[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

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image by -jaspoon187-


[Tyson]

General Room Notes – Oh no, ceramic midrange units prepare to exit quickly.  Did I mention that I have some pretty strong biases when it comes to audio?

No CD player in the room, so can only listen to the stuff on the server.  So, hard to be real specific.  What I hear mainly is the sound just floating free of the speakers and being very delicate and ethereal.  Ethereal, fuck yeah!  That’s 3 words you don’t often see together.  And very, very clear.  But not analytic. 

[Pez]

Badass lounge. Nuff said.

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-


[Tyson]

General Room Notes – Every year these guys have the coolest room of the entire show, and this year was no exception.  Totally done up like a real nightclub, with classically dressed bartenders and everything!  I love it.

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

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image by -jaspoon187-


[Tyson]

General Room Notes – The most badass carrying case, ever!  I'm a bit biased, because it's made by Copper River, and my laptop bag is by the same company - American made and freaking awesome!  The rest of the room?  Meh.  These headphones sound terrible.  Thin, flat, hissy.  Where's the beef?  Maybe it's just this one setup.  Moving over to a new setup.  Nope, sounds the same here.   

[Pez]

Taking a short break. Be back in a few. 

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-




[Tyson]
SOMEONE SAID THIS ROOM HAS FREE DONUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

As usual the Daedalus/modwright/ wywires room is setup well and balanced incredibly smooth. We are currently waiting for a demo to finish for another writer. Clown music with bicycle chimes lutes and other crap. Holy hell. I guess it's the job of every reviewer to piss off everyone else in the room.

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-


[Tyson]

General Room Notes – HOLY CRAP THOSE ARE BIG SPEAKERS!  I think my entire head and torso can fit inside the tweeter horn.  Hahah, love it.  Listening to Elton John off their server and it’s surprisingly coherent because I’m sitting literally 4 feet from them.  Aha, someone moved and I now have nabbed the sweet spot!  Love it when someone else’s butt keeps a seat warm for me.  Probably more intimate than I thought it was possible to be at an audio show.

Mahler Symphony 6 – Big, big sound.  I think the orchestra has more weight and heft here then we’ve heard at the show yet.  Room treatments help, but I think the speakers are too big for the room, the highs are a bit hot.  Or, that’s not right.  It’s more that the highs are more dynamic sounding and really tend to jump out at you. 

Handel Aria – Love that these make the singer sound life sized.  So many other rooms just have a mini-me presentation of singers/musicians.  No hardness or harshness with the human voice.   

Saint Saens – Danse Macabre (Violin & Piano) – Good groove and jump.  A tad analytical sounding.  Surprisingly cohesive for such a giant speaker.

Tom Waits (Jockey Full of Bourbon) – Well, we were listening to this track but the douche running the room decided to “mix things up here”, and cut over to the fucking Eagles.  To quote the Big Lebowski – “C’mon man, I hate the fucking Eagles”.

Oh thank god, a decent human being slapped down that track and put our disc back on.  Yay!  OK, different listening spot and everything coheres a lot better.  Very nimble, very detailed, and great imaging once you get into the right spot. 

Natalie Merchant (Peppery Man) – Oh yeah, those voices reach down deeeeeepppp!  Weight and gravitas in spades.  And did I mention life size?  Makes everyone else at the show sound downright puny.  It’s the audio equivalent of kicking sand in the face of all the other vendors.  Charles Atlas says “Take That!”.



On the Mahler this system is fucking ballsy as hell!!!! Best dynamics by far that I've heard today. Best soundstage and imagining. Really rock solid.

Handel another incredible performance. Sooooo smooth soooo dynamic sooooo emotive. One of those rare Jems that makes me forget to type AND listen.

Saens so much texture and depth. Effortless effortless effortless!!!! Pretty much head and shoulders above the rest.

Yikes.... They just stopped my portion of the track. No Tom Waits. Fucking Eagles hotel California. Sigh..... Ok so yes it sounds great but I am sooooo damn tired of this track. Absolutely positively over used to the point of annoyance.

