Rocky Mountain Audio Fest - Day2

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Red Rock amps

These Red Rock amplifiers deserve a closer look. Beautiful and powerfull sounding...
 

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JM Labs

While I'm talking about second looks, we stopped by the JM Labs room for another listen to the Nova Utopia Be's driven by all Balanced Audio Technology electronics. So impeccibly, musically smooth. There was always a big crowd in this room...

UPDATE - Found out later (on my 3rd visit to this room on day three) that this rig won "Best Sound of Show". I knew there was a reason I kept coming back. I've got the BAT electronics already. If I had the scratch and the space I'd seriously consider getting these speakers.
 

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Ferguson Hill

At the other end of the spectrum from the sheer presence of the JM Lab Nova Utopia's were these almost not even there FH007's from Ferguson Hill. Designed to interface primarily with PC's and iPod type setups, they sounded suprizingly good and I loved the industrial design. High WAF.
 

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Jolinda

I can remember when Jolinda was putting out some good sounding, but very cheap (and cheap looking) tube electronics. They have come a long way. The new JD1000 RC tubed amp is VERY cool looking and this set-up sounded great. Of course the mbl speakers may have had something to do with that (more on them in a bit)...
 

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More Jolinda

A closer look at the Jolinda electronics. Hmmmm J-O-L-I-N-D-A seven letters; could this be Joey's new pre-amp?
 

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Instant Kharma

Kharma was showing in two different rooms. This one had the Midi Exquisite MkII's ($75K) fed by their own Enigma cables ($8K), driven by the mbl 1621a/1611e digital front end ($42.5K), feeding the mbl 6010D preamp ($18.9K) and the mbl 9008a monoblocks ($40K pair). It sounded like a million bucks and damn near cost that. Big, powerfull, elegant - I'll never know what it's like in a real room, but it's nice to dream.
 

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Kharma II

In their second room (let's call it Kharma on a budget), they were playing the CRM 3.2fe speakers ($21K) driven by their own MP150 Class D amps ($6800.00 pair), with another mbl 6010D preamp, and the budget mbl 1521a/1511e digital front end (only $18K). Cheap stuff by Kharma and mbl standards... and it still sounded great.
 

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Mark Levinson

Mark Levinson was being shown in yet another room sponsored by Denver's own Audio Unlimited. In play were the 436 monoblocks, the 326S pre-amp and the 390S CD player. Speakers were the JM Labs Alto Utopia Be's. Music was Frank Sinatra on vinyl via a Kuzma Stabi Reference turntable and the new Airtight cartridge.
 

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Kuzma

A closer look at the Kuzma Stabi Reference...hey, I'm an anolog guy.
 

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Linn

The Linn room was typical clean, understated elegance. Very nice sound and you gotta love those guys and their Scottish accents. Not the most involving room at the show, but good musical sound and lot's of it. These guys love to listen to music, not equipment.
 

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Lsa

LSA is the new name for what used to be DK Design. How about something more memorable guys? Goofy name aside, they were playing their LSA 2 Statement speakers driven by a pair of the VS.1 Reference amps from an Exemplar front end.
 

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mbl

OK Beat Dominator, you still with me? Without question one of the top 3 Best Sound of the Show contenders was to be found in the mbl room. If you have never heard the 101 Radialstrahler speakers you need to sometime before you die. Yes, they are that good. When we finally got into the room (there was a long line) they were playing a jazz trio (sax, bass & drums) doing a version of "Walking on the Moon" that was unreal. The amazing thing about these speakers is that no matter where you are in the room - right in front, way off to the side, behind them; they sound exactly the same. There is no such thing as a sweet spot with them, at all. German engineering on par with their best.
 

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mbl part 2

So, besides those amazing speakers their electronics are works of audio art too. Here you have the 1621 transport (right), the 1611 DAC (left), and the 6010 preamp (center). Pure audio porn.
 

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mbl part3

So, when you see these in print they seem like they are going to be huge. When you see them in person they are more diminutive than you might expect, sort of like the Mona Lisa. By this time they were playing some sort of unobtainable Tori Amos cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and I just melted into a chair and was awash in the music. I got a "thing" for Tori Amos anyway and this experience didn't do anything to mitigate that. I could have stayed for hours.
 

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mbl part 4

So, if the 101's come off seeming somewhat smaller than expected the 9011 monoblocks just look HUGE. No kidding, these things are more than a yard long and must weigh 300lbs. Everything they played in this room though sounded utterly effortless through them.
 

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