[doug s.]

If you guys get my RMAF coverage thread binned because of a political discussion, I will hunt you down and kill you.  Stop it, and stop it now.

sorry, tyson; i was quoting you, tho...   

doug s.

[Tyson]

Fantastic job Tyson and Pez.

I have been to over 20 of these audio shows over the years. These systems always sound the best on the last day of the show over the first and second day. So for first timers going to an audio show, don't expect immaculate sound the first day you are there. If your favorite company is sounding bad, go again on the last day. You will probably be surpised.

You are right of course.  I was thinking about that and maybe we should skip Friday and Saturday next year and only go on Sunday. 

[DaveC113]

After seeing the prices of stuff out there and in the new issue of TAS, think I'm happy enough just to stay home and enjoy the music.  But, thanks for the great coverage, P&T.

Lol, that's for sure. There were very, very few pieces of gear I'd consider a good value there. Peachtree was good, dc10 speakers, believe it or not, Sonus Faber's $1200 monitors had great mids to highs for the money... DSPeaker processor, Legacy speakers and a few others were decent values for sure. Most gear is severely overpriced IMO.

[Rclark]

How did you like the DSPeaker processor (the Dual Core, right?), I have a major woody for it at the moment.

[DaveC113]

How did you like the DSPeaker processor (the Dual Core, right?), I have a major woody for it at the moment.

I got to check out the setup after hours Saturday at the Legacy room, and listen to a speaker with and without it's correction up to 200 Hz. It works as advertised and the bass correction was very noticeable and had a huge effect on improving the sound. The USB is limited to 24/48 though, if it had a 24/192 asynch DAC I'd be all in...

[Rclark]

Nope, it's currently 24/96 and more in the pipe with firmware. People have reported running 24/96 just fine.

[Rclark]

"all in"

Given your system and experience, I'll take that as it sounded awesome  I already have the battery and charger on my Warpspeed, that will go right into the Dual Core.

 Were they on battery or wall wart at the show???

[DaveC113]

Nope, it's currently 24/96 and more in the pipe with firmware. People have reported running 24/96 just fine.

It's 24/96 via toslink or spdif. 24/48 via USB. This is direct from one of the guys who helped design the unit. Sorry, I should have mentioned it's different via USB vs. spdif. He did mention the unit may be upgradeable, so you may be right IDK...

24/192 is nice, but honestly most of what I listen to is 16/44.1. The benefits of using the DSPeaker as a DAC are likely to outweigh the negatives of not hearing full resolution from a very small minority of my music collection. Most systems can benefit from room correction to a large degree, and the DSPeaker is capable of processing room correction for up to 2 main speakers and 2 subs. From checking out the before/after freq. responses of the speakers we used, very large suckouts can't be fully corrected for, so it is best to get the best setup you can before using the processor to set the eq. Starting with 2 speakers and at least one well placed sub will probably get you a very flat bass response, with 2 subs it would be withing a couple dB from however low your system will go throughout the bass freqs. If you have a 4 subs and set them up carefully then the DSPeaker is less helpfull, but I prefer my subs x-overed at 50 Hz and the DSPeaker addresses Bass in mono up to 199 Hz and stereo up to 500 Hz (to account for side/floor reflections individually), so the room correction goes a lot higher in freq vs placing a bunch of subs in the room.

Also, there is a software program for free download so you can hook it up to your PC and download freq response and eq charts from the processor, which is a great tool.

My wish list is 24/192 asynch USB, active EQ and a full size chassis with a larger LCD screen. Maybe a high quality tube output section... There is a new Pioneer car audio head unit that processes cabin correction with a mic (like the DSPeaker) + has active eq with hi/med/low analog outputs. And it time corrects, which the DSPeaker can do with the subs as well, which is a huge plus.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-DEH-80PRS-Receiver-Crossover-Alignment/dp/B006Y44DAY

But overall, I think the DSPeaker is probably a good choice and they do have a 20 day audition period. I don't usually make impulse purchases, especially in audio, so I need to think about for a while.... but it seems like a great idea and I will probably try one the next time I have a free $1200 or find one used.

[Rclark]

Well, my material is all CD, so I'm in no hurry to move to the questionable hi rez arena just yet. Seems there are some kinks yet to work out and my Emotiva ERC-2 sounds My-T-fine indeed, oh yes. I read a snippet that said higher resolutions are definitely in the works and that they are aggressively updating the firmware, apparently at least a couple times a month since launch.

 I'm "all in", I just need to free up funds after paying for my NC400's this month.

[JLM]

What were the brands from reply #7 (first room today)?

