[Wind Chaser]

I had a strain gauge pick up system back in the early 80's and it sounded phenomenal.

[TomS]

The blue headlights on the strain gauge cart are just too cool 

I once knew someone who had the whole Win Labs setup.  Unfortunately, I've absolutely no recollection of the sound.

[Mariusz]

I heard it once ( ) or twice and couldn't get it out of my head. It's still on top of my list ones I hit my numbers. It  is soooo fluid, smooth and true to music .......
(btw - I got  SMMC1 somewhere)

[TheChairGuy]

I had a strain gauge pick up system back in the early 80's and it sounded phenomenal.

I wet my pants listening to SoundSmith Strain Gauge...it is BEYOND phenomenal.

I'm keen to get one, myself, despite the awful cost involved ($5500 for preamp and cartridge)

Oh well, back to Mac & Cheese for a while

John

[jimdgoulding]

Oh well, in my dreams, I could rationalize the strain gauge cartridge, if I read right that it can drive power amps directly (if I didn't, I have a good excuse).  Then, you could get a Berkeley DAC and drive your amps directly from your digital source.  Were you to have active speakers, oh boy(!), you got the amps already.

[Wind Chaser]

Oh well, in my dreams, I could rationalize the strain gauge cartridge, if I read right that it can drive power amps directly (if I didn't, I have a good excuse).  Then, you could get a Berkeley DAC and drive your amps directly from your digital source.  Were you to have active speakers, oh boy(!), you got the amps already.

A strain gauge can plug straight into a power amp because the cartridge has a 'control center' which sends an electrical signal to the cartridge.  The mechanical energy from the stylus puts stress on the electrical signal which gets sent back to the control center for processing.  So the control center also serves as a line stage because other ancillaries can be plugged into it, sort of like a preamp only it's not.

[Wind Chaser]

Here's a picture of the Electro Research EK-1 strain gauge pick up system.  No aluminum in that chassis, it was made of 1/4" stainless steel.  Wish I had a picture of the interior.  The thing was completely modular; all the circuits were concealed inside seven black stainless steel boxes.  The thing was built like a tank.  Unquestionably the most radical piece of gear I’ve ever owned.  The only down side to this thing was it had to be sent to Van Nuys, CA when the time came to replace the cartridge. 




And the Electro research A-75

[Pez]

Best Component
Absolute tippy top best product I heard at Rocky mountain Audio fest was....

First Sounds true dual mono Preamplifier. It was simply astounding. Yes the 1st sound room not only had the best single component of the show IMO, but also easily in the top 2 rooms as far as sound quality. Emmanual with First Sound is a delight to speak to. Very knowledgable, very friendly and a breath of fresh air in a world of over stuffy audionuts who rarely make a product that fail to live up to the self generated hype. If you are going to buy a preamp any time in the future, this one needs to be at the top of your list.



Sorry for the canned picture, but since I was so taken aback during my 3 visits to the room I never actually had the presence of mind to snap a shot.

www.firstsoundaudio.com

[Pez]

Best Audio Porn Room

As always with RMAF there are the true "cost no object" rooms that make you stupifide when you think about how many millions of dollars worth of equipment you're looking at. Surprisingly these rooms don't always pull the great sound you would expect from what amounts to a system that is worth 100X the average americans annual salary. This year however Dynaudio/Wadia/Octave did just that. A megabuck system that actually made you truly appreciate what all three companies are striving to achieve. The best, price be damned. Say it with me... Dual mono DACs!!! 

[ted_b]

Best Component
Absolute tippy top best product I heard at Rocky mountain Audio fest was....

First Sounds true dual mono Preamplifier. It was simply astounding. Yes the 1st sound room not only had the best single component of the show IMO, but also easily in the top 2 rooms as far as sound quality. Emmanual with First Sound is a delight to speak to. Very knowledgable, very friendly and a breath of fresh air in a world of over stuffy audionuts who rarely make a product that fail to live up to the self generated hype. If you are going to buy a preamp any time in the future, this one needs to be at the top of your list.



Sorry for the canned picture, but since I was so taken aback during my 3 visits to the room I never actually had the presence of mind to snap a shot.

www.firstsoundaudio.com

Pez,
I also agree that the First Sound/Berning/Daedalus room was stunningly good, and one of my top 5.  However, without knowing how the other pieces (and the room, speaker placement, etc) figures into the whole sound how did you go about singling out Emmanuel's pre?

P.S  Emmanuel had great eclectic demo/music material, too. Lots of fun in there.

[Tyson]

I'll second Jason's vote for the First Sound.  We heard Daedalus speakers in 3 other rooms, most with the same source, and we also swapped Jason's amp in for the Berning.  There is no question in my mind, the First Sound preamp was the heart of the sound we were hearing.

[Pez]

Exactly. While it is difficult to truly single out the Preamplifier. I went to great lengths to understand what is going on in this room.

