RMAF 2010 Show Report

Thanks for the great coverage Tim, one of these years I will have to put Bowhunting on the back burner for a weekend. plus there is something about having a fresh Fat Tire looking at the Mountains.

Kenscollick said:

plus there is something about having a fresh Fat Tire looking at the Mountains.

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Love that brew Ken ! speaking of brews Coors has a new one 'batch 19' which is being test marketed in five locations around the country(DC, Chicago, Milwaukee, San Fran, Dallas) it is every bit as good as Fat Tire, maybe better.......the only place you can sample it in Colorado is the tasting room @ Coors Brewery in Golden. Anyways it's on 'You Tube' so everyone give it a positive hit so it will be brought to a distributor near you soon !

Ok, enough of that..........back to Mr B's excellent show coverage.........

Sorry guys, I had to leave the show a bit early today to take care of some family obligations. I should be up posting some more of the photos pretty soon though.

Great coverage, Tim, and it was nice meeting you and your friend earlier!

I had a blast. I took some pics too, but had flash problems so many didnt turn out well. I was very impressed by Sanders room, but was disappointed to be chased out by a line of people waiting. He was opening some eyes to the stat sound for sure. A few other highlights for me were the YG's & Joseph Audio, but in the lackluster (of who I had high hopes) department I found the Analysis Audio.

I will try to post some photos soon.

Tim, et al, do you know if Coincident is demoing their Statement Line Stage and amp? If so, would you mind checking it out and reporting? Thanks.

RichTeer said:

Great coverage, Tim, and it was nice meeting you and your friend earlier!

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Hey, likewise Rich, it was good to meet you and put a face to the name. I'll likely see you tomorrow as well. I hope you're enjoying the show and my hometown!

Jimna said:

I had a blast... A few other highlights for me were the YG's & Joseph Audio.

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Jim, sorry we couldn't hook up today, but the family beconed. It's funny you mentioned the Joseph Audio room. I was really jazzed to hear the new Pulsar's, but when I was in the room they were having server problems and all I could do was take pictures of them along with the Ayre electronics. How did they sound to you? Another room I need to try to get back to tomorrow.

Append: OK, so I've come back to the Joseph Audio room so that I could listen for myself to the speakers. Holy $hit these things are spectacular! Not inexpensive at $7K the pair, none the less, they sound like a freaking' bargain at this price. I've never heard deep bass like this out of a mini monitor. I've nearly soiled myself.

slowGEEZR said:

Tim, et al, do you know if Coincident is demoing their Statement Line Stage and amp? If so, would you mind checking it out and reporting? Thanks.

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Steve, I know that they are at the show and the guide says that they are showing the SET 300B mono blocks ($5600/pair) and the Statement Tube Linestage ($4999). I'll make a point to swing by their room tomorrow.

MiTT said:

Jim, sorry we couldn't hook up today, but the family beconed. It's funny you mentioned the Joseph Audio room. I was really jazzed to hear the new Pulsar's, but when I was in the room they were having server problems and all I could do was take pictures of them along with the Ayre electronics. How did they sound to you? Another room I need to try to get back to tomorrow.

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I was blown away! They pack quit the punch in a small package, very impressed.

I think my biggest let down was the the over all music played. 99% of it sucked IMO, and I cant be that alone on this. I mean I get that the old guard who has helped this industry flourish in decades past may have largely preferred classical/orchestral/chamber music, but I was so sick of the reoccurring music theme in every room that I could have puked by the end....and if I hear another over produced female vocal with piano or acoustic guitar backing her, well I guess I know I am at another audio show full of clueless industry people who are out of touch with the audience that is now 30 somethings with a good job and money to spend. I mean seriously there are thousands of different types of music, why play the same shit as everyone else there? Why not appeal to the new audience who is now looking toward highend audio? For this all the exhibitors get a fail, broaden your horizens and maybe the consumer will follow....but I digress.

I did get the opportunity to listen to the YG's and Wilsons with some of that new-fangled wacky rock-n-roll and it was wonderful.

