[mbakes]

I spent more time listening to the Omens as I thought I was buying them and at one point, I was going to be taking home the black pair in the Peachtree room.  I didn't notice the soundstage issue described by themadmilkman.  This is not a criticism of what he heard as we all perceive things different.  I have had speakers in the past that have had this issue and it would make me nuts, so I did pay attention to it while I was listening.  I also read on the Zu site that they can be adjusted to lean back to raise the sound stage so it would seem that this was a consideration when designing them and another reason not to dismiss what themadmilkman heard. 

[jackman]

Great show reports!  One of these days I need to attend.  Any additional comments on the larger Bamberg Audio speakers and the Modwright amp?  In the past I've heard good things about the quality of the sound and negatives about the music selection. Any changes this time around?  Also, these speakers had amazing bass in a large room, what was it like in a small hotel suite?

Thanks!  I hope more people took pictures, especially of the strange exotic looking speakers.

[Pez]

Yes, PEZ's flickr account is crap, sorry about that!  I'll try to get him to rectify it tomorrow.  For myself, it is time to sleep and I'll continue tomorrrow.

I am, for once, in total agreement with Tyson. The new flickr is terrible. They decided that people wanted them to make it harder for people to pull the photos from their site. I guess people were getting pissed that strangers were stealing pictures of their dog. I am working now to get these photos posted.

[Pez]

Quoted from Tyson's post
OK, Saturday is a game changer for me in the high end audio realm.  We'll start with the normal stuff and get to the extraordinary at the end.  Actually, as I think about Saturday, HOLY CRAP what a huge day it was.  I can't believe the number of good to great rooms we heard.  Like I said earlier, RMAF this year ROCKED!!!  I'll try to hit the highlights here.



GR Research - Went back to see how things had changed since Friday.  HOLY CRAP the bass on the V1's was out of this world.  By far this was the best bass of any room of the entire show.  In fact, it's the best bass production of anything I've heard anywhere in my entire life!!  The mids were also excellent.  But the tweeters were too hot for my tastes, and I thought the room was a bit too bright overall.  I think there is an easy fix for this (reticulated foam in the tweeter horn throat), but I don't think Danny had a chance to try it at the show. 


Fritz Speakers - The thing I love about this room (besides the super-cool proprietor), is that they don't try to be something they are not.  Very good sound, even, balanced, and incredibly musical.  If someone asked me to recommend a bookshelf speaker that was great quality, this would be it.

Marantz Room - Marantz, meh.



Linkwitz Orion - One of the great white hopes.  Based on the buzz (and my own logical reasoning), I expected to love this room.  I do have to say that meeting Linkwitz was a true honor.  But if I am honest I must note that I do not like the metal midrange SEAS driver.  The bass was too strong.  However, them imaging was incredible, as only open baffle speakers can do.  Overall it's really close to the best ever sound, but the signifigant gaps really need to be addressed before that can happen.





Jones Amps - A room with speakers that have metal drivers?  And SS amplification?  Oh no, I am covering my ears already!  But, surprisingly they sounded very, very mellow and quite involving/relaxed.  Clearly they truncated dynamics, but I am perfeclty OK with that trade off for the smooth sound they produced.



YG Acoustics - Sounded terrible last year, and sounded "meh" this year.  From bad to mediocre is still an improvement.



AudioKenesis - Finally!  A room to write home about.  Meeting Duke was a pleasure, and his speakers were truly musical.  Very good dynamics and tonality and great imaging.  Loved, LOVED his demo/explanation of multiple ports on his speakers and their "high end" plugs



JBL Horn - I forget the name of the model, but I do know that they are FAR better than the much more expensive models we will hear on Sunday.



Tri-Audio/Acoustic Zen - My vote for best sound at show, bar none.  Imaging to die for, and gets to the soul and heart of the music more effortlessly thann anything else I've heard over the last three days.  $6k for a friggin 845 SET with 20 watts on tap?  You gotta be kidding me!!!



Ah, lest I forget, THE most transparent speakers at the show (too bad they sounded crappy):

German Physics - The little brother of the last room.  I actually think I liked these better than the bigger GP's.  Better mid bass and the same awesome highs and imaging.





Magico Room - Mediocrite personified.



