MiTT's 2011 RMAF Show Report

[MiTT]

GamuT

The GamuT room featured their large floor standing speakers driven by their own electronics. I've always found their sound very clean and the was no exception here, but the sound coming off of what I believe were two huge Vyger tables (there was no component description sheet in this room), with Tri-Planar arms here was silky smooth and drop dead quiet. They were also showing some very price friendly tube gear from LA Audio in this room, but it was all static when I was there, so I can't comment on their sound.

 

[MiTT]

Evolution Acoustics

I was really excited to have a chance to hear the Evolution Acoustics Micro-MM1 speakers. Here they were paired with a darTZeel integrated amp and a front end consisting of the Playback designs digital player and a massive turntable of unknown origin (nobody in the room at the time knew what it was), sporting two Durand arms and an ATR Aria RTR ($37K). The Evolution's are slated to be released in January at an asking price of only $2500 including the stands shown here. While not the last word in bass extension, they were punchy, dynamic and clear from the middle registers up. Very much a bargain at the asking price, possibly the bargain of the show thus far!

 

[MiTT]

Lindemann

The sound of the Lindemann gear here was very smooth. Very pricy electronics - $12.5K for the 825 Digital Player, $12.5K for the 830S pre amp, $16K for the 855 Dual Mono amp. The small stand mounted BL-10 2 way monitors tacked on $11K. For me the key point of interest was the vintage Luxman 2 arm turntable from the early 70's that made me really take notice - it sounded great.

 

[MiTT]

Allnic

The Allnic room was inviting right from the get go with Keb Mo coming at me from a set of Wilson Sasha's. The room had a Beat Magdrive turntable ($24K) with Schroder LT tonearms ($TBD), Allnic H3000 phono stage ($11.9K), L5000 line stage ($19K) and A5000-DHT mono blocks ($19.9K). The $27K Sasha's seemed to be everywhere, but they always sound so good no matter what they're paired with.

 

[MiTT]

Daedalus & Galibier

The Galibier Stelvio II turntable with their Talea tonearms almost made me like the Lou Reed they were playing (sorry, I'm just not a fan). The 845 based Serious Stereo amps did sound pretty interesting driving the Daedalus speakers here.

 

[MiTT]

Daedalus & AMR

More Daedalus, this time with some big ModWright SS amps and an AMR digital front end. The Daedalus BOW subs added a nice foundation to the sound, making some Baroque chamber music sound downright weighty and substantial. A very pleasant sounding room.

 

[MiTT]

Fritz Speakers & Zesto audio

I was surprised to hear the price on these Carbon 7 speakers from Fritz speakers - a lowly $1750.00. With all ModWright electronics everything from Sonny Rollins to Stevie Ray Vaughn sounded very much better than I would have expected for the asking price. The $3300 Zesto Andros phono stage was silent in it's operation, something that can't be said for all tubed phono stages, and it looked great to boot.

 

[MiTT]

Veloce

The battery powered Veloce gear seems to get better every year. Their Platino Series Hybrid mono blocks had no trouble driving the YG Acoustics Kipod's and they have added a phono stage to the line up. The turntable here is an Amazon that I had never seen before. The owner said he's had it for more than a decade and it coincidentally is also battery powered!

 

[Audiophiliac]

Great coverage of the show Tim as always! Love that new Peachtree Grand stuff! Can you swing into the Zu Audio room if you have not already? Always interesting to see what Sean and the Zu zoo are up to.

 

[MiTT]

Red Wine Audio

More Batteries! This time from affordable manufacturer Red Wine Audio. speakers were WLM La Scala's. Very good sound at an affordable price.

 

[MiTT]

Louther, Pass Labs, Firstwatt

Very relaxed natural sound here with the Oscar Peterson Trio played back on an Avid table with SME arm. While the Pre amp and phono stage were the higher priced Pass gear, the highly efficient Lowther speakers sounded very good indeed with the low powered First Watt amp (Nelson Pass's other company). No prices were available on any of the gear in the room, but one guy I was talking to said that the concentric Lowther drivers (middle of the speakers), were $6000/pair by themselves.

 

[MiTT]

Rowland & Theil

Nothing special to say about this room other than the always gorgeous Rowland electronics sounded very good partnered with a set of Thiel speakers. The word "Buttery" comes to mind. The DAC is Rowland's new Aeris model ($9.8K) and the amp is the Model 625 ($13.5K).

