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Originally Posted by tunes;541351
Not best in show but a few thoughts on RMAF: It seemed less crowded this year, which, as an enthusiast, is great for listening, though it is not encouraging for the vendors representing their wares. Seminars were educational, especially, Fremer's seminar on understanding the letters/numbers stamped in vinyl deadwax.
Also enjoyed doing morning yoga classes for the first time with Jason Serinus and Michael Fremer led by Steven Norber of Prana Fidelity While listening is always a bit of a challenge at these shows, I found this one to be less chaotic and more relaxed. As many others were slinging cameras to document the gear, (thanks guys!) I was lucky to just listen. There were a few rooms that I missed despite being there all weekend. With 150+ vendors, you just have to shortlist to give any rooms some semblance of justice.
That said, I was disappointed to have missed the Rowland, Airtight, Emm, and Audio Note setups. Next year? A few that I was looking forward to but didn't hear the sparkle I was hoping for:
Wilson Alexia with Doshi sounded great with RtR but otherwise I was less impressed as I have been with earlier Alexia demos. These are superb speakers and I hear that they made some adjustments to the setup with some treatments midway but I didn't get back there to hear the difference. As an ARC obsessive and user, the ARC Vandersteen room was OK but not as outstanding as expected. Maybe the Vandersteen are just not my cuppa.
I was excited to listen to the Absolare amps. The room setup was gorgeous but the sound wasn't stellar to me, maybe due to the Rockports. Frank had some great music in there though, live German jazz releases of the greats on the jazzhaus label. Will be looking for these ASAP.
I would love to hear the Absolare amps with the Rhaido someday. Of the ones I did hear, there were several that I went back to as the sounds were addictive. Here are my favourites from least expensive to out of this world pricey. My favourite "budget" speakers would be the small Emerald Physics room.
Next more expensive one would be the Devore 93 setup. Volti Vittoria's sounded very very good in the center seat and I think the system would have sounded even better in my home, as the room would have been less nearfield and would offer a little more dispersion. Wished that they had a vinyl source in there! Still remembering the Burning Down the House RtR in the MBL room. No idea how much it costs but I imagine alot (and these are the "little" MBLs). If I had a really giant listening room, Jeffrey Catalano's setup with the 900LB!! Cessaro speakers would be a dream system.
Unfortunately, I would need to buy a new house first! Really was looking forward to listening to the Tron dedicated mono phono stage but it was damaged in shipping so was not in service for the show. The TW-Acustic table is gorgeous. Not sure how much this total system cost, but it would be well past $200k. In that same price range, a beautiful system set up by AudioArts was really impressive.
At last year's show, their room made an impression on me with the Swissonor/Thorens table and Nagra gear. This year, with no room treatment at all, Gideon presented a real-sized system that would fit most listening spaces, and it sounded better each of the several times I went in. Gideon adjusted the vinyl source late on day 2 and it was beautiful at depth, dynamics and low-level retrieval. With brands that I have mostly never heard, or heard of (CH Precision, Trinity, Zellaton), I didn't calculate the total cost for this system but it was way past my budget.
Buying my lottery ticket this week and when I win, I'm heading to NYC
The VAC Tannoy room was very very good. I would likely pick different speakers but the VAC gear is wickedly addictive. I was interested to see that they have a statement phono out. Again, the system was huge, in a giant room and uber expensive. Fun to listen to though One thing for sure for me is that the rooms that kept pulling me back were not only great sounding but were also rooms that were playing great music that I liked. Not always music that I knew, but that I liked.
I passed by many rooms that were playing Dire Straits and Diana Krall. I mean really how many times do we need to hear that as a demo? John DeVore, Jeffrey Catalano and Gideon Schwartz all had excellent music playing. Music that I want to listen to and that is magnetic, keeping my attention. This is not only great for the fun factor, but also good marketing as it keeps my butt in the chair. Of course, musical tastes vary and this is where shows become difficult, as patience elapses quickly for really listening to a system if the music is not to your liking.
This is one of the best things about a show like RMAF for me, exposure to outstanding and uber-highend systems that I would not likely ever get to hear anywhere else, with a whack of brands that are not represented by my local dealers, or even in much of NAmerica!
A real treat to experience these sounds and kudos to all of the reps who put the effort in to do these shows for trade folks, press, and enthusiasts like me.
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