Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2008

Avantgarde

Avantgarde was showing their new Uno Nano model being powered by their own integrated amp pushing 80wpc. Sources were an Audio Aero Capitole and a trusty Linn LP-12. I actually prefered the sound to the monstorous Oswaldmill's across the hall, but it also wasn't the best I've heard from Avantgarde either.

MiTT said:

Oswaldsmillaudio is a pretty uniqe operation...

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6moons.com has a nice write-up about Jonathon Weiss and Oswalds Mill, including pics and links about his speakers. Oswalds Mill would be a GREAT venue for an ML Club gathering (if only!)

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/oswaldmill08/oswald.html

Moscode

Moscode was using their new $6495.00 402 hybrid amplifier to drive the rather amazing Von Schweikert VR-5's and the sound was riveting. Source was an Esoteric DV-50S (just like mine) and Count Basie's 88 Basie St. has the room hopping.

Hansen/BAT/Clearaudio/dCS

Local Denver dealer Audio Unlimited had two huge rooms on the Mezzanine level. This one featured the Hansen Audio Emperor's connected to Balanced Audio Technologies VK-600M SE monoblocks, the two chassis Rex pre-amp and the VK-P10SE phonostage. Things digital were handled by the dCS Scarlatti 2 box digital system and Scarlatti SRC upsampler. Analog source was the Clearaudio Maximum Solution turntable with the Helius arm and a Benz LP cartridge. Power conditioning was all by Running Springs and Tara supplied all of the cables. The sound was every bit as impressive as it looks.

Boulder

I had to get this shot of one of the big Boulder 2050 monoblocks out in the hallway to try to convey some sort of impression about the build quality of the amazing devices. Fit and finish is absolutely as good as it gets. You can also see the new Focal EM series Scala Utopia there beside it. This was the harbinger of things to come in the next room.

MiTT said:

Dave, I believe you mean these ACI Sapphires. I've been singing the praises of this little gem for the past two years and they sounded better than ever this year. I agree with you, they were the bargain of the show by far. These things sound staggeringly good and easily embarassed many far more expensive speakers. I promise you, someday I will own a pair of them!

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Yep, those are the ones Tim, hands down for the $1100 show price that Brian was offering to Steve there was nothing even close to their sound at that price...IOO (in our opinion) !!

DH Labs wiring was used throughout the set-up as well I believe.

Great show coverage/follow-up so far Tim, thanks !

Focal/Boulder/Clearaudio

This room deserves at least two complete posts. It was in my opinion the best sound of the show. It certainly was the most effortless, distortion free, non fatiquing, dynamic, add your own superlatives. It was without question an absolute assault on the state of the audio art. I could have listened to this room for hours on end, and found myself returning to it 3 times.

I'll start off with the source equipment and pre-amplification. The analog source was the Clearaudio Statement turntable. The Statement is a 770 lb. analog masterpiece featuring a magnetically driven subplatter that provides absolutely no contact to the main platter, and both platters are dynamically balanced. A 176 lb. plenum is utilized as a leveling device to insure the utmost precision in leveling the table. A high speed microprocessor motor controller similar to the ones used on the Mars rover controls motor drive speed. It can accomodate up to 4 tonearms, and resonance control is accomplished via the inclusion of damped, sandwiched, bulletproof wood (Panzer Holz), stainless steel, and acrylic structures. You can have one for $150,000.00. The table was fitted with a Clearaudio Goldring V2 cartridge ($10,000), that is capable of more than 100db of dynamic range - better than many digital rigs. This was the first time this turntable system was ever displayed actively for the public.

The signal from the cartridge was run through the new Aesthetix IO Eclipse phono pre-amp ($15,500.00), running dual outboard power supplies.

Digital playback was accomplished via the new Boulder 1021 Disc Player. The 1021 isn't conventional in that the transport doesn't focus on playback but rather only on data retrival. The data is then buffered and processed through a proprietary DSP working in an Eigen-value oversampling filter prior to being fed to the DAC's. An independent precise interval master clock is situated in close proximity to the DAC's to reduce jitter and intermodulation distortion to immesureable levels. The user interface features a large color LCD that reports status and access to a large number of programming features. The 1021 retails for $24,000.00.

The main system pre-amp was the Boulder 2010 that has been winning rave reviews and "best of" awards for a number of years. I didn't get the price, but if you've got to ask....

Focal/Boulder part II

So with a front end such as described above, you would hope that the transducers on the output side can do it justice. This system certainly didn't disappoint. The signals coming from the Boulder 2010 pre-amp were fed via Tara Labs Zero Gold cables to the same Boulder 2050 monoblocks that I had shown earlier above. The big Boulders seemed to have no trouble at all driving the real stars of the show, the new Focal Grande Utopia EM loudspeakers, enjoying their Premiere at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.

The EM in the model designation indicates that it uses an electro-magnetic motor assembly on the monstorus 16" woofer resulting in an efficiency of 97db. The system uses an external controller with 6 level adjustments to allow fine tuning of the bass response to virtually any room. There is also an enhanced version of the berilium tweeter Focal introduced in the previous version of the Grande Utopia.

In the shot of the rear of the speaker you can see the compartment housing the fully adjustable crossover that is utilized to adjust all key parameters of the speaker including not only normal room adjustments, but such advanced parameters as system "Q" and crossover slope. There is also an hand crank assembly that allows the speaker to precisely change the rake and relationship of all 5 enclosure cabinets for perfect alignment of the drivers to the listening position - no small accomplishment when dealing with a 574 lb. speaker (each).

