[polishpowerlifter]

So how did go,whats the news???

Mark (aka powerbench)

[Vinnie R.]

All,

I'm back from RMAF and had a great time!  

I had to get up at 4am to catch a 5am shuttle to the airport (I had an early flight), and of course I was up past midnight with some of the AC members that came over to the bar.    I don't sleep well on planes, so I'm not in the best way to post details....Not to be a tease, but I'm going to be getting ready for much needed sleep and I will post more tomorrow.       Lots of great stuff to chat about the show!

Also, I'm flooded with emails and will do my best to get back to everyone asap.  Thanks for your patience.  

-Vinnie

[polishpowerlifter]

Thanks Vinnie I am just excited for you guys and your products.Take care tty soon...

[Paul_Bui]

Vinnie,

Take a good rest and be back whenever you're ready.

[lonewolfny42]

RMAF 2005...Vinnie and Louis....great show !!!

I made my first stop at the show to their room, along with Gordy and Captain Humble.[/list:u]
Louis, gotta give you credit on doing such a great job on those speakers. He had the Hemps, the B200's, and a new small speaker ( which I forgot the name of... )....great finish, and very good sounding speaker's.[/list:u]
Vinnie, the Lotus setup with the SB, sounded excellent. Clear, detailed, full sounding....you do nice work. [/list:u]
We also compared the modded IPod to the SB....it was very close in sound....hard to tell one from the other. Both are very good !!! [/list:u]
It was also nice that Vinnie loaded some of my reference tune's into his computer, made it easy in comparing his equipement. Thanks !![/list:u]
Had a great time guy's.... [/list:u]
Chris[/list:u]

[Gordy]

It was fantastic finally meeting Vinnie... and Louis!  I must say that Vinnie's telephone personality and enthusiasm carries over to real life!!!  

This was my first introduction to single driver speakers and I was mightily impressed Louis! Very nice job... and the fact that you can have Vinnie's electronics and Louis's speaker systems finished to match is extremely  

The vinyl/sb2/cd demo was very telling, though I'm still not ready to commit to an HD based system... just too old fashioned or just old period   Perhaps in a year or so I'll warm up to the concept.  Also, I really couldn't hear any difference between the moded Ipod and SB2, at least not under the rather nasty show conditions... high ambient noise, paper mache walls, tiny rooms....

All in all... the only room I visited multiple times!!! Thanks again guys

[Vinnie R.]

All,

Ok, I got some good sleep in last night and am back and recharged like an SLA:  

First and foremost, it was great meeting all of you Audio Circle members!    Some of you I've met in the past (e.g., NY Audio Ravers), and some of you were new faces.     I even had the opportunity to meet some of my customers that I don't see here on AC, so that was also a very nice experience.  

I also had the chance to meet a few AC manufacturers:  Wayne1 from Bolder Cable and Steve from Empirical Audio ... both were great guys and a pleasure to speak with.   I really appreciated how they made the time to stop by and meet me in the Red Wine/Omega Room.  There were other manufacturers that I wish I made the time to meet, but I'm sure I will at the next show    I even got to meet plenty of reviewers.

Thanks to all who stopped over to say hi and give a listen!


Moving onto the equipment:

THE SPEAKERS:

The Omega HempTones and Aperiodic 8s were the star attractions.  There was plenty of swappin' going on between these two great speakers.  We also switched over to the new Omega M5s.  These feature a new little 5" full range driver in a small enclosure the size of the Super 3 (using the narrow side for the driver, and a big ol' power port in the rear).  The M5 had a surprisingly awesome bass response and power handling capacity for its small size.  I liked it better than the Grande 6s (not at the show) in every way!  

THE SOURCES:

The most used were the Red Wine Modded Squeezebox 2 and the 60Gb iPod featuring the iMod.  We did a few shootouts with AC members present (feel free to chime in you guys!).  Here was the general consensus:

They were very close!  The iMod had a slightly sweeter top end, a slightly warmer midrange, and a tad less bass "punch."  The modded SB2 was slightly more forward and detailed, with a little more punch in the low end.  Again, these were very close and there was no clear winner.  It call comes down to taste in sound, and synergy with other components.  Using the Lotus preamp/amp and the Omega A8s (my babies), I preferred the modded iPod slightly more.  There, you made me say it!    

I cannot forget the kick butt turntable that was in the room (yes, there was Vinyl in our room and it sounded damn good too!).  Tom Hills of Hudson Audio Imports brought a beautiful Eurolab turntable, Moerch tonearm and cartridge.  The motor was powered by a custom Red Wine 12V SLA power supply, as was the battery modded Black Cube phonostage.  Come on guys, I said our room was going to be off the grid and I meant it!    All interconnects and speaker cables were AudioPath/OmegAudio (Tom Hills) and sounded great with our equipment.  

THE LOTUS GEAR:

I really appreciated all the positive comments about the Lotus Passive Preamp and Power Amp.  Many were surprised that it was only a 6-watt amp, and many thought it was one of the most "not solid-state sounding" solid state amp.  "Tube-like sound, but with some seriously good dynamics and tight n' tuneful bass response, and the blackest background..." were the kinds of feedback we were getting.  Of course Louis of Omega gets the credit from the fantastic build quality and appearance.  

