Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2008

[slowGEEZR]

Bernard, yes, absolutely, and I only shot about 60 pictures yesterday because a.) I was running out of time and knew I was going to have to skip some rooms entirely (I missed ALL of the rooms at the Hyatt down the street) and b.) I wanted to take some "Tim time" to go back to some of my favorite rooms and listen to music I was most familiar with for the pure pleasure of it. I really enjoy posting this show report every year, and I take a lot of notes in the program as I go from room to room, but I also remember to just enjoy the show for what it's worth. It's all about balance right?[/QUOTE]

No! I just enjoyed the show. I didn't take any pics for the slobs on this site. Many times, I'd start out in a room with Tim, Dave, Erik, Seth and Joe, only to lose track of time while listening and they'd all be gone. We'd reconnoiter later, only to repeat the process. Besides, with Tim doing such a great job, (I mean he carried around a tripod for you guys!) I knew there would be plenty of pics.

 

[spectral]

Ayre was partering their top of the line MXR monoblocks ($18.5K) with the Vandersteen Quatro Wood Sig. II speakers ($10.7K). They were proudly demonstrating their new KXR pre-amp (also $18.5K) and were even showing a pre-production sample of their new turntable! I can't recall who they partnered with on the turntable, but Ayre developed all of the motor electronics as well as a new X series phono stage to go along with it.

MITT, that's a DPS turntable - an extremely good turntable in my view - I have listened to it extensively and it's a true high end contender. Best if accompanied by the Schroder arm.

 

[MiTT]

MITT, that's a DPS turntable - an extremely good turntable in my view - I have listened to it extensively and it's a true high end contender. Best if accompanied by the Schroder arm.

That's it! I remember that's the name the guy at Ayre mentioned now. Apparently Ayre will be marketing/distibuting it here in the US and have entered into an agreement with them (dps) to design and build their control units. Thanks for jogging my memory spectral.

 

[68sting]

I took one picture. I don't remember what these were but they came in around $200k. I thought they sounded great.

 

[MiTT]

Gershman Acoustics

The Gershman room was a great musical experience. The $36K Black Swans sounded amazing hooked up to a whole rack of VAC gear including their $7500.00 Dac, the Signature II pre-amp ($14K) and the Phi-200 monoblocks present in a number of other systems already documented here ($9000.00 each). They were also using an Accuphase transport, but I didn't get the model number or price. I also was really impressed with the Critical Mass rack and amp stands. The build quality on these stands was readily apparent.

The Black Swans threw an absolutely huge soundstage!

 

[MiTT]

I took one picture. I don't remember what these were but they came in around $200k. I thought they sounded great.

Those are the top of the line Acapella's (I can't remember the name). The rest of the system was all Einstein electronics. The Acapella's use an ion tweeter similar to the one in the Lanche's from the Wavac room. Amazing high frequency transducers - extension to beat the band, but absolutely no breakup or fatigue. They're pretty magical alright. I can't remember exactly waht they cost, but I believe it's actually a bit more than $200K.

 

[MiTT]

Spectron and Analysis

The Analysis Audio speakers made a repeat appearance, this time in the form of the $22K Omega model. The source was a highly modified Squeezebox running through a Modwright pre-amp. Amplification was provided by a pair of Spectron Musician III amps rated at an astonishing 1100wpc. These are the first Class D amps I can honestly say I really liked - they sounded superb. Price is $7195.00 each.

 

[MiTT]

Kef

KEF was showing their $165K Muons with supporting electronics from Musical Fidelity. The Muon is a 4 way speaker featuring pressure formed aluminum cabinets that are then welded and polished to appear as a single whole. When stuffed with the full array of drivers, including the patented KEF Uni-Q array concentric and coplanar tweeter/midrange driver, each speaker weighs in at 240 lbs. The Musical Fidelity electronics featured the 1008 CD system and a pair of the 750K Superchargers.

 

[JonFo]

Wow, thanks for the great coverage guys.

But is it just me, or did you all travel back in time as well?

All that analog gear, tubes, vinyl and turntables everywhere; what happened to the 21st century? :devil:

 

[twich54]

All that analog gear, tubes, vinyl and turntables everywhere; what happened to the 21st century? :devil:

Given the status of the 'Market' last week, trust me / us it was a pleasure to have our heads / ears burried back in the last century !!

Jonathan, on the serious side there was plenty of computer / techno gear their as well, but honestly I don't think I took one pic of it !

 

[twich54]

KEF was showing their $165K Muons with supporting electronics from Musical Fidelity. The Muon is a 4 way speaker featuring pressure formed aluminum cabinets that are then welded and polished to appear as a single whole. .

