RMAF 2012 Postmortem

I love this show: great people, great music and how can you not have a great time if you’re obsessed with sound. Obviously it is disappointing when some of your favorite manufactures don’t exhibit, like First Sound, Yamamoto, Thoress, Audiopax, etc,

I have to admit right off that a slight tinnitus issue currently dictates my listening preference, thus ribbon tweeters are off my list (and I’ve owned Apogee and a RAAL ribbon speaker, but I won’t buy one now). I always make it a point to visit Jim Jordan (Vaughn) because he is a great guy, but unfortunately his ribbon creations are a bit much for my ears. (sorry Jim, my loss).

Here we go:

Best of Show:
Yiddish lessons with Gideon Schwartz. Oh he was so disappointed in me but what can I say, after three generations on the West Coast we go wondering again…

Zellaton Studio Reference One with all Nagra gear. Heavenly! Outstanding tone, wonderful extension and sumptuous rate of decay. I visited this room all three days to ensure that I heard what I heard, and I did indeed hear it.

Close runner up of a different sort:
Volti Vittora, Border Patrol S10, EMM DAC and transport. Big horns done well! The sound takes me back to what I vaguely remember of my college roommate’s Klipsch and MC 2505. Small Jazz ensembles just suck you in; extremely intimate, breathy, extended and voices are simply magical. Like the Zellatons, the lack of high note fatigue was so relaxing. The caveat is I did not listen to full spectrum symphonic or raucous rock. Nevertheless these are for sipping, not gulping. I’d have these in my home if their mass didn’t take up so much space, or rather if my wife and dogs would let me have my own listening room. I just hope Greg Roberts keeps doing what he does. He and his wife are a joy to be around.

Speaking of raucous rock, in the Zu room on the 5th floor did anyone get the urge to body slam the guy next to you and proceed to wreck the place? Young guys spinning angry high energy music, good times!? I’ve got to hand it to them; at least it wasn’t your typical Norah Jones-esque sound that everyone thinks brings out the best in their speakers (yawn).

2nd runner up:
Estelon Xb. OK I admit that the beautiful Estonian sales representative was a bit of a distraction but I swear she did not sway my vote. I did get bonus points when I said I’d been to Tallinn, but then I lost them when I said my family was originally from Lithuania…D’oh like that has any relevance to anything. Well back to the odd looking Estelon: great bass, drums had superb separation, percussive speed and splendid timbre. I heard a slight glare punch in the highs but the piano notes had wonderful extension. I could tell you that their aesthetic appearance would not get my wife’s seal of approval. They also give the impression that they may move a round on their own when you’re not looking.

I too am a big fan of efficient speakers and I always enjoy what Mike Zivkovic did with the Lowthar driver in his Teresonic Ingenium, although I hate to watch videos when listening to music. I preferred the Ingenium to the Voxativ (another Lowthar driver) that was just a couple of doors down the hall. I was also very excited to hear the Feastrex NF5 and thought the Feastrex in the Feastrex cabinet and the Volti Veretta were wonderfully expressive, particularly when listening to vocals. And then there was the FN9…wow! I can’t wait to see what some cabinet builder does with that driver.

Best Value:
Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90. Unbelievable for under 5K. I give these speakers 4 out 5 merely for their affordability and outstanding dynamic sound, which can be modified by six switch settings in the back of the speaker (a tweaker’s dream).

Most interesting exhibitors:
Steve Nober, Kenji Furukawa (Feastrex), John Devore and of course Jeffrey Catalano are all really enjoyable and engaging people to hang out with. The eccentric Robin Wyatt is very entertaining…many of us just sat there in disbelief as he yanked and replaced one tubes after another, without turning off the power, and tried to convince us that the 206 was the paramount of tubes. I was just there to see if he’d blow a tube in his hands: please Robin can you do that again!

For you Wilson lovers, did you not catch the Maxx 3 and the Doshi jhor 160s. I’m not a big fan of Wilson, but I love Doshi’s preamps and the Wilson sang with those 160 monos IMO.

Any opinions on Morch’s DP-8 tonearm or were you more taken with the beautiful Schroder LT?

Apologize for the length. I got carried away.

i am surprised that nobody who attended the show, is commenting upon the magnepan room.

i heard the sanders hybrid years ago at THE SHOW. the panel was amazing, but i heard a discontinuity between the bass panel and the panel.

i believe the problem is dispersion. the dispersion of a cone differs significantly from that of a panel.

also, the cross over point could be a factor.

i have heard other hybrid designs, but all have a problem in coherence. they sound like two different speakers. i suppose many will argue that some hybrids have a seamless transition between drivers, but i believe i can identify hybrid speakers, even with a blind fold, or with my eyes closed.
and cone bass do not sound the same.

Hello all, I just registered here after attending my first RMAF. Being 63 and living in the quiet town of Taos, NM I don't get on the internet much. Hopefully my impressions of the show will be appreciated.

First off I was on a mission to find a replacement for my Dynaudio C4's. I've had them for around 6-7 years now and have enjoyed my time with them. But ultimately I find myself wishing for more balance and transparency. The Dyn's can feel a bit slow and uninvolving at times, other times they're spectacular.

Friday I tried to visit all the large main floor rooms and the Mezzanine rooms. Below were my notes:

The Venture setup in the Primrose room were spectacular. Incredible scale and dynamics. I felt these were very similar to my C4's but bigger and more refined. For 1/4 the asking price I would love to have them in my room, but for full price I'd want more micro-detail and sparkle on top.

The Launsche setup was also very involving and powerful. Again too rich for my blood, but another speaker I could easily live with at home. These had more midrange details than the Venture I thought.

