RMAF 2014 Audioshark Awards

I just read the Stereophile review. They too would love to have heard the Vapors with Solid State amps. The Allnic was lovely and warm - but just lacking ultimate dynamics. Always a trade off.

Great room and it had a good vibe going too (thanks for the donuts!). :)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mike said:
I just read the Stereophile review. They too would love to have heard the Vapors with Solid State amps. The Allnic was lovely and warm - but just lacking ultimate dynamics. Always a trade off.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't disagree with that. The combo is dynamic, but absolutely other amps would bring more of that to the table. With my BMC amps they definitely have more, but lose a bit of lushness. Maybe some of the big Allnic monoblocks we be the answer for best of both.

Great room and it had a good vibe going too (thanks for the donuts!). :)
Click to expand...

My pleasure! I thought it would be like a Shark Week feeding frenzy once the word got out we had free donuts, but most people are so timid we practically had to insist ... at which time they would take 2 :D
 
Vapor1 said:
I wouldn't disagree with that. The combo is dynamic, but absolutely other amps would bring more of that to the table. With my BMC amps they definitely have more, but lose a bit of lushness. Maybe some of the big Allnic monoblocks we be the answer for best of both.



My pleasure! I thought it would be like a Shark Week feeding frenzy once the word got out we had free donuts, but most people are so timid we practically had to insist ... at which time they would take 2 :D
Click to expand...

Try Pass XA100.8's....just a gut feeling.

You didn't have to ask me or my crew twice to eat the donuts! LOL. I was starved as I skip lunch at the shows to get more time in. I hit your room at the right time I guess. It was also great to meet the infamous Sunil I had heard so much about. Great guy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
MikeCh said:
Regarding the Reference Recordings two LP set:
RM-2508 - Elgar - The Enigma Variations
Vaughan Williams - The Wasps - Greensleeves
Michael Stern / Kansas City Symphony

After reading the review on Acoustic Sounds from that listener, I guess I would have a couple questions for him/her:

1. What is meant by "sonic soup"?
2. What constitutes the music as "anemic"?

All I can say is that I like it and it sounds fantastic. The recording quality is superb with instruments precisely placed/mic'd (that I'm aware) and it's dynamic/explosive as heck with a serious bottom end and clean top end. In addition, the vinyl is of a super quality to allow a dead quiet background during playback.

Maybe the person that gave the review on Acoustic Sounds just didn't like the music?
Click to expand...

Ian,

After listening to the LP a few times now I have to edit my initial comments.

Namely, the biggest issue I have found with this LP (disc 2 in particular, the Elgar though disc 1 has a little of it too) is that it's got a definite right channel tilt. The left channel is substantially lower in volume. So much so that I dug out the Fozgometer and re-calibrated azimuth and double checked tracking weight at the same time. Sure enough, compared to other pressings after the calibration it is indeed right channel heavy.

That's kind of a bummer as I really like disc 1.

This right channel imbalance wasn't noticed right off that first night as I was sitting toward the right side of the couch listening with my wife on my left.
 
Myles B. Astor said:
I thought the subs were discontinuous with the Sashas. Great if it was a home theater system
Click to expand...

If we are talking about the Wilson/VTL room, the sound was WAY too loud and that says something coming from me. And yes, the subs were doing some obvious barking that made them apparent as sound sources.
 
I made it back from RMAF and over the three day period I think I saw and listened to almost every room/demonstration. Since I am contemplating a potential new loudspeaker in the next year or so, I focused on loudspeakers. Here are my thoughts including my top five rooms and my worst of show rooms too. Preface: These are my observations only and subjective to my ears only - everyone has different tastes and observations and if you like a certain loudspeaker or sound then its right for your ears!

Caveat: I used the side one of Dead Can Dance 'Into the Labyrinth' as my test music. I was allowed to play it in all rooms except the Raidho and Voce rooms which wasn't using vinyl set ups, but did have mp3's of the record.

5th best sound/room: Voce Audio Loudspeakers with Plinius electronics: This sound was all sparkle yet very detailed and musical. Bass overloaded the room some, but this was a room issue. Great imaging and sound staging. Build quality of the loudspeaker was world class. Reminded me of Rockports.

4th: HWS: Horning Eufrodite Loudspeakers with TW Acustic analog front end and electronics with Tron preamp. This was the most enjoyable room at RMAF. Great music, no audiophile recordings and just plain fun. There was a remarkable relaxed quality about the Hornings and for the money probably not a better bargain. Jeff Catalano is a first class guy and most audiophiles would be hard-pressed to find better person to do business with. This system just 'worked.'

