RMAF 2011: Any tips?

John - I don't know anything about Fritz or Zu other than hearing about them occasionally here on A'gon. I will be sure to check them out. I was planning on hitting the Empirical Audio/Salk room, as I am a happy customer of EA (though I know absolutely nothing about Salk).

Jax - I was unaware of Maggie's mini speaker. Neat.

Jim - Thanks for the detailed advice about how to proceed. I will follow it.

bc

bc- One other thought, sort of in the novelty dept; if you've ever considered headphones, there is usually a room on the first floor where you can listen to pretty much all of the high end hp & amp combos you could imagine.

Per Swamp - that is CanJam. Even if you are not into headphones you might enjoy some of the stuff they'll be sure to have there. Check out Stax 009's (look for the crowd) and perhaps you'd enjoy Audeze's LCD-2's, which I use whenever my wife needs a bit of quiet in the house. Good call. There will also be various vendors hocking actual music, some of it difficult to come by otherwise.

Thanks, guys. I hadn't thought about listening to headphones while I'm there, but now that you mention it, I will probably be using headphones in the not too distant future, as my wife and I are expecting our first child. So late night listening sessions (when I can manage them) will probably be headphones-only.

bc

Not sure what your goal is when you attend but even though there are lots of rooms you should be able to get through all of them pretty quickly. Take a few notes of the rooms you like. On day two if you have made it around you should have narrowed it down to 20 rooms or less that you were impressed with. Go back to those rooms again. Also ask other people what rooms they were impressed with and why. You might have missed something. On Sunday most rooms will have really settled in and if they are ever going to sound good they will. So Sunday you should plan to spend some real time in your favorite rooms.

If you like analog Michael Fremer might have a seminar going on so don't miss those. Other seminars as well.

Have fun. Colorado brews some great beers so don't drink Bud, drink local.

Jim