[Tyson]

This year RMAF was held at a new location, the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center near the Denver airport.  Holy crap this place is HUGE.  Like Vegas casino huge.  I absolutely DWARFS the old Marriott in the tech center. 

Right off the bat, there's a ton more room for vendors to spread out.  This is a VERY good thing.  It means you don't have to worry about the guy next door cranking it & bleeding through to your room. 

Also, the electrical system was way, way better.   I mean, this hotel is basically like a mini-city and has just way over-built everything.  I'll start off with a few pics to just try to convey the SCALE of everything.  Like, for example, there was a river-sized waterfall.  Indoors!  And a real, actual train car.  Indoors!  And the roof is WAY above you.  The sports bar is in a massively huge space.  OK, here's some pics:












OK, on to stereo stuff.  RMAF was in 2 main areas - the towers, from floors 3 through 11 and the Ballroom area in the convention center area.  Friday we hit floors 8, 9, 10, and 11.  I took a bunch of pics, of every room we hit, but I'm just going to post stuff that I think either looked really cool or that sounded really good (or both).



Warfedale towers sounded really good!  I have no idea how much these things cost or if they're an audiophile darling, but they really started the day off well.  This actually ended up being the 2nd best room we heard on Friday.

Pez: I really enjoyed the house sound of the Warfy room. IIf I had to summarize the house sound I'd say clean and inviting. They did no wrong and came off as a speaker eminently worthy of an audition.









Manger Audio, with their bending wave midrange driver.  Looked really cool.  Sounded good, if a bit diffuse.  Love that they're pushing the technology side of things.

Pez: What can I say, I'm a sucker anything daring and new in the industry. These did not fail to intrigue me. In another room I think these speakers would focus very well but given the limited space I felt like the soundstage and imaging were diffuse. That said, they are on my radar for further sessions in different setups.









Sony room sounded good too!  Actually Sony is one of the few companies that does a really good job with closed headphones.  Lots of companies do really good open back headphones, but not many get the balance right with closed cans.  These sounded great, as did their portable players.


Always one of my favorite stops. Great setup this year. I listened to the NX *something something*507 and was blown away by the sound quality and the overall fit and finish of this unit. Much more user friendly than the uber high end offerings from Sony, AK, and many other DAP makers. This DAP is one you actually wouldn't mind totting around. I can't wait for it's release in January!









Focal room sounded pretty bright/rough, as usual, but man they are just so freaking sexy looking I can't help but post a pic.
Meh... Nuff said










Raihdo room, again the speakers look dead sexy, and if possible it sounded even worse than the Focal room!  Oh well, moving on.
Just too much overhang and lack of control. The room could have used treatment, they definitely are designed for a larger space










The Paradigm room had these super cool looking speakers and 2 subs on each side with triple woofers per sub, so a total of 6 sub drivers, in addition to the big bass drivers in the speakers themselves.  Oh yeah, the room was seriously pressurized when the bass hit.  The rest of the sound was OK, good but not great.

I rather enjoyed the para dig-em room. Bass BASS BAAAAAASSSS!!!!!! Fun to listen to and sexy to look at.










Prana Fidelity.  At last, a GREAT sounding room.  I have a strong bias against any speaker using ceramic midrange drivers because they always sound too crispy for me.  But not here.  Buttery smooth.  I mean smoooooooottttthhhhhhhh.  Loved, loved, loved this room.  And the stacked baltic birch was a nice aesthetic choice too.  I believe they were fully active, with the amps built into the base of the speakers themselves.  Easily my favorite room for day one.  OK, I'll shut up now & let Jason comment. 

For me this was the winner for day one without peer. Absolutely loved the look of the speakers. The cabinets clearly had a ton of thoughtful design behind their construction. The real beauty was in the wonderfully smooth midrange magic and stately air around the performance. Dead Can Dance sounded splendid on these speakers. Absolute must if you're at the show.

[seadogs1]

what model are the Prana Fidelity Loudspeakers?

[Tyson]

what model are the Prana Fidelity Loudspeakers?

The Model 108, I don't think it's on their website yet. 

[Tyson]

Jason added his comments.

[KLH007]

These aren't new, just superb sounding active speakers, great design Steven!

[mtrot]

Yep, the Prana room sounded so good that I came back three or four times!  Man, the clarity, imaging, and sense of "being there" was great.

