[Vinnie R.]

All,

RMAF was a very strong show for us this year!  I'm sure you have already seen reports about the new hotel (convention center) - I found it to be a large improvement over the previous venue in many ways:  It's brand new, it's gigantic and can handle a tremendous amount future growth, the room acoustics were decent, it has lots of 'working' elevators, there are a handful of places to eat in the hotel, and it was under 10 min from the airport, etc.  Yes, the downside is the higher cost, but I now am able to understand why.

Regarding the show, I teamed up with Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV (my new North American Sales Rep) and our system consisted of:

- Vinnie Rossi L2i-SE Integrated, silver (world debut!  )
- Innuos Statement Music Server
- QLN Prestige Three SE loudspeakers (with IsoAcoustics Feet)
- SGR HiFi Racks 'Model V Statement', 3 shelves
- Gigawatt Power Conditioner
- Swiss Cables (except for the USB cable, by Black Cat Cables)

Here are a few pics that I took of the system:














Both the amount of press coverage and number of attendees exceeded my expectations, as did the level of performance that we achieved from this system!   I'll let all the upcoming show coverage do the talking regarding how it sounded. 

A special thanks to Brandon Howell and Keith Greene of High Definition Audio in Denver, CO (our local dealer) for all their support for us at the show. 

I was very proud of our entire team effort, and am looking forward to doing it again at RMAF 2020!

Thank you for all that visited us at the show - we appreciate all your time and feedback.

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Here comes the show coverage!

https://theaudiobeatnik.com/rmaf-2019vinnie-rossi-well-pleased-audio-vida/

(Unfortunately Jack and Becky Roberts of The Audio Beatnik had to cancel their trip to RMAF at the last minute because
Jack got sick, but they sent Ken Redmond to cover for them.)


---

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/09/08/saturdays-highlights-rmaf-2019/

Saturday’s Highlights | RMAF 2019 (My Marc Phillips)

...hauntingly sublime in the way it presented music. This was Vinnie Rossi’s debut of the L2 Signature Edition integrated amplifier ($18,995), which offers the option of a phono stage and DAC for $3495 each. Vinnie paired this beautiful amp with the surprising QLN Prestige Three SE loudspeakers from Sweden ($12,000/pair) and the Innuos Statement music server. Placed diagonally with the QLNs placed far out into the room, this system offered some of the most astounding imaging and soundstaging I’ve ever heard. EVER.

Photo Credit:  Marc Phillips / Part Time Audiophile

Thank you, Marc!  It was a great to have you (as well as Scot, Eric and Lee) visit us this year.

Vinnie

more to come... 

[Tyson]

I'll add my 2c.  Here is a link to the show coverage we did on Saturday when we came by your room:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=165443.0

What is not mentioned there is that we came BACK to your room on Sunday and I can tell you that I've heard that Natalie Merchant track on many, many systems.  The imaging and "realness" of it on your system was spooky.  Better than any other system I've heard.  Ever.  Kudos and well done!

[SnowPuppy77]

Your room sounded excellent Vinnie.  Came by twice to hear it.

[DaveC113]

This room was excellent! 

It was great to hear Vinnie's new all-in-one with new speakers, I've hear the Lio with Harbeth a few times had always been impressed, but with the new speakers it was possible to hear the similarities and get a better idea of what attributes are part of the speaker and what's part of the amp... And I think a lot of the clarity and frankly amazing separation of images during complex music is due to the electronics, the Vinnie Rossie gear has a calmness and clarity to the sound that I attribute to high quality power supplies. It's also rare to hear this quality combined with tube gear, the preamp section had DHTs (300B I think?) in there and it was still super quiet and extremely low noise and low distortion.

After hearing this demo I'm more sold than ever on the integrated and supercapacitor power supply approach, you can buy this and get great results and simply skip the gear merry-go-round. Unless that's your thing, and there's nothing wrong with that either! ...but the Vinnie Rossi L2 gives you an out if it's not your thing.

[jtwrace]

Dave, I thought the new products were NOT supercapacitor powered.  Did that change?

[DaveC113]

Dave, I thought the new products were NOT supercapacitor powered.  Did that change?

Ha, I actually didn't ask so that may be the case. If it's not supercaps whatever he's doing is working! 

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Tyson (and Pez!), SnowPuppy77, and DaveC113:

It was very cool to see all of you guys at RMAF, and thank you for spending time listening to our room and posting about it! 