UPCOMING REVIEWS:

At the end of the show, the Lotus gear, Omega A8's, modded SB2, and Skyland Stands were shipped off to Michael Lavorgna of 6moons for review.  I also had to chance to meet Jay Fisher of the Robb Report in person, and he mentioned that the upcoming Lotus / Zu Definition / Cyberlight Cable review will hit the newsstands in just a few weeks!  He was very impressed with the combo!  

The Hemptones are being reviewed in JazzTimes...will be out soon as well.

I'll have to post more later, but just wanted to thank everyone again for coming and making our show a success and a lot of fun!

Cheers, mates!

[Vinnie R.]

Thanks Vinnie I am just excited for you guys and your products.Take care tty soon...

Hi polishpowerlifter (I'll use PPL for short if that is ok, and not to be confused with phase-locked-loop   ),

Thanks for sharing our excitement!  The show was a lot of fun, and I just posted some info about it above.

You changed your moniker, eh?  
BTW, how much are you benchin' these days?  

Take care,

[DARTH AUDIO]

Hey Vinnie, nice meeting you over the weekend. You guys are really on to something!! Interesting concept. Your room sounded fantastic. And those Omega speakers really opened my eyes to what a small speaker can deliver(Nice job Louis) Let me know when you start to dabble with tubes?

Gary(Darth)

[JLM]

Yeah, tubes.

How about a SLA powered 6SN7 based buffer?

[jwilson]

Long time lurker, first time poster.   I'm one of the new faces that Vinnie and Louis met at RMAF.  Both of them are as affable, hospitable, and likable fellows in person as they are on these boards.   That they make outstanding gear too is just a nice bonus.  

I spent a few hours in their room on Friday and really enjoyed listening to their setup.   But I especially enjoyed watching the other attendees marvel in disbelief at just how good Vinnie's highly modified, battery powered, 6-watt chip amp and pre amp (the Lotus) sounded with Louis's Omega HempTones and Aperiodic 8s.   The RWA/Omega combination is deserving of all of the accolades it receives here and elsewhere.   It simply works.

I also sat in on a Squeezebox shootout.   Another fellow brought along his SB2 so we held an early morning shootout on Saturday between his stock SB2 and Vinnie's modified one.   After listing to a couple of songs through each, the SB2 owner popped up out of his chair, declared that he was convinced, and left it with Vinnie for modifications.   My SB2 ships to Vinnie tomorrow.  

Two listeners and both voted with their dollars.  It's hard to top that kind of recommendation.  

All the best,
James

[Vinnie R.]

Mark,

Thanks for sharing your excitement with us.  I hope I get to meet you soon (how 'bout the next Montreal show?).  


Paul,

Thanks for your patience and support.  Today was a little difficult waking up and jumping into all the emails, but I'm back and ready to cook.


Lonewolfny42,

Nice to see you again!  The NY Audio Rave Reference tracks are all great and were a pleasure to listen to at RMAF.  Thanks again for hooking me up!


Gordy,

Great to meet you in person, and thanks for lending your ears.  It was also nice to chat with you at the bar.  I hope I was making sense after those beers  


DARTH,

Thanks for stopping by, and it was a pleasure to meet you.  It is nice to hear comments like yours coming from a tube guy    


JLM,

I believe 6SN7's require high voltage, but there are 12V tubes out there (for example, I recently finished modding one of my customer's UltraPath, which is a 12V SLA tube preamp....the most silent tube preamp I've ever heard!).  Who knows, I might dabble with tubes as Darth mentioned  


James,

Welcome to the Red Wine Circle, and thanks for posting!  I love it when lurkers jump in and become members.  I was very nice to meet you, and I appreciate all the time you gave into listening to the modded SB2 and everything else.  Yes, that was an early morning shootout.  Ahhh, there's nothing like the smell of a fresh audio shootout in the morning!  
I'll be on the lookout for your SB2...


All, thanks for your continued interest and support.  I appreciate it more than you know!    (I love that "notworthy" emoticon...it's the best one!)

Regards,

[maxwalrath]

Yeah, tubes.

How about a SLA powered 6SN7 based buffer?

 

[polishpowerlifter]

Nice that you had a safe trip I am going to contact you on some  future plans ...talk to you soon...Mark

[lonewolfny42]

Vinnie,

I know you brought the Red Wine Teac to the show...I saw it there. Did you play it at all....just wondering ?? Thanks !![/list:u]
Chris[/list:u]

[JLM]

Vinnie,

I don't know enough about electronics to even qualify for being "dangerous"    but both the Scott Nixon DAC and Musical Fidelity tube buffer use low voltage wall warts.  

If the 6SN7 wouldn't work, how about it's 12 volt cousin (said to be much cheaper and more available with similar sound)?

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie,

I know you brought the Red Wine Teac to the show...I saw it there. Did you play it at all....just wondering ?? Thanks !![/list:u]
Chris[/list:u]

Hi Chris,

Yes, we had the Red Wine Teac in the mix a few times and it sounded nice (it was well broken in).  It did a great job powering the less efficient Omega M5 speakers!  That little 5" driver can take the power and fill the room with sound!  

[Vinnie R.]

but both the Scott Nixon DAC and Musical Fidelity tube buffer use low voltage wall warts.

Hi JLM,

I'm pretty sure their wall warts output an AC voltage, which is stepped up to a much higher voltage inside of the units...

Regards,