MiTT's 2011 RMAF Show Report

[MiTT]

Vtl

VTL was playing a Tape Project version of Patricia Barber's "You and the Night and the Music" to great effect through the HUGE Sigfried mono blocks. These things must weigh 500 lbs. They made the equally HUGE TAD speakers seem less predominant in the room. With a nice Otari RTR as a source, along with a slew of dCS electronics providing digits, and a very impressive looking 3 box VTL pre amp; everything sounded, well, HUGE! I was fortunate enough to spend some time talking with VTL guru Bea Lam and was humbled by her knowledge of all things audio.

 

[Jimna]

Great job again, Tim! Thanks for this, those of us who cant be there really appreciate the next best thing!

 

[beek]

Man on the scene

Great job again, Tim! Thanks for this, those of us who cant be there really appreciate the next best thing!

Thanx for being the Man on the scene, Love the TT's

 

[MiTT]

Thanx for being the Man on the scene, Love the TT's

I always enjoy covering the show, but even more so knowing that folks who can't attend enjoy my impressions and audio porn.

I wasn't able to attend today due to some family obligations, but I do have a few more rooms to share over the next day or so...

 

[Gordon Gray]

Tim,

Wonderful to see you at dinner on Saturday night. As always, the perfect host. And, of course, your outstanding show coverage.

Steve and Joyce, thanks for your camaraderie and always pleasant, funny, engaging presence.

Ken, good to see you briefly. Wish we could have spent more time together.

It was a great show. Will post my limited comments soon.

Gordon

 

[RUR]

Ken, good to see you briefly. Wish we could have spent more time together.

Me too, Gordon. We'll do a better job next year!:music:

 

[slowGEEZR]

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.

Tim, I talked to the owner of that turntable, he has two of them! He also wouldn't part with either of them.

 

[slowGEEZR]

The huge Solution Series 7 amplifiers gripped the big Focal Nova Utopia speakers like no tomorrow. When Audio Unlimited owner John Barnes passed away earlier this year I wondered what would happen with many of the find brands he represented here in Denver. His business partner Carl Jerttis assumed the reigns of the company and it appears to be reborn now as Apex Audio. Dead Can Dance and Live Neil Young both sounded amazing fed from the Transrotor turntable. I didn't have time to get all the details on the components associated here, I was too busy just listening to the music Fantastic!

To me, this room was unreal. When they played the Rolling Stones Ripped CD track of Wild Horses, I could hardly believe how good it sounded.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Clearudio's new $24K Master Innovation Wood turntable, fitted with a Graham Phantom arm and Goldfinger Statement cartridge served as the analog front end for this system. The Aesthetic Romulus CD/DAC served up digits, and both front ends were routed through the Aesthetix IO Eclipse Phonograph Pre-amp. Power was provided by Aesthetix Atlas mono blocks and the speakers were Vandersteen 7's. Rod Stewart's "Mandolin Wind" on vinyl sounded especially tasty ("Every Picture Tells a Story" is about the only Rod Stewart album that means something too me, so this was a nice treat).

Another fantastic room. It's amazing that there were so many rooms with absolutely incredible sounding systems. Those Vandersteen's can really sing!

 

[slowGEEZR]

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.

Ha ha. Watch out, soon you will be coming over to the dark side!

 

[slowGEEZR]

I'm currently uploading my 100 + pics onto my smugmug account. One thing I should mention is that, regardless of how good some of these systems were, they aren't even close to the real thing. After listening to some music on the IsoMike four channel recorded system and then hearing the artist play, it was clear that there is still a long way to go in the audio reproduction business.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Tim,

Wonderful to see you at dinner on Saturday night. As always, the perfect host. And, of course, your outstanding show coverage.

Steve and Joyce, thanks for your camaraderie and always pleasant, funny, engaging presence.

Ken, good to see you briefly. Wish we could have spent more time together.

It was a great show. Will post my limited comments soon.

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. I didn't get to meet Ken or Rich Teer, as I had hoped. It was great visiting with you and Randy and Tim. Tim, thanks so much for getting us together at that Tuscan restaurant. I'm so glad they had much more than goat or lamb!

 

[JordanD]

I was at the CAS earlier this year and its funny to see a lot of the companies use identical set-ups. Makes me feel slightly better for not being able to be there. But that show looks much larger so it brings be back to the jealous side hahaha

 

[Audiophiliac]

One thing I should mention is that, regardless of how good some of these systems were, they aren't even close to the real thing. After listening to some music on the IsoMike four channel recorded system and then hearing the artist play, it was clear that there is still a long way to go in the audio reproduction business.

I agree 100% as I am sure any logical being would. That IsoMike rig is about as close as I have heard though! Honestly....even when I heard it in Ray Kimber's warehouse, where it was set up on the "loading dock" for lack of a better description, it gave me chills. Brilliant feat of artistic genius mixed with engineering prowess.

 

[eknuds01]

Awesome stuff, Tim! Seriously, it feels like I am walking around the hotel with you. Outstanding pictures and commentary.

 

[SkippIng]

I, as well, would like to give Tim a fist bump for doing such a great job with his photos and descriptions. I don't know how you stay focused surrounded by all the music and eye candy. Kudos to you my friend. BTW, Hear No Evil is a brilliant name for an audio shop. With that name, I'm invisioning the best sounding match ups in audio gear. I hope they don't disappoint when you finally get there.

 

[Tj Bassi]

That machine is playing 1/2-inch demo versions of the Tape Project releases. Those who have heard it say the playback is premium stuff.

Great coverage, thanks!

Tj

VTL was playing a Tape Project version of Patricia Barber's "You and the Night and the Music" to great effect through the HUGE Sigfried mono blocks. These things must weigh 500 lbs. They made the equally HUGE TAD speakers seem less predominant in the room. With a nice Otari RTR as a source, along with a slew of dCS electronics providing digits, and a very impressive looking 3 box VTL pre amp; everything sounded, well, HUGE! I was fortunate enough to spend some time talking with VTL guru Bea Lam and was humbled by her knowledge of all things audio.

 

[User211]

I'm currently uploading my 100 + pics onto my smugmug account. One thing I should mention is that, regardless of how good some of these systems were, they aren't even close to the real thing. After listening to some music on the IsoMike four channel recorded system and then hearing the artist play, it was clear that there is still a long way to go in the audio reproduction business.

They never, ever will be the same as the real thing. Think about the simple case of a drum kit symbol. In order to reproduce it accurately, the transducer would have to occupy the same physical space and resonate in exactly the same way to get the correct dispersion and sonic characteristics. I think that is nigh on impossible thing to ask a domestic replay system to achieve - at least in this century.

FWIW, the closest I have heard to convincing is Avantgarde Trios and basshorns.

Anyway, mucho lookng forward to the link to the pics.

 

[Bernard]

Thanks for the porn Tim. It looks like Justin has some serious competition.

 

[User211]

Thanks for the porn Tim. It looks like Justin has some serious competition.

Nah.......

Seriously though, Tim - good stuff. Credit where credit is due.