Glad you guys could sprinkle in some "real world" priced gear in there.   

[Imperial]

These Tyson/Pez "dispeners of shows" threads are really really good!

You guys actually out do just about the all the pro's with swiftness and... very important: the truth, as you guys see it/hear it!
Because boy do people ever write different stuff about some rooms!!! Like between the lines, trying to land a review, would like to buy afterwards, nudge nudge and so on!

Imp.

[rbbert]

After seeing the prices of stuff out there and in the new issue of TAS, think I'm happy enough just to stay home and enjoy the music.  But, thanks for the great coverage, P&T.

There's an amzing amount of reasonably priced gear at RAMF, but as they (Tyson and Pez) wrote that's not really very interesting for the most part, and not where their focus was.  If that's what you want to check out at a show, though, then RAMF is definitely the place to go.  I was also again impressed by the amount of expensive gear that seems worth the money asked (by how much better it sounds and/or is built) compared to the less expensive stuff.   And of course there was plenty of stuff of the "how can they ask that much" category.  So kind of like 3 separate shows all mixed together.

[DaveC113]

There's an amzing amount of reasonably priced gear at RAMF, but as they (Tyson and Pez) wrote that's not really very interesting for the most part, and not where their focus was.  If that's what you want to check out at a show, though, then RAMF is definitely the place to go.  I was also again impressed by the amount of expensive gear that seems worth the money asked (by how much better it sounds and/or is built) compared to the less expensive stuff.   And of course there was plenty of stuff of the "how can they ask that much" category.  So kind of like 3 separate shows all mixed together.

I agree, affordable gear isn't the main focus of the show, but there's a lot of it there. Many, many speakers at $3k and under...

[BobM]

If you stick to the stuff published in Stereophile you will always hear praise for the big boys (Wisdon, MBL, Wilson, Magico, TAD, Thiel, etc.). It is nice to have an unbiased opinion of these vendors that seems to match my own whenever I hear them - nice, sometimes just OK, sometimes just bad, but usually not a sound that could even come close to justifying their price and hardly best of show (although maybe the MBL's do steal the show on occasion).

[rbbert]

I'm sure Wisdom would love to be counted among the "big boys", but in reality they are still a relatively struggling start-up.  Their sound could definitely use some improvement over what I heard at RAMF.

[Nuance]

Gents,

Fantastic coverage as always.  You don't get enough credit for what you do, and that really sucks.  With that said, thanks for what you do, and I look forward to your adventures next year.  Oh, and it was good seeing you both again this year.  

[Tyson]

Gents,

Fantastic coverage as always.  You don't get enough credit for what you do, and that really sucks.  With that said, thanks for what you do, and I look forward to your adventures next year.  Oh, and it was good seeing you both again this year.  

Thanks man, much appreciated!  Great seeing you too, lookin' good bud.  Reminds me that I need to hit the gym again. 

Last year I'd have agreed with you re: the credit, but honestly the outpouring of recognition and support from people at the show this year was surprising and very gratifying!  Besides, I don't think we really "do it" for that as much as it's one of those things that Jason and I can share as part of our friendship.  Some dudes go fishing or golfing together, we do RMAF.  Cause yeah, we're nerds like that.

[satfrat]

Thanks man, much appreciated!  Great seeing you too, lookin' good bud.  Reminds me that I need to hit the gym again. 

Last year I'd have agreed with you re: the credit, but honestly the outpouring of recognition and support from people at the show this year was surprising and very gratifying!  Besides, I don't think we really "do it" for that as much as it's one of those things that Jason and I can share as part of our friendship.  Some dudes go fishing or golfing together, we do RMAF.  Cause yeah, we're nerds like that.

I really think your rolling RMAF coverage, postin' as you go, made the biggest difference Tyson. I know it had me locked to your thread coverage all day and the thread was loaded with members following your coverage. It had the AC folks more involved during the course of the day seeing what room was being reviewed & posted next. Last year, I'd visit the thread once at the end of the day and I was done with it. Minimum involvement was all that was necessary.

So I know that for myself, your on the spot posting format made all the difference. 

Cheers,
Robin

[figcon]

Hi Tyson.

Sorry I didn't make it this year, or last. Last year was trying to get out of Atlanta, unsucessfully, and this year, health mostly.

I'm pleased to see both of you tell it like you hear and see it. It was a very good job and I'm glad it was enjoyable, because it was obviously a lot of effort on both your parts.

I seem to remember someone referring to me as opinionated at the 2010 show, as I didn't find much to like at the show, save a couple of them....Looks like maybe I tought somebody something?

Hope to see you guys next year.

Frank