RMAF 2010 Show Report

Great sound at modest prices

What struck me at the show was how good stereo loudspeakers have
become across the board. . I didn't hear any really bad speakers at
the show, just bad recordings. It amazed me how many demonstrators
were playing non audiophile recordings to show off their wares.
Most interesting and encouraging was how some of the lower
priced speakers fared in comparison to the mega buck offerings.
As long as you're not trying to fill up a huge room, you have
an excellent chance of buying superb sound for a relatively
modest price. You don't have to spend multi thousands to get
high quality sound. The PSB Synchrony Ones were impressive
and held their own against much higher priced competition.

On the flip side, I thought many of the really high priced
speakers were a ripoff. Yes, you get marginally better sound
but how can they justify those prices?

Also, i prefer to buy equipment from America or Canada.
With the dollar weak against the euro, it just makes more sense.

Guys thanks for all of the Mini reviews and the pictures were outstanding.

I appreciate you guys looking out for us who could not make the show.

From the pictures and reviews I feel like I was there.

Thanks to you both.

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement guys. Jim is definitely a more artistic photographer than I am, he's got some great shots. Jim, what do you use for photo editing software?

I've still got a bunch more to post over the next few days from rooms where I either didn't have the presence of mind to post my thoughts in real time or just wasn't thinking - including some very cool analog stuff. More to come over the next few days.

Yes, thanks to both for the reviews and pics!

I use Lightroom 3, it is the best Ive used yet.

Great job Tim, This is better than any of the ezines I have found!! So the question beckens as to what your favorite room was

Best,
Bob

Jimna said:

I use Lightroom 3, it is the best Ive used yet.

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Hmmm... 3 Bills huh? Do you use it stand alone or do you use it with Photoshop? Looking at the website it seems like they suggest you buy both.

How about some of you other guys that always have these great images - Rich, George, what do you guys use? (maybe I should start a new thread for this).

Tim, I'm amazed at the number of hits on this thread - over 6,500!

Isn't it ironic that you reported this for the MLOC, and ML was not at the show. We have heard before their reasons for not being there (can't remember them now), but it really is time they reconsidered.

Are you listening ML?

Bernard said:

Tim, I'm amazed at the number of hits on this thread - over 6,500!

Isn't it ironic that you reported this for the MLOC, and ML was not at the show. We have heard before their reasons for not being there (can't remember them now), but it really is time they reconsidered.

Are you listening ML?

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I mentioned that I had been posting my impressions of the show over in another forum, so some of the hits may be coming from there. Also, there was a lot of interest from people at the show when they would see me posting live, so there may be a few folks who are looking in that way too. I tried to tell anyone who was interested that we had a great forum here. We're kind of like a big family here, including some occasional dysfunctional bits. I think that there are just a lot of folks who like music and audio gear.

Thanks for your always kind thoughts by the way Bernard.

BobF said:

Great job Tim, This is better than any of the ezines I have found!! So the question beckens as to what your favorite room was

Best,
Bob

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Thanks for the props Bob, I truly do appreciate that. Hmmm, favorite room. That's a tough one. If I could choose a cost no object room it might have been the Focal/Accuphase/Transrotor room. If it were based upon my own real world constraints as to what I think I could actually afford and enjoy it might be either the room with the Avalon Indra's or the Doshi electronics with the Wilson Sasha's - different sounds entirely, but I could live with either. If I were to choose based on the best music (not just the sound), it might be the Red Wine Audio room with the Zu speakers or the Audio Physic room. For best music and sound combined the Joseph Audio room knocked my socks off. His new monitor is the real deal.

Thanks Tim for the outstanding live coverage, and Jim, your pictures are works of art of works of art .

This is a very enjoyable thread. It is incredible how much there is in the high-end market. The time you took to share this is much appreciated by many.

If I may, i am curious as to how the components are chosen for the speakers being demonstrated. Are there commercial ties between the speaker manufacture and those that make the gear (such as Sanders), or do the speaker manufacturers hire people to optimize the configuration (what a job!). Are the same components sometimes chosen independently by different speaker manufacturers? Just curious how these components are mated.

Also, is this a place where equipment can be purchased or is it like a car show where manufacturers show off their latest and greatest to get customers into the show rooms.

MiTT said:

Hmmm... 3 Bills huh? Do you use it stand alone or do you use it with Photoshop? Looking at the website it seems like they suggest you buy both.

How about some of you other guys that always have these great images - Rich, George, what do you guys use? (maybe I should start a new thread for this).

