For 17 years, The Rocky Mountain Audiofest, was a leader in regional audiophile shows. Based in Denver and run out of the pretty run-down Denver Tech-Center Marriott – this audio event drew as well as any (if not better) than any other regional audio show.
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So What Factored Into The End of Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF):
- Yes, there were issues such as the distance from Denver International Airport (it was a $100 plus, one-hour Uber ride towards the end)
- The Marriott Tech Center was a bit of a dump even with their “lipstick on a pig” update or freshen the place up a bit a few years back. It was still a dumpy hotel with small room that ended up PACKED with audiophile gear and dudes who have dandruff that flakes onto their worn Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon T-Shirts that their mother still washes for them despite being 59 years old.
- There were new competing audiophile shows in other parts of the country. The Munich show continued to grow aggressively and many companies decided to go to Germany to introduce their new audiophile products to the global audience the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) used to offer every January.
- The divorce of the audiophile hobby from CES is a significant one. More people wanted to exhibit at Rocky Mountain Audiofest than before but that wasn’t enough to keep the show alive.
- The impact of COVID-19 is likely one of the biggest factors in why Rocky Mountain Audiofest is gone. People weren’t traveling as they were rightfully fearful of going to an event with unvaccinated people (the same people who believe in the religion – not science – of $35,000 a pair EQ-ed cables) during a global, viral, raspatory pandemic.
- The audio association or club behind the show wasn’t as organized as a business as they needed to be to stay competitive in the growing and increasingly competitive space. RMAF always had an armature or “crunchy – organic” feel to it. That was part of its appeal but also part of its downfall.
- Rocky Mountain Audiofest’s timing as compared to the more popular, CEDIA custom installer show, caused conflicts for companies who would have liked to exhibit at both an audiophile show AND a custom installer show. Towards, the end CEDIA was a week after RMAF and that just caused all sorts of travel and logistics issues that couldn’t have helped.
- The rise of the online hotel concept changed a hotel’s motivation to host such an event like Rocky Mountain Audiofest. The historical concept was that a “business hotel” did fantastically with business oriented travelers from Sunday night through Thursdays. Thursday, Friday and Saturdays led to often many empty room thus the appeal of bringing in an event like RMAF. Factor in Hotels.com, Trivago.com, Priceline.com and countless other options and you see how a hotel owner might choose to not undo his or her rooms thus moving beds, furniture and whatnot while also having a lot of wear and tear to your property. They feel this way as the alternative is to offer say $99 per night room rates and automatically fill the hotel up with paying guest who also eat, park and generate revenue – now on non-peak times.
- Hotels are possibly the biggest beneficiaries of the current inflationary economy. Rooms that used to cost $300 per night now cost $900. We’ve seen Motel 6 rooms (yes, they had a pool but seriously) in San Diego this summer going for $259 per night. Hotels don’t charge rates that they can’t get. Their pricing is dynamic and the demand for hotels from people who went years at home under COVID quarantine are now spending. The new Aman hotel in New York City is opening with its rooms priced at $3,200 per night according to NYTimes.com. How can a hotel “give away” rooms at even remotely the same price as the used to when they can sell them for FOUR TIMES (plus) more than pre-COVID.
- Proof of hotel issues was evident with Rocky Mountain Audiofest as the event moved to a large, new and more modern venue much closer to the Denver International Airport. Travel logistics improved as gone were the $100 Uber rides, the hour to get “close to” Downtown Denver’s Tech Center area. Rental cars weren’t an issue. More and more people could fly in for the day from cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle and elsewhere. One hour to two hour flights made a day trip to RMAF a possibility. Yet, even with those new advantages in 2019 – the show could not go on.
- The last possibility was that the negative influence of the Illuminati who as everyone knows, lives underground at the Denver Airport. Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton have lesbian sex and drink blood from abortions there. The chemicals used to control your minds via the fuel additives in jet fuel are made at DIY. The Free Masons control us all and with the agreement of the 13 families that run the world – they reportedly decided that Rocky Mountain Audiofest should be shuttered.
OtheR Audiophile Consumer Shows
Just because Rocky Mountain Audiofest is gone and very likely never coming back doesn’t mean that you can’t attend another audiophile show.
Here’s a list of shows that are alive in 2022:
- Pacific Audio Fest – Washington State
- T.H.E Show – Long Beach, California
- HIGH END Munich – Munich, German
- AXPONA – Chicago, Illinois
- CAN JAM – (headphones, various cities)
- Salon Audio – Montreal
- Florida Audio-Video Expo – Tampa, Florida
- Capital Audiofest – Washington D.C. area
- AudioCon – Los Angeles
- The Hi-Fi Summit – YouTube?