2. misc-audio
  3. 1128316160

A few systems heard at the Rocky Mntn. audiofest

I sure didn't hear them all, and I'm not about to say that my fave is the show's best system, but here are a few observations.

1. Most rooms I didn't even walk into as they were either too crowded or were playing diddeebopper trash that I RUN away from.
2. The Intuitive Design speakers room was playing an acoustic-bass recording that sounded EXCELLENT. It was closely miked and the bassist was doing lots of whacking and clacking, and the bass really did sound real. Didn't hear anything else there. Their literature reads as if their 2 systems will be QUITE expensive.
3. Herron was demoing prototypes of new, big speakers and subwoofers, and the short piece of the Reference recording of the Rutter Requium sounded VERY good.
4. North Creek's new Advanced Ribbon Technologies Division was playing their new Metro hybrid ribbon system. Only about 3' high, it used a single MR/treble ribbon and a 7" vented woofer. The system had almost no bottom-octave energy and a little too much treble for my taste, but it sounded VERY coherent. Too bad it'll retail for some $7 - $8K/pair.
5. Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology was demoing his new Thigpen Rotary Woofer (TRW) system. This thing is going to be a hit with well-moneyed home-theater fans, as it'll generate high SPLs with VERY little distortion at frequencies as low as ONE Hertz! Several of us heard continuous tones at 16Hz.; below that I felt rather than heard the energy. At 2 Hertz it was flapping the room's door about an inch peak-to-peak! 'Only' $13K.
6. The only ABSOLUTELY GREAT-sounding system for me was AvantGarde's Duo horn-based system, driven by Thor tubed preamp and amps. WOW!!!!!! I've never heard big, expensive, horn-based systems before, and it literally had me in tears with, again, the Rutter Requium. I played a lot of my CD of the EMI/Boult Holst Planets, and I was truly amazed at the tonal naturalness, soundstage size, imaging specificity, etc.
.
128x128jeffreybehr

Showing 3 responses by nrchy

nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
They weren't even playing music through the horn it was all noise and I don't see there being a practical use for that thing any time soon. Even people with a big house would need an addition for the tunnel system that was setup in the next room.

RMAF sure sounded better than CES and the people were nicer too! One of the best rooms was the Sonus Faber room with fairly inexpensive gear. The retail was about $10,000 but it bettered some big buck rooms.

More comments to follow...
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
You're right, I didn't read your thread closely enough, or maybe having gotten up at 4AM to fly home has something to do with it. I have LPs and CDs with sine waves, what I was getting at was the idea that it would have been helpful to hear something that could be recognized as something 'musical.'

There were some instances of poor musical selections. Vetterone and I were talking to one of the guys from the B&W/Classe room when the guys across the hall opened their door and started playing some truly repugnant country type music - loudly! After a minute or Steve went across and gently slammed the door shut. I'm still laughing!

Anyway, you were right and I was wrong - again!!!
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
Golden ears, just to clarify my statement about being put off by someone's music. Steve and I went to the Classe room to talk with one of their sales people to get some specific information. I have one of their amps and had to know something about the construction. Since there were people in the room listening to the system, we retreated to the corridor. We were getting some very good information and advice when the room across the hall began playing some poor sounding music at loud volume. The music interfered with our ability to converse.

If the people in the room were enjoying the music, good for them. They could enjoy it just as well with the door closed. We could not conduct business with their music blaring, and yes, the conversation led to a sale.

I was not walking down the hall closing doors indescrimately because I did not like the music. There was a specific reason for not wanting to listen to the music in one room.

I'm not disagreeing with Mr Atmasphere. We are not talking about the same thing.

I'm not familiar with that King Crimson LP, I might have to look for it.
More to discover