RMAF 2008 Show Report

Koetsu USA Posted Mon Oct 13, 2008, 2:20 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

Hiram Toro explained that he took the reigns of Koetsu USA when his close friend and Koetsu importer Ronnie Caplan unexpectedly passed away. Before Ronnie succumbed to complications following a heart attack, Hiram had promised his friend that he would take care of everything, fully expecting that Ronnie would recover from his illnesses. Hiram kept his promise and has maintained the Koetsu presence in the US market for the past two years. When he decided that that wasn't enough fun, he added Chario loudspeakers and Montegiro turntables to the roster.

From left to right: Hiram Toro, his son Gabriel Toro, and good friend Carlo Vincenzetto, sales director for Chario.

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Mentoring and Audio Shows Posted Mon Oct 13, 2008, 2:10 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

One of the most obvious solutions to the problem of attracting a younger audience to high end hi-fi is mentoring. It is undoubtedly clear that younger generations of music lovers can distinguish between poor and good quality sound. They can, after all, hear a wider range of frequencies than older folks. And they do, after all, love music. So, what is the problem?

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Orbs of Delight Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 11:40 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

After my first day of blogging, one dedicated Stereophile reader dropped John Atkinson a note to lament that I was mainly concentrating on large systems to the expense of smaller ones. Happily for all parties, one of the smaller exhibits he urged me to visit—the Feastrex rooms—I had already checked out and have since blogged about.

I do, however, acknowledge the truth in his lament. At last year's RMAF, when John Atkinson and I split sides of the hotel, I ended up mainly visiting the smaller rooms. At CES 2008, I stuck to T.H.E. Show (which I greatly enjoyed), while everyone else at Stereophile hung with the big boys and girls over at CES's The Venetian. This time, having the opportunity to visit a host of big RMAF exhibits that in some cases feature the cutting edge of the high-end, I decided to start with them on the mezzanine, then work my way up to the smaller rooms.

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Partners in Crime Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 11:37 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

Are we Stereophile's yin and yang, the Mutt and Jeff, or the Lois Lane and Clark Kent of blogging? (I'll leave it you to decide who's Lois). Only our hairdressers know for sure. Que sera, sera and all that, here are two thirds of your loyal RMAF team, Stephen Mejias (right) and yours truly (or not so truly, as the case may be), shortly before trekking the Rockies to the summit of audiophile nirvana.

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The Real Deal Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 11:24 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

There's nothing like ending a day at RMAF with a reminder of what the real deal sounds like. If Ray Kimber had his marching band blasting their way around the lobby, the fabulous multi-feted, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer/producer Cookie Marenco gifted us with her renowned piano teacher, Art Lande tinkling the keys in the Marriott's Atrium on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, Lande's instrument by default was one of the most brittle-sounding Yamahas I've ever had the misfortune of hearing. If you've ever heard a piano recording whose timbre you abhor, you may very well have heard this piano's cousin.

Since Lande is so incredibly gifted, his live performance whet my appetite to hear him on Marenco's second release on her own Blue Coast Records label. Entitled While She Sleeps: Art Lande Piano Lullabies, the hybrid SACD features Lande playing Marenco's personal 1885 Steinway. The recording, co-produced with Jean Claude Renaud, features no EQ, reverb, or other enhancements. Marenco's first all-acoustic Blue Coast release, which I'll discuss in a future issue of Stereophile, has been praised up and down and around the block for its demonstration-quality sound. I can't wait for the opportunity to hear what Lande can really do when given an instrument that can sing as well as his fingers.

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RMAF Sponsors Race Car Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 11:17 PM ET
By John Atkinson

A surprise outside the Hyatt as I went to get ready for my Sunday morning hi-rez audio dems was this SCCA Mazda race car. Sponsored by RMAF, Focal, Aesthetix, and Tara Labs, among others, driver Christine Jerritts had me enthralled telling me what it was like to take the infamous corkscrew turn at Laguna Seca Raceway. I could have lingered for a long time , but I had to get to work...

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The Youth Movement Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 6:29 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

This is very important (and encouraging!): There were more young people at this show than at any other hi-fi show I've attended. Whereas in past years, at other shows, I have felt like the youngest dude in the house, this year, at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I met many people who were actually younger than me.

This is something to be excited about. We all know that high end audio has struggled to attract a younger audience. For the past few years, I've put up with all the depressing talk of the imminent, inevitable death of the High End. Hobbyists are getting older and older, they said, and soon they'll all be dead.

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A Packed House Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:19 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

One feature of this year's RMAF that has catapulted it into the major leagues of audio shows was the sheer number of well-attended workshops and panels scheduled at the Hyatt. Over the course of three days, one room featured "Let's Get Digital" with Robert Harley of The Absolute Sound, "Music Everywhere" by Steven R. Rochlin of EnjoytheMusic.com, "The New Music Label" by attorney Ned Hearn, "Adventures in Digital Formats, Unsampling & Dithering" with our own John Atkinson, "Digital Playback Equipment Design Considerations" with David Solomon of Signal Path International, and "Music Discovery" with consultant Sean Leonard. Many of these were panels, with a host of additional participants.