Tim, Erik and I voted them the ugliest things of the show, my eyes would not allow my ears to hang around long enough to hear how they sounded !

 

[MiTT]

Jonathan, on the serious side there was plenty of computer / techno gear their as well, but honestly I don't think I took one pic of it !

Me either Dave (well, I did have those pictures of the AIX/German Physics room). My take on it is that those rooms just weren't very popular because 9 out of 10 enthusiasts at the show could clearly hear the superiority of those systems comprised of tubes and vinyl!

Wish you could have been there Jon...:devil::devil::devil:

 

[MiTT]

Tim, Erik and I voted them the ugliest things of the show, my eyes would not allow my ears to hang around long enough to hear how they sounded !

Well they weren't real high up on my list either, but the ugliest things at the show were those ones that looked like chiminera's a few pages back. They were the audio equivalent of a "double bagger".

 

[MiTT]

tangram audio

Near as I can figure (forgot to take any notes in this room) these shots are from a group out of Switzerland called tangram audio LLC. Sorry I can't tell you more, but there is a sort of Swiss, jewel like quality to this equipment.

 

[User211]

That TT is awesome.

Just been reading the Stereophile coverage, which is rubbish in comparison. It's really guilty of the "people in the photographs" thing.

This is better by far.

 

[eknuds01]

The Gershman room was a great musical experience. The $36K Black Swans sounded amazing hooked up to a whole rack of VAC gear including their $7500.00 Dac, the Signature II pre-amp ($14K) and the Phi-200 monoblocks present in a number of other systems already documented here ($9000.00 each). They were also using an Accuphase transport, but I didn't get the model number or price. I also was really impressed with the Critical Mass rack and amp stands. The build quality on these stands was readily apparent.

The Black Swans threw an absolutely huge soundstage!

These (and maybe Sanders' Flat panel speakers and a few others) were probably the best speakers I heard at the show, for the price.

 

[MiTT]

Avalon

For me this room was also in my top 10, possibly in my top 5.

Avalon was playing the Indra's ($20K) with source electronics from Ayre and another of those dps/Ayre turntables, but interestingly, they were powering the speakers with the VTL 450 Signature monoblocks (same ones used in the big Analysis Audio room).

Man-o-man did these Indra's sing. The first time I was in the room they were playing Elington's "Jazz Party in Stereo" on vinyl - a favorite of mine and real demo quality disc. The next time I went in I took my own copy of Terry Evans "Puttin' It Down" a phenominal AudioQuest release from a few years ago. On "Down in Mississippi" Evans growls and shous and snarls his way through an angry tune dealing with racial issues in the deep south. With some amazing drum work on the track and an absolutely stunning bit of slide work from Ry Cooder it's a track that tears right into the soul, and the Indra's communicated every angry, syncopated beat of it. I must have had 10 people asking me about the disc afterwards.

I have yet to listen to the CLX, but if I do it's going to have to make quite an impression on me. One of the two, either the CLX or the Indra, is likely to be my next speaker.

 

[MiTT]

Audio Note UK

Audio Note (UK) always has a room full of very simple, unassuming gear that never fails to sound very musical. They take a very simple approach in their equipment and the "less is more" philosophy here seems to pay dividends. Sorry, I didn't take any notes in this room, so I don't know models or prices. Guess I was just busy listening to the tunes.

Edit: I just found the specification sheet I'd picked up in this room. The Audio Note stuff may be simple, but it's hardly cheap! Here's the low down: AN-e SEC Signature speakers ($51K), Kegon Balanced amp ($95K), M9 pre-amp with phono ($115K), CDT-Three transport ($9550.00), DAC 4.1x Balanced DAC ($15.5K), TT2 turntable with Arm Three ($3850.00), AN-S4 Step up Transformer ($5200.00), IO1 MC cartridge ($3575.00), Acoustic Dreams rack ($6000.00). Holy Crap Batman - That's more than $304,000.00!!! I mean it was good, but not three hundred and four LARGE good! Especially compared to many other systems at the show...

 

[User211]

Rest assured, you will buy the CLX. I dunno why you all seem to like the Indras so much. Honestly! One day, maybe I'll hear it working well...

 

[MiTT]

Rest assured, you will buy the CLX. I dunno why you all seem to like the Indras so much. Honestly! One day, maybe I'll hear it working well...

In a way I hope you're right Justin. I'd prefer to continue being a Martin Logan guy. On the other hand I'd likely keep my CLS's if I were to pick up the Indra's and then I'd have both.