RMAF 2012 Postmortem

I liked the big Ventures too as well as the Sanders room. But I'm amazed more were not smitten with the Leonardo ribbon speakers along with the $179,000 tube amps and Memory player. The system was beautiful in sound as well as looks. The ribbons reminded me of the Apogee sound and look. But much more efficient to drive. Voices were just uncanny. Great dynamics and bass too. If I had $65,000 to spare I'd have a pair.

I listened to the Ventures both with the FM Acoustics and the tube set up. Either way they were the best at the show.

I was kind of disappointed in the Wilson room. They were playing their new speakers with the big VTL amps. The room needed to be the same size as the Venture room.

The little Silverlines were impressive as well and run by the small chassis Parasound amp as well.

I was afraid I wouldn't like my humble setup at home after hearing multi thousand dollar setups at the show, but was delighted to find my little Legacy system could more than hold its own with anything I heard at the show.

Steve

The Saunders room was probably the best in the show for me, very open sound with lots of clarity, very well priced to.
I liked the Volti Audio room that had the 3 way horn speakers making nice noises, and also quite nicely priced.
The downside for me as in all years I have attended the show is the totally mind numbing easy listening pap that always seems to get played in a lot of the rooms.
Man up guys,and play music to stir the blood.
Can't really remember any stand out rooms as they all sounded very similar, or was it just the music being played?

Yeah I agree. They had all EnKlen power and cables. The Thrax Dac was super impressive, liquid , dynamic, detailed! Amazing sound!

I love this show: great people, great music and how can you not have a great time if you’re obsessed with sound. Obviously it is disappointing when some of your favorite manufactures don’t exhibit, like First Sound, Yamamoto, Thoress, Audiopax, etc,

I have to admit right off that a slight tinnitus issue currently dictates my listening preference, thus ribbon tweeters are off my list (and I’ve owned Apogee and a RAAL ribbon speaker, but I won’t buy one now). I always make it a point to visit Jim Jordan (Vaughn) because he is a great guy, but unfortunately his ribbon creations are a bit much for my ears. (sorry Jim, my loss).

Here we go:

Best of Show:
Yiddish lessons with Gideon Schwartz. Oh he was so disappointed in me but what can I say, after three generations on the West Coast we go wondering again…

Zellaton Studio Reference One with all Nagra gear. Heavenly! Outstanding tone, wonderful extension and sumptuous rate of decay. I visited this room all three days to ensure that I heard what I heard, and I did indeed hear it.

Close runner up of a different sort:
Volti Vittora, Border Patrol S10, EMM DAC and transport. Big horns done well! The sound takes me back to what I vaguely remember of my college roommate’s Klipsch and MC 2505. Small Jazz ensembles just suck you in; extremely intimate, breathy, extended and voices are simply magical. Like the Zellatons, the lack of high note fatigue was so relaxing. The caveat is I did not listen to full spectrum symphonic or raucous rock. Nevertheless these are for sipping, not gulping. I’d have these in my home if their mass didn’t take up so much space, or rather if my wife and dogs would let me have my own listening room. I just hope Greg Roberts keeps doing what he does. He and his wife are a joy to be around.

Speaking of raucous rock, in the Zu room on the 5th floor did anyone get the urge to body slam the guy next to you and proceed to wreck the place? Young guys spinning angry high energy music, good times!? I’ve got to hand it to them; at least it wasn’t your typical Norah Jones-esque sound that everyone thinks brings out the best in their speakers (yawn).

2nd runner up:
Estelon Xb. OK I admit that the beautiful Estonian sales representative was a bit of a distraction but I swear she did not sway my vote. I did get bonus points when I said I’d been to Tallinn, but then I lost them when I said my family was originally from Lithuania…D’oh like that has any relevance to anything. Well back to the odd looking Estelon: great bass, drums had superb separation, percussive speed and splendid timbre. I heard a slight glare punch in the highs but the piano notes had wonderful extension. I could tell you that their aesthetic appearance would not get my wife’s seal of approval. They also give the impression that they may move a round on their own when you’re not looking.

I too am a big fan of efficient speakers and I always enjoy what Mike Zivkovic did with the Lowthar driver in his Teresonic Ingenium, although I hate to watch videos when listening to music. I preferred the Ingenium to the Voxativ (another Lowthar driver) that was just a couple of doors down the hall. I was also very excited to hear the Feastrex NF5 and thought the Feastrex in the Feastrex cabinet and the Volti Veretta were wonderfully expressive, particularly when listening to vocals. And then there was the FN9…wow! I can’t wait to see what some cabinet builder does with that driver.

Best Value:
Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90. Unbelievable for under 5K. I give these speakers 4 out 5 merely for their affordability and outstanding dynamic sound, which can be modified by six switch settings in the back of the speaker (a tweaker’s dream).