On Saturday and Sunday in the Marriott Aspen Amphitheatre, our own Michael Fremer conducted an Analog Clinic. Each day, down the road at the Hyatt, Roy Gregory of HiFi+ delivered multiple seminars entitled "Set up and Tuning Demonstration", and John Atkinson conducted several sessions entitled "Hearing is Believing—Is Hi Rez Digital the Future of Audio?" What I do know is that the notion that the editors and publishers of Stereophile, TAS, and HiFi+ are forever at each other's throats was relegated to mythdom by the collegial feel witnessed during interactions (including my own).

Pictured is a small portion of the absolutely packed audience for the in-demand workshop/panel that John led on Saturday afternoon. For reasons known only to a higher power, I decided the workshop started a half hour later than it did. When I arrived, just a few minutes after it had begun, the only available seats were in a row of additional chairs pushed against the side wall.

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Adventures in the Present and Future Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:16 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

It takes people of vision to advance sound quality in an error—thank you, Mr. Freud, I mean era—when record companies often seem set on anything but advancing the quality of music and musical reproduction. Hence, for his panel "Adventures in Digital Formats, Upsampling & Dithering," John Atkinson and RMAF's Kurt Bauer assembled an extraordinary panel.

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This is Music Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:15 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

Much of Keith O. Johnson's invaluable presentation consisted of a series of graphs that demonstrated everything from jitter to the noise created by certain power cables. One of his many messages was, if folks think there are no differences between cables, I have the graphs to show otherwise. He also exhibited graphs that show how the quality of manufacture of CDs makes a huge difference in the ultimate analog signal. Want to see what a bad DAC or amplifier does, and compare it with a state-of-the-art unit? Keith can show you. Pictured is a tone-cluster wave he developed as a diagnostic tool that resembles music.

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The Smile of Recognition Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:12 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

One of the joys of John Atkinson's RMAF panel session was discovering a remarkable unanimity of understanding and vision amongst a group of men who work in different countries on different areas of sound reproduction. Amidst scribbling seven pages of notes that barely scratch the surface of the knowledge and wisdom shared by panelists, I looked up to discover John and everyone having a ball as they spoke with one mind about the current state of the commercial recording industry, and the future of high resolution formats.

To give you a hint, many of the panelists agreed that the future lies in high-resolution digital files rather than physical media. For my husband and every spouse/partner who bemoans the arrival of yet another cabinet whose shelves are bending under the weight of CDs and LPs, and who nightly risk their lives wading through piles of recordings that threaten to engulf the bed, this comes as welcome news indeed.

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International Effort Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:09 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

In one huge room at Hyatt, I encountered a truly international effort. While some parts of this system are available in the US, others are not. Hence the prices in Euros.

You know something is right when you play Mahler's Symphony No.2 through 50W Mastersound Finals 845 SET monoblocks (10,000 Euros) and not very large Kaiser Kawero 92dB-sensitive speakers ($50,000/pair) and experience an image of tremendous size and weight that effortlessly captures the essence of the symphonic experience. Much credit also goes to LessLoss products from Lithuania: the LessLoss Dynamic Filtering power cable ($750), Firewall ($4995), DAC 2004 MkII (2995 Euros) with volume control (495 Euros) slaved to a CEC TL-SAX transport. Let's not leave out the Echole Obsession RCA interconnect (3000 Euros/meter), Obsession speaker cable (5500 Euros/2 meter), and powercord (2500 Euros). For lovers of what I consider a classic SET sound, this system may very well inspire ecstasy.

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Feastrex Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:07 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

In my last blog report from T.H.E. Show in Las Vegas, I waxed ecstatic about the extraordinary, highly efficient, hand-made washi-paper Feastrex drivers distributed by Joe Cohen's Lotus Group of Northern California. The units are hand-crafted in Japan by Haruhiko Teramoto, who hand-rubs the frame, phase plug, and voice-coils of both his Feastrex D53 III 5" field-coil drivers ($39,000/pair) and D9e II 9" field-coil drivers ($31,500/pair) with traditional urushi lacquer.

The Feastrex drivers are completely organic in every sense. Everything is hand-crafted in a communal effort by multiple masters.

The 5" Feastrex drivers are now available in a gorgeous, unique Urushi cabinet ($19,500). These babies captured every ounce of grace that gifted soprano Kate Royal brought to her debut CD on EMI. Beautiful indeed.