Ok they've but Waits back on. For the lack of quality (despite smh redo) this track sounds pretty damn incredible. I'm relatively blown away here. Great pace superb too to bottom integration. Just well done.

Merchant - yes this seals it for me. This room is a must hear. Such amazing control and confidence. For horns they are basically lacking any sort of coloration. Superb detail and excellent dynamics.

First A+ of the day.

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-


[Tyson]

General Room Notes – Love the uber-simple, clean setup here.  Quite a relief after all the rooms jam packed with boxes and audio detritus.  No CD player, so not able to listen to our music.  The system does well on hard/fast/dynamic music.  Sounds a bit tipped up, at least from my seat off to the side.  We might have to come back when there’s less people in the room.   Overall good sound, but the speakers are short.  Holy hell it’s a crazy theme at this year’s show

[Pez]

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-

image by -jaspoon187-



[Tyson]

General Room Notes – Vapor have moved!  They are in the old GR Research room this year.  It’s a moderately sized room, not the tiny coffins most vendors end up in.   As always, they are probably the most beautifully finished speakers at the show. 

Mahler Symphony 6 – Interesting.  I was ready to post a bit of a slam on this room because I was listening to the 2nd and 3rd row and it was incredibly bright.  But moving to the front row brings things back in balance.  No other speakers at RMAF really scale like Vapor speakers.  Not just volume/dynamics, but actual presentation of physical space.  Ouch, still a bit hot in the tweeters though, even in the front row.

Handel Aria – This track just floats.  Very beautiful.  The brightness I heard on the Mahler doesn’t manifest here. 

Saint Saens – Danse Macabre (Violin & Piano) – So incredibly clear you can hear/feel/touch the tensioned strings of the violin.  The piano is truly a perscussive instrument here.  Nice levels of aggression (as it should be) and purity/clarity.  Yeah, they are just knocking it out of the park on this track.

Tom Waits (Jockey Full of Bourbon) – "I've been steppin' on the Devil's tail."  Indeed.  I believe him.  The wood block struck in the background is probably the clearest, most realistic I've hear.  I though it was just a shitty recording, but no. 

Natalie Merchant (Peppery Man) – Goddamn those big male vocals are impressive!  That bass singing is rendered will all the same power and authority as the giant tuba on this song.  And now the rest of the song hits, they boogie.  Still a tiny bit hot in the highs for my taste, but overall an excellent room (no surprise there).


Mahler - the power!!!! The breadth and girth!!!! I love it when a system really controls this track. Tells the music where to go vs most systems trying to take it somewhere but not quite sure where it's going. So much immediacy and gorgeousness.
 
Handel - I want to make sure you know I'm not in the best seat. Yet wow.... Such beauty. Pretty amazing setup.

Saint Saens - so much control this is what high end audio is all about. Again I find myself completely into the music and forgetting to type.

Waits - every other system sort of makes this sound like a crap recording. This system gives credence to the gruff raw nature of the song and conveys it with utter beauty.

Merchant - wow. This is beauty distilled in its purist form. So delicate when it needs to be and potent when the music demands. Male vocals are incredibly well balanced and play well juxtaposed to merchants voice.

Great performance beginning to end. A+

[dburna]

Thanks muchly, guys.  Terrific work.  May I make a request?  Would you briefly list major components in the room along with the review?  Sometimes it's easy to tell what's what (Cherry amps, Daedelus speakers), sometimes it isn't (big honking speakers along with the Cherry amps).  Perhaps I'm just not hip to all the latest gear, I dunno.

Much appreciated,

-dB (who wishes he was in Denver this weekend)

[highfilter]

Thanks muchly, guys.  Terrific work.  May I make a request?  Would you briefly list major components in the room along with the review?  Sometimes it's easy to tell what's what (Cherry amps, Daedelus speakers), sometimes it isn't (big honking speakers along with the Cherry amps).  Perhaps I'm just not hip to all the latest gear, I dunno.