Dynaudio C4 - My vote for biggest improvement year over year.  Last year the Dynaudio room was terrible.  It was the Consequence Ultimate model and it was absolute sh!t.  I mean, WTF were they thinking, this is a seriously flawed and stupid concept.  But, this year they bring out the Confidence C4 which is a GREAT speaker.  And they hook it up with a tube amp!!!  Couple that with dual dac's (YES, DUAL DAC's, you heard that right) from Wadia over a very good music server and you have great, great sound.  My vote for 2nd best overall sound at show (caveat - the music sever was awesome but the CD transport was mediocre at best).





Salk Speakers - OK, truth time.  Last year I simply hated the Salk room - the combo of bright ribbon tweeter and metal midrange simply drove me out of the room.  I didn't say anything at the time because I'm a gentleman.  I'm very happy to report that the circular crappy ribbon tweeter has been replaced with a RAAL tweeter this year.  This is a SUBSTANTIAL improvement!!  For me personally, the SALKS are still not quite my preferred flavor, but the sound did not drive me out of the room.  In fact, listening to how coherent and detailed they are from top to bottom, combined with the absoletly STUNNING cabinet work and craftmanship on them, I'd give them the "FLOORSTANDING SPEAKER BARGAIN OF THE SHOW" award.  IMO, Salk speakers really need to break away from the mid-fi AVA gear and start showing with true high end gear to really show what they are capable of.  I know Jim and Frank are probably friends, but business is business.



GR Research (again) - OK, the V1's kick the sh!t out of my V2's from a bass standpoint.  In fact, I will go further.  The V1's with their dual parallel active servo subs kick the sh!t out of EVERY speaker I have ever heard in my entire life.  Stunning, awesome, incredible, jaw dropping.... I simply run out of superlatives.  Mids on this day are also very, very good.  But, the highs are even brighter and more shouty today.  It's a single flaw but it really bothers me, particularly since my V2's don't have this balance at all (they are NOT bright).  I have a theory about the cause of this, but you have to read my V2 build thread to find out what it is   Again, Danny is an absolute pleasre to talk to and work with, and the value he offers is off the scale.  Nothing speaks louder than someone voting with their wallet, and of all the possible speakers I could invest in, I went with the V2's and I'm still absolutely, completely happy with them.





Von Schweikert Audio - OK, before last year at RMAF I'd never heard or seen a VS speaker in real life.  My impressions last year were that they were tiny (hobbit-like) speakers that sounded very bad indeed.  I did not post that during my show report, because I do not like to bad mouth manufacturer in general, and particularly not ones that are clearly making an attempt to push the envelope of design for their products.  But the fact is, I didn't like the VS room at all.  But this year?  Complete 180.  The VS room was musical, soulful, beautiful and involving.  Of course, having 45 watts of Cronzilla SET amp power driving your tower speakers does NOT hurt, IMO



B&W 802 Diamond - Better than the stock 802, but the massive sibilance still makes them suck.









Grant Fidelity - Very good sound and amazing case work on the equipment for a very modest price.  Black Treasures all around (which are the BEST tubes you can get - too bad I blew a quad of KT88's and I did not get the warrantee, so I'm screwed). 



Nola Audio - yes, open baffle can actually suck!!



Avalon and Rowland - Hey, here's a great idea, let's put a bunch of our really expensive sh!t on passive display so that NO ONE can listen to it!  Yeah, that's a f'ing brilliant idea!



Win Audio / Rockport - One of the rooms that really was amazing last year and took a huge drop this year.  I don't care how big your tube amp is, it should NOT be driving this speaker full range.  Oh, and I disavow knowing any of these losers in the photo.





Music and Arts  - Amazing room!!!!!!!!!!!!!  When audiophiles say "it's all about the music", this room is what they mean!!!!!  Too awesome for words, so I won't even try.  Buy every recording he makes, you won't be sorry!  And his speakers/system was super simple, but incredibly musical and involving.  As an alternative to a "lifestyle" system, it simply kick's @ss.  Even judged on an absolute scale it is very, very impressive.



Aperion Audio - This room, from a sound quality standpoint, gives the Salk room a serios run for the money with regard to value.  At least the tower speakers do (at $1700).  The bookshelf speakers are pretty meh, but the towers sound very good for very little outlay.  Ultimatley I'd go with the Salks becuase of their stunning cabinetry, but the Aperions sound more mellow and would be a good rec for non-audiophiles that just want something that "sounds good".



