RMAF 2008 - Your impressions,...

i missed the show. were there any panel speakers ?

I thought the Raidho speakers were terrific, and the WLM speakers RedWine audio was showing were very nice, and the new Avalon Indra is as good as you've heard or read about them....and I agree with everything written above...

MrT, Sound Labs had several hundred square feet of electrostatics filling a large room. They used Emm digital to demonstrate a recreation of a drum and bugle corp on a football field. It was very impressive indeed. I've heard that sound from both on the field and in the stands. It was simply incredible.

The IsoMike recordings used have incredible sound stage and ultra real timbres.

For me the demo clearly showed the best and worst of electrostatics. The good was the wonderful midrange and timbral accuracy. The worst is it took HUGE curved arrays to achieve this stunning presentation. If you moved to a single flat panel, we all know what happens.

Dave

I neglected to mention the Avalons, they sounded might fine indeed. Also the Harbeth M40s driven by McIntosh sounded fantastic too. The Apogee Divas were very good as well - I wasn't aware that Apogee speakers were still being made. They were driven beutifully by Pass XA100.5 and Audio Research Ref preamps.

Definitely less people than last year. Many more people using streamed music as a source.

Best room at the show: Garcia's across from the Marriott. Thanks again Cello for organizing the Happy Hours on Friday and Saturday evenings after the show. It was great to finally meet fellow 'Goners and put names to faces.

As far as the listening rooms are concerned, I will admit that I don't usually like horn speakers and I love my belt drive Galibier turntable. Given these biases, the Oswald Mills room with their new idler drive turntable and horn speakers was for me, by far the best sound of the show. The turntable is definitely world class. The proprietary phono pre and 2 watt! tube amp were fabulous and the speakers are incredible. They played a side from Johnny Cash's "American IV" that gave me goosebumps. Eeriely realistic. (Apparently Johnny is still alive and living in Pennsylvania.) I heard Barbra Streisand's 2nd album...absolutely life like and I don't like Babs. This system also rocks. Jonathan played "Sign Of The Times" by Prince and even though it's one of my most played LPs, it was like I had never heard it before.

Much like an addict I couldn't help but returning to get a fix. My only regrets: a) I can't afford them b) I would have loved to hear them in a larger room with a slightly more powerful (? 5 watt) amp.

Otherwise in no particular order here are my show favorites:

1. Audiokinesis
Duke is a true gentleman. His new speakers with "Swarm" subwoofers are killer.

2. Emerald Physics CS1 Room
High efficiency open baffle speakers that require biamping.

3. Strain Gauge
Great sound even from their stand alone moving iron cartridge.

4. Daedalus' larger room
Really let their flagship speakers strut its stuff.

5. High Water Sound
Jeff Catalano's rooms always sound great and he always brings great music. (Thanks for playing the Ventures!)

6. Luxman with RTR Source
If they only were making more software...

I'm interested to know what others thought...