I snagged this photo on the way out the door as we headed home for the evening.
Didn’t see nor hear of any great rooms this year… so far. The grand tour starts tomorrow…
… will be setup by tomorrow morning [one of the AN speakers had shipping damage].
This is the first year that we decided to not stay at the show but instead to drive home to Boulder each night. It will allow us to drive another speaker to the show tomorrow morning… but…
Right now, me sitting at my desk and Neli emptying the dishwasher, we are missing the late night music and conversation that we enjoy so much at shows.
Didn’t see anything that stood out today… but most exhibitors are hidden away in their rooms trying to setup their rooms for tomorrow at noon. It does seem, to me, that exhibitors are more relaxed each year at these RMAF shows, we being no exception, and that probably means a more enjoyable, if not exactly leading edge, show for audiophiles to attend.
Which is fine, except that me personally, I want to hear some no-holds-barred systems besides ours – and besides a few experimental systems from Kimber and , and some attempts by Lamm, Continuum-fronted systems [by several exhibitors], and Magico – – there hasn’t been all that many of them over the years – and very few at RMAF. Many of these did not sound all that good [many do to the fact that a lone component or cable was chosen for economic expediency rather that sonic characteristics – ruining the whole effect].
So, what am I looking forward to seeing this year?
Joe Cohen of Lotus Group’s new speakers (sorry forgot the name and my memory is eating her supper right now. Grenada! It is the Grenada speakers. She laughs at me my inability to remember things. Can’t wait until SHE is old and has… issues. ‘course, I’ll never remember this post to get back at her about…) – hope this is in fact here.
YG Acoustics on Soulution amps. Last year this was very disappointing [just ignore the reviewer$, please] and I would like to see if a better source and more break-in time helps this system move out of the ‘are you nuts?’ category.
I did not see the JBL horns in the Kimber room during setup, but if they have the horns I want to hear them this year [missed them last year the several times I visited that room].
The big Clearaudio turntable, if it is here, would be nice so that I can cross -reference it against other systems I have heard it in in order to triangulate to a more accurate degree just what it is bringing to the party [for the greater-than-average maintenance effort that their arm seems to require. This is currently one of my favorite turntables to sonically peek in on, but…]
And… hopefully… I’ll think of more.
As always, if you are a severe budget, check out the Odyssey Audio room in 555 Atrium or something [next to us. About $4K for a complete true high-end audio system] and the Grant Fidelity room on the 9th floor in the tower [reasonable pricing and very musical]. For a little more, Tri and Acoustic Zen always put up a good system [higher-end audio for $10 a system – with the Adagio speakers – tho not sure which speaker they are bringing this year. My memory banks are still eating her supper. in Rm 1113 in the tower]. Other very inexpensive rooms can sound good too – but they are a hit and miss kind of thing and it is not something I can safely recommend without hearing exactly what they are doing this year.
Our Audio Note system has the Jinro integrated amp – the baby version of the Ongaku. This is a killer deal at $20K. Not quite the finesse of the $95K Ongaku, but it really kicks ass – and we get it here after the show. So lots of yummy photos and shootout reports will be forthcoming.
Our mixed system this year is one of our favorite designs – one which we have not heard for a year or so. Personally, I’d be happy just locking the door and listening to this system for the next 3 days and going home. This is the system I want for my office when we hit the big time and can afford to put a $220K system where only I get to enjoy it [yes, I talk about putting the Supremes in my office, but seriously, you really think Neli would let me get away with that? I mean, she would just move her office in with mine, and togetherness is great and all, but… ;-)]
No, there will be no photo extravaganza this year, but I’ll take a couple of photos of the more serious rooms…
We got the Edge Reference ‘pyramid’ amps driving the Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers (the Audio Note Ongaku there is being extracted for its appearance at RMAF)
The EDGE NL Reference amplifiers. Well, one of them anyway.
The HRS MXR rack for this system. Emm Labs going into the Audio Note M9 Phono preamplifier
The Walker Proscenium Gold turntable.
My old, pry them from my “cold dead fingers if you can, but if you do I’ll curse all your middle ‘C’ notes from the grave” Audio Note Kegon amps
