[Wayne1]

I will try to post here at least once a day with thoughts about RMAF from a vendors point of view.

This year we were allowed to begin moving in as early as 8 am. I rented a 15 foot truck to move all the gear in. It is a bit big. Next year maybe an 11 foot will be enough.

I made it the the hotel at around 9 am. I met Bill 'OConnell and his friend Joh. It took us some time to have a hotel staff member show us the freight elevators. They let us bring the gear though the side doors. Later on in the afternoon the hotel changed this to only allow loading through the freight dock.

The VMPS RM60 coffins were placed on two furniture dollys I picked up at Harbor Freight for $15.00 each. That made moving them vert east. They rolled into the elevator and to room 1009 just as pretty as you please.

It took us maybe half and hour to completely unload the truck and get the gear into the room.

I moved the truck away from the loading area and then fun began with uncrating.

George (Zybar) showed up at this time, AFTER all the heavy lifting was done . He was a big help in removing the spekaers from the crate, assembling the room treatments and generally supervising.

After all the gear was in place, I began the fun project of wiring it up. All told it was maybe 2-21/2 hours to uncrate and wire the system. We had music playing by about 1 pm.

Then the tuning could begin. We tried different tubes in the amps. We tried different level on the speaker controls. We tried different positions with the room treatments. More thanks go the Mike Galusha and Georg for their ears in helping determine the position of room treatments and the foam wedge in the back of the RM 60. By moving the room treatments S L O W L Y across maybe 1/4 inch they could tell when the image was locked in. The same with the foam wedge.

Mike Garner (TweekGeek) stopped by and dropped of a pair of Bybee Super Effect power cables and speaker bullets. After we had the system sounding pretty good and room treatments positioned, I decided to put in the power cables. Bill brought out his set of Black Sands Silver power cables. These have received some very good comments from many people. I really wasn't expecting too big a change. I don't think any of us were prepared for what actually happened. The tube amps are plugged into my Modded Equitech balanced power conditioner.

There was a dramatic change tin the sound of the system. images locked into place HARD. Definition improved. So did dynamics. Mike Malusha was heard to murmur "Who changed the system?" These cables sell for $3000.00 EACH. This DOUBLED the price of the amps. I can't honestly say the cables are worth $3000.00 each to me but they made a MAJOR improvement to the sound of the system.

I then installed the speaker Bullets. Again a HUGE leap forward in sound quality. Now we have $10,000.00 worth of Bybee Super Effect products in the system. Lots of money but terrific improvements.

I will try to post more later. It is now time to make some final tweaks to the room and system. Maybe try another power cable change

[Pez]

I'm very excited to see what you've concocted this year Wayne! I'll be stopping in tomorrow some time. I would love to make an all day thing of it, but I've got parents moving on saturday and all sorts of stuff sunday. 

[zybar]

George (Zybar) showed up at this time, AFTER all the heavy lifting was done . He was a big help in removing the speakers from the crate, assembling the room treatments and generally supervising.

Timing is everything!   aa

I am still stunned by the difference the Bybee Super Effect power cables and speaker bullets made.  While I do have a hard time wrapping my head around the cost, I certainly can appreciate their performance.

Maybe they can "accidentally" go home with me at the end of the show...

George

[Brian Cheney]

The foam damper (heavily notched to prevent bouncing sound back into the mid panel diaphragms) inside the wing of the V60 has two main functions: control the amount of  rear wave into the room, and eliminate the Megaphone Effect due to signal reflected inside the throat of the reverse horn, which is basically what the wings are.

Moving the damper back and forth has a large influence on the sound, but the adjustments are readily audible.

I don't think any audiophile has yet heard a horn speaker without the horn throat coloration.  Well, the V60 is just such an animal.  It's a lot of fun to listen to and has extraordinary flexibility.  Adding the VSS extends its range down to 20Hz.

I hope RMAF visitors like it as much as Wayne does.

[Wayne1]

I have some real quick comments as I had a little too much fun last night.

First off the room is sounding better hour by hour. The minute adjustments on the RM60 are paying off.

We received numerous comments on how well the room sounded for the first day of the show.

