MiTT's 2011 RMAF Show Report

[MiTT]

Atocha Design

Something interesting from a company called Atocha Design out of New York - a very stylish, artisan quality piece of furniture for storing your software. Far more elegant than just a rack, this would be a wonderful way to store music in your room with a great look and high WAF. I'd often thought about having some furniture just like this that can store LP's, CD's DVD's, in whatever fashion and layout you wish to customize. As shown here though I believe the asking price was $5800. Ouch!

 

[MiTT]

Martin Logan Owners Dinner

It struck me as was having dinner with these guys that I was the only person at the table that was using Martin Logans as their main transducers (Steve hasn't parted with his). That's Gordon Gray on the left, Steve and his wife Joyce in the middle, and Gordon's friend Randy on the end. I don't mind hanging out with these mbl and Wilson owners, but next year we gotta get some more representation from Martin Logan Owners! We had a great dinner at my current fave "Osteria Marco" in the heart of historic Larimer Square on a balmy Indian Summer night.

Hey, even though I was only at the show for a day and a half it was still an awesome time and something I'm already looking forward to again next year. RMAF is already planned out into 2015 or so I saw on a few posters around the show. I'm in!

Some interesting trends: Fewer disc players than I recall in years past. Tons of streaming devices and music servers. Also seemed like there was an iPad controlling things in virtually every room. Still a ton of analog using both LP and RTR tape and more tubes than ever (sorry JonFo - the people have spoken).

Top 5 rooms - very hard to say and in no particular order:

• Vivid & Luxman
• Focal & Solution
• Vandersteen & Aesthetix
• Doshi & Wilson
• Ayon & Lumen White

Don't forget though that I only saw about 50% of the rooms.

Best Bang for the Buck - also in no particular order:

• Evolution MM1 Mini's
• Studio Electric Monitor's
• Jolida Fusion Monoblock's
• Fritz Speaker Carbon 7's

 

[Gordon Gray]

Thanks again Tim for all your efforts.

I agree that there's too many rooms and not enough time to do justice to all of them. You are also correct that show conditions likely don't do justice to the gear other than provide one with a snapshot of its capabilities.

Next time, I'm just going to roam the halls checking out gear I haven't heard. And look forward to meeting some of the other MLC members in person.

Gordon

 

[Audiophiliac]

Tim, you mentioned the Motion LX16 briefly in your comments on the ML room. How did they sound? I took a closer look at them on ML's site and they look really well built and actually quite attractive. Curious how they perform compared to something like the PSB Imagine Mini or Paradigm Studio 10......

 

[repman]

Tim, thanks for the great pictures and mini reviews I appreciate the effort I feel like I was there.

Larry

 

[slowGEEZR]

I believe these were the VonSchweikert VR Jr. speakers. Electronics were all Jolida. No details on model numbers or prices, but the sound was quite good on some Stevie Ray Vaughn.

The integrated amp looks like a modified version of the JD1000RC. I've had mine for about seven years now and it's running great. However, I would be hesitant to recommend Jolida right now, due to the litigation that has occurred between Jolida.com the former U.S. distributor and the Chinese manufacturer (Jolida.net). Go to Jolida.net to read the details. Jolida of China, currently has no authorized American distributor, according to their website.

 

[MDSPHOTO]

"E Signature speakers ($66.5K), the Kegon amps ($109K), the M9 phono stage ($135K), the CDT- Five transport ($49.5K) with Fifth Element DAC ($140K)"

Tim,

Thanks for the great audio porn! I love seeing all the new equipment, but the prices for some of this stuff is beyond obscene. In a challenging economy one would think the manufacturers would be focusing more on affordable high-end equipment. For the price of this system I could buy a 5,000 sq ft home in metro Atlanta. Its not that they shouldn't continue to push the envelope, but they would do better to attract more people into our hobby with reasonably priced equipment versus selling 1 or 2 $100K DACs each year to the uber rich that fall into the more money than brains category.



M

 

[twich54]

Tim, as usual, you did your excellent job of covering the event. Next year I will do my best to coordinate my fall trip to Colorado so as not to leave you alone with those Brand 'X' characters !! ......

 

[Gordon Gray]

You be careful there Dave.

Seriously, I wish more MLC members had attended.

Gordon

 

[JonFo]

...

Some interesting trends: Fewer disc players than I recall in years past. Tons of streaming devices and music servers. Also seemed like there was an iPad controlling things in virtually every room. Still a ton of analog using both LP and RTR tape and more tubes than ever (sorry JonFo - the people have spoken).

Tim, thanks for excellent coverage. I marvel at your stamina in providing details.

But I do admit, going through this thread I wondered what year it is exactly, as half of the shots could have been from a show in the 70's or 80's

 

[Gordon Gray]

Just goes to show how much the industry has progressed over the decades. Same concepts new and improved.

GG

 

[slowGEEZR]

Tim, as usual, you did your excellent job of covering the event. Next year I will do my best to coordinate my fall trip to Colorado so as not to leave you alone with those Brand 'X' characters !! ......

That's brand 'W' to you, buddy. ....

 

[RichTeer]

The Nola Baby Grand Reference Series II speakers sounded quite grand playing operatic aria's when I was in the room. They were being driven by a slew of Audio Research gear that I just can't remember with certainty, but I believe it was all Ref level.

Yep; Ref 5 preamp IIRC, and ARC's new (as in, unannounced at this time) Ref 250 monoblocks. The cables are Nordost Odin.

It was great seeing you at RMAF again. Hopefully next year I'll get to meet a few more MLCers.