[John Casler]

CES REPORT

Well next year I’m gonna make a whole week out of this thing and not a two day whirlwind.  I didn't even get to see all the gear at the Alexis Park, much less the San Remo and the Convention Center, and “THE SHOW” and all.

First of, I think that most will not find that they will get a well rounded idea of what “any” piece of gear can do at this gathering.  Between the set ups, the moving bodies, the bad acoustics and lack of familaiar reference tracks, at best all you can expect is to just see what is out there.

So many of my equipment impressions (to follow in a searate post) are based on just that.

Now that said, one can get a decent idea of some sonic qualities “if” you take your own music (I did) and the room will allow you to play it (some won’t)

First and foremost I went to support Brian and the new VMPS offering the RM30M.  I know many VMPS’ers are more than curious about the speaker.

I also know that both good and “so, so” things have been said about it.  As a VMPS dealer I am familiar enough with the components to know what its capabilities are and they are truly awesome.

I had the opportunity to listen to the speaker early Thursday before the traffic became too heavy.  I was also able to place my listening position in my favorite nearfield sweet seat and play my reference tracks.

This speaker is a winner.  The couple little changes Brian has made to the crossovers and such have really done the job.  


Many very knowledgable designers and industry pros sat mesmerized in front of the TRIO of RM30s.  Arnie Nudell, of  Genesis, Peter Moncrief, Marty DeWulf, Mark Schifter, John Atkins and a host of other industry insiders, sat and listened and listened and listened.

All left nodding their heads in approval, knowing what they had just heard.

Now to the casual listener standing or walking around, the performance virtues may not have been readily evident, but when in the “spot” that I know so well, this speaker is one fantastic performer.

All the clairity, and detail, with increased midbass impact, added another notch to the speaker designing black belt of Big B.

Now I have to admit I was not used to most any seat in the house having a soundstage, yet the TriNaural Processor did give the RM30 just that ability.  And with the AMPzilla Amp, we had a control and clarity that is reserved for those few components that exist to play with each other.

From Stevie Ray Vaughn, to Diana Krall, from Jimi Hendrix to Bela Fleck, these RM30s filled in the gap from the RM2 to the RM40s with the handsome confidence of an NFL athlete turned soap opera star.  I mean smooth, powerful, high performing, and good looking.

Did I hear someone ask if they could play loud?  HELL YESSSSS!!!  At one point Brian decided to play something so loud that the room cleared.  When he did, the RM30 not only took it in stride, but they laughed at the SPL’s which had to have been in excess of 100db easily.  But in the brief time I spent listening at that level, I was amazed that the sound was still clear and clean with absolutely no congestion.  Now surely some of this was the power and majesty of Bongiorno’s ultra-clean power house amp, but the rest was due to the power handling capabilities of this remarkable speaker.

I would suggest that there were only a handful of speakers (all over $40,000) that could have pulled off that performance without sounding strident, congested or harsh.  Cheney did so for less than 1/10 that.

Now it would have been nice to have set up the RM30s like a ride at Dinseyland and have people lined up to sit in the sweet seat for a minute or two, with me at the controls of their journey, but the CES is not set up like that.  You can no more get a total idea of what the RM30s sound capabilities are in this environment than you could know how well a car performs by sitting in it, and revving the engine.

Only subtle performance abilities will shine through here, and as these speakers get into the field, you’ll begin to get the feel of what they can really do.

OK, now as Paul Harvey says here’s the “rest of the story”.  The CES is made up of people and equipment.  I had a great time with all of them.

First the people:

I met many of you from AudioCircle and let me tell you collectively it was a great pleasure putting your faces, voices and bodies with your screen names.

I met Eric, Larry, Corbin, Jim, Ryan, Dennis, Jason, Steven, Trevor, Mike, Tim, Dai, Chris, Stan, and many others who I can’t remember right now.

Additionally I met Arnie Nudell, Jim Thiel, Mark Shifter, Big B and Shirley, James Bongiorno, and a host of other well known designers and audio celebrities.

And strangely enough after 20 years, I’m sitting listening to the some great speakers when I hear someone say “Corey Greenburg”.  I turn around and lo and behold Cory, who I have never met face to face, is standing there with Ken Kantor (founder of NHT) and I introduce myself and they both fondly remembered our tenure on the “real” precursor to AudioCircle, called “The Audiophile Network”, which was a Bulletin Board that we all used to write on in the days “before” there was an internet.  We’re talking 1982 or 83 or so.

And another amazing thing was that I would walk into a room to do a little listening, and someone would look at my registration badge and the next thing they would say is “BIOFORCE” or AudioCircle, where they apparently had seen some of my rambling posts (much like this one).  To all those who said “HI”, it was also a great honor to meet all of you.

I also have some comments on many of the rooms and equipment I "tried on" but I'll put them in a new thread so this one isn't so long.

[Brian Cheney]

There were many great people at the Show.  Corey Greenberg was pleasant and hospitable, and it was good to see Arnie Nudell, Ken Kantor, Michael Fremer, many magazine people and audio luminaries doing their jobs and having fun.

$45,000pr seemed to be the median price for a good speaker system.  The best sounding was the Avalon Diamond in the Wadia room; lacking only first octave bass, its sound was dynamic and convincing with nodding heads and tapping toes from many listeners.  The worse were...too many to mention, but I did casually mention the shortcomings of the EgglestonWorks speaker to its salesman, who promptly told me to "have my hearing checked!" and then literally chased me down the hallway shouting "Fuck you!  Fuck you!!"  (My comment to him: "Pleasant but a little low-rez")

Few exhibitors bothered with room treatment.  The Wadia people placed a total of 6 12" TubeTraps strategically in their giant 24x36' room and got good results; everyone else looked like amateurs and got very bad sound from mostly good gear.

On Saturday and Sunday, after two changes to the "clarity filter" in the RM 30 the system shone, with resolution and extension at both frequency extremes no other exhibit really approached.  The 215 Sub required about 100lbs of weight on top of it to quiet its cabinet.  My advice:  WEIGHT YOUR WOOFER!! More the better, regardless of brand or size.
As for the extensive room treatment shown in the photos of our booth, that's what you have to do for good sound in a 12x18' room.  The RM30 provided as realistic music reproduction as I have ever heard in a room that size, with the Trinaural processor adding depth and spread without sacrificing pinpoint imaging or naturalness.

[John B]

It's funny, I talked with a good friend of mine today, he's my bud and an audio dealer.   When he heard I was on a speaker auditioning tour, and specificially wanting to listen to a local speaker maker, VMPS, he went on about how only the Danish are fully capable of making great speakers, how they have best acoustic engineering institutes, desiging the best drivers,  and for cabinet quality they can't be compared; simply put nothing outside of Denmark is going to come even close to being great.   I listened, I felt his passion and belief, but I did wonder....could a man from my neck of the woods, in a small American town, give challenge to the great Danes    I guess I'll find out this weekend when I visit Brian and hear his answer to the question, can a great speaker be made outside of Denmark?

[Tyson]

I've heard a few good danish speakers in my time (dynaudio mainly, the Audience, Contour, and Evidence lines, plus the Acoustic-Reality speakers).  The term "No Comparison" comes to mind.  Not in favor of the danes, mind you.

[Q]

CES REPORT All the clairity, and detail, with increased midbass impact, added another notch to the speaker designing black belt of Big B.

Now I have to admit I was not used to most any seat in the house having a soundstage, yet the TriNaural Processor did give the RM30 just that ability. And with the AMPzilla Amp, we had a control and clarity that is reserved for those few components that exist to play with each other.

From Stevie Ray Vaughn, to Diana Krall, from Jimi Hendrix to Bela Fleck, these RM30s filled in the gap from the RM2 to the RM40s with the handsome confidence of an NFL athlete turned soap opera star. I mean smooth, powerful, high performing, and good looking.

 ...

Great review, John...Thanks.
So as an engineer, I can really appreciate an evolving product, and continual improvements.  As a speaker manufacturer, I see that can be a double-edged sword.  The reason I say that is that I'm sure there are more than a few of us here in lurk mode who want the best for the money, but you guys keep making improvements!   So When and What to buy becomes the question for us limited-budget lurkers.  

Personally, I'm going to wait to see what the overall judgment will be.  A pair of fully updated, higher crossover RM40s, or the RM30s with a pair of 215s...which comes in close to the same price.

[John B]

I've heard a few good danish speakers in my time (dynaudio mainly, the Audience, Contour, and Evidence lines, plus the Acoustic-Reality speakers). The term "No Comparison" comes to mind. Not in favor of the danes, mind you.

I hope you're right Tyson.  I've gone about as far as I want to go, price wise, with Danish speakers.   The Dali MS4 is about the best I've heard in the price range I can afford;  but it's sonics are not "leagues" above what I have now.   In fact unless I can find a speaker that really pushes the sonic envelope on what I'm getting now, I'll need to consider my system pretty much complete.   Of course if VMPS is truly a "no comparison" speaker, well then, I'll be in happy audiophile heaven, putting my Danes up for sale  

[Tyson]

I actually like Dyn speakers quite a bit.  In fact, of all the brick and mortar available speakers, the Dyn's are my favorite.  But they are just softer and less resolving than the RM40's.  

The only caveat w/the RM series, is theybenefit from a somewhat  damped room, or, if they are in a bright room, a warm front end.  Since the speakers themselves are not soft/euphonic, they won't compensate for a bright room like other (softer sounding) speakers can.  Just my observations.

[John B]

they won't compensate for a bright room like other (softer sounding) speakers can.

I wouldn't call my room bright, though it is on the "lively" side.   I have never liked the sound of fully damped rooms with any speaker I've heard.   In fact my own experiements at damping my room has resulted in what I would call a muffled effect, in that the airyness or ambience that I enjoy was diminished, without giving me much in the way of improvement in any musical area I could define.

[ctviggen]

I like Dynaudio speakers.  I sat through a listening test with my friend, who was looking in the 6-8k speaker range.  The Dynaudio speakers were the best (same room, same equipment other than speaker wire if the speakers were biwired or not) of the speakers we heard.  However, I don't have VMPS speakers (they're on my short list).

[ekovalsky]

The big Dali ribbon speakers, about 8' fall, sounded very nice with some sweet looking chinese tube amps.

[audiochef]

Tyson,no one says it better! Glad your'e on our side. Tell it like it is.

Stan

[ctviggen]

I think Dynaudio came out with some very tall speakers some years ago, and these sounded great.  Of course, at the dealer's, they were the premier system, so they were driven by the best amps, preamps, and CD transport/etc. in the store.  There was easily 100k just in equipment and cables.  Heck, this would make Bose speakers sound good (or maybe not!).