Many were very surprised at how well the sub integrated with the rest of the system. I haven't had a chance to visit the other rooms but folks wandering in are amazed the woofer is on. People are sitting down and tapping their toe to the tune. LoneWolf and Hugh Dean came bay and listened for at least three songs. He dropped off the latest NYAR 2007 CD.

Hugh Dean dropped off his SB power supply. I will try to listen to it this morning.I had a wonderful chat with him at the bar.

There was a really good turnout yesterday and this was from folks who were really interested in the gear AND MUSIC. Wonderful. Folks can't believe the RM 60 SYSTEM with the two towers, VSS sub and sub amp sells for $10,000.00. They all say incredible value.

[John Casler]

Great Report Wayne!

Your perspective seems to be that the RM v60 simply (when well tuned) "outputs" what is "put in".

All the RM v60 clients have also commented on how well it "integrates and blends" with different subs. 

And the price simply displays B's commitment to trying to keep "high end" somewhat affordable.

There are likely "stand mounts" at the show that cost more

Hope to see some pics soon as I am salivating all over my keyboard.

Also happy to hear that you and others like Bill's amps.  They certainly "Look" spectacular

[zybar]

I always enjoy it when I hear folks agreeing about what I've always said on my impressions of Bybee's. It's truely unfortunate tho that today's Bybee is out of my reach costwise. I have no problems tho enjoying what I do have, thanks in great part to Wayne of Bolder and Mike of TweekGeek. 

1 question, the those Black Sands Silver power cables include Bybees also or was that price strictly silver?



Thanks,
Robin

No Bybees in the Black Sand power cords.

George

[Felipe]

 aa Looks like sweet news from Denver. Do hope that ppl find your room to be one worth visiting !

I am really curious about that SB power supply from Hugh Dean, have you got the chance to play it against your own ?

All the best,
Filipe

[Wayne1]

I have had a great talk with Hugh.. I have compared his ideas and his power supply with mine. In fact he gave me one of his.

All I can honestly say is that they are different. I have talked with Hugh about a collaboration. There may be a power supply in the future that uses some of Hugh's circuit with my ideas about passive components.

[zybar]

I have had a great talk with Hugh.. I have compared his ideas and his power supply with mine. In fact he gave me one of his.

All I can honestly say is that they are different. I have talked with Hugh about a collaboration. There may be a power supply in the future that uses some of Hugh's circuit with my ideas about passive components.

I can't wait to hear what can be produced when two great people such as Hugh and Wayne collaborate.

Here's hoping that 1+1 = 10!!!

George

 

[Felipe]

I have had a great talk with Hugh.. I have compared his ideas and his power supply with mine. In fact he gave me one of his.

All I can honestly say is that they are different. I have talked with Hugh about a collaboration. There may be a power supply in the future that uses some of Hugh's circuit with my ideas about passive components.

Now that is what i am talking about ! Join the knowledge and work together. Yes...Hugh's regulator circuit (the black box) is supposed to be Top Notch. Join that with your passive components huge experience...and the customer gets a Kick Ass product ! no doubt

Who would guess that my 2 audio gear suppliers (SB PS and cables of wayne, amps of Hugh) would come together...
Did you get to hear Hugh's product yet?

All the best,
Filipe

[TomS]

I have had a great talk with Hugh.. I have compared his ideas and his power supply with mine. In fact he gave me one of his.

All I can honestly say is that they are different. I have talked with Hugh about a collaboration. There may be a power supply in the future that uses some of Hugh's circuit with my ideas about passive components.

This is really exciting!  Maybe I'll have a MGalusha style combo box assembled by then that could house some of those new power supply ideas (along with the SB2 and a buffer)

Tom

[Wayne1]

Hugh quite literally dragged me out of my room to listen to his and Dave Ellis' system.

They badly needed room treatment. They took two mattresses and stuck them in the front of the room corners. My first thoughts were very impressive sound. After awhile the sound of the room kept intruding. From what I could tell. Hugh's amp is quite special. Unfortunately the room made it really had to tell a great deal about the speakers.

I would very much look forward to a chance to audition the amp with known components in a properly treated room.

