Just to add my 0.02 dollars worth. I generally preferred the new venue. The volume levels were high at times, but I felt they were less than what I've experienced at Olympia . The one caveat to this would be the somewhat bizarre placement of the 'Tone zone' in the main hall. I tried to sit in on some of these sessions, but I couldn't follow them at all.
Conditions in the workshop rooms were somewhat claustrophobic at times, but not as bad as the 'black hole of SBL' that we had at Olympia over the last couple of years.
The main thing I did notice was the significantly larger number of kids at the show. (Quick thanks to 'Jean-Luc' on the Chowny stand and the guys on the Wilcock stand who were only to happy to let my 11 year old daughter try out a number of the instruments (at a low volume or over headphones I hasten to add 🙂).