Home  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  |  Audiophile Shows  |  Partner Mags  Music News       

  High-End High-Performance Audiophile Review Magazine & Hi-Fi Audio Equipment Reviews

  High-Performance Audio Reviews
  Music News, Show Reports, And More!

  Celebrating 29 Years Of Service To Music Lovers

 

 

 

Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2016 Show Report
Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2016 Show Report
CAF 2016 Intro
Report By Kemper Holt

 

Capital Audiofest Show Report Intro

  The weeks leading up to this Summer's Capital Audiofest 2016 had below average temperatures and the weather was pleasant, but come show time, brought on the heat! The temperatures stuck around the mid 90s and humidity matched that. This combination makes it tough for exhibitors to balance comfortable rooms versus air conditioning noise. The air conditioning noise is probably one of a few factors having CAF moving to November for 2017, vacations and high heat should be long gone by then. The Rockville Hilton hosted the event for a second time, but renovations between years made a nice uplift to the hotel and the sonics.

CAF was completely sold out, with a grand total of 42 rooms, and I've never been more impressed at how uniformly good all of the rooms sounded. Yes there were many different flavors to be enjoyed, but there weren't any duds or major disappointments. I'm betting the renovations played a part, but exhibitors are getting much more savvy about tackling hotel room acoustics, many having acoustic treatments which help. As usual some bass "room boom" affected some installations, but you could listen past it and get the gist of the system anyway. The CAF team of Gary Gill, Christina Yuin, and Paul Elliot, put on the best show yet combining great sounding rooms, product debuts, approachable manufacturers, an atmosphere of friendliness, and a new twist, serious product giveaways that had a crowd gathered at closing time Sunday, superb job!

Vinyl is in, CDs are out. You could play a record in most rooms, stereo or mono in many, stream or use a server in many, but only a few had silver disc spinners. There were turntables everywhere, and thousands of records for sale, an analog treat for sure. Once again, VPI and Mat Weisfeld brought his entire crew down from Jersey, and built tables at the show. Let's not forget another analog source, Reel to Reel tape, heard in a couple of rooms, perhaps the best source of all.

I noticed more wives and girlfriends at the show than ever, and some entire families came as well. When I asked some of the ladies if they were enjoying the show, Yes was the answer, and they told me they had clout in audio decisions as their hearing was better than his.

The Capital Audiofest is gaining traction, and the future looks bright with a November time slot, most manufacturers I talked with agreed the Fall would be a good choice. 

 

 

---> Back to CAF 2016 show report homepage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews

 

 


Show Reports
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.