I attended Saturday afternoon. I thought that the number of exhibitors was about right for the number of attendees that, admittedly, was rather disappointing. As others have noted and as I had expected, most of the attendees were middle aged men (and older) with very few women; however, I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of younger guys. To be fair and using speakers to illustrate my point, the median price of a pair of speakers was about 10k and many of the speakers were huge or required a lot of space to breath; I do not know many men in their 20s and 30s who have that amount of disposable income and the necessary space - I certainly did not at that age.
Also and maybe it is just me, I find it almost impossible to judge equipment in the environment of an audio show. The rooms are small and bear no resemblance to the space where I live either aesthetically or acoustically, and systems are often too loud for my taste. After a while, most rooms tended to become one giant acoustical blur.
To me, CAF (and other shows) was an opportunity to say hello to friends and individuals in the industry and, perhaps, to target one or two products that I wanted to hear. In that regard CAF was a success; and I hope it will continue next year.
Also and maybe it is just me, I find it almost impossible to judge equipment in the environment of an audio show. The rooms are small and bear no resemblance to the space where I live either aesthetically or acoustically, and systems are often too loud for my taste. After a while, most rooms tended to become one giant acoustical blur.
To me, CAF (and other shows) was an opportunity to say hello to friends and individuals in the industry and, perhaps, to target one or two products that I wanted to hear. In that regard CAF was a success; and I hope it will continue next year.