Rocky Mountain Audio Fest - Day 1

[MiTT]

Wilson Maxx II's

Another one of the Audio Unlimited rooms featured the Wilson Audio Maxx II's. I didn't think I'd like the Maxx's this much. They sounded very elegant and had an incredible sense of air about them, or dynamic weight, and the ability to switch between the two at will. Of course , being driven by all Boulder electronics might have helped...

 

[MiTT]

Clear Audio

Feeding the Maxx's on the analog side was the Clearaudio Master Reference turntable via the Boulder 2008 Phono stage

 

[MiTT]

Boulder Electronics

The rest of the Boulder system consisted of the 2060 amp, 2010 pre-amp and the 2020 DAC fed by an Accuphase transport. Boulder has some of the most incredible fit & finish in the business and a sound that can ony be described as effortless and elegant. If only I could afford it...

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Mmmmm Dart Zeel......

 

[MiTT]

Escalante Design

The Escalante Design Fremonts were an interesting design, but at $19K sounded a little bright and unrelenting to my ears despite being driven by Pass electronics and an Esoteric X-01 SACD front end. They were playing great music in the room though; Regina Bell and Ramsey Lewis - "Time Fly's" when I was there.

 

[MiTT]

Joule Electra and Merlin

Joule Electra electronics and Merlin speakers have a symbiotic relationship. Here the Merlin VSM-MX is being driven by the Joule VZN-100 amps. Alison Krause sounded wonderful in this room.

 

[MiTT]

VZN-100 amps up close

The VZN 100's are georgous amps. I have often wondered what a high powered OTL amp might sound like with our Logans. Would love to take these for a test run...

 

[MiTT]

Nordost

OK, so, I don't want to start up another raging cable debate, but...

The Nordost room was something special, not so much because of the system, although it WAS very, very good featuring Eben loudspeakers and Arcam electronics. What was special was how Lars (can't spell or pronounce his last name) walked the audience through each of their interconnects by starting with the Blue Heaven's and working all the way up to the Valhalla's. He would play selections first on one cable, then swap them out for the next one up in the line and play the same selection again, then a new one, and so on all the way along. The only cable that was swapped was the ones from the CD player to the pre-amp and levels always remained the same. The demonstration took nearly 40 minutes, and there must have been 25 people in the room and nobody left. The differences between cables were hardly subtle, and everyone in the room was confirming the details of what they were hearing.

For all of you who don't believe that cables can make a difference (I for one believe that they do), I urge you to try some serious A/B with this sort of approach. If you were in this room today you would have walked away a believer. Trust your ears.

 

[MiTT]

Acoustic Zen & Mod Wright

Mod Wright equipment appeared in several rooms, including this one for the Acoustic Zen Adagio ($4300) speakers and cables. Their cables always look like they glow in the dark in photo's but that's just the flash. The Mod Wright 9.0 SE Linestage and SWP 9.0SE phono stage sounded very good with Muddy Waters playing in this room.

 

[Beat_Dominator]

I cannot afford to be a beliver!!!!

 

[MiTT]

Mod Wright electronics

While I was in this room they were only playing vinyl, via a VPI Scout, but they also had a Mod Wright modified Sony 9100ES Signature on hand for CD and SACD duties...

 

[MiTT]

Red Dragon and Daedalus

The Red Dragon Audio and Daedalus speaker room looked promising, the speakers and the amps have the same sort of beautiful looking wood on them. I like the way the Red Dragon glows red on the top of the amps. But, I gotta tell you I was not a fan. The music sounded dead and lifeless to me. There was no soundstage to speak of. The highs seemed very constricted and there was no sense of pace, the music just sort of limped along, despite them playing the Buena Vista Social Club album. I didn't care for the sound in this room at all.

 

[MiTT]

Sota

The SOTA room was using the Star turntable run through a McIntosh pre-amp and Newforce Ref 9 amps to power Harbeth M40 speakers. These are some pretty damn big box's, but at $10K they have some serious competition (can you say Summit?) to consider. Still, Linda Ronstat and Carly Simon on vinyl sounded very nice and I found myself lingering just to enjoy the music.

 

[MiTT]

More SOTA

THe SOTA Millennia Vacuum TT was sitting just outside in the hallway?!? Would have been nice to hear this one...

 

[MiTT]

Sounds Real

Sounds Real Audio in Golden, CO (Yep, same place as Coors beer), was demonstrating a system made up of the Wilson Benesh ACT speakers ($15K), driven by DeHavilland electronics and and Audio Aero front end. The sound was very, very nice with some great soundstaging and very tight bass - especially when listening to some Boz Scaggs

 

[MiTT]

Wilson Benesch Sub

That deep tight bass was coming from the new Wilson Benesch Torus Infrasonic Generator. That there is one very large Carbon Fibre (British spelling) driver! $5400 please if you want one

 

[MiTT]

Sumiko and Rowland

Jeff Rowland was sharing a room with Sumiko. This system consisted of the Rowland Electronics fed by a Primare SACD player and the new Proj-ject RM-10 turntable. Speakers were the Vienna Acoustics Mahler's coinsidentally playing Mahler via the RM-10 when I was in the room. The sound was BIG (it WAS Mahler after all) and open. The Rowland stuff is always so beautiful.

 

[MiTT]

Baby Rowland

Rowland is also introducing a new small system. Here is the new Capri pre-amp (price TBD) and Model 102 Class D amp ($1495). Typical Rowland build quality and avaialble in either silver or black.

 

[MiTT]

Triangle

The Triangle (pronounced Tree-Ang-ul) room sounded exceptional considering the $2699 price on these Celius floorstanders driven by Audio Analog electronics. A very involving, musical system.

 

[MiTT]

Office system

Here's something that caught my eye on the way out of the Triangle room. The Enigma is an all in one box - CD player, Pre-amp & Power Amp all in one box similar to the Arcam Solo. $1795 for an office system would be kind of fun...