[Pez]

 Getting a late start this morning. Too much fun last night.  coverage will commence shortly.

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes  AudiKinesis Audio Room

General Room Notes – First room of the show on Saturday and I’m very happy to see AK back at RMAF.  They bring something that almost no one else does at these shows – INNOVATION.  They have separate speakers that fire the full signal toward the ceiling and are placed behind the main speakers, giving you an open baffle sound while retaining the punch and super sharp imaging of box speakers.

Sibelius – Good emotion and really nice deep soundstage.  Those ambient speakers really do a good job of expanding the room.

Mahler 5 – Very coherent and powerful.  Really great dynamics.  You can tell these are efficient speakers.

Tom Waits – Tons of emotion dripping off his voice on this one.  One small problem, this track reveals a bit of a room mode in the bass.  The acoustic bass is a bit too strong here.  On a more positive note, these guys sound BIG but not overblown.  That’s a really hard thing to pull off.

Natalie Merchant – Again, just a huge sound that’s not also relaxed and highly emotive.  And groovy.  Hell yeah!  These are MY kind of speakers.

Jason’s Notes
Sibelius it's nice to see Audiokenesis back at the show especially after a strong showing in previous years. The Sibelius track sweet and gorgeous intonation.
Mahler wow. DEEP sound field. Great imaging even from my none sweet spot position
Waits usual bass overhang as with all these rooms on this one. Really awesome growl to Waits voice. Focused soundstage. Goes well behind the wall.
Merchant no disembodiment like other systems with the deep voices. Great dynamics again. Only know is I feel like the soundstage isn't quite as expansive as with the other material for some reason. Hmmmm.
 

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes  Technics Audio Room

General Room Notes – Concentric speakers, nice!  I love concentric speakers   All Technics electronics too.  Big, black and mean looking.

Music – listening to the jazz from their library, I’m noticing a pretty intense bass mode in the sweet spot.  Looking beyond that, things sound a bit flat and compressed, very surprising.  Yeah, just overall flat.  And they even have room treatments (kudos!) so I have to lay the blame on the system… Oh, moved to a different track now, Amber Rubarth ‘Strive’ and it still sounds a bit hard in the lower treble, but the rest sounds pretty good.  Treble in general seems to be problematic here.  I think they’ve made the classic mistake of trying to put a speaker designed for a large room into a small room here at the show. 


Jason’s Notes
That amp.... Pure sexiness even if it's just another aluminum box.

Playing a song called Strive by Amber Ruthbar... Wow. This is phenomenal!!!!! The dynamics and natural soundstage. Without even knowing the material it is evident to me that this is the best I've heard at the show. Concentric mid tweet is the real deal. Increidibly focused I,aging and sound staging.
I am shell shocked and blown away that technics put together a system of this caliber. Breathtakingly beautiful. Big thumbs up.

[Pez]

Tyson and I are in the hall in front of the technics room having a full on argument about what we just heard. I don't think we can be friends anymore.

[SoCalWJS]

Nice seeing Technics with its own room!


(Too bad they weren't displaying a new turntable......)

[SoCalWJS]

Tyson and I are in the hall in front of the technics room having a full on argument about what we just heard. I don't think we can be friends anymore.

Difference of opinion is a good thing. Sometimes.

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes  KEF and Wyred 4 Sound Audio Room

General Room Notes – These speakers are freaking beautiful.  They are superbly art deco.  Class D amp, hmmm, my expectations are dropping as I have a rather contentious history.  To be blunt, I f'ing hate them.  Lets put on some music and see how it goes!   

Music – Listening to the stock music.  I like that these speakers go down to the mid bass with authority and don’t even attempt to do super deep bass.  Smart.  Clean, clear, dynamic.  Shocking that this is a class D amp. 

Sibelius – Nice full, smooth sound.  To say I’m surprised would be an understatement.  I normally find class D amps cold and sterile.  What dark magic has been wrought here?

Mahler – Oh yeah, that horn just cuts through the sound.  Dynamics holy crap!  Bass is tight and super punchy.  Treble gets a bit hard when things get crazy.

Tom Waits – Huge sound.  I think this is the best, larger than life sound of any system so far.  And, unlike a lot of other rooms, no bass hump on the acoustic bass.

Natalie Merchant – The overall clarity and bass control/detail really shine here.  The bass singer has grit and detail in his growl that’s normally glossed over.  Excellent pace and rhythm.  Wow, I expected the treble to get hard when Natalie lets loose.  But no, stays super smooth and detailed.  This room really shocked me at how great it sounds.  One of the best rooms of the show.

Jason’s Notes


 Sibelius wow i really like the texture of the violin in this setup. Thumbs up.

Mahler trumpet sounds triumphant!!! MONSTER dynamics. Fuck!!!! Earth shattering

Waits holy shit! Behind the curtain there is a giant beautiful performance. I want to peak behind it. Home run performance.

Merchant solid solid solid imaging. Everything is well anchored. No cartoonishness to male vocals here. Just strong confident grace and beauty. Forget analyzing I just want to enjoy it.

Fuck you all. I'm not giving up the sweet spot. This is hawt!!!!

[johzel]

Glad you got to hear a room with the Exogal Comet DAC . . . I have one and it's terrific.

