About those Roman Audio speakers at the NYC Show

I thought the Roman Centurions with Plinius integrated and MSB CD player were the most real-sounding system at the show other than the four channel Andras II/SACD demo. The tone was uncannily accurate. My only negatives were that vocals seemed to be pushed back a tad in the soundastage (I thought Elvis would be in my face), and you probably need a sub to take over around 40 hz. But they sounded real to me in a way that the Wilsons, Dynaudios, and their ilk did not. For intimate listening, the Centurions got it right, IMHO. I agree that their Website, marketing, (and grills) are weak.

You are correct, Vince Galbo from Advanced Audio Technologies used the Romans with the Plinius 8200 amp. Vince is the North American distributor for Plinius products which are some of the most sounding amps out there.

They were powered by Krell at last year's show, where they also sounded very good.

I visited the Roman room on three separate occassions last week and was a little bit more disappointed each time. They have some kind of very real magic going on in the midrange, which I've got to figure is the Diaural crossover. But I kept finding that I wanted more high frequency energy. I say this even though most systems at the show sounded a bit too bright for my liking.

Two other problems I have with these speakers. First, I think they are godawful ugly, in a Vegas sort of way (or maybe Texas :-)) Second, the company's literature and Web site do absolutely nothing to inspire confidence. Truly lame. Still, I do like the speakers.