I only got a chance to hear three other rooms. Modwright, who was across the hall, Hugh and Dave's and Chris Brady's Teres Audio Room.

All three had room issues. Chris had it under control the best, but it is was a BIG room and there was a bit of echo.

The Modwright room was undertreated, to my mind. It sounded rather cold and analytical.

Thanks to Eathan at Real Traps, George, and Mike Galusha we were able to get out room well treated and very much under control. With such a large speaker in a small room, there was always the chance to overload and overpressure the room. I did my best to hold that in check.

We were quite honored when the string quartet that was playing at the show came to our room for a visit. Their manager wanted them to hear the VMPS speakers. Ray Kimber recorded them with his IsoMike technique. I was given a copy of that CD. I ripped the CD to my laptop and played their own music for them. It was a highly gratifying experience to watch their faces as they listened to themselves on our gear.

They said they had no experience ever listening to gear on that level. They were impressed.

[BlackSandCable]

Mike Garner (TweekGeek) stopped by and dropped of a pair of Bybee Super Effect power cables and speaker bullets. After we had the system sounding pretty good and room treatments positioned, I decided to put in the power cables. Bill brought out his set of Black Sands Silver power cables. These have received some very good comments from many people. I really wasn't expecting too big a change. I don't think any of us were prepared for what actually happened. The tube amps are plugged into my Modded Equitech balanced power conditioner.

There was a dramatic change tin the sound of the system. images locked into place HARD. Definition improved. So did dynamics. Mike Malusha was heard to murmur "Who changed the system?" These cables sell for $3000.00 EACH. This DOUBLED the price of the amps. I can't honestly say the cables are worth $3000.00 each to me but they made a MAJOR improvement to the sound of the system.

Hi all!

Just for clarification, we don't make a power cord that costs $3000.00! 

Thanks!

[Wayne1]

I am sorry if I did not make things clear.

Bill O'Connell has a pair of Black Sands Silver cables that I believe sell for about $500.00 each. The Bybee cables we changed to sell for $3000.00 each. There was a difference between the cables. I would say it was an improvement. Was the improvement worth $5000.00?

Only you can say that about your system.

[Brian Cheney]

I've invited Wayne to share our CES booth (St Tropez 1801) and supply wire, cable, accessories and maybe a digital source if he feels like it.  He is welcome to be in the booth if he wants to make the trip.

I'm glad people liked the V60's and the show was well attended.  Yes, room treatment is important, as anyone who has been in our CES booth in the past 25 years can attest.
After I came home from Bert Whyte's house in April 1980 and built my own LEDE environment to match his (designed and installed by Don and Carolyn Davis, the inventors of the technique) there has been no going back for me.

[Wayne1]

Here are a few shots I took of the room and speakers. Maybe someday I will take the time to figure out how my camera works








Quite a few AC members did come by to listen to the system and to chat.

There were a few more pictures taken, hopefully with better results than mine.

I do want to thank Bill O'Connell who drove out here with his wife Carolyn and friend John to help me unload, set up the room, talke to all who came by and then tore it all down and loaded it into the truck.

The Eastern Electric amps did help make the sound of this system special.

Major thanks to brj for all the help in tearing down the system and for help with the load out. We were done in a little over two hours.

This will be the last year I will be using such large speakers in such a small room. If I have the same room again next year, maybe the 626Rs will be used. If we can get a bigger room (and more room treatments) you might see the RM-60s again.

[BradJudy]

Wayne, I didn't get a chance to ask why the CDWG wasn't in use on the 60's - what was the reason behind the decision?

[Wayne1]

Brad,

In that room, with that gear, and used with those speakers, I felt that with the CDWG on, the dynamics were compressed.

Last year with the RM-30s, I was very impressed with the sound with the CDWG. In fact, that was why I sent my 626Rs away to Brian. I wanted them to be upgraded so they could used the CDWG.

Like everything else, it is room and system dependent. With a bigger room and more time on both the drivers and the amp, perhaps I would find that the CDWG sounded better on than off.

[Wayne1]

http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2007/101407vmps/

It looks like Stereophile liked the system, anyway.