I saw and heard the whole thing. I did not go to any of the seminars or to much of the live music, but went at least once to each of the music and home theatre displays. I agree with Mr. Mercado about the Krell/Faroudja system. There was limited news in the world of pre/pros. The Anthem was displayed. I, once again sat beside Tom Norton from SGHT today as he was showing great interest in a system from the British company Naim. Everything but the display was manufactured by Naim. It sounded quite good with the exception of the center channel speaker, which sounded a bit etched in the treble (it could have been the room).
The Polk display was a bit self congratulatory, but decent. Some of the best sound in the show came from the big boys. I think that Mr. Wilson took great care in presenting a two channel display of the new Watt/Puppy 7's. They were in a huge room, backed up with gillion dollar digital and acoustic electronics, as well as the Watchdog (tank) subwoofer, which was covering the range from the low 30hz down. They filled the room with sweet music, with regal authority. Sound by Singer, a large pretentious New York dealer had several rooms in the show, and combined a display of the awesome, huge and expensive Grand Utopias from French manufacturer, JM Labs with their home theatre show, separated by a curtain. I was amused by noticing that in one of their rooms, as I was reading the price list for a $55,000 plus set-up, that the most expensive component in that display was the rattlesnake-sized cables ($22,000). It kind of produces a perspective that says that I hope that I do not get to that point where I have to make purchasing choices like that. I paid a lot of attention to the loudspeakers. There was some beautiful music coming from rooms equipped with Totem, Triangle, Vandersteen, and some baby Avalons ($4,000 price point). There were many rooms filled with speakers that look like they were from old low budget science fiction movies (With most respect for the German mbl's, which sounded great).

One of the high points of the show for me came Satruday night. Samsung gave out free tickets for an exclusive digitally projected showing of Star Wars, Attack of the Clones, at the Zigfield Theatre (They are doing some heavy marketing of the DLP projection systems. They plan to do this all over the country, so look out). The theatre, which is a huge throwback to cinemas of yesteryear ( execept for being fitted with an ample sound system) is across the street from the Hilton. This made it quite convenient. To top this off, when we walked in we were treated to free beverages, popcorn, t-shirts and a box filled with packages of m&m's twizzlers, milk duds, jugyfruits and more (I used to have dreams like this when I was a kid). The film was a trip for the senses (though by no means a challenge for the intellect), and was made more envelloping and enjoyable with the implementation of the new technology. My only minor quibble was loss of some resolution in the darker scenes.

I checked in with the Outlaws several times each day. It was interesting to observe the evolution of that experience. Initially, when I came on Thursday and early Friday there was a lot of hanging out going on. I was also given, with much ceremony, an Outlaw pen that lights up when you open it. I got used to getting a lot of attention from the crew. By Friday afternoon, it got so busy in that little room at the end of the corridor on the sixth floor, that it was hard to get near it. Peter no longer recognized me, and I had to re-introduce myself several times. (I kept overhearing conversation about where they were going to go for dinner each time I came, no matter what time of the day it was). There was good feed back from the public about the Outlaws presentation. To me it was nice to go to a room that was quite "real world" in it's equipment. This room had a normal DVD player, Atlantic Technology speakers and a good quality DLP projector. Most of the other rooms, even ones selling relatively inexpensive equipment boosted what they were displaying with expensive doohickeys and thingamajigs. The Outlaw Room was set up for the "People" (forgive the throw back my 1960's political days).

My last experience with the Outlaws came about 4:30PM Sunday, when everyone was beyond tired. I finally came by to see and hear their display. Peter, who seemed to be doing all of the pitching, finally rememberd that I was a satisfied customer and took total advantage of my vanity by forcing me to talk to the room full of potential outlaws about the company and their line of products (There will be payback for this).The display was a scene from the film Vertical Limit that supplied a full complement of crashes, crunches avalanches, and explosions. The 9950/770 held thier own.

My biggest regret was not having an opportunity to meet some of the others from this list who came to the show. Perhaps next year?
Mono Man (on the mend)