Audio Federation - RMAF 2007 - Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Show Report: Denver, Colorado

More Floor 5

RMAF
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
Denver
Sunday October 12th, 2007

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All pictures in this report are freely copyable and distributable.

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I think it was about now that I was beginning to appreciate that there were quite a few rooms on floor number 5. About three times as many as any other floor at the show.

Those old Sonus Faber monitor speakers sure made an impact on the monitor industry. Here we see monitors very similar in appearance.

Here we see an interesting looking linearray speaker.

The speaker now posing for the profile view.

Denon, McCormack, SMc Audio... We played a CD here, but the overall system was smearing things and uneven, top to bottom, some frequencies being more prominent than others.

Nice looking monitor speaker.

The rear of the monitor speaker, some of which is reflected in the mirror.

These speakers / this room was a minor hit last year at the show. I guess fame is fleeting. Well, I guess we don't have to guess about it - it is fleeting.

I don't remember hearing music in this room...

This room was just like going to a store and seeing someone being sold a, in the case, tube amplifier.

The displays were attractive - but we heard no music is this room while we were there.

Table top radios...

A display of desktop equipment, with the proprietress in the mirror.

Soundings is a local dealer here in Denver.

A Vienna Acoustics wall mounted speaker.,

I guess every manufacturer will eventually make one of these, like every auto manufacturer had to come out with an SUV.

MA Recordings had a system in their room.

Distinctive-looking speakers, which is really saying something at an audio show.

The front-end is now really going to show off the speakers to their best. But the point here is to sell music, and just have a fairly reasonable system on which to hear it.

Soundings is a local dealer here in Denver.

There were a couple of rooms with Escalante speakers this year.

The inside of the Concert Fidelity linestage. Someone once indicated to me that their designs are very elegant from a designer's point of view. Looks good to me too.

The front of the linestage.

An Escalante speaker.

Getting to this room was kind of different. Well not kind of... because you went in their room, which was a static display, and then were directed to go through the door connecting to the room next door. And through that door we got to here.

Interesting looking speaker.

Their marketing talks a lot of about their design being optimal - but the overall system sound was not as tight in the bass to mid-bass region as one might hope.

The build-quality is excellent. The speaker is very reflective and is reflecting the slogans off of the front wall.

Some new, smaller, Talon speakers. The sound didn't impress me, but I really liked the look. Neli wasn't so sure - but in our family I am the one with more of an aesthetic sense of things. Oh, geez, did I say that? Luckily I gave her a private tour through all these photos so maybe she won't read this (even though it is true :-))

Another look at the Talon speaker.

The equipment. Like I said, the overall system sound was not very interesting to my jaded ears. Looks like Kubala-Sosna cable behind the rack there.

A Talon subwoofer.

These new (to me, anyway) Gershman loudspekaers look like they are trying to bring the success of their Black Swan loudspeaker to people in a smaller size.

Gershman makes ordinary-looking speaker s too.

But back to the cool-looking one :-)

My immediate impressions were that they succeeding in making a smaller speaker that sounds much like the Black Swan. It sounded pretty good here - in the Gershman kind of way (big, open, more laid back than Avalon and Hansen who have similar sonic signatures - at least that is how I position their sound), and I think their fans will like this speaker.

They were playing these smaller speakers to a fairly crowded house.

I remember thinking I like the sound of the smaller speakers better than the larger ones [you can see them in the previous photo], which we heard last year, and at other shows. A little more lively maybe?

Posting equipment lists on the door is an interesting approach... Neli?

This was cold sounding with unnatural timbre. I've heard very few systems with this kind of sound that didn't have a Wadia in it.

I know, kind of harsh (pun alert). Hey, great build quality. But in this day and age, with digital improving by leaps and bounds, there is just no excuse for the 90's digital sound anymore.

Yeah, they probably don't like me much either. Last I heard they were on their way toward modernizing their sound - and hiring Philip O'Hanlon (On a Higher Note), Distributor Extraordinaire, as distributor. But now all that seems to have gone by the wayside.

The Gershman Black Swan speakers are always a challenge to photograph. They are REALLY black.

Wadia and VAC.

Clayton Audio amplifier.

A final look at the Black Swan. I am just proving to myself that I still got what it takes - that I CAN still take a decent photo of these guys.

I think these were the only white speakers at the show. I like white myself - but I know others think it is too aesthetic, too European.

Interesting drivers being used here.

These speakers looked interesting - there was similar (these) speakers making a splash at T.H.E. Show at CES in Las Vegas early this year.

But I blown away, but I did not realize at the time that they were priced around 4.5K. OK, I'll put on my glasses ... $4895 a pair. I do try to be more forgiving of speakers that cost less than a car.

Just snapping photos as I approach the equipment rack.