Rocky Mountain Audio Fest - Day 1

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MiTT

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Hey all - another show report for everyone. The third annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest started today, and runs through Sunday Oct. 22. Today I was able to visit the exhibits on the Main Floor, Mezannine and 10th Floor. I know I missed a few rooms because they were too crowded, and I still need to visit the exhibits on the 2nd, 5th, 9th and 11th floors. So much to do, so little time.

Here's a sample of the things I picked up today. Spent about $200.00 on vinyl, and got a bunch of schwag.
 

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Art Audio

One of the first rooms I visited was the Art Audio room. They were running an Ensemble Dichrono CD player into a Gill Audio pre-amp then through their Adagio T100 amp feeding some Aus Aurios Midi .5 speakers ($19K). This room sounded amazing! I'm not familiar with these speakers, but they were full bodied and open.
 

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Adagio Bliss

The Art Audio gear is sooo freakin' beautiful! OMFG, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Here's what $22,000 buys you - 60 watts of T100 Class A tube power!
 

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More Aus Aurios

Don't know why, but these Aus Aurios speakers at the back of the room caught my eye. They look like something Ridley Scott would have used in one of the "Alien" movies...
 

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ESP Room

ESP was showing their Concert Grand SI speakers ($40K) with a Concert Fidelity Linestage (($14K) and Shoreline tubed monoblocks. Source was the Esoteric X-01 (they seemed to be everywhere). Probably close to a $90K system, and sounded like it too. Very deep, detailed and mesmurizing. Very close to the electrostatic sound we all love - but at what cost!
 

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Shoreline

Closer view of the Shoreline amp and Concert Fidelity linestage...
 

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Evolution Acoustics

A new brand to me was Evolution Acoustics. These things were MONSTERS (74" tall and 525 lbs EACH!), and they drew quite a crowd. The sound was as big as you would expect, but I only heard them with some large scale classical music. Hard to say what they would sound like with something more intimate.
 

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Evolutionary Electronics

The Evolution speakers were being driven by the new Grand Prix Audio turntable and a new EMM Labs SACD player feeding a daRTzeel pre-amp and amp combo. Can you say $$$$$
 

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Geezuz... makes our systems look puny and rather cheap....

I wonder how these guys charge so much. I was driving home today from a visit to an audio shop and I reminded myself about how the shop guy had in his hands $20,000 worth of cables. I then looked to my right and I saw the 2007 Toyota Camry and I asked myself, "Which is harder to build and design? The cables or the Camry?"

Though I'm a fan of hi-end audio, I still dont get these inflated prices.

I read somewhere that this all started with Wilson Audio and their overpriced Watt/Puppy series back in the day.

Stupid Wilson Audio... you hear me Statman?? :mad: :D :p
 
Great pics and narrative, Mitt! You're a lucky dude.

Please do us all a favor and inquire about the dates for NEXT YEARS RMAF, so those interested can start planning. This Sunday is my "vacation lottery" at work to pick the weeks I want off in 2007, and I'd REALLY like to attend RMAF.

Also, another huge request... if you get the chance, please have a listen in the Butler Audio room (room 566 according to the show listing). They are supposed to be demo'ing the Monads, but hopefully will have the TDB 2250 or 5150 there as well (more realistic price point). I'm sitting on the fence, contemplating the 2250, but hoping to read some feedback from RMAF, via ML club or elsewhere!

Thanks, and enjoy!
 
Great Sounding Acapella

One of my favorite rooms was Audio Limits of Colorado Springs. They were featuring the Acapella Violon MK II driven by Einstein pre and Monoblocks, all fed by the Lector CD player. The sound was AMAZING! Deep, powerful, spacious. These are among the best horns I've ever heard...
 

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Einstein close up

Here's a shot of one of the Einstein Monoblocks close up. They're worth a closer look, they were very pretty amps.
 

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MITT!

How are them PLASMA tweeters on them Acapellas? I've never heard one, nor do I want to as it might be doomsday for my wallet.

Joey
 
Joey_V said:
Geezuz... makes our systems look puny and rather cheap....

I wonder how these guys charge so much. I was driving home today from a visit to an audio shop and I reminded myself about how the shop guy had in his hands $20,000 worth of cables. I then looked to my right and I saw the 2007 Toyota Camry and I asked myself, "Which is harder to build and design? The cables or the Camry?"

Though I'm a fan of hi-end audio, I still dont get these inflated prices.

I read somewhere that this all started with Wilson Audio and their overpriced Watt/Puppy series back in the day.

Stupid Wilson Audio... you hear me Statman?? :mad: :D :p
Joey, I'm gonna talk about cables a bit further on, stay tuned...
 
sleepysurf said:
Great pics and narrative, Mitt! You're a lucky dude.

Please do us all a favor and inquire about the dates for NEXT YEARS RMAF, so those interested can start planning. This Sunday is my "vacation lottery" at work to pick the weeks I want off in 2007, and I'd REALLY like to attend RMAF.

Also, another huge request... if you get the chance, please have a listen in the Butler Audio room (room 566 according to the show listing). They are supposed to be demo'ing the Monads, but hopefully will have the TDB 2250 or 5150 there as well (more realistic price point). I'm sitting on the fence, contemplating the 2250, but hoping to read some feedback from RMAF, via ML club or elsewhere!

Thanks, and enjoy!
I will enquire and let all here know. FWIW, many of the manufacturers have commented to me that this is their favorite show, bar none because there are so many MUSIC fans at the show. One guy told me it's twice as big as the Stereophile show. It would be way cool to get a group from the forum together for this show next year. I've got some spare bedrooms...

Butler Audio, got it. I'll make a point of swinging in and I'll let you know what I see and hear.
 
Joey_V said:
MITT!

How are them PLASMA tweeters on them Acapellas? I've never heard one, nor do I want to as it might be doomsday for my wallet.

Joey
Like I said, this was one of my favorite rooms thus far, these are easily as good as the Avant Garde's I believe. As for the PLASMA tweeters, let's just say I soiled myself. These are seriously good speakers!
 
ACI Saphires

Some of the best sound for the dollar was being made by the ACI Saphires at only $1700/pair. These are exceptional mini-monitors that simply disappear when the music starts.
 

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Leonardo CDP

The ACI's were being driven by this very good looking and sounding Leonardo CD player and a Valve Audio integrated amp. Great sound on the cheap!
 

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JM Lab Nova Utopia's

One of my all time favorite speakers, one of the few I would give up my Logan's for, is the JM Labs Nova Utopia Be, and hearing them at the show again this year reminded me why. They are nothing short of majestic in their portrayal of the musical event. Personally, I prefer these to the Grande Utopia Be's at $80K - and these will only set you back a paltry $35K. Of course they're driven here by another $23K of BAT VK600SE monoblocks.
 

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The rest of the supply chain for the Nova Utopia's was an all BAT stack of VK51-SE pre-amp, VK-P10SE phono stage, VK-D5SE CD player and a Clearaudio analog rig, all hooked up with Tara Labs The One. This is one of the 5 rooms that Audio Unlimited is hosting. Audio Unlimited is one of if not THE best High End stores in Denver and has helped sponsor this event all 3 years so far.
 

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