As Tyson said we heard the Ulysses in no less than 3 rooms. We also heard the AMR cd player in another room with the Ulysses (not to mention we heard the AMR in no less than 5 total setups). As far as the Amplifier, as Tyson said we swapped out the Berning (great OTL BTW) for my 5 watt Corruption amp and were stunned with the results. Emmanual didn't have any room treatment in his room btw, yet it still was awesome.

So in conclusion the wiring was different, room treatment was different. I will however take a wild and perhaps reckless guess and say that what really set this room apart was most definately the preamplifier.

[ted_b]

Yes, the Daedalus comparisons were easy, but again Emmanuel had those puppies about 5 ft further into the room than any of the others (inc Lou).  Anyway, nothing at all against the First Sound.  It was a beautiful piece of kit...the issue I had was unless you know all the equipment intimately (i.e own it) it would be tough to single out any piece in the chain (inc cables) as the paramount reason for the sound.  But you've explained your selection, makes perfect sense now.  I'm lazy; wish Emmanuel would have a pre with remote. 

My other top rooms (defined as "could I spend all day listening to music there"):
* TAD/Bel Canto (amazing sound for such a large partioned off room area; the third show I've heard these amazing speakers and probably the least musical of the trio of demos...yet still top five sound..and Andrew does a nice job demoing)
* Kaiser/Concert Fidelity (Masataka Tsuda is a genius. I was honored to meet him there. Nice speakers too)
* Rithm/MA Recordings (bought my "nth" MA recordings disc, this time the newest 24/176 Todd had on hand, via DVD-ROM.  Best "speakers no taller than 2 feet" at show!)
* Sony/EMM Labs/Pass/Isotek (Ray, Gus and friends know how to do 3 channel!!  The yet-to-be-imported Sony's were amazing, imaged like crazy, and sent goosebumps)
* E.A.R./Marten (Those new Getz speakers, paired with Tim's stuff, especially the Acute CD player, was magical.  Nice Beatles demo material too.    )

There were several other nice rooms where I'd spend a couple hours if needed, and several that forced me to run out within seconds. The slight majority were ones where there was decent sound but nothing to write home about. Again, thin-walled hotel rooms with poor AC, loud neighbors and 24 hours of prep...very difficult indeed.

[mhconley]

I have some bias as I supplied racks to two rooms – Von Schweikert Audio (room 509) and Fritzspeakers (room 569).

Best of Show – Hands Down – Musical Reality room 8032.  Eera Tentation playing through Kronzilla SX MK II on Von Schweikert VR-35.  Holographic soundstage, spot on imaging, excellent range, extension and realism.

Best Product – Kronzilla SX MK II – How can you go wrong with 50 watts of Class A SET power?

Other notable rooms in no particular order:
Von Schweikert Audio (room 509)
Fritzspeakers (room 569)
Jolida (room 2020)
Walker Audio (room 514)
Alfred & Partners (room 517)
Purity Audio Design (room 522)
Kubala-Sosna Research (room 537)
Audio Unlimited (Maroon Peak)
Daedalus Audio (room 1030)
Zu Audio (room 407)
Linkwitz Lab (room 417)
Acapella Audio (Larkspur)

Martin

[Pez]

Ted, not only did I know it was the First Sound preamp that was the stand out piece, I was down at the other end of the hall on the 8th floor with Tyson and I stopped in my tracks and wept. I turned to Tyson and said "*sniff* do you hear the preamp in room 804? It's... It's.... Beautif.... BWWAAAAAA" 

[diofan56]

Personally I thought the Legacy speakers kicked some serious butt.  The Whispers and Focus SEs were amazing!  I just about crapped my pants when I heard my music (Blues and energetic Rock) through them.  I know those recording are not reference but that is what I listen to.  The Legacys had strong, solid bass and wonderful mids and highs that were clear and articulate but not harsh.  Everything else I played my music through sounded harsh and lacking in bass.  When I get ready to buy speakers again they will be Legacy.

That being said...

I thought the Bel Canto/TAD area sounded quite good even though it was in a really large space.

Another room I really liked had the Jones Audio/Revel speakers.

The Ayon area was way cool!  Those Lumen White (Lumenwhite?) speakers are pretty impressive.

[Occam]

In no particular order -

Thor Audio electronics / Duevel speakers

First Sound pre / Berning amp / Daedalus speakers

E.A.R. electronics / Townshend TT / Marten Getz speakers

[Tyson]

Ted, not only did I know it was the First Sound preamp that was the stand out piece, I was down at the other end of the hall on the 8th floor with Tyson and I stopped in my tracks and wept. I turned to Tyson and said "*sniff* do you hear the preamp in room 804? It's... It's.... Beautif.... BWWAAAAAA" 

And then we hugged, but in a manly, tough way.

[jimkjr]

Hello Windchaser
I saw your post on the EK-1,do you have any Lit. on the unit,and do you still have it?