MiTT's 2011 RMAF Show Report

[slowGEEZR]

True because there are just so many variables. Room, ancilliary equipment, the recordings being played etc etc. For that reason, it is actually really hard to come up with solid conclusions.

Precisely.

[MiTT]

I agree, no way to accurately and definitively say how any of these components would sound in your home. That's why I always preface what I'm saying at the beginning of these threads by saying that these are my relative impressions going from room to room. More than anything else it gives me an idea of what components I'd be interested in hearing in my home and which ones I wouldn't bother with. For that matter, I haven't posted a number of the rooms (probably only about 50%), because I either didn't have time to visit the room, wasn't overly interested in what was in the room, or just didn't like the sound. I unfortunately had to skip the show on Sunday due to other committments. If I had 4 full days there I could have probably done all of the rooms more justice.

[MiTT]

There were a number of rooms and random shots I took at the show that I didn't post live. It's been a week now since the show, so some f these impressions will be a bit less detailed, but still some nice stuff to share.

Sonicweld certainly makes some very interesting looking speakers, and the sound is certainly good, but the asking price is also very steep. The towers are very svelt looking, barely bigger than the drivers they enclose. The subs on the other hand look quite massive. I also appreciated that they had a very cool looking Funk turntable in the room.

[MiTT]

I don't recal what speakers were being used in the Wyred 4 Sound room, but they were showing a well rounded offering of their electronics featuring a new music server with up to 3TB of storage, the $1499 DAC-2, their $1999 STP-SE pre-amp and a pair of 550 wpc monoblocks ($2398 each). I know several members here have the W4S DAC-2. What I liked was how all of the components were built around the same relative chassis size. Good looking and good sounding stuff at what seemed like a very reasonable price point.

[MiTT]

I'm not very familiar with Silbatone, but I'm going to learn more about them. No prices posted for this room that I recall seeing, but it looks like pretty expensive stuff. Sounds like it too. At first I was put off by the rough appearance of the speakers in use here. Later I found out that they are vintage Western Electric 757A Monitors and that they are a highly prized commodity in the Far East. Introduced in 1948, I was told that they can sell for upwards of $40,000; if you can even find them.

[MiTT]

I've always enjoyed the Merlin VSM series loudspeakers, but they may have sounded better this year than ever! They have typically been paired witht he wonderful Joule Electra line. This year they were showing with the elegant looking Ars-Sonum Gran Filarmonia integrated amp and an Audio Aero LaFontaine SACD player. Great sound! The speakers in this room were offered on a show special at $8500 (normally $15,200). If I had some spare cash I might have snatched them up!

[MiTT]

Elegant is an apt decriptor for the look, feel, presentation and sound of the room featuring the beautiful Bergmann Sindre turntable out of Norway as well as the equally stunning Ypsilon electronics out of Greece. Add in the always great sounding Lansche speakers featuring their intiguing plasma tweeter (similar to that used in the Acapella's), and you end up with a very impressive room.

[MiTT]

Dave had asked that I be sure to swing into the TAD room. I went, but it was too crowded to get a seat! I managed to snap a few shots as the manufacturers rep was talking between cuts, but wasn't able to sit down once the music was playing. Too bad because what I was able to hear from my position standing near the door with some uncompressed Supertramp supposedly sourced from the master tape was VERY impressive! I believe they said the speakers were $47K without the suggested stands. No idea what the associated TAD electronics cost, but they looked pretty pricy too. Pioneer's high end extension has come a long way.

[MiTT]

I believe these were the VonSchweikert VR Jr. speakers. Electronics were all Jolida. No details on model numbers or prices, but the sound was quite good on some Stevie Ray Vaughn.

[MiTT]

The Nola Baby Grand Reference Series II speakers sounded quite grand playing operatic aria's when I was in the room. They were being driven by a slew of Audio Research gear that I just can't remember with certainty, but I believe it was all Ref level. I understand Nola is now called Accent Speaker Technology, Ltd. I remember when they were called Alon. I can't keep up.

[MiTT]

Something interesting from a company called Atocha Design out of New York - a very stylish, artisan quality piece of furniture for storing your software. Far more elegant than just a rack, this would be a wonderful way to store music in your room with a great look and high WAF. I'd often thought about having some furniture just like this that can store LP's, CD's DVD's, in whatever fashion and layout you wish to customize. As shown here though I believe the asking price was $5800. Ouch!

[MiTT]

It struck me as was having dinner with these guys that I was the only person at the table that was using Martin Logans as their main transducers (Steve hasn't parted with his). That's Gordon Gray on the left, Steve and his wife Joyce in the middle, and Gordon's friend Randy on the end. I don't mind hanging out with these mbl and Wilson owners, but next year we gotta get some more representation from Martin Logan Owners! We had a great dinner at my current fave "Osteria Marco" in the heart of historic Larimer Square on a balmy Indian Summer night.

Hey, even though I was only at the show for a day and a half it was still an awesome time and something I'm already looking forward to again next year. RMAF is already planned out into 2015 or so I saw on a few posters around the show. I'm in!

Some interesting trends: Fewer disc players than I recall in years past. Tons of streaming devices and music servers. Also seemed like there was an iPad controlling things in virtually every room. Still a ton of analog using both LP and RTR tape and more tubes than ever (sorry JonFo - the people have spoken).

Top 5 rooms - very hard to say and in no particular order:

• Vivid & Luxman
• Focal & Solution
• Vandersteen & Aesthetix
• Doshi & Wilson
• Ayon & Lumen White

Don't forget though that I only saw about 50% of the rooms.

Best Bang for the Buck - also in no particular order:

• Evolution MM1 Mini's
• Studio Electric Monitor's
• Jolida Fusion Monoblock's
• Fritz Speaker Carbon 7's

[Gordon Gray]

Thanks again Tim for all your efforts.

I agree that there's too many rooms and not enough time to do justice to all of them. You are also correct that show conditions likely don't do justice to the gear other than provide one with a snapshot of its capabilities.

Next time, I'm just going to roam the halls checking out gear I haven't heard. And look forward to meeting some of the other MLC members in person.

Gordon

[Audiophiliac]

Tim, you mentioned the Motion LX16 briefly in your comments on the ML room. How did they sound? I took a closer look at them on ML's site and they look really well built and actually quite attractive. Curious how they perform compared to something like the PSB Imagine Mini or Paradigm Studio 10......

[repman]

Tim, thanks for the great pictures and mini reviews I appreciate the effort I feel like I was there.

Larry