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Ferguson Hill Mini Horns
ART and ARS
Music with Smarts
Audio Kinesis
What A Difference The Source Makes
By the time I returned to the room after the Show closed, VTL’s Luke Manley had managed to borrow a new Marantz SA-7S1 SACD player to replace the pain-inflicting source component I had heard. Quelle difference! VTL electronics seem to possess the kind of enviable neutrality that will not mask shortcomings in associated components. Now, thanks to an open and 5000% (!) more natural treble, I was able to turn the volume up enough to let the drums pound without inflicting lasting damage to the eardrums. Quite promising, I must say. Here’s hoping that can Ken can find a replacement for his original source component to use on Saturday and Sunday. I look forward to hearing the VTL/Thiel pairing again in a bigger space when all is ready and in order.
Behold and Believe
IDS: The Return of Roger Russell
External Link :: Blog Entry :: Comments (4)
A Taste of Heaven
As I entered, a track from The Modern Jazz Quartet's Concorde LP was playing. The sound was indescribably beautiful. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to report that, when I turned around, I discovered a couple listening in silence, hand in hand. To me that says far more than any string of adjectives known to man or beast. Wishing to maintain the peaceful atmosphere, I asked to hear what may be titled “Endless Night”—I don’t have the liner notes with me—from Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's Avie CD of Handel arias. Yes, the sense of space and silence were near miraculous. But, most important, the system captured the sacred aspects of the mezzo's voice like no other I have heard since the Joule Electric/Talon/Elrod room at CES 2006. This, truly, was the only system I've encountered so far at the RMAF where I wanted to do nothing other than forget about my blog assignment and instead spend hours listening to music. Some readers may balk when they hear the prices of the system I'm praising. I had no idea until I was handed a sheet at the end of the demo that the speakers were the Marten Coltrane Supreme. Unveiled at CES 2006, this almost broken-in pair (chief designer Leif Olofsson of Sweden tells me that the active crossover in the bass amplifier needs more time on it) retails for $250,000. Add in the Audio Note UK Kegon amplifiers ($49k); Audio Note UK M10 preamplifier ($50,000); EMMLabs CDSD SE transport ($8400) and DCC2 SE DAC ($13,500); Brinkmann Balance turntable and tonearm ($18,500); Lamm LP2 Deluxe phono preamp ($6900); top-of-the-line cabling and power cords from Nordost, Stealth, Jorma Design, Elrod, and Shunyata; Shunyata Hydra-M8; and Harmonic Resolution Systems isolation base and equipment rack (the latter starting at $11,500), and you have an incredibly expensive system. No, it wasn't delivering perfect sound in a room prone to overload. But what it did do right was beyond compare.
Hagerman'n'Horns
Galibier System's "All-Enveloping Soundstage"
Triode Amps—Kotaro Speakers
PS Audio Cleans Up
Welcome to the RMAF 2006
With 45 minutes before show time in the Marriott Denver Tech Center, let's start with some background information on the 3rd Annual Rocky Mountain Audiofest. Marjorie Baumert (left), show Co-Director with her husband Al Steifel and Colorado Audio Society founder Art Tedeschi, explains that the show has grown from over 66 exhibit rooms the first year to well over 100. There are at least 313 exhibitors registered for this year's show. Attendees, who travel from 38 states, numbered 1900 last year, up from 1000 at the first show. At least an equal number of attendees are expected this year, with the largest number of attendees from Colorado and California. Publicity has been massive—everything from national ads in Stereophile and other publications to a full back page in Outfront, Denver's local gay & lesbian publication. Four radio stations have run ads, and the business editor of the Denver Post has run a very supportive editorial. Coverage has also extended to Colorado Springs. Why a show in Denver? It seems the Colorado Audio Society had for several years talked about sponsoring an affordable audio show. With so many manufacturers based in the state—the second member to join the 60-member Colorado Audio Society back in 1981 was Jeff Rowland—they thought, in Marjorie's words, "Staging a show would be a fun thing to do." Asked what the show is accomplishing, Al responded, "I don't know if I can answer that for sure. We're providing a forum for high-end audio, a lot of which is composed of analog, two-channel, and small exhibitors, outside of a major metropolitan area and in a far less expensive venue. The thing that has kept me doing it is that we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from vendors that they're having more fun here than at the larger shows." "We'd like to bring in the next generation," says Marjorie. "It seems to me most of the people here are older. How do we bring in the younger guys and gals? That's why we have at least three rooms devoted to affordable systems, and another three to iPods. We'll see if it's going to work." It should be noted that both the 92-page show brochure and a big sign in the lobby identify the three "affordable" and three "iPod" rooms. There is also a big emphasis on analog, which attracts all age demographics. A case in point: on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Mikey Fremer will present hour-long "Practical "Guide to Tonearm and Turntable Set-Up" seminars. "I have my own affordable system upstairs in our home that plays five CDs at a time," Marjorie says. "I'm not an aficionado, but I love music. Frankly, some of what they play here is too loud for me." "Women have more sensitive hearing than men," Al explains. The Denver Marriott Tech Center is huge, with spacious, uncrowded lobbies and a far more laid back feel than Las Vegas. There's plenty of room for seminars and presentations, which include two by Steve Hoffman on the Art and Science of Mastering, Richard Bird on Room Acoustics, Ray Kimber on Experimental High Resolution Recording, Wally Malewicz of WAM Engineering offering A Practical Guide to Speaker Set-up and Musicality of Amplifiers, two Meet the Editors panels variously featuring editors from online publications and TAS, and Bob Cordell and Darren Kuzma on "Amplifier and Loudspeaker Listening and Measurement," with measurement data supplied by Stereophile's John Atkinson. It's far more than one person can possibly take in, let alone report on. With apologies to all those I will undoubtedly miss, on with the show!
Rocky Mountain AudioFest 2006
Coverage will be starting Friday.
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