Fritz Speakers - Ah, finally a bookshelf speaker that I can write about!  I find I simply dislike small speakers becuase they sound small, or they are bright and irritating, or they simply lack a sense of scale that I love.  But not here!  Fritz is a MASTER designer and his speakers sound incredibly musical and involving.  Always a man to take the less beaten path, he ignores fashion and picks components that simply make beautiful music.  I love the fact that these speakers never try to be more than a bookshelf speaker, but rather they simply are the best bookshelf speaker that can be.
[/quote]

I (Pez) will be adding my comments and more pics later!!!! Stay tuned... or whatever.

[woodsyi]

I TOTALLY missed that as I was, apparently, drunk off my ass

John

You weren't.  We were all feeling good and buzzed.  And I did not dress down the sommelier or the manager.  All I said was that the recommended first bottle (a second label from Vieux Telegraph) was too pale and tasted more Cotes du Rhonish than CDP which was not how the sommelier described it.  Second bottle was better and it was the mutant Sangiovese from Montalcino ('04 Banfi) that got you to gush over the mushrooms and the wine.  They were good.  You weren't the only one gushing over food and wine.  We all did as the food really was good.

Since Tyson and Pez are picking on us, let me tell a funny story about Jason as you might not remember.  When his steak came out, he took one bite and did a perfect imitation of Terry Bradshaw.  You know the one where Terry takes one look at a Sushi and says, "Excuse me.  This is not cooked?"  This was after Jason ordered his steak, "rare." He called the waiter back and requested to have the steak cooked a little more.  The chef personally brought out the sizzling "cooked" steak and waited until Jason took a bite and was satisfied before going back to the kitchen.  And Jason gushed over the truffle Mac and cheese more than you did with the "shrooms."

I am uploading pictures and getting all the facts straight before posting my observations.  I didn't get back home until 2AM this morning.  Sunday sounded better in most rooms than Saturday. 

[Pez]

Sunday sounded better in most rooms than Saturday.

Yes and everyone went home Saturday which is tragic for them. Sunday things were much more dialed in and way more refined.

As far as my "rare" steak encounter like I said at Shennehans, half the steakhouses in colorado bring their "rare" steak out medium rare, which is what I wanted. I just assumed they were following the trend, but apparently at Shennehans rare means still kicking and chewing cud.

[jtwrace]

Yes and everyone went home Saturday which is tragic for them. Sunday things were much more dialed in and way more refined.

As far as my "rare" steak encounter like I said at Shennehans, half the steakhouses in colorado bring their "rare" steak out medium rare, which is what I wanted. I just assumed they were following the trend, but apparently at Shennehans rare means still kicking and chewing cud.

If you want rare you ask for black and blue.  If you want medium rare you ask for light pink....

Take it from the fat guy.   

 

Raw — Uncooked. Used in dishes like steak tartare, Carpaccio, gored gored, tiger meat and kitfo.
Seared, Blue rare or very rare — Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked. The steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed. Sometimes asked for as "blood rare" or "bloody as hell". In the United States, this is also sometimes referred to as 'Black and Blue' or 'Pittsburgh Rare'. It is common for chefs to place the steak in an oven to warm the inside of the steak. This method generally means 'blue' steaks take longer to cook than any other degrees.
Rare — (52 °C [125 °F] core temperature) The outside is gray-brown, and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm.
Medium rare — (55 °C [130 °F] core temperature) The steak will have a fully red, warm center. This is the standard degree of cooking at most steakhouses, unless specified otherwise.
Medium — (60 °C [140 °F] core temperature) The middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center. The outside is gray-brown.
Medium well done — (65 °C [150 °F] core temperature) The meat is light pink surrounding the center.
Well done — (71 °C [160 °F] and above core temperature) The meat is gray-brown throughout and slightly charred.
Overcook — (much more than 71 °C [160 °F] core temperature) The meat is dark throughout and slightly bitter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak

[TomS]

Man, I hated those things.  I thought they were very glaring and overall something I would never listen to for more than 2 minutes.  Did you make it home okay?

Yep, back in the saddle on conf calls all day.

Fascinating to note all my gear is crap    Oh, but wait, everyone was drunk and was partaking of funky mushrooms.  Maybe that would help me enjoy my system more   You guys are killin' me with some of these comments but I appreciate a little honesty (finally).