The Daedalus/Modwright setup was very easy to listen, but too laid back my taste and somewhat dead on top.

I had never considered panels, but the Analysis Audio room made me reconsider. They were fast and transparent with excellent low level details. The price I thought was also in line. I'm not sure if I could live with the small sweet spot, and slightly constrained dynamics.

Those space age looking Cabasse speakers were cool, but sounded to my ears like an experiment and not a finished product. Unrefined and uncontrolled.

On the Mezzanine I honestly didn't find anything that was notable. The Raidho monitors were probably best, but listening was impossible due to the repeated cable swaps they were doing.

All the Focal rooms were to my ears, a mess. To me they more tried to bully you into enjoying the music instead of caressing. The Laufner Teknik's (with those gorgeous tubes) were just awful, sweet spot about the size of nickel and I could hear the panels flapping on bass notes.

Onto Saturday and the tower.

2nd floor highlights were GR/Serenity and Nola. Both had huge soundstage and plenty of low level detail, with a transparent sound. I'm not sure about the open baffle approach though, everything sounded equally big at the cost of pinpoint imaging. Plenty of great value in electronics with the Dodd stuff. Of the two I liked the Nola's better, they were just a bit more refined, the Serenity's at times turning forward and edgy at times.

The Wilson setup had it's moments of spectacular, as it should for the price of everything in there. Lots of things to like in that room, but being out of my range I didn't give it serious thought.

I hadn't heard of Adam Audio, and for the most part enjoyed them but they could be a bit hot on top at times. Big surprise of the 2nd floor was the Audio Physic Aventera's. Overall balanced, transparent, and musically involving. I'd like a bit more scale and dynamics, but an excellent speaker.

I don't remember the model, but the Totem floorstanders I heard (the ones with the funky silver frame around the woofers) were very good for the price. They're a speaker I'll consider when it comes purchase time. Midrange was the star with these, very open and lifelike.

The big MBL's were so much fun, like living inside a bubble of music. Their balance surprised me as well.

The Salk Soundscape speakers were gorgeous and sounded very balanced overall, although a bit slow and thick on bottom. I love the ability to pick my own veneer and look though, worth considering.

KEF LS50 (I think) was a surprisingly good sounding speaker. For such a small speaker it presented good scale, overall balanced with good detail as well. A touch of harshness on top but not a huge problem.

The Vivid/Ayre room was very cool, more vendors should try and do up their room instead of the same look door to door. Sound was very nice as well, on the analytical side but with excellent imaging and balance. Too funky looking though, and a bit loose on bottom.

The Odyssey monitors were excellent, big surprise how well they stacked up to much more expensive speakers. Only downside was a bit of congestion on vocals, but otherwise a fantastic speaker for the price.

... feeling lazy now, just going to type highlights from the other tower 4th and 5th floor.

Honestly I thought the best sounds of the entire show were in this tower.

The Emotiva setup was one of the best bargains I've heard. You don't get that ultimate refined feel for this price, but one of the best bargains I've heard.

The Rosso Fiorentino (spelling) speakers in the Avatar room were very nice, great emotional connection here. Smooth but not sacraficing detail and transparency. These are on my list to consider.

The Evolution Acoustic mini monitor was very enjoyable, if leaning a bit too much toward analytical. Bass was a bit flubby, but another excellent value.

Zellaton was a company I've not heard of, but their speakers were very impressive. Excellent imaging and transparency, a bit dull on top but otherwise glorious. Ultimately too expensive, but still impressive.

5th floor held many surprises for me!

The Sanders panel setup was excellent, and the price was another pleasant surprise. Another speaker that I'll consider.

The Estelon Xb was incredible. Everything about that speaker is what I'm looking for, except I would like a bit more heft to the mid-bass. Gorgeous speakers though and incredible micro-detail and transparency.

I've heard YG speakers a few times before and never really cared for them, too hi-fi sounding. But on the 5th floor they sounded as good as I've ever heard them. Here they were a sound I could live with, if a dealer gave me a nice discount :)

The bending wave Goebel speakers were also quite nice. Midrange and upper end was spectacular, but let down a bit by a much slower bottom end. Could be the room though, and a very cool looking speaker I thought.

And that brings me to my last mention, I saved the best for last. I'd never heard of Vapor Audio, they're a small custom builder based in St Louis. But after finding out about them mid-day Satuurday, I spent hours going back and forth between their two rooms. I got to hear all 5 of their models (consulting notes), Jewel Black, Cirrus Black, Cirrus White, Arcus, and Aurora. I was just amazed at how all 5 models could be so coherent, so fast and transparent sounding while using such different constructions and components. What I found most surprising is how their speakers could show more low level detail than I've ever heard without every being forward or harsh. The Jewel Black I can easily see replacing my C4's. Honestly I think my mind is made up, the Vapor speakers made the whole trip worthwhile and will likely be my next speaker ... I just have to decide which one! With the price being lower than I expected to spend, I can see myself finally setting up that 2nd system as well.

Sorry about the double post. Not sure how that happened.

Dpe: Wondering if you'd elaborate on your issues with tinnitus and ribbons? Too edgy? I find this sometimes (eg Salk HTL-TL w/Van Alstine, RMAF 2010), but not others (Vapor on a number of occasions).

Mrtennis: I heard various people comment on how well the Sanders integrated this year; maybe they've cleaned things up a bit.

On the topic of integration, anyone hear the Rythm -- a single driver augmented with a bass unit? I only heard it briefly, but I wondered about the integration.

The Joule Black is my favorite of the Vapor line as well Petrakis; punching above its weight is you'd move from the C4! I think the pro audio based Acurus is a really neat design too; might be my choice, if I were more of a headbanger.

John