 

[MiTT]

Studio Electric

The new Studio Electric Monitor speakers (the outermost pair in the full system shots), blew me away when I heard they were $2550.00 a pair. I expected them to be in the $7-8K range, so imagine my surprise! They look like a million bucks too. Might actually be the best bang for the buck I've heard today.

 

[MiTT]

Ayre

Ayre was showing of their new VXR stereo power amp ($14.9K), along with the QB9 DAC ($2.7K), DX-5 Universal A/V Engine ($9.5K), KX-R Pre amp ($18.5K) and the DPS turntable with DPS Tonearm ($12.75K combined) and Benz LP cartridge. The Vienna Acoustic Kiss speakers sounded very good with some uncompressed Mahler via the DX-5's internal DAC. The speakers are $15K for the pair including the integral stands. In the shot with the bottom removed from the amp you can see how Atre starts with a solid block of aluminum and machines away pockets and channels for all of the electronics mounted within. This is very solid, non-resonant gear.

 

[MiTT]

Verity & dCS

The first thing that struck me (besides the Chopin playing when I walked in the room), was that dCS had a very nice Basis turntable setup. Odd that one of the groundbreaking stalwarts of digital audio had included such a fine example of analog reproduction in their room. When I was there however, the music was playing through the very good looking dCS Debussy DAC ($11.5K) fed from an Apple laptop. Speakers were the Verity Audio Leonore's ($16K) driven by a Musical Fidelity A500i integrated amp.

 

[MiTT]

Magico & BA Labo

The diminutive Magico Q1's were playing in this room. The $27K Q1's are the replacement for the Magico Mini's that more or less swept the audio world by storm a few years ago. It's the first time I haven't had to fight a huge crowd to listen to a set of Magico's. I'm surprised the room wasn't packed because I was actually very impressed with what I heard. All over the show people were comparing their sound to Magico, but there is something a bit more pure and real to the sound here than there was in many of the rooms where these comparisons were being thrown about. Was it the horrendously expensive BA Labo electronics? The Nagra T RTR? The Clearaudio table? I don't know, I only know I just wanted to sit and listen to this system for a long time. If these are the successors to the Magico Mini's I now understand what all the fuss was about. I thought they were sublime - too bad I never be able to afford them. But hey, if you CAN at least the $27K price includes the stands.

 

[MiTT]

Doshi Audio

One of the highlights of the show for me last year was the Doshi line of electronics paired with the Wilson Sasha's that seem to be playing in every other room. This year the system consisted of an SME Model 20/3 turntable and Series V tonearm with a Koetsu Onyx cartridge, a Wadia S7i CD player as well as a Wadia 171i iPod dock and a Technics RS 1506 RTR all serving as front ends. Pre amp was the $$14,995 Doshi Alaap V2.1 (full function) as well as a Doshi NAB ($9,995) for the RTR. Amps were the Jhor mono blocks ($18,995/pair). This is amazing sounding gear paired with the Sasha's. Punchy, dynamic, smooth, non-fatiguing. Some of the best sound of the show.

 

[MiTT]

Audio Research & Vandersteen

This was the second room featuring the $50K Vandersteen Model 7's. Here the speakers were being fed by an all Audio Research front end and amplification. Pre amp was the Ref 5 with the Ref Phono 2 stepping things up from the Spiral Groove turntable (I didn't catch what cartridge they were using). Amps were the big Ref 250 Mono's. With the ending track from the Rutter "Requiem" (a track I am very familiar with). I was genuinely moved. I had heard these speakers last year, but was not anywhere near as impressed with them as I was this year. Listening to Jeff Buckley's "Lilac Wine" on the Ref 8 CD player yielded similarly impressive results.

 

[MiTT]

Avalon & Eletrocompanient

Avalon was showing their new Idea speaker ($7995.00), with all Electrocomanient electronics. As any of you know from my postings here, I've always been enamored with the Avalon house sound. What I find stunning here is the amount of that house sound for the price. The Scandinavian electronics probably had an impact as well. The Idea's are very much contenders in this price range.

 

[MiTT]

Jolida

The Jolida Fusion 200w mono blocks were certainly impressive looking beasts. Playing the Tape Project "Arnold Overtures" on a beautifull United Home Audio modified Tascam studio deck, the sound was powerful coming from the Von Schweikert VR-5 Anniversary Mk2 speakers ($30K). I love the look of these big 211 based beasts and what wet my appetite even more was that they can be had for $5,500/pair!