More random thoughts as they come to me -

AC stuff:

I mostly agree with GR V1 comments.  Not good Friday (which they knew).  Saturday was better, bass was great, but I still didn't like the mid-top end much more.  They couldn't play my demo material so I couldn't get much of a feel for them which I really wanted to do.  Yellow trim cabs were way cool and beautifully built.

Klaus and Alex set up along the long wall this year to optimize imaging and it worked.  Candela, mono Khartago's, and Lorelei's.  As someone said, they are consistently good every year and it was no different this year.  $5k or so with cabling, still a terrific value.

The Empirical Audio/Parasound JC1/Salk SoundScape setup just didn't work for me in 3 tries there.  I wanted to like it as I'm thinking of upgrading my front end, but it just wasn't to be.  My plain old redbook seemed ok.  Maybe the source material and extreme resolving power working to the bad, I dunno 

I've never listened at great length to VSA speakers.  I briefly heard the VR33's and thought they were ok, but the VR35's in the other room with the coolest KR tube amp really sounded great.  Nice imaging, smooth mid, fairly even bass for a hotel room.

Fritzspeakers had clean punchy bass and were just fun to listen to.  A little round-over on the edges might make them even better, but I liked them quite a lot.   $1795 - 'nuff said.

More non-AC stuff:

I really liked the small standmount Joseph Pulsars set up on the long wall with Ayre gear.  Jeff played a track with someone whistling in the middle and I looked over to see if it was him doing it.  Nice.  It was set up as almost a compact "little system" so I was thinking great value, not a lot of moving parts. Then I found out the speakers were $7k plus the cost of the Ayre gear so it dampened my enthusiasm a bit.  Actually, they are the top half of the flagship Pearls, which I'd now love to hear again in latest trim.  It would also be fun to stack the GR N2x tricked out version I heard recently up against the Pulsars.

It was nice meeting Siegfried Linkwitz, chatting for awhile and hearing the Orions in latest version (I've heard earlier ones and also own the plans/kit).   Other comments were spot on -at modest levels, nice diffuse OB image, bass was bumpy in that room and made me appreciate what I have even more.  Lovely portrayal on the classical music that was playing.

Emerald Physics CS2.3's sounded good in the Wyred room, a definite improvement on the CS2's I enjoyed for a long time.  Being in the other Spatial/CS2.3 room next door with Walter demo'ing reminded me of when our fraternity bought new Klipschorns for the party room    It almost hurt.  Unfortunately, he didn't want to stop demo's long enough to rip/copy my demo cut, so I finally left without any familiar reference.  I heard them later at more reasonable volume and they sounded very refined.  The multichannel DAC instead of DCX likely had a lot to do with it.  Clayton also corrected me in my thinking they use the P-Audio's and indeed they do NOT (custom driver from another manufacturer).  $20k (I think he said) for the whole tri'amped system turn key with CS2.3's, Orpheus dac, Modwright KWA100, 2 WFS stereo amps, room tuning, seems like a pretty good deal to me.

I'd never heard any Silverline before and thought those Sonatina MK IV's really kicked.  Very dynamic.  Astounding bass for a small floor stander.  Just looking at them, they seemed very conventional, but who knew?  Highly recommended.

Enough for now.  Great show, better than in the past for sure.  Fun people to be with.  Back to sea level now.

[Pez]

Rare — (52 °C [125 °F] core temperature) The outside is gray-brown, and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm.
Medium rare — (55 °C [130 °F] core temperature) The steak will have a fully red, warm center. This is the standard degree of cooking at most steakhouses, unless specified otherwise.

Precisely! However the way they served it up to me was cool in the center, definately more seared than cooked. I was shocked. I usually order rare and get a slightly warm middle, this one wasn't even luke warm. When they recooked it was perfection just as you described medium rare.

[sts9fan]

I love these reviews.  Some of them are like watching "An extemely bias news program".  So bias it hurts.  Very nice pics though. 

(This post has been edited due to stupidity)

[James Romeyn]

OTLs will not perform well with a 6 ohm load.

My personal experience: Amp was the Atma-Sphere 30W stereo supplied by Duke LeJeune, stand mounted monitor is reflex-loaded w/ one 160mm composite cone and one 28mm soft dome, 8-Ohm nominal/5.2 Ohm minimum/20-Ohm maximum with one peak above the bass range at 2.2 kHz. 

