RMAF 2014 Observations

I made it back from RMAF and over the three day period I think I saw and listened to almost every room/demonstration. Since I am contemplating a potential new loudspeaker in the next year or so, I focused on loudspeakers. Here are my thoughts including my top five rooms and my worst of show rooms too. Preface: These are my observations only and subjective to my ears only - everyone has different tastes and observations and if you like a certain loudspeaker or sound then its right for your ears!

Caveat: I used the side one of Dead Can Dance 'Into the Labyrinth' as my test music. I was allowed to play it in all rooms except the Raidho and Voce rooms which wasn't using vinyl set ups, but did have mp3's of the record.

5th best sound/room: Voce Audio Loudspeakers with Plinius electronics: This sound was all sparkle yet very detailed and musical. Bass overloaded the room some, but this was a room issue. Great imaging and sound staging. Build quality of the loudspeaker was world class. Reminded me of Rockports.

4th: HWS: Horning Eufrodite Loudspeakers with TW Acustic analog front end and electronics with Tron preamp. This was the most enjoyable room at RMAF. Great music, no audiophile recordings and just plain fun. There was a remarkable relaxed quality about the Hornings and for the money probably not a better bargain. Jeff Catalano is a first class guy and most audiophiles would be hard-pressed to find better person to do business with. This system just 'worked.'

3rd: Audio Alternative: Vandersteen 7, ARC electronics and Brinkmann turntable with Lyra Atlas cart. This was a spectacular room. Other than the bass being a little bloated at times and on certain recordings, the Vandersteens did it all. Incredibly musical, images were solid and 3-D and soundstage width was wall to wall. Soundstage height a little low for my tastes, but I am nitpicking here.

2nd best sound: Raidho loudspeakers with Constellation Audio electronics. This was craziest room to visit. It was like a magic act. New Raidho X1 mini-monitors with stands for $8K. In this room set up, they sounded better than the D1's! Incredible purity and soundstaging. Non-fatiguing and very musical. And the bass was exceptional. I could not believe there wasn't a subwoofer hidden somewhere. I am betting these super small cabinets got down to 30 cycle bass in the room.

Best of Show: AAAudio Imports: Lancshe 5.1 loudspeakers with Ypsilon electronics and Thales turntable with Ikeda cart. This was the best sound I may have ever heard. On all types of music. Soundstaging and air was phenomenal. Extremely musical with no grain at all. Tonal balance from top to bottom was perfection. Plasma corona tweeter gave detail to recordings I have yet to here in my room at home. Was it a match of components or a perfect room (it was a large room)? I don't know but it was fantastic and I will definitely want to listen to some again. Only draw back is that the corona tweeter lasts for around 5000-7000 hours and needs to be replaced.

Honorable Mention: I didn't hear a Joseph Audio room I didn't like. Jeff Joseph is definitely doing something right!

Underwhelmed sound: Wilson Audio room with Sashas and the big VTL monos was very dynamic and detailed. But just something about the brightness to my ears of Wilson speaker and the thin midrange. I can certainly see why many would like this set up, it was just not for me.

More underwhelmed sound: Polymer Audio room - just plain analytical and boring. Great build quality though.

Even more underwhelmed sound: The two rooms with Focal Grand Utopias with either VAC or Soulution electronics. Both of these rooms were very average in my opinion. Soundstaging was two dimensional and only between the two loudspeakers. Very disappointing.

Worst of Show: Aesthetix and Focal Mezzo Utopias. This room was horrid. It had to be the set up. Soundstaging was horrible, detail was missing and bass was bloated. If I was either manufacturer, I would have been pissed at how this room was set up.

Again, these are just my opinions based on my ears and listening preferences. Feel free to add thoughts from people who were there and what they liked and disliked.

I certainly admire everyone in the business who work tremendously hard to set up rooms and put on a show for three days. Cudos to everyone who had rooms there.