[Antipodes]

I am impressed with how Pez and Tyson go about it.  They bring familiar music and it is obvious watching them that they are listening for how the musical flow gets them moving, rather than being all analytical about it.  This is only our third show in the US, but the Pez and Tyson report is the one to read, from my brief experience of how accurately they describe the sound in the different rooms, and their relative merits.

There is no doubt that Ryan simply doesn't charge enough for his speakers.  The Nimbus and Joule were stunning, but kudos has to go also to the Arte Forma tubes and Empirical's DAC driving the Nimbus too.  Superbly musical products that happen to also be under-priced.  I was delighted to have our prototype top of the line DX server be in that Nimbus system - it was just beautifully musical - not something you hear often at the shows.  And Chris's Plasmatron made a great improvement too.  When we moved all the nice stuff down the other end of the room to run the Joule on Sunday, they finally sang, just in time for Pez and Tyson's second visit.

We did our best, over the weekend, to consume as much of Wilson's chocolates as we could, and take in the many nice folk they turned away at their door.  It worked out quite well for us, I thought.  Less busy than the Marriott, but we had a room that did the gear justice.

[bbaxter]

Just for another perspective on the Wilson room, a friend and I went there early on Friday, and were treated very courteously (despite the fact that we are no longer in the industry).  The demo was the most professional presentation at the show, and among the most impressive.  They even let us play a little of our own music! 
All in all, a very pleasant and awesome experience.   

[James Romeyn]

I was annoyed that they wanted the Vapor room next door to not play ANY MUSIC AT ALL

I think they really believe they are the music gods and the music police too.

No comment on Wilson's strange request to the kind folks at Vapor Audio. 

My primeVibe business has social media relationship with Debby Wilson, Dave and Sheryl Lee's daughter.  Debby is kind, gracious, and has been generous with her time.  IIRC Debby is married now with different last name.

   

[jhm731]

Just for another perspective on the Wilson room, a friend and I went there early on Friday, and were treated very courteously (despite the fact that we are no longer in the industry).  The demo was the most professional presentation at the show, and among the most impressive.  They even let us play a little of our own music! 
All in all, a very pleasant and awesome experience.   

"All in all, a magnificent experience of what high-end is all about." - Franklin A. Berryman,Founder and Editor Ultra High-End Audio and Home Theater Review

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/rocky-mountain-audio-fest-2013-coverage/

[dBe]

Yes, it's just you.

Ahhhhhh.. Consistency.   

Dave

[OzarkTom]

I have been reading all of the reports of this years RMAF on the net,and it seems everyone agrees the Zellaton room was a standout. Zellaton won the Best of Show at Munich this year.

To get any of these systems dialed in to these lackluster hotel rooms is a miracle. And all systems sounds the best late Saturday and all day Sunday. I tried this one time at the Lone Star Audio Fest. Friday was a total disaster.

I believe Vaughn speakers is the sleeper of the year, one to watch with on his newly designed plasma drivers. Plasmas are incredible.

[sebrof]

I was annoyed that they wanted the Vapor room next door to not play ANY MUSIC AT ALL

Indeed.  I believe it was Wilson's daughter who showed up as we were setting up, either Thursday night or Friday morning, and asked if we were going to be playing music.  She sounded genuinely concerned that we'd pollute their rarefied air.  They thought our room was only for static displays!

Just curious, did she ask you if you would be playing music or did she ask you not to play music?
Two very different things IMO.

[persisting1]

Just curious, did she ask you if you would be playing music or did she ask you not to play music?
Two very different things IMO.

Very true. This should be addressed.

[jhm731]

Just curious, did she ask you if you would be playing music or did she ask you not to play music?
Two very different things IMO.

I don't think Debby would ever tell someone not to play music, she probably wanted both rooms to have the opportunity to show their best stuff.

PS - I'll bet she didn't consume anything from the Vapor room.

[TheMD]

Hi,

First post on here from the UK to say thank you for the excellent coverage. Very interesting to see a different flavour to my mainly British system.

[Russell Dawkins]

Were the Lumina or Trilogy speakers by Clayton Shaw from Spatial at the show?

[Zero]

Hey fellas,

I know this thread supposed to revolve around Pez and Tyson's awesome "Ultimate Guide to Awesomeness", but after having read a few comments that directly take aim at a friend of mine, Debby, I feel like I have a moral obligation to chime in with a few words of my own.  Hopefully this digression won't sidetrack the entire thread.  Anyway, getting right to it...

Debby is about as grounded and down to earth as it gets.  The only "posh" element to her life (that I know of) is that she owns a bad ass HT system - of which she never brags about.  Otherwise, she's a country girl who's never made a big deal outta her last name.  So the notion of her discouraging anybody from playing music in their own room strikes me as a tad unbelievable.  I'd wager that something was probably lost in translation.

[wisnon]

How was the Emerald Physics room?