As described above the sound was just about perfect with one fatal flaw, being too much output at the 2.2 k impedance peak (exactly as expected, the amp output peaked with the impedance...the higher the impedance the greater an OTL's output).

Duke inserted a very simple outboard parallel XO/EQ device that flattened the 2.2 kHz peak, and it was my favorite amp/speaker matchup ever. 

Conclusion: obviously too low an impedance won't work with OTL, but there's more to a good match than avoiding low impedance.  Peaks, especially above the bass range, cause audible F.R. anomalies.  If the speaker is balanced properly and smoothly to start with, and if it has impedance peaks above the bass range, you're almost certainly to have audible problems with OTL. 

IIRC Duke's entire line of speakers are designed with flat impedance, because he loves the OTL sound and prices.  I'm pretty sure that any designer not targeting OTL sources will ignore such peaks, because only OTL suffers from this anomaly.  It costs money, time, labor, and parts to flatten peaks above the bass range.       

[jtwrace]

he loves the OTL sound and prices.       

As a retailer, I'm sure he does.   

[James Romeyn]

Yes and everyone went home Saturday which is tragic for them. Sunday things were much more dialed in and way more refined.

As far as my "rare" steak encounter like I said at Shennehans, half the steakhouses in colorado bring their "rare" steak out medium rare, which is what I wanted. I just assumed they were following the trend, but apparently at Shennehans rare means still kicking and chewing cud.

"Hippoburger" in San Francisco on Van Ness, cross street around Green, SW corner (long since closed, last I remember a GAP stood there) used to offer "Cannibal Burger" on the menu.  Raw.  Completely, utterly...raw.  I ate them several times.  Lots of onions.  Awesome.

Hey, if you ever got stuck in a survival situation, you'd be right at home.  I read the book "Alive" with great wonder and curiosity, much better than the movie, and much more graphic.  When the medical students and soccer players were rescued much later, they tried to justify their cannibalism by comparing it to the so-called "Holy Eucarist" (sp?), because it saved their lives, but the local constabulary (i.e. Bishop) put a quick end to that comparison!

The really funny kicker was all the medical people standing by when they were rescued, with their prescriptions of giving them only liquid food for several days because they of course thought they had eaten nothing for weeks, but they came down off the mountain crying for hamburgers...Hippoburger anyone?       

[Big Red Machine]

I love these reviews.  Some of them are like watching Fox News.  So bias it hurts.  Nice pics though.

Watch it!  Fox news is fair and balanced.

[James Romeyn]

And also LOL! Putting OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS into a OUTPUT TRANSFORMER-LESS tube amp? That's like eating a tortilla with a naked burrito. 

Yes.  How's this for an analogy: Like designing a race car, then adding a shaft terminated with a "screw" and calling it a boat.

TYSON, regarding your references for best bass in the whole wide world: Just curious if you've ever heard, properly setup, something with humongous floor to ceiling stereo bass towers, with something like six-12" active drivers per side, in separate free-standing enclosures from the mid-treble range? Preferably in a large room?  Just trying to get a handle on your prior references for best bass relative to your show comments.

Immense kudos to all show goers for your tireless efforts!   

       

[jtwrace]

Watch it!  Fox news is fair and balanced.

+1

[Big Red Machine]

Overall I enjoyed the show but need to stay all 3 days next time.  Too much good stuff to see this year.  The added content of floors 8 and 9 made it damn near impossible to get through everything in 1.5 days.

[Big Red Machine]

Almost forgot - ask Ted about the bathroom visit at the restaurant.

...and the number shall be three....

[seadogs1]

Anyone, what are the loudspeakers and what is driving them in the Music and Arts room?
Thanks!

[Don_S]

Thank you to everyone who posted show comments and pictures.
Great job.  Thank you for the hard work.  I am enjoying RMAF vicariously.

Tyson/Pez, I think there is a picture missing here:
"Ah, lest I forget, THE most transparent speakers at the show (too bad they sounded crappy):"

Two pictures of the Acoustic Zen/Triode Corporation room were posted instead of a pic (or name) of the offending room.  I am sure you were not referring to the Acoustic Zen room since your other comments on it were very positive.