Hal,
I think as long as the Chester group runs the NY show, most vendors will shy away.
Their reputation is well known and not good
That vendors do not show up is on purpose.
Yes high money system were aplenty, but these days any system is big money, at least anything worth showing.
Best of show for me was the High Water Sound room, and the room next to it with the Wolf van Langa speakers, very musical and natural.
Worst of show for me was the Genesis room, that was unlistenable, how they let that go is a sin, someone should have helped them out.
I thoughtthe Volti Border Patrol Triode wire room sounded very good, it had some issues, bass was a little overblown, but it was in a little room that was pushing the bass nodes, but all in all it was musical and fun and affordable.
I stopped going in the Vac room as it never impressed me in the past even though its 1 to 2 million dollars, clearly throwing money at this doesn't work, system has to be put together intelligently.
I missed the new Andrew Jones speaker unfortunately, we actually missed a lot of rooms, time flies when you have fun, and there was a lot of rooms this year.
Prices on gear was ludicrous as expected, I refuse to spend 20k on a preamp, when I can buy a used Lexus for that, but high end audio has always operated in these extremes
Looking forward to the next show.
mike
All in all a good show