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes  Pure Audio Project and Grant Fidelity Audio Room

General Room Notes – Open baffle PLUS AMT tweeters?  Hell yeah!  Looks like bamboo baffle double thick plus a recess for the tweeter.  Aesthetically I find them very pleasing.  Wired 4 Sound digital amps in use in this room too.

Music – Listening to the stock music, Tin Pan Alley (oh god kill me now).  But damn if it doesn’t sound niiiiiiicccceeeee.  OB speakers are my favorite design (it’s what I run at home), and it’s so hard to get them really, really right.  Usually you get at least a little bit of misty/diffuse sound and have a lack of punch in the upper/mid bass.  However, I don’t hear any of that here.  Just a beautiful, huge soundstage with real dynamic punch.  Even sitting off axis they sound stellar.  I’m calling it, best OB room at the show (so far).  Man, this has been a really great run of rooms today so far.

OK, finally get the sweet spot and the soundstage is HUGE.  Man these speakers really lock in and ratchet up a LOT.  Love it.  I think this might actually be best sound in show for me, personally.

Jason’s Notes
Tinpan Alley the roughest place I've.... Eva... Beeeeeeeeeennnnn. Good overall balance but oddly I'm not getting any good imaging anywhere I sit. I'm dead center.... Nada. Very peculiar. Everything is great but for me I can't get over the lack of imaging despite the overall sound quality being good. Weird I don't know if it's just my ears or what the hell.

EDIT: revisiting this system listening to dead can dance. Ok... Wow what the hell was wrong with my ears the first time??? I've never had an instance where I couldn't find imaging and soundstage because now on this track it's very very good! Larger than life big. Very peculiar but I'm glad I came back!  In the top three for rooms I've heard thus far at the show. lol weird.

EDIT: forgot to mention the amps are Wyred for Sound amps in this setup. Thought it was on the sign but it wasn't. Thanks for the heads up guys.

[Pez]

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes   Saskia Turntables Audio Room

General Room Notes – Dude, these are awesome looking- electrostatics done up like old console speakers, that is so cool.   

Music – Listening to the stock music, can’t really make any judgments, everyone is talking talking talking.

Jason’s Notes
Retro baby. Talking baby. Bye bye

[Syrah]

I saw and heard those Kef Blades in Brooklyn.  They really surprised me too.  Great speakers that did a superb disappearing job.

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes Audio Machina Audio Room

General Room Notes – Thought these were more interested from the quick peek in than they actually turned out to be.  They sound good, but in not that different than a ton of other good speakers.  Not bad sounding at all, just not interesting/inspiring/awesome.  And this year Pez and I are all about the cool/awesome/different stuff. 

Jason’s Notes
Full room. Good dynamics if a bit hifi sounding and proper. Maybe I just think that because we're listening to classical. They do no wrong honestly.

[Pez]

Lunch time guys. 

[Pez]

[AmpDesigner333]

Glad you got to hear a room with the Exogal Comet DAC . . . I have one and it's terrific.

Checked out their web site.  No specs (even in the PDF)!  What are they?  What does it cost?  Just wondering if you know.  I realize you're not their rep.  Looks really nice, though.

Always look forward to this thread during RMAF!

Thanks for the coverage, guys.

-Tommy O

[Peter J]

Jason and Tyson, Kudos for all your efforts...really!

Looking at your photos of the Wyred/KEF room I'm wondering if you were in fact listening to class D. Looks like Wyred is resurrecting or resuscitating SST.

http://www.sst.audio/sst-launch-press-release

[Pez]

Tyson’s Notes Kimber Audio Room

General Room Notes – We were just walking by this room in the conference room area, on our way to the elevators to get back to the towers.  Heard some great sound and decided to peak in.  Holy shit it’s a real person playing a real piano.  Of course we gotta stay for this.  Ray Kimber is doing live recordings of 3 different classical pieces (Schubert solo piano music) and using a different mic position for each piece.  Now we are in the stereo room and listening to the recordings he JUST MADE.  How fucking cool is that!?!

On all Meitner and EMM Labs equipment with giant Martin Logan speakers we are all sitting around listening to each recording.  So, how close is it to live?  Pretty damn close.  Very impressive!

Jason’s Notes

Really amazing room!!! Most realistic piano I've heard yet!!, seriously though, Ray Kimber and Co know how to do a show. This is a live performance that is being recorded as we speak. Then we are going to the next room to hear this recording on whatever goodness Kimber has cooked up!

[johzel]

Checked out their web site.  No specs (even in the PDF)!  What are they?  What does it cost?  Just wondering if you know.  I realize you're not their rep.  Looks really nice, though.

Always look forward to this thread during RMAF!

Thanks for the coverage, guys.

-Tommy O

Exogal is a new company created by the "old" Wadia guys . . . the original founders of Wadia who are back in the business out of the Twin Cities.  The Comet is their first introduction - with great reviews.  The DAC with dedicated power supply retails at around $3,000.  The US distributer is Underwoodhifi.  But there are other retailers.  They are about to release a dedicated amplifier called the Ion (it will only work with the Comet).  Hope this helps.

[AmpDesigner333]

Note the creepy reflection face on the piano!