While at T.H.E. Show, the Feastrex 9" drivers were driven by superb Red Rock amplification, at RMAF both the 9" and 5" drivers were powered by either unavailable or not-for-sale, not-yet-priced prototypes. These included the Neumann 444wt preamp, Feastrex 811SE stereo amplifier, Feastrex WE350APP mono amplifiers, Feastrex Modified EMT 980 CD player, and Feastrex Modified Studer A725 CD player. Everything was held together by PranaWire's Avatar speaker cable ($13,000 for 1.5m), Cosmos interconnect ($9450 for 3m RCA), MahaSamadhi power cable ($4600 for 1.5m), Satori power cables ($1795 for 1m and $2545 for 2m), Kensho power cables ($950 for 1m), and Kensho Power supply cables ($1650 for 3m). The good news is that Haruhiko Teramoto's work has a greater chance of making an impact in the US now that Clark Blumenstein of Washington state has become his apprentice, and Joe Cohen has become their ardent champion. May the music continue.

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Silence is Golden Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 3:06 PM ET
By Jason Victor Serinus

Physicist Jack Bybee of Bybee Technologies has now licensed his quantum purification nanocarbon technology to David Caplan's new company, Bybee Wire. Distributed by Laufer Teknik, the new Bybee Wire cables and power purifier include Bybee devices that clean up quantum mechanical noise at the sub-atomic level.

To these ears, the Bybee products made the happiest sound in the Tweek Geek room. There, Analysis Audio Omega speakers ($22,000/pair), which actually needed more room to breathe than the room allowed, Modwright SWL 9.0 preamp ($2500), Spectron Musician 3 Mk.II monoblock amplifiers ($7195 each), Bybee Wire AC Conditioner ($4500) and two AC cords ($2995 each), Stereovox Reference interconnect ($1995), and Elrod Remote Sense speaker cable ($1500) produced impressive full range orchestral sound that was very fast and clear. It also produced wonderful clarity (if not the most detailed presentation) on vocals. The system was silent enough to easily reveal differences in recording technique on recent CDs by two exceptional male choral groups: Chanticleer's wonderful new Mission Road, and Cantus' John Atkinson-engineered There Lies Home. Need I say which recording won the engineering award?

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Drunk on Fun Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 0:21 AM ET
By Stephen Mejias

Seriously, it's almost as if I haven't listened to any music at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I just walk from room to room, running into people in the halls. These two weren't even exhibiting. They were simply here to have a little fun.

"Hey, Stephen! How are you?"

"Good! Just feeling a little worn out."

"Would it help if I offered you a scotch?"

Music Hall's Leland Leard (l) and Roy Hall, two of the happiest drunks in hi-fi.

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DNM 3D-6 Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008, 0:06 AM ET
By Stephen Mejias

Is this not the coolest-looking preamp you've ever seen in your life?

No?!

Are you kidding me? The DNM 3D-6 preamp ($13,995 with power supply) is cased in smoked acrylic and it shimmers and it glows. Who cares what it sounds like? How do you not just want this thing? To be in its presence is to want it. Ask Art Dudley.

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Gradient Laura Posted Sat Oct 11, 2008, 11:58 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

And here is Walter Swanbon of Fidelis AV, importer for Harbeth and Gradient loudspeakers. Here you can get a better sense of the size of the M40.1 loudspeakers. To Walter's left is the newest member of the Gradient family, the Laura ($3995/pair). Intended for use in conjunction with the Helsinki or as a stereo pair, the Laura employs a coaxial drive unit and is designed to be positioned in close proximity to the front wall of your listening room. It's pretty, too.

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Harbeth M40.1 Posted Sat Oct 11, 2008, 11:56 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

Standing beside my friend, the Gradient Helsinki, is the Harbeth M40.1 ($12,995/pair), recently reviewed by Art Dudley. It's actually larger than it appears in this photo. I love its old-school wide-baffle design.

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Gradient Helsinki Posted Sat Oct 11, 2008, 11:53 PM ET

See this little guy? It's the Gradient Helsinki ($8000/pair). I'm a big fan of this weird-ass speaker. Rather than placing its drive-units within a cabinet, the drive-units are laid bare, free for the world to see, mounted onto the speaker's narrow body. Why? Free love. Free love! Cabinet resonances are eliminated. The Helsinki's dipole-radiation woofer projects sound from side to side, canceling out top-to-bottom sound waves and minimizing deleterious room reflections.

That's the idea, at least. I haven't actually heard the thing. I just like the concept. I mean, look at it! It's awesome.

I know, I know: It's all about the sound and appearances don't matter, blah fart cough blah. Get over it, audiophiles. Live a little, love a lot, have some fun before you die.

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Headroom's Desktop System Posted Sat Oct 11, 2008, 11:52 PM ET
By Stephen Mejias

"But what I really want you to listen to is this."

Headroom's Tyll Hertsens directed my attention toward a small, attractive desktop system: Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 loudspeakers; heavy-duty, adjustable Headroom speaker stands; Headroom 50Wpc Desktop bi-amp pair; cables and interconnects and computer.

The system is designed for extreme near-field listening. Seriously up close and personal. I sat in the seat and slid in close, making as though I was at work on the keyboard. Again, I selected the Pinback track.

Superb sound. With solid stereo imaging. And intense impact.

"This is completely terrible," I thought. "I would never get any work done."

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