Yes, we were running Elrog 300B's in the L2i-SE (they are used in the preamplifier voltage gain stage), and also switched in the Western Electric WE-300Bs on Sunday (a new-old-stock pair from 2006).  Just like the L2 Signature Preamp, the L2i-SE also has a filament voltage adjust switch on the rear panel to also allow for DHT tube rolling with: 2A3, 45, SV811, PX-4, T100, 101-D/205-D, 71A, 50's, and I'm pretty sure a few others that I can't seem to recall at the moment. 

Ha, I actually didn't ask so that may be the case. If it's not supercaps whatever he's doing is working! 

jtwrace is correct - the L2 product line does not use supercapacitors (but the LIO integrated that you've seen at previous shows over the past 5 years or so did use supercapacitor banks).


Thanks again to you all for your posts and being there to enjoy our demo system!

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

https://darko.audio/2019/09/rmaf-2019-vinnie-rossi-grover-neville-mark-sossa/

From John Darko's YouTube channel, you will find this talking head (And it was still early before the show started and the coffee was still kicking in! )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99eua9wOig

Many thanks to Jana Dagdagan and John Darko of DAR for doing their mini-series RMAF coverage on us "40 yr. old and under" manufacturers. 
Yes, I'm now officially middle-aged, I guess!   

Cheers,

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Best Sound of the Show

https://audiophilialivermaf2019.blogspot.com/2019/09/best-of-show.html

Best Sound of the Show

Well Pleased AV room featuring Vinnie Rossi’s new [L2i-SE] Integrated Amplifier, Innuos streaming, QLN Prestige Three Loudspeakers, Swiss Cables and Giggawatt power conditioning.

This was the first choice by each of us. A musical oasis. We visited three times. The new Vilde Frang violin recording was incredibly lifelike, with wonderful transparency and superb bow and rosin timbres. Fantastic digital. Source was Qobuz HiRes.

The room was always full and was set up beautifully. This is where we first experienced just how good the new hotel rooms sounded.

A big thank you to Anthony Kersahw, Jan Kershaw, and Karl Sigman of Audiophilia.com! 

 

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Coverage from Robert Harley of The Absolute Sound:


Photo credit: Robert Harley - The Absolute Sound

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2019-rocky-mountain-audio-fest/

Vinnie Rossi showed the new Signature Edition integrated amp which features a zero-feedback direct-heated triode preamp section driving a 100Wpc MOSFET output stage. The amp is bristling with tweaky design touches including dual-mono construction, a discrete 64-step resistor-ladder volume control, and integral Stillpoints feet on the machined aluminum chassis. Phono input and a DAC module are options.

It was a pleasure to meet Robert and see members of the Absolute Sound team (Neil, Scott, Steve)!  I am thankful for them listening to our system at RMAF, and I am very much looking forward their upcoming review of the L2i-SE 

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie Rossi, Innuos, QLN & Well Pleased AV – RMAF 2019

https://audio-head.com/vinnie-rossi-innuos-qln-well-pleased-av-rmaf-2019/

As for how it all sounds? Amazing. These QLN loudspeakers are familiar to me with Well Pleased AV exhibits, and with Vinnie’s new integrated, and statement pieces from Innuous, it’s the overall best they’ve ever sounded. On day one I was ready to professize that this system would definitely set a high bar for all others to come, and likely be a shoe-in for best in show. Then on Sunday, when I swung by for a return visit, things were even better as the tubes had been changed to something a little more exotic from Western Electric. What was already great, just got greater. This system more than almost any other at the show sang like angels on the mountain tops.

By Eric Franklin Shook

Thank you very much, Eric!   

[matthewpartrick]

Sounded absolutely glowing!  So happy for you!  Scot Hull and Steven Stone's words of rapture solidified for me that I'll be trading in my LIO and biting the financial bullet.  Congrats buddy you deserve every accolade you've been given! 

[SteveKi]

Yes, we were running Elrog 300B's in the L2i-SE (they are used in the preamplifier voltage gain stage), and also switched in the Western Electric WE-300Bs on Sunday

Vinnie

Vinnie,
Does that mean that you now like the Elrog's more than the Takatsuki 300B's?
Steve

[rollo]

  Congrats Vinnie Did not expect any other outcome than great sound. Well Pleased AV is the distributor to have. I love Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV our distributor.

charles

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Matthew, Steve, and Charles:  Thank you, gentlemen!

