For the first time ever, I made it out to this year's RMAF. It was great, as I haven't been to an audio show in 7 years. And this one was extra-special, because I met up with a bunch of my pals from the old Home Theater Talk web site. One of these guys I see all the time; a couple I haven't seen in a year or two; and a couple I had never met before (other than developing a long-distance friendship from HTT and private e-mail).
Naturally, as a long-time VMPS owner, I was most excited to hear the Bolder/VMPS room. I was lucky, because when I arrived, there were no other guests in the room - and I was able to spend about 20 minutes uninterrupted in the "throne". A couple of folks came in while I was there, but they didn't make a sound.
I'm not real sure who was the representative in the room while I was there. I assume it was Wayne, but his name tag was flipped around - and I was too embarassed to ask. It wasn't that big of a deal, because I didn't come in to chit-chat anyway. I was mostly just wanting to sit and listen - and so I did just that.
However, I did not come away as impressed as I had hoped. It wasn't bad or anything - it just wasn't the leap forward I had anticipated (over my RM40s circa late-2001). First of all, there was an unmistakable similarity in overall presentation to my home system. On the plus side, I do not think my home system presents the upper frequencies in the same relaxed fashion as demonstrated by this RMAF setup. That was unexpected and frankly eye-opening, and it will no doubt have me spending untold hours trying to match it at home. On the other hand, I did not think the midrange and lower midrange of this RMAF setup compared with my home system. And the punch/dynamics was also lacking the impact that my home system delivers. And finally, I thought the bass (as it was setup) overpowered the room on the more challenging tracks. With lighter fare, this was obviously not an issue.
As I've preached for years, audio is not an objective hobby - there are few absolutes. And my lack of enthusiasm for this room could simply have been a case of its sound just not being geared towards my personal preferences. And when compared it to my home system, it's not an equal playing field, because I have had years of trial-and-error to get my home system to suit my tastes as close to ideal as possible. In fact, it's possible I could sit in front of a dozen audio systems that almost everyone would agree sounded "better" than my system/room - but I would still be unimpressed, because these systems were not set up to satisfy my specific wants.
Of course, another possibility is that perhaps my home system is just better than I ever want to give it credit for.
Kevin
P.S. - On the other hand, I must have lost about 2 pounds worth of drool in that mbl room. Wow!!!