[jtwrace]

When we moved all the nice stuff down the other end of the room to run the Joule on Sunday, they finally sang

I wish I was able to hear this myself.  When I heard the Joule's I wasn't that impressed....when I heard the Nimbus, I was like "Oh, OK, I got it now".  There is no doubt in my mind that the Nimbus was the best sounding 3/4-way that had a RAAL & Accuton Mid.  It's very well done and throw in the looks, and for nearly $9500 they're a bargain compared to their competition (if you want to call it that).  I'll go out on a limb and say that the equipment on the Nimbus was just better with the Nimbus.  Perhaps I'm wrong but the less expensive speaker shouldn't sound levels about the more expensive one.  Of course, this is my opinion so it doesn't really matter.   


Ryan & Pete- Great job!   


Mark-It was great to talk with you and I appreciate the massive effort you put into your products.


Steve-Hmmm.  Great job on the front end.  Really, I'm impressed with the sound but you need to jazz up the casework a bit.  At $12k (for the package heard) it should look like it too. 


I'd love to see/hear what the Plasmatron does other than looking really cool.      Arte Forma...for a non tube guy, they were pretty bad-ass.  Throw in the $6500 price tag and you're got yourself a hell of a set of tube amps.  Seriously, if I were looking for tube amps and they could drive my speakers, they would most certainly be at the top of my list. 

[TomS]

Were the Lumina or Trilogy speakers by Clayton Shaw from Spatial at the show?

Clayton told me he didn't get them finished in time so they stayed home to build speakers.

[Pete Schumacher]

Hey fellas,

I know this thread supposed to revolve around Pez and Tyson's awesome "Ultimate Guide to Awesomeness", but after having read a few comments that directly take aim at a friend of mine, Debby, I feel like I have a moral obligation to chime in with a few words of my own.  Hopefully this digression won't sidetrack the entire thread.  Anyway, getting right to it...

Debby is about as grounded and down to earth as it gets.  The only "posh" element to her life (that I know of) is that she owns a bad ass HT system - of which she never brags about.  Otherwise, she's a country girl who's never made a big deal outta her last name.  So the notion of her discouraging anybody from playing music in their own room strikes me as a tad unbelievable.  I'd wager that something was probably lost in translation.

I don't believe she asked us not to play anything.  She just seemed generally concerned that we weren't a static display and that we'd be interfering with their demo.  I've no doubt that their room interfered with ours more than we did theirs, but I can guarantee you that we didn't ask them to back off Thor's Hammer.

[totoro]

I don't think Debby would ever tell someone not to play music, she probably wanted both rooms to have the opportunity to show their best stuff.

PS - I'll bet she didn't consume anything from the Vapor room.

My experience with Wilson is that the sound sucks, that the people who sell it tend to be assholes,  and that the people who like  and buy their products tend to be status obsessed assholes with tin ears. You really are confirming all of my impressions so far.

[standub]

As some one who was there I have to say from a distance Debby Wilson(or whatever her last name is now) seems like a nice person.  I was waiting on the elevators and heard her talking to some one who had a Wilson system and she remembered what speakers he had bought.  Besides this place not many makers would remember this.  Now if you want to get into the Wilson fanboys.......those people think very highly of themselves it seems.

And to stick to the old addage, if you can't say something nice.....
Wilson, they're better than YG acoustics.

[EdRo]

     I would like to use this "P & T's Guide to AWESOMENESS 2013" to point out that this review is AWESOME!!! I've looked for some sort of review regarding RMAF, and although it may be a bit early, nothing I've read on any show from any reviewer is as informative AND entertaining as this one. It seems that makers that have a budget for advertising get (or should I say buy) a review; whereas the smaller guys are lucky to get any mention at all, anywhere!  :banghead:Didn't the venders pay for the rooms? I'd think that RMAF would at least try to do a listing and review of everything in all the rooms that were paid for!
     Thanks again, you two, for the great job you always seem to do!!! 

[Zero]

Alright.  So I just riffed with Debby about the situation.   Since she's not a member of this forum, and since she's currently bed-ridden courtesy of a cold that she caught from her son, I'll take the liberty of posting on her behalf. In summary:

According to Debby -  the only thing that she recalls doing is asking her friends/family whether or not the Vapor room was static or active.  That's it.  She didn't care if they'd be playing music all day and has never cared about such a thing in all the years that she's been attending shows.  She was just curious.  Besides, Debby had to man the Wilson booth in the Marriot throughout the bulk of RMAF anyway...   It's also worth noting that nobody from Wilson Audio was concerned about the Vapor room 'interrupting' their demo. 

So in short, it seems like mountains have been made from (imaginary) mole hills.  I guess I'll just say this much on the subject  -  If you want to rant about a company or its products, fine.  But to call out a (good) person by name in a public forum who did absolutely nothing wrong, well, that's just poor manners.