Regarding the Elrog 300B, I do not like them more than the TAK TA-300B (you and others might prefer them, depending on your
system, room, tastes in sound and music.  That's the beauty of the L2 Preamp and L2i-SE's DHT Filament Switch - you have incredible flexibility to roll in the finest sounding triodes available! 


More show coverage has just been posted by AVShowRooms:



Reviewers View, Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, RMAF 2019, Show Highlights

Here is the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1almdXlkk3g

Kemper Holt calls out our system at 9:08 - 11:45 in the video, and towards the end of the video at 25:12 - 26:08 where is he is asked what was his "Best in Show" (the one system at the show that he would take home with him), guess which one it was?   

Many thanks to Kemper, Peter, and Terry of AVShowRooms and for all the time they spent listening to our system at RMAF!



Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

Well Pleased AV, Vinnie Rossi, Qln, Innuos, Swisscables | RMAF 2019


https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/09/14/well-pleased-av-vinnie-rossi-qln-innuos-swisscables-rmaf-2019/

...the diagonal set-up provided a soundstage that was one of the best I’ve heard at a high-end audio show, deep and taut and with imaging that could not be more precise. My notes at the time just say “easy and natural,” but days afterward I am still haunted by so many things about that system. Those Qln speakers, for example, defied my expectations. They are small in person, petite towers that look as if they could be easily scooped up and brought into another room. Yet the sound was incredibly expansive and airy, with plenty of deep bass that could really energize the relatively spacious room.

The centerpiece of the Well Pleased AV system, however, was easily the Vinnie Rossi L2i-SE, with its stunning industrial aesthetic, amazing fit and finish and astonishing flexibility. Vinnie’s amps have been thrilling my ears for many years now, but this is new, a sound so natural and light and fulfilling on so many levels. I must try one out in my home, I told Vinnie, getting on the short list for review. So, I’ll work hard to make that happen over the next few months. I might exert the same effort for Qln–I think those speakers were among my favorite transducers at the show.

Thank you, Marc Phillips - and I'll be sending you home from Capital Audio Fest (early November) with a review sample to take back home with you!

There are quite a few L2i and L2i-SE reviews in the works! 

Vinnie

[Urassner]

Hi Matthew, Steve, and Charles:  Thank you, gentlemen!

Regarding the Elrog 300B, I do not like them more than the TAK TA-300B (you and others might prefer them, depending on your
system, room, tastes in sound and music.  That's the beauty of the L2 Preamp and L2i-SE's DHT Filament Switch - you have incredible flexibility to roll in the finest sounding triodes available! 
....

Vinnie

Vinnie, would you mind giving an impression how the Elrogs sound different from the WE300b in the L2i SE (and from the Talk 300b). It was mentioned in some show reports that after you put in the WE tubes the sound was even better, however without really mentioning how. I am running the Elrog 300b in my LIO and am very happy with them.

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie, would you mind giving an impression how the Elrogs sound different from the WE300b in the L2i SE (and from the Talk 300b). It was mentioned in some show reports that after you put in the WE tubes the sound was even better, however without really mentioning how. I am running the Elrog 300b in my LIO and am very happy with them.

Hi Urassner,

In our RMAF system (I'm underlining this because I do believe the 'preferred' tube has a lot to do with your system), I found the Elrog 300B has richer tone and a offer a warmer sound, overall (somewhat similar to the SV811-10 in that regard, but the Elrog has a better top end).  The WE-300B is faster, more open, and recovers more detail / decay of the notes.  The bass was a bit tighter with the WE-300B

The TAK TA-300B is very similar to the WE-300B, but delivers a bit better micro-detail retrieval.  It has stunning transparency and openness (the WE-300B is 'one shade' warmer than the TA-300B).  Both have similar bass. 

At RMAF, we were killing it with both tubes!  It was fun to swap and see what people heard / preferred.  FWIW, I was very pleased with the results using both, but in that particular system, I preferred the WE-300B.   

Vinnie

[Vinnie R.]

It's a special honor for us all to receive the Audio Oasis Award from David Robinson, Editor-in-Chief
of Positive Feedback!

I have been giving these out since 2006, and over the years they have become a popular indicator of excellence of performance at high-end audio shows.

This award is given to you due to the superior sound that I experienced in your space. Being in your room was a true Audio Oasis! moment…relaxation, and getting into the music, instead of being driven out of the room!

Thank you to David and all of his team at PF! 

Vinnie