DSC_0088 by MDTshots, on Flickr

[ErikMi]

Nice Arai Helmet

[Randy]

Yep, the Prana room sounded so good that I came back three or four times!  Man, the clarity, imaging, and sense of "being there" was great.

DSC_0088 by MDTshots, on Flickr

What kind of CD player is that?  Maybe a Marantz?

[jriggy]

What kind of CD player is that?  Maybe a Marantz?

When I zoom in I see Pioneer Elite. Either 5 disc OR that older one with the big thick and heavy spinning platter. 

[Don_S]

Steven uses the single-disk player with the heavy platter. I don't remember what he told me about it. He might have tweaked it. I have the other model with the single disk or 5-disk cartridge. CDs load downside up. Beautiful players with copper-clad bottoms and a gorgeous Urushi finish. Heavy and solid. Nothing like the plastic "Elite" junk that followed.

[mtrot]

What kind of CD player is that?  Maybe a Marantz?

He actually explained that his normal CD player was being repaired, and that the unit he used at the show was an old Pioneer Elite DVD player from back in the day!  That was part of what was so astonishing about how fantastic the sound was.  That he could use such pedestrian player and get that kind of sound quality.

[Randy]

He actually explained that his normal CD player was being repaired, and that the unit he used at the show was an old Pioneer Elite DVD player from back in the day!  That was part of what was so astonishing about how fantastic the sound was.  That he could use such pedestrian player and get that kind of sound quality.

Oh, huh.  I had a similar player way back when where you put the disc in upside down. The transport was from Pioneer, but the brand I had was Audio Alchemy, I think.  Or it might have come from a then popular audio company located in North Carolina. Can't remember it's name but their ads were often on the back cover of Stereophile, black units with gold buttons. I still occasionally open a CD case and find the disc label side down which means I haven't played it in about the 25 years since I had that player.

What's that on the bottom shelf? Assume it's not an amp since the speakers have built in ones.

[mtrot]

Oh, huh.  I had a similar player way back when where you put the disc in upside down. The transport was from Pioneer, but the brand I had was Audio Alchemy, I think.  Or it might have come from a then popular audio company located in North Carolina. Can't remember it's name but their ads were often on the back cover of Stereophile, black units with gold buttons. I still occasionally open a CD case and find the disc label side down which means I haven't played it in about the 25 years since I had that player.

What's that on the bottom shelf? Assume it's not an amp since the speakers have built in ones.

Sorry, I don't know.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

The Wharfedale/Primare room was in my top  5 rooms.  Those speakers at the show were selling for $2K but the final retail price will be about $2400.  We walked into the room and the bass was fabulous.  We looked for subwoofers but there were none.  They were musical, dynamic, transparent and detailed.  The easily could sell for $2K more.

[mtrot]

The Wharfedale/Primare room was in my top  5 rooms.  Those speakers at the show were selling for $2K but the final retail price will be about $2400.  We walked into the room and the bass was fabulous.  We looked for subwoofers but there were none.  They were musical, dynamic, transparent and detailed.  The easily could sell for $2K more.

Somehow I missed that Wharefdale room.  Which model is that? 

[mr_bill]

They are at Music Direct.
Evo 4
$3200 pair

[mtrot]

They are at Music Direct.
Evo 4
$3200 pair

Thanks, but I don't think there is an Evo 4.  Do you mean the Elysian 4, by any chance?  If so, they only have a stand mount and one floor stander so far.  I wonder if they will have a center channel speaker. 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

They are at Music Direct.
Evo 4
$3200 pair

Mr. Bill, actually, they are 1,998.00pr at music direct-

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/Wharfedale-EVO-44-Tower-Speakers

I was told at the show that the $2K price is introductory and they plan to sell them for $2400pr

The new Elysian sell  for around $6K

[mtrot]

Actually, they are 1,998.00pr at music direct-

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/Wharfedale-EVO-44-Tower-Speakers

The new Elysian sell  for around $6K

Ah, okay.  I said that because there is no Evo on the Wharfedale web site.  Is Evo a discontinued series? 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Ah, okay.  I said that because there is no Evo on the Wharfedale web site.  Is Evo a discontinued series?

No, the Evo is brand new and it was unveiled at RMAF and probably hasn't made it on their web site yet.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/wharfedale-evo-4-promise-evolution-of-affordable-hi-fi-speakers