[dminches]

Did their room not sound well or are people just "bored" of them?

[jtwrace]

Did their room not sound well or are people just "bored" of them?

It was OK.  $150K as well IIRC.

[dminches]

I heard he was showing his new high pass amps which are designed for the 7s and 5As.  I also heard they were ridiculously expensive.  Thanks.

[DaveC113]

Did Vandersteen not do the show this year?  I have not heard 1 mention of their room(s) which are usually among the best sounding.

Yes, but I have heard them a few times and skipped them this year, it's impossible to see it all.

I think they are doing a good job and their systems sound good but their stuff is expensive and not the best value imo.

[dminches]

I think some of their line is a great value including the 2CE Signs and the Treos.  And then they have other speakers that are 25k and 50k.  I think Richard has done a very good job of creating a full line for most budgets.  But, he generally doesn't bring the lower prices stuff to the shows.

[roscoeiii]

Also curious to hear impressions of the Von Schweikert gear if anyone saw some of their systems. They had a pretty wide range of their gear in various rooms.

As for me, I am most curious to hear thoughts on the VR-44. But any impressions by RMAF attendees would be appreciated.

[SoCalWJS]

A quick recount of my lasting impressions:

Wilson:
The big Demo room at the Hyatt was amazing. I will list this as one of the truly incredible and memorable systems I have ever heard (along with the big Wisdom system at Newport Beach 2 years ago and the big Infinity IRS at a show many years ago).
All the other Wilson rooms were unimpressive though. Bad rooms (maybe) and a non welcoming attitude (definitely)

Vapor:
Can I give an award for most improved from Newport Beach? The bigger room helped the sound immensely and if you're in the market for a speaker in this price range, these should be on your short list. The Nimbus was just soooooooo much better here! I would love to hear the Joule Black and White side by side to see the differences. A few people made some comments about the Whites sounding a bit "hard" in the midrange. I didn't think so, but comparing the two would be nice.

I thought the Magico/Hegel combination was very nice. Definitly worked better together than the Hegel/Thiel combo I heard previously (and I own Thiels)

KingSound:
When I heard the big Electrostats, I was impressed. When I went back later and saw (then listened to) the little Princess IIA bookshelfs, I started scratching my chin thinking "Hmmmm....". Could be something to look at. There is just something about the sound of electro's that I love, but there is no way I'd ever own a big set due to the various issues, but I could picture this setup in a secondary room where I was confined to a desk for extended periods.

GR Research/Mockingbird:
Possibly the most involving sound produced. I am so disappointed that a technical snafu prevented the use of the big Dodd amps. The sound they put out initially on Thursday night with the Big Blue's was incredible right off the bat. With a few hours of tweaking I think they would have given the big Wilson room some competition at a fraction of the price. Seriously. Still one of the best even with only 30 watts in a pretty good sized room.

Salk:
The first time through on Friday, they didn't do much for me. Sunday midday? Different story. Don't know if there were any changes, but the sound was very involving - it quickly drew me in. I need to spend more time with them at the next opportunity.

Odyssey:
Have to say that this room gets an incomplete. Tried twice. Couldn't hear the music over the conversations. Hope it was leading to sales.

MBL:
Disappointed. Not as good as the last two shows (NB and RMAF 2012)

Synergistic Research:
Blew me away again. Guess I ain't smart enough. No clue how little pieces of Aluminum (and other secret materials) can make a room sound so different (IMHO: Better). Probably a sucker, but I bought a couple of boxes and I'll give them a shot at my place. 

Melody:
As always, one of the easiest rooms to listen to - it just seems to present a sound that lets you relax and enjoy with no apparent shortcomings. I drooled over the big tube amps.

Overall:
Attendance seemed down. Saturday was OK, Friday was down a bit, but Sunday was pretty thin. I think there were more rooms that produced "better than average" Show Sound this year. Elevators held up. Registration was quick (but I waited until about 12:15). Restaurant in the lobby still needs more capacity or much quicker turnover. Long waits for a table or a seat at the bar during prime hours.

I tried to hit every room, but a few chased me out in just a few seconds. Too loud, too bright, or just plain bad sound.

Still a Blast!  (but geesh am I tired)

[DaveC113]

Nice SoCalWJS.

I also think there were A LOT more rooms that managed to get the setup right this year. I was actually surprised how many decent reviews I gave, last year I was so disappointed my title was something along the lines of "brutally honest commentary" because it was that bad and I gave poor reviews to many rooms because they couldn't set the system up properly. It's also possible I got lucky with the rooms I visited, but it seems to be consensus that there were many rooms that had good sound this year. That's nice because it is difficult to hear what a system is really capable of when there's 12+ dB bass peaks that overhang for a half second in the room... 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Anyone hear the Salk with the seas exotics i heard they where incredible?

They were great. I really liked the big speakers, too, but these little guys (with the associated AVA gear) were quite special.

[DaveC113]

PTA, I can understand why some people like them but they did nothing for me and scored a "fail" on one of my test tracks. I'm of the opinion a good stereo should be able to do everything pretty well, but I think there are quite a few speaker designers that do not listen to all genres of music and do not make sure their products are capable of doing a good job reproducing all kinds of music. Nola is a prime example, not being able to make music out of one of my test tracks, the same one the Salk system failed at. It is from Bela Fleck's live album "Live at the Quick". He is playing with a big band and during the more complicated passages many system are not able to keep up, and the sound gets smeared. The guy in the Nola room was talking over the music, then turned off my test track 30 seconds into Bela Fleck, lol it did sound really bad. But between an untreated hotel room and someone talking loudly how can you tell anything about the system...