Click to expand...

I am working with a local ezine now, and trying to make a move to bigger things so I felt the money was well spent. It is an incredible tool. I shoot in RAW, and not many programs have capability to deal with those files. But unless you serous about photography it could be overkill.

Check out some of my newest shots for the full power of LR, I just started using it a month ago.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimna/collections/72157613267633153/

MiTT said:

Hmmm... 3 Bills huh? Do you use it stand alone or do you use it with Photoshop? Looking at the website it seems like they suggest you buy both.

How about some of you other guys that always have these great images - Rich, George, what do you guys use? (maybe I should start a new thread for this).

Click to expand...

I use Lightroom 3 also and love it. If you are serious about digital photography, Lightroom or Apple's Aperture are the way to go. I have used both, and find that Lightroom is just more serious about pro feature sets than Aperture, and has a lot more educational resources available for it, so that is what I am sticking with moving forward.

Lightroom and Aperture are really three things combined into one: 1. they are a cataloging tool, to keep up with all your digital images; 2. they are a raw processor, to take a "RAW" image out of a digital camera and add noise reduction, contrast, color correction, and sharpening to end up with a great photo; and they are a "photoshop lite" kind of imaging editor, where you can crop, add localized contrast, color, sharpening and skin softening adjustments to really kick up a photo to the next level. They do a lot more than that, of course, but that is a basic synopsis.

Several things to consider: First of all, if you don't shoot RAW format, nor have any desire to, then there is little need to get Lightroom. Just use Apple's iphoto or some windows picture editor to work with basic JPEG files. If you are serious about your photography, though, you need to be shooting RAW and you need a good cataloging and editing program like Lightroom or Aperture. Definitely worth the three bills if you are serious about photography. It's kind of like hi fi though -- if you don't have a camera that cost more than $500, or you only take pictures twice a year, then you probably don't need the 1200 watt monoblocs . . . er, I mean the high power image editing software.

Most pro photographers these days rarely have to take a photo out of Lightroom and into Photoshop for manipulation. Yes, Lightroom is that powerful. It can handle 90% to 95% of most photo editing needs. I personally like to use photoshop for a lot of the available effects, and I also like to use a lot of the great plugins that are available for Photoshop, like the Nik plugins (among others) but these plugins are now available for Lightroom as well. So you could easily just buy Lightroom, and never need any other photo editing program. If you had to use a higher level editing program for something special, you could always use Picassa or Gimp, which are free. I use photoshop because it is the gold standard and it is what I learned on.

Great thread, Tim. As usual, you have done a magnificent job covering your hometown show. I am hoping to make it back out there next year.

As do I Rich.

Well, I just point a cheap £150 camera and hit shoot with it set on auto. I'm simply not interested nor do I have the time to mess around with image processing s/w. Nor do I want to allocate any money to it. I won't even spend the $30 for the picture re-sizing s/w I like the most.

My attitude is: take a lot of photos and see which come out best.

TBH, with a cheap camera it is show lighting that makes the most difference. Adequate natural light is the best precursor to your snaps coming out OK. Given that, no cheap flash unit need operate and the shutter doesn't need to stay open to long enough to introduce the dreaded blur.

Yours, the cheapskate pornographer:devil:

User211 said:

Well, I just point a cheap £150 camera and hit shoot with it set on auto.

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Justin, I would have figured you would use one of those old-timey press cameras with a huge 211-style bulb flash.

Or a polaroid! You guys remember polaroid?!

TT Weights

While not the most inventive of names, one of the rooms I wandered into just as I was leaving the show was a company called TT Weights. In addition to making all sorts and manner of TT Weights (obviously), they had 3 very interesting looking turntables the Gem ($6500.00), The Gem Ultra ($8500.00) and the partially disassembled (it was late Sunday and they were likely starting to tear down) Black Onyx ($15,900.00). All direct drive - I snapped a shot of the drive mechanism on the Gem. They also make their own Talea tonearm. Very nice looking stuff from Ontario Canada.

User211 said:

Yours, the cheapskate pornographer:devil:

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Justin, you HAVE to be cheap, considering you are not paid for the issue from your pornograph.

We have yet to observe any results from Rich's machinations of the sexy software for which he paid so much. Soon, very soon, Rich?

Bernard - thank you for stating what we were all so obviously thinking...

No old style press camera, Rich, but generally I'm not happy if my power output valves are date stamped any later than 1943.