Stereophile
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<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Westin-600.jpg" /></p> Ensconced in the third hotel in its four-year history, the three-day California Audio Show opened on August 9, 2013 in the five-floor Westin Hotel in Millbrae, CA. Otherwise known as the Westin SFO, and the hotel resides on One Old Bayshore Highway, a hefty stone's throw from San Francisco Bay, directly across the water from the airport runway where Asiana Flight 214 crashed on July 6.
<p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Runwayview-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
For those who turned around as they approached the hotel's main entrance, the view of three huge black trailer-like structures on the runway, positioned when the FAA investigation got underway, served as a reminder of the event that some hotel personnel and guests witnessed from afar.
</p><p>
As with most shows in unfamiliar hotels, many attendees' first reaction was confusion. The view inside the main entrance revealed no trace of the single Blue Coast exhibit located way to the right, nor of the other lobby exhibits and registration table located way farther to the left, around the corner, beyond the short turn, and then again to the left and right. Only folks who, for some perverse reason, chose to enter through the hotel's non-descript second entrance managed to avoid asking the inevitable, "Where's registration?" and "Where's the show?"
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Constantine-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
Happily, I immediately encountered show organizer Constantine Soo, who pointed the way to registration and more. There was a healthy line-up at 10:30AM, but later in the day, and even on other days, attendees adhered to trickle-in theory. Whether that trickled down to exhibitors and organizer alike in the form of increased sales has yet to be determined.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Registration-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
It was a good omen of sorts when the first music that greeted me was not mindless Muzak, but rather Maria Callas singing "Caro nome." Less good was the fact that her voice was distorting like crazy. Since that distortion was caused, not by inferior technology, but rather by a faulty component that was soon replaced, I bookmarked my time in the Westin by making that same Loggie Audio-sponsored Acapella Audio Arts/Einstein room my last stop at CAS. For an unintended ironic twist on the Christian Biblical saying, "The last shall be first" (or something to that effect
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/cas-2013-gets-underway]
<p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Runwayview-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
For those who turned around as they approached the hotel's main entrance, the view of three huge black trailer-like structures on the runway, positioned when the FAA investigation got underway, served as a reminder of the event that some hotel personnel and guests witnessed from afar.
</p><p>
As with most shows in unfamiliar hotels, many attendees' first reaction was confusion. The view inside the main entrance revealed no trace of the single Blue Coast exhibit located way to the right, nor of the other lobby exhibits and registration table located way farther to the left, around the corner, beyond the short turn, and then again to the left and right. Only folks who, for some perverse reason, chose to enter through the hotel's non-descript second entrance managed to avoid asking the inevitable, "Where's registration?" and "Where's the show?"
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Constantine-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
Happily, I immediately encountered show organizer Constantine Soo, who pointed the way to registration and more. There was a healthy line-up at 10:30AM, but later in the day, and even on other days, attendees adhered to trickle-in theory. Whether that trickled down to exhibitors and organizer alike in the form of increased sales has yet to be determined.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/081213-Registration-600.jpg" width="600" border="0" /></p><p>
It was a good omen of sorts when the first music that greeted me was not mindless Muzak, but rather Maria Callas singing "Caro nome." Less good was the fact that her voice was distorting like crazy. Since that distortion was caused, not by inferior technology, but rather by a faulty component that was soon replaced, I bookmarked my time in the Westin by making that same Loggie Audio-sponsored Acapella Audio Arts/Einstein room my last stop at CAS. For an unintended ironic twist on the Christian Biblical saying, "The last shall be first" (or something to that effect
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/cas-2013-gets-underway]