3rd: Audio Alternative: Vandersteen 7, ARC electronics and Brinkmann turntable with Lyra Atlas cart. This was a spectacular room. Other than the bass being a little bloated at times and on certain recordings, the Vandersteens did it all. Incredibly musical, images were solid and 3-D and soundstage width was wall to wall. Soundstage height a little low for my tastes, but I am nitpicking here.

2nd best sound: Raidho loudspeakers with Constellation Audio electronics. This was craziest room to visit. It was like a magic act. New Raidho X1 mini-monitors with stands for $8K. In this room set up, they sounded better than the D1's! Incredible purity and soundstaging. Non-fatiguing and very musical. And the bass was exceptional. I could not believe there wasn't a subwoofer hidden somewhere. I am betting these super small cabinets got down to 30 cycle bass in the room.

Best of Show: AAAudio Imports: Lancshe 5.1 loudspeakers with Ypsilon electronics and Thales turntable with Ikeda cart. This was the best sound I may have ever heard. On all types of music. Soundstaging and air was phenomenal. Extremely musical with no grain at all. Tonal balance from top to bottom was perfection. Plasma corona tweeter gave detail to recordings I have yet to here in my room at home. Was it a match of components or a perfect room (it was a large room)? I don't know but it was fantastic and I will definitely want to listen to some again. Only draw back is that the corona tweeter lasts for around 5000-7000 hours and needs to be replaced.

Honorable Mention: I didn't hear a Joseph Audio room I didn't like. Jeff Joseph is definitely doing something right! Prana Fidelity monitors at $4K/pair was stunning. Burrell and Sons with Raven audio was really great too.

Underwhelmed sound: Wilson Audio room with Sashas and the big VTL monos was very dynamic and detailed. But just something about the brightness to my ears of Wilson speaker and the thin midrange. I can certainly see why many would like this set up, it was just not for me.

More underwhelmed sound: Polymer Audio room - just plain analytical and boring. Great build quality though.

Even more underwhelmed sound: The two rooms with Focal Grand Utopias with either VAC or Soulution electronics. Both of these rooms were very average in my opinion. Soundstaging was two dimensional and only between the two loudspeakers. Very disappointing.

Worst of Show: Aesthetix and Focal Mezzo Utopias. This room was horrid. It had to be the set up. Soundstaging was horrible, detail was missing and bass was bloated. If I was either manufacturer, I would have been pissed at how this room was set up.

Again, these are just my opinions based on my ears and listening preferences. Feel free to add thoughts from people who were there and what they liked and disliked.

I certainly admire everyone in the business who work tremendously hard to set up rooms and put on a show for three days. Cudos to everyone who had rooms there.
 
KeithR said:
Mike- what did you think of the new Devore Gibbon X? Seems more my style than the O96.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it was the Gibbon X's....but maybe it was. They were demoing a few speakers there. The looked like the Gibbon 88's. Whatever they were, I heard them once Friday and once on Saturday (or was it Sunday....I can't remember). I'm just not a fan of any Devore speakers I've heard. The O/96's were ok, but again, they had their faults IMO too.

Keith - across the hall from the Devore room was the Ryan room. Those $5000 Ryan speakers were miles better IMO than anything Devore I heard. Owned by two great guys (Brothers), they manufacturer everything themselves - including the drivers. The sound was excellent. Dynamic, fast, punchy, musical, etc. They handled everything I threw at them with flying colors.

I can understand the allure of the Devore's. Benign impedance curve, nice finish, tube friendly, nice footprint, JH approved, etc. But sonically, they just don't do it for me. To me, the Ryan R630's or a pair of PSB Synchrony One's go a lot further, give you a lot more, for same/similar money. But neither is as easy to drive as the Devore's....so pick your poison.
 
Hold on a minute, those Gibbon X's are $15,500 a pair?

Holy crap. I thought they were around $3000.

Ha!

I would like to hear them again....but wow....that's some tough territory in that price range.
 
Yes, the Scot Hull words seemed to resonate with me on the X, that's what got me interested. Sounds like you heard the small ones. I've been coming up with a short list to audition since I've had Zus for almost 5 years and want to see what else is out there- not much that's interesting so far in my research.

I dislike Srajan for the most part, but some interesting discussion of speaker decisions in this review- ignore that its for a wireless Goldmund speaker. Philosophy more important and quite interesting.

6moons audio reviews: Goldmund ProLogos

As far as Focal, I think you'll be back on the merry-go-round if you go that route. Have you heard Reference 3A? The Grand Veena Be is one I'd like to hear at home. Phase coherent, simple xover so should be very dynamic with tone. Heard the former version at shows a couple times but in a bad room and it still impressed me.
 
Curious what folks here thought of the Canton Reference 3.2 DC playing in the Arcam room?

I've never listened to Arcam amplification or source gear before but it seemed to drive the Canton's in a very controlled manner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top