Most interesting exhibitors:
Steve Nober, Kenji Furukawa (Feastrex), John Devore and of course Jeffrey Catalano are all really enjoyable and engaging people to hang out with. The eccentric Robin Wyatt is very entertaining…many of us just sat there in disbelief as he yanked and replaced one tubes after another, without turning off the power, and tried to convince us that the 206 was the paramount of tubes. I was just there to see if he’d blow a tube in his hands: please Robin can you do that again!

For you Wilson lovers, did you not catch the Maxx 3 and the Doshi jhor 160s. I’m not a big fan of Wilson, but I love Doshi’s preamps and the Wilson sang with those 160 monos IMO.

Any opinions on Morch’s DP-8 tonearm or were you more taken with the beautiful Schroder LT?

Apologize for the length. I got carried away.

I love this show: great people, great music and how can you not have a great time if you’re obsessed with sound. Obviously it is disappointing when some of your favorite manufactures don’t exhibit, like First Sound, Yamamoto, Thoress, Audiopax, etc,

I have to admit right off that a slight tinnitus issue currently dictates my listening preference, thus ribbon tweeters are off my list (and I’ve owned Apogee and a RAAL ribbon speaker, but I won’t buy one now). I always make it a point to visit Jim Jordan (Vaughn) because he is a great guy, but unfortunately his ribbon creations are a bit much for my ears. (sorry Jim, my loss).

Here we go:

Best of Show:
Yiddish lessons with Gideon Schwartz. Oh he was so disappointed in me but what can I say, after three generations on the West Coast we go wondering again…

Zellaton Studio Reference One with all Nagra gear. Heavenly! Outstanding tone, wonderful extension and sumptuous rate of decay. I visited this room all three days to ensure that I heard what I heard, and I did indeed hear it.

Close runner up of a different sort:
Volti Vittora, Border Patrol S10, EMM DAC and transport. Big horns done well! The sound takes me back to what I vaguely remember of my college roommate’s Klipsch and MC 2505. Small Jazz ensembles just suck you in; extremely intimate, breathy, extended and voices are simply magical. Like the Zellatons, the lack of high note fatigue was so relaxing. The caveat is I did not listen to full spectrum symphonic or raucous rock. Nevertheless these are for sipping, not gulping. I’d have these in my home if their mass didn’t take up so much space, or rather if my wife and dogs would let me have my own listening room. I just hope Greg Roberts keeps doing what he does. He and his wife are a joy to be around.

Speaking of raucous rock, in the Zu room on the 5th floor did anyone get the urge to body slam the guy next to you and proceed to wreck the place? Young guys spinning angry high energy music, good times!? I’ve got to hand it to them; at least it wasn’t your typical Norah Jones-esque sound that everyone thinks brings out the best in their speakers (yawn).

2nd runner up:
Estelon Xb. OK I admit that the beautiful Estonian sales representative was a bit of a distraction but I swear she did not sway my vote. I did get bonus points when I said I’d been to Tallinn, but then I lost them when I said my family was originally from Lithuania…D’oh like that has any relevance to anything. Well back to the odd looking Estelon: great bass, drums had superb separation, percussive speed and splendid timbre. I heard a slight glare punch in the highs but the piano notes had wonderful extension. I could tell you that their aesthetic appearance would not get my wife’s seal of approval. They also give the impression that they may move a round on their own when you’re not looking.

I too am a big fan of efficient speakers and I always enjoy what Mike Zivkovic did with the Lowthar driver in his Teresonic Ingenium, although I hate to watch videos when listening to music. I preferred the Ingenium to the Voxativ (another Lowthar driver) that was just a couple of doors down the hall. I was also very excited to hear the Feastrex NF5 and thought the Feastrex in the Feastrex cabinet and the Volti Veretta were wonderfully expressive, particularly when listening to vocals. And then there was the FN9…wow! I can’t wait to see what some cabinet builder does with that driver.

Best Value:
Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90. Unbelievable for under 5K. I give these speakers 4 out 5 merely for their affordability and outstanding dynamic sound, which can be modified by six switch settings in the back of the speaker (a tweaker’s dream).

Most interesting exhibitors:
Steve Nober, Kenji Furukawa (Feastrex), John Devore and of course Jeffrey Catalano are all really enjoyable and engaging people to hang out with. The eccentric Robin Wyatt is very entertaining…many of us just sat there in disbelief as he yanked and replaced one tubes after another, without turning off the power, and tried to convince us that the 206 was the paramount of tubes. I was just there to see if he’d blow a tube in his hands: please Robin can you do that again!

For you Wilson lovers, did you not catch the Maxx 3 and the Doshi jhor 160s. I’m not a big fan of Wilson, but I love Doshi’s preamps and the Wilson sang with those 160 monos IMO.

Any opinions on Morch’s DP-8 tonearm or were you more taken with the beautiful Schroder LT?

Apologize for the length. I got carried away.