Much appreciated,

-dB (who wishes he was in Denver this weekend)

That, or maybe just provide the room number if it's not too much hassle, and we can look it up.

The speakers with the Cherry amps are JTR Speakers Noesis 215RT. Full room info: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129172.0.

This coverage is awesome guys. 

[Pez]

We are done for the day guys! We will post more impressions tomorrow stay tuned.

[Pez]

For anyone at the show just FYI we are turning in early today.

[Red Dragon Audio]

image by -jaspoon187-
[Tyson]

General Room Notes – Love the uber-simple, clean setup here.  Quite a relief after all the rooms jam packed with boxes and audio detritus.  No CD player, so not able to listen to our music.  The system does well on hard/fast/dynamic music.  Sounds a bit tipped up, at least from my seat off to the side.  We might have to come back when there’s less people in the room.   Overall good sound, but the speakers are short.  Holy hell it’s a crazy theme at this year’s show

Hey Tyson,

We do have a CD player that is tied to our MacBook. Come swing by and throw in your test disc.

Cheers fellas!

[revolver]

That, or maybe just provide the room number if it's not too much hassle, and we can look it up.

The speakers with the Cherry amps are JTR Speakers Noesis 215RT. Full room info: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129172.0.

This coverage is awesome guys. 

The Vapor Speakers are in room 2024.  The silver box on top of the rack is the Antipodes DX music server.  Next down in an Allnic DAC, and on bottom is an Allnic integrated.  Cables by Verastarr.

[verdun47]

Pez or Tyson  -   Big Thank You.

May/might I make a suggestion.

The primary shot in the Vapor room with the blue couch in the forground: get the camera up higher (stand on something perhaps, or hold it above your head) so that the camera exposes for the subject of interest, and not the couch.

Just my humble opinion.
Cheers

[Pez]

Pez or Tyson  -   Big Thank You.

May/might I make a suggestion.

The primary shot in the Vapor room with the blue couch in the forground: get the camera up higher (stand on something perhaps, or hold it above your head) so that the camera exposes for the subject of interest, and not the couch.

Just my humble opinion.
Cheers

Yep I even talked to Ryan about that and registered in my head 'retake this photo' then proceeded to become distracted by other stuff. I don't honestly put a lot of deep thought into setting up my photos (obviously) I just do my best to get the vibe of the room and some equipment shots. We historically have never been really great about posting the equipment that is in the room etc, that is not what we're about. We want to post our impressions of what we hear. Sorry to say we are incapable of doing much more without doing a lot less.

[Tyson]

Thanks muchly, guys.  Terrific work.  May I make a request?  Would you briefly list major components in the room along with the review?  Sometimes it's easy to tell what's what (Cherry amps, Daedelus speakers), sometimes it isn't (big honking speakers along with the Cherry amps).  Perhaps I'm just not hip to all the latest gear, I dunno.

Much appreciated,

-dB (who wishes he was in Denver this weekend)

I can only see 2 issues with that.  1, we'd need a squire boy to do all that equipment name transcribing while we did everything else.  And 2, we really don't care about the equipment in the room.  Now, I know that sounds a bit standoff-ish, and I don't mean to sound that way.  People who do equipment reviews for a living, they care a lot about that stuff.  But we are just 2 guys with a CD, a Camera, a laptop, and completely bullshit opinions

[SoCalWJS]

Yep I even talked to Ryan about that and registered in my head 'retake this photo' then proceeded to become distracted by other stuff. I don't honestly put a lot of deep thought into setting up my photos (obviously) I just do my best to get the vibe of the room and some equipment shots. We historically have never been really great about posting the equipment that is in the room etc, that is not what we're about. We want to post our impressions of what we hear. Sorry to say we are incapable of doing much more without doing a lot less.

That's what I want more than anything else - honest input from people who I (generally  ) agree with about how a room sounds.

[Alexdad54]

If not the equipment inside then perhaps whose room it is? Some of the room comments don't say which room it is...