Capital Audiofest Pictures and Comments

My thanks as well for the reporting. I have also seen some photos on social media, I agree Aurender looks to be well represented, as well as some using Lampizator and more than one with VAC.

Mike, did you attend the after hours LP playback session with VAC? That looked like it would be fun. Someone had a claimed great pressing of DSOTM and later another guy had a good pressing of LZ II.
 
Mr Peabody said:
My thanks as well for the reporting. I have also seen some photos on social media, I agree Aurender looks to be well represented, as well as some using Lampizator and more than one with VAC.

Mike, did you attend the after hours LP playback session with VAC? That looked like it would be fun. Someone had a claimed great pressing of DSOTM and later another guy had a good pressing of LZ II.
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Yes I did. It was amazing. They played some great tunes.


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Mike said:
Awful


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Ken Micalef liked them. “ The sound of this system put me in mind of Art Dudley and Herb Reichert, both of whom would have been tempted to close the door and call it a day, listening to the wee hours, but instead would have kept working the show. Tone was deep and the sound was tactile, with textures you could almost touch. The bass was soft, but the sweetness of the system’s sound was special and moving.”
 
Mike said:
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:roflmao:
 
Al, I read your question. For the top rooms, many times. For the smaller, DIY type rooms. Once, maybe twice at the most.


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Rainbow is warming up , he will soon hit the full Bias and necessary NFB levels needed for a proper response ..!!!

:)
 
My favorite rooms:

1) 20/20 Evolution, dealer in Maryland- Kharma MIDI and dB9-S speakers with CJ and Lampi DAC. The dB9-Ss were sublime! The room applauded after one piece was played!

2) Dr. Vinyl, also local dealer- QMA bookshelfs with McGary Audio components and Reed turntable. Those bookshelfs completely disappeared and sounded wonderful even in a crowded, small room. Interesting that I’m not generally a fan of tube amps but my top two CAF 2021 rooms were all tube setups.

3) Salk Audio-Both of his speakers sounded great. I didn’t get the model #s, as they ran of out of programs.

Biggest takeaway: The number of young people, especially women, increased dramatically from recent years. In previous years you could count the number of women on your fingers and still have a few leftover. This year they might have made up about 15-20% of the attendees! Among my regular audiophiles buddies, we have a 30-something within our ranks. He is a member of a local Facebook group that is attracting quite of few younger people to the hobby, and they were out in force this weekend! Good to see for the future of the hobby.

Biggest surprise: The turnout in general. The parking garage was full when I arrived early Saturday and they had already run out of programs! I guess after a 2-year wait folks were eager to mix and mingle again.

Interesting trend: Tower speakers with woofer arrays. The main VPI room had Arian Audio towers with a 3-woofer array per side, while there was the GT Audio room with their GTA3R planars with 4-woofer array per side. I’m calling this a trend as REL has recently started advocating stacking their subs in a 2 or 3-sub array per side configuration. I enjoyed both rooms when they were playing music to my tastes.

All in all, a great weekend. I usually only attend the Saturday session, but this year I went back on Sunday, primarily to hear the Kharmas again. Those speakers have me thinking…. Mike, I thought I would run into you but alas, our paths didn’t cross. I think the success of CAF 2021 bodes well for your upcoming Florida Audio Expo.
 
Mike said:
My top 3 rooms:

1. Kharma midis with CJ and Aurender
2. VAC with VS, Esoteric, Aurender and Critical Mass
3. Magico S5 mk2 with CAT amps

My top three were all tube rooms. [emoji15]

So many good rooms. Really enjoyed the Fyne/Chord room, TAD room, GT Audio Works panels room, JBL with VPI, Tidal room.

Aurender’s were everywhere. Saw a few Taiko’s too.


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Hi Mike,

I totally agree with your top 3 rooms. I felt the Tidal room was right in the mix too. It was a fun time!

Thanks again,
Ken
 
Mike (and all who commented as well), again thanks for your pics, room impressions etc.

I noticed you provide a pic of the Philharmonic room, thoughts ?
 
Mike; said:
Awful
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RDSChicago said:
Ken Micalef liked them. “ The sound of this system put me in mind of Art Dudley and Herb Reichert, both of whom would have been tempted to close the door and call it a day, listening to the wee hours, but instead would have kept working the show. Tone was deep and the sound was tactile, with textures you could almost touch. The bass was soft, but the sweetness of the system’s sound was special and moving.”
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Well file that under disparate opinions!
 
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