The Odessey room had Tool playing in the dark and I wet myself a little. I was very impressed with the sound they made at a budget affordable to the common joe too.

I did think the Burmester looked beautiful but sounded like crap. My system sounds better than their offerings IMO....and I dont buy the room excuse when so many can make it work like Sanders did for example. For that much money they should use some R&D and figure it out, I was extremely disappointed.

The Focal's had a very nice warm sound with mid-range punch that sat me in my seat. I very much enjoyed their sound.

I sat through the Nordost demonstration in their room and felt that they did themselves wrong in the process. The difference was almost nill, and they went from a 2k power cable to a 20k which was explained to us to be more drastic than a 2k upgrade from the factory one. I walked out of that room and heard a group of guys saying what I was thinking, none of us will be buy any of those EVER.

OK, this post has become a run-on ramble so I will stop now.

Nope that's an excellent post with attitude, Jim. Say it like you see/hear it.

As for catering to younger audiences - same problem at Silverstone. Just a bunch of grey haired middle aged men attended it, really. The industry really does need to find a way to attract a younger audience. Or it will surely run into problems.

Tim,

Thanks for a great blow by blow of the show, almost as good as being there. Now if you could just add audio clips to each of you room pics!

"well I guess I know I am at another audio show full of clueless industry people who are out of touch with the audience that is now 30 somethings with a good job and money to spend."

I have to agree with Jimna. I spent more money on audio when I was in my late 20's to early 30's. Back than I didn't have many cares or responsibilities and audio was all I thought about. I was upgrading to a new component every 6 months trying to find that perfect sound. I subscribed to every audio magazine out there to help on my journey to the perfect sound. When I bought my Summits last year, that was the first audio purchase I had made in over 12 years and I have not looked at an audio magazine in about as long.

MSB & Perreau

There were a few room I went into where I grabbed some shots, but either didn't take the time to post notes, or wasn't inclined to do so - this room being one of them. Harbeth, MSB (who I haven't heard much about for quite a few years) and Perreau. There was an interesting looking turntable that I could find no information about, but it obviously wasn't playing (note the abscence of a cartridge).

Sheng Ya

I know only that this is a Chinese company and that their stuff looked pretty cool. There wasn"t any music playing when I was in the room. They were in the same room with Grant Fidelity and Consonance.

Ayre

Pretty cool shot of how Ayre starts with a solid block of aluminum and machines out specific cavities for their electronics and even the wireways in their new reference pre amp. Also got one of their new USB DAC and the rest of the electronics in the room. I can't recal what speakers they had in this room.

Wadia

Wadia was showing with Dynaudio again this year, as well as with some interesting tubed gear from Octave. I didn't think that Wadia made power amps, but there were some mono blocks there with their logo on them. Their new Power DAC mates perfectly with the iPod dock they introduced a few years ago. iPads were EVERYWHERE. Lots of folks had them in their rooms and many attendees were using them to capture notes. As far as I know though I'm one of the few folks that may be posting coverage live. I've had a LOT of folks asking me about the site as I record my thoughts and this thread seems to be getting a lot of hits.

Great reporting! Wish I was there. Maybe next year. :drool::drool::drool:

Loving all the photo's

Pretty sure the two boxes in the third picture in the Wadia room are their 922 mono DAC's
http://wadia.com/products/decoding/series9/921/


They did make a pair of Amps years ago.

Red Wine Audio

The battery powered Red Wine Audio gear was sounding great with the Zu Essence speakers. (Hey Jim - how about a little Morphine and Godsmack instead of the lame music you were talking about). Most of the rooms will play whatever you want if they have it or if you've brought it with you. Their gear is all tube based, including the hybrid mono blocks ($5200 a pair) and the pre amp has a built in DAC ($5500)' with USB, coax, etc. Last track. Listened to was Roy Gains, great acoustic blues.

Append: Been thinking about the Zu speakers quite a bit after listening to them in this room as well as in Zu's own room. They really do a great job with a variety of music and are very reasonably priced. May have to investigate them more thoroughly for a second system...