The end result is a truely beautiful speaker (the pictures simply can't do it justice) that is 94 db efficient with extension down to a real 14Hz. This sort of sophistication doesn't come cheap; in this case a pair will set you back $180,000.00.

It's really pointless to try to describe the sound for me, perhaps some of my compatriots will chime in. They were nothing less than sublime in their presentation of the musical experience. For my own part, this was the best stereo system I have ever heard to date and easily my favorite sound of the show.

MiTT said:

It's really pointless to try to describe the sound for me, perhaps some of my compatriots will chime in. They were nothing less than sublime in their presentation of the musical experience. For my own part, this was the best stereo system I have ever heard to date and easily my favorite sound of the show.

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I agree 100% with this paragraph.:rocker:

MiTT said:

Dave, I believe you mean these ACI Sapphires. I've been singing the praises of this little gem for the past two years and they sounded better than ever this year. I agree with you, they were the bargain of the show by far. These things sound staggeringly good and easily embarassed many far more expensive speakers. I promise you, someday I will own a pair of them!

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If I didn't have my wife along, I would have bought them. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from these speakers.

Tim and Dave, thanks for posting the pics. I didn't take a single picture at the RMAF. I was overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of systems I saw and heard.

I'm in Roswell, NM now and can't wait to get home and listen to the albums I bought.

Von Schweikert and VAC

Von Schweikert was showing their largest speaker at this show (I know that they have a larger model, but it was not present), with some stunning new equipment from VAC.

The $95,000 VR-7 was only slightly diminished by virtue of being the next room I visited after listening to the amazing Focal Grande Utopia EM's. There is no denying however that these are seriously great speakers capable of really breathtaking performance.

They were paired with the wonderful VAC Phi 200 Kt-88 based 100wpc amplifiers ($9800.00 each) that Dave posted a shot of earlier, the VAC Signature pre-amp ($18,000.00 with on board phonostage), and the VAC Phi Alpha D/A Converter ($7,500.00) being fed from an Oracle transport.

Tim and Dave, thanks for posting the pictures. I was wondering - was ANY company using Martin Logans for demoing their stuff?

slowGEEZR said:

Tim and Dave, thanks for posting the pics. I didn't take a single picture at the RMAF. I was overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of systems I saw and heard.

I'm in Roswell, NM now and can't wait to get home and listen to the albums I bought.

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Steve, glad to hear you made it back to the hotel last night on the light rail without getting lost or anything. Travel safe my new found friend, don't allow yourself to be abducted by any aliens while you're in Roswell.

It was really a pleasure getting to know you and sharing the show experience with you. I've got a LOT of new vinyl to listen to myself! Enjoy!

MiTT said:

perhaps some of my compatriots will chime in. They were nothing less than sublime in their presentation of the musical experience.

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Stunning is the first word that comes to mind for me. It was a treat for all of us that attended for this was the debut of these incredible transducers.

My comparrrison is with what I experienced at Acoustic Sounds, with the incredible Avalon Sentinel II's last summer, Chad had his setup dialed in perfect with respect to room, acoustics, run in time, etc., it's fair to say those of us that got to listen were impressed....... Now, I can only imagine how much BETTER this Focal / Boulder set-up would be with the same attention to detail and additional time of run-in. Scarry good !!

slowGEEZR said:

I'm in Roswell, NM now and can't wait to get home and listen to the albums I bought.

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Hopefully Aliens won't abduct your LP's !!

Safe travels to you and Joyce.

Bernard said:

Tim and Dave, thanks for posting the pictures. I was wondering - was ANY company using Martin Logans for demoing their stuff?

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Bernard, it was physically impossible for me to get to all of the rooms at the show - hell, I missed two complete floors over at the Hyatt. That being said, I did not see any Martin Logans in any of the rooms I was able to visit, nor was there any mention of them in the show program.

I know, bummer. I would have loved to have heard the CLX. I may have to take a roadtrip to Lawrence someday soon.

Bernard said:

I was wondering - was ANY company using Martin Logans for demoing their stuff?

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Bernard, to the best of my knowledge......none.

MiTT said:

Steve, glad to hear you made it back to the hotel last night on the light rail without getting lost or anything. Travel safe my new found friend, don't allow yourself to be abducted by any aliens while you're in Roswell.

It was really a pleasure getting to know you and sharing the show experience with you. I've got a LOT of new vinyl to listen to myself! Enjoy!

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Thanks! Due to the ticket dispensers not working, we got the rail ride for free! The downside was a long walk in the misty rain. Oh well! Just let me know when your new dedicated room is finished so I can hear the results during the next RMAF! Thanks for having all of us over to your home, too! Thanks Sandie, too! Anytime you're in the Austin area....:music:

twich54 said:

Hopefully Aliens won't abduct your LP's !!

Safe travels to you and Joyce.

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Ha ha, thanks Dave! It was great seeing you again and meeting your wife.

No worries, I've got the LPs in the hotel room and I put some aluminum triangle over them, so they should be protected from Alien abduction. Since I didn't buy those speakers, I spent another few hundred on more LPs before we left! :rocker: Now, to get home and add the new Adona rack pieces and rearrange the equipment and listen to some music on my own system! Oh, and I won't tell anyone about your reaction to that 2nd martini!:ROFL: