RMAF 2011

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Socrates7

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RMAF 2011
« on: 26 Oct 2011, 02:34 pm »
I still have a dozen or two rooms to write up, but the majority are now on the site. The rest will follow whenever they follow. You know, real job, all that.  :roll:

I had a blast this year. Veal steak at Del Frisco's was out of this world. Whisky with Philip. Dean Peer. Great conversations. Seeing Jonathan Valin storming around the lobby shouting into his cellphone about "effing Stereophile".

Blowing through 4 sets of batteries for my flash. 10 minute waits for the elevators, giving up, and getting totally buzzed after hauling ass up 11 flights of stairs at a mile-high altitude. Whacking some bald guy in the head with my telephoto lens. Good times.

Thank God the trip home was nowhere near as eventful as the trip out.

Favorite rooms?

I really enjoyed the High Water Sound room. Might have been just timing on my part, but regardless, my time there was very well spent.

I also found really cool stuff everywhere:

Vinnie at Red Wine Audio -- love those new monos
Empirical Audio: say it with me now "Steampunk DAC!"
The speakers from the TV show "Madmen" (Davone)
Volti -- best horn at the show
Doshi -- beautiful tube gear
Veloce -- 400wpc tube+battery monos
eFicion -- love the F300 speakers
AMR DAC -- crazy-good DAC
DeVore Orangutan O/96 -- surprise for me, but bowled over by the sound
WideaLabs Aurender S10 -- very upscale server with some kick-a clocking

And a couple hundred other things. Definitely my favorite show of the year.

I have a ton more on http://parttimeaudiophile.com/.

WGH

Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #1 on: 26 Oct 2011, 03:04 pm »
Great photos and show report!

saisunil

Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #2 on: 26 Oct 2011, 03:14 pm »
Nice to hear / see a different perspective ...

Thanks

fly_fish_nz

Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #3 on: 26 Oct 2011, 09:39 pm »
Thanks for the great review of High Water's room.  I had been hoping to read more about Jeff's room this year after being impressed at last year's Capital Audio Fest, but was only able to find a small blurb here and there on other sites - your was what I was hoping for, confirmation that what my wife and I heard was not a fluke.  $20K speaker cables are outside my budget, but I wonder if Jeff could put together a more moderately priced system that captured some of the magic of the one's we've heard.

zybar

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Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #4 on: 26 Oct 2011, 10:53 pm »
Thanks for the great review of High Water's room.  I had been hoping to read more about Jeff's room this year after being impressed at last year's Capital Audio Fest, but was only able to find a small blurb here and there on other sites - your was what I was hoping for, confirmation that what my wife and I heard was not a fluke.  $20K speaker cables are outside my budget, but I wonder if Jeff could put together a more moderately priced system that captured some of the magic of the one's we've heard.

Having known Jeff for more than 15 years, I am extremely confident that he can put together a great sounding system at almost any price point.  In fact, I first met Jeff when I bought an EAR phonostage from him (which is still a great budget phonostage).

George

JLM

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Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #5 on: 26 Oct 2011, 11:54 pm »
Great photos and show report!

ditto   :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

django11

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Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #6 on: 27 Oct 2011, 01:11 am »
Incredible amount of work.  When do you sleep?

Socrates7

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Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #7 on: 27 Oct 2011, 01:28 am »
Incredible amount of work.  When do you sleep?

 Sleep? :scratch:

Pez

Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #8 on: 27 Oct 2011, 06:45 pm »
Thanks for the awesome coverage! I have stickied this post.

Socrates7

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Re: RMAF 2011
« Reply #9 on: 27 Oct 2011, 08:31 pm »
Not that anyone asked, but you know what else I really liked?

Brodmann speakers. Fronted by Electrocompaniet, these speakers -- especially the little Festival speakers -- were crazy-good. It may be hard to see in the pics, but there are these two side panels, precisely mounted to the sides of the cabinet, that act like a passive bass driver. Bizarre. And really wonderful sounding. Natural and organic.

Serious Stereo 2a3 amps. These are some expensive monos that throw out something like a whopping point-8wpc, but, still have the capacity for terrific voltage swings. They look really nice, with a gorgeous "baked" finish, and just have this incredible utilitarian look and feel to them ... for whatever reason, it's these amps that my mind keeps returning to. Wish I had some speakers that they could drive!

Sjöfn Hifi. Say that ... er ... one ... time fast? I have no idea how to pronounce it, actually, which makes for several hilarious|pathetic stories about me trying to tell some friends about this room. Apparently, it was like watching me have a stroke. Gah. Anyway. These speakers were dynamite and I couldn't believe the retail price. Set right up against a room-treatment, I immediately wondered how they'd sound tucked into a cabinet. Yeah, thinking about ripping out those old Totem speakers I have on the HT setup and swapping in a pair of these bad boys. Not that that has any relevance to any of you, but whatever. In short, loved these little dudes.

Bryston BDP-1. Saw this in several rooms at the show and it really got me to wondering. Ted_B is a fan, and he's really (really!) picky, so the unit kept catching my eye. Not as cheap as my 13" MacBook Pro server, but it would let me skip the entire USB-to-S/PDIF translation and plug directly into an AES port on a "real" DAC. I'm guessing a lot of manufacturers were thinking the same thing, which is why they were scattered throughout the show. And given how much the Memory Player and Aurender systems are asking, it looks more and more like a dealio.

Orion 4. I've always been more impressed with the lineage and specs of the Orion loudspeaker than with it's actual sound -- until this show, when I got to hear it fronted by some seriously quality electronics from Pass Labs. Not cheap, but stunningly capable -- and still under $20k, which is nearly impossible to find on a speaker that does 20Hz. Like I said, best I've heard from any Orion, anywhere -- and the Wood Artistry frame is very swank.

Pet Riggle's Woody tonearm. This thing's a work of art. $1600 gets you while-the-record-plays VTA  & Azimuth. Looks fantastic -- very "clockwork" in the best possible way.

Jeff Rowland & Thiel. Not knocking Thiel, but every time I've heard them (prior to this show), I've never been impressed. RMAF changed my mind. And the very shiny Jeff Rowland gear was terrifically impressive, even if it was the hardest thing to photograph at the show. The Aeris DAC is not cheap, but after my visits, I'm keen to learn more about it.

I still have a few more rooms to write up. Hopefully I'll get to them sooner rather than later. Thanks for checking in!