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An Open Letter to All Show Attendees + RH Response

An Open Letter to All Show Attendees + RH Response

I enjoyed the reports from you [RH] and your various contributors on the AXPONA show in the July/August issue. I’m hoping that you can print this as an “open letter” to all the folks in our hobby who may find themselves attending a show in the future. 

In the “Best of Show” part of your review of AXPONA 2022, you write, under “Most Significant Trend,” the egregious tendency of many exhibitors to play “music at earsplitting levels.” I, too, have noticed this, but here’s the thing—I’m often the reason for it! Let me explain: I have lost count of the number of times I have visited a room at a show, asked the gracious exhibitor to play a track or two of music I brought to evaluate gear (and to enjoy the sheer thrill of enjoying my music played back on world-class gear), only to have to ask the poor guy to turn it up louder. Why? Because I enjoy listening at “earsplitting levels?” No! Rather, because several rude, oblivious idiots are having a loud (read, “shout over the demo”) chat with the exhibitor or with each other, five feet to the rear of my listening chair! I’m the rare courageous attendee who will actually turn around and politely ask the offenders to quiet down—or to take the conversation outside. It usually elicits a shocked sneer…and then they go right on.

I know the exhibitors are doing their best to accommodate all attendees, even those who inquire about details on the system. There must necessarily be a time and place for this kind of chat at the shows. But is it being excessive to ask that all in attendance show some common courtesy when others are trying to “listen into” these wonderful displays of our hobby? I’ve experienced this same behavior in another similar social setting—watching a movie at a theater. We now live in a world where the norm is for people to talk/laugh/be obnoxious at “outside” levels during a movie screening. Which is why I have stopped going to theaters.

The saddest part of this trend is that the person who kindly asks for some discretion and quiet is treated as the extremist bad guy, rather than the inconsiderate jerk whose parents never taught him basic social courtesies. Inevitably, at shows, I am forced to ask the exhibitor to crank up the volume so I can try to enjoy what I came there for. Or to leave in frustration.

I don’t like it that way…and I’m pretty certain the poor exhibitors caught in the middle would prefer it were otherwise. Sadly, this is what it’s come to. Can we in the audiophile brotherhood aspire to a better standard?

Charles Lein

RH replies: I couldn’t agree with you more. So many show listening experiences are ruined by talkative exhibitors and showgoers. But I think that’s only one component of the trend towards too-loud listening levels. The main driver of loud demos is the mistaken belief that playing the system at a high volume results in a more “impressive” demonstration. At Japanese audio shows, the audience sits in rapt silence for the duration of a musical piece. The showgoers also wait until there’s a break between tracks to leave the room for the next exhibit. And the sound-pressure levels are rarely excessive. It makes for a better experience for everyone.

Tags: EDITOR LISTENING ROOM SHOW

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