendance than at previous shows (I've been to 11 of the 13 RMAF's). They did spend more of their time in the CanJam tent (which is where my 17 year old spend most of his time), but there were definitely more young people at the show this year (IMO). They didn't seem to be haunting the rooms with Wilson, Focal, Magico, and that ilk as they don't really have that kind of cash. Their were plenty of the younger folks at the Schiit/Salk room, the Hsu room, the RMAF "audio on a budget" rooms and at CanJam. I attended the seminar on Analog Tape (several great R2R demos throughout the show) and there were several young audiophiles at that seminar also. Yes, us old geezers dominated the attendee list, but so far as I could tell there was an uptick in younger attendees which gives me hope that our hobby may continue on for at least another decade or two :-)
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