Audio Federation - RMAF 2008 Show Reports - Marten | EAR

Floor 10
RMAF 2008
Denver
October 2008

* Denotes a product carried by Audio Federation

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All pictures in this report are freely copyable and distributable
if attribution is given but may not be included in multi-room show reports without written permission.

Escaped Audio Federation room duties late first day. Two hours left. Took nearby stairway. Two steps at a time until irony of possibility of tripping and breaking camera entered mind. Pushed image into nightmare closet of mind next to finding 159 rooms of Bose and nuclear Armageddon. Took rest of steps one at a time.

Snapped photos of 1st room encountered. Sound not-memorable. Many rooms sound not memorable. Could be failing memory. Could be another example of audiophile paradigm addressing frequency spectrum instead of music reproduction. Don't know. Can't remember.

Second room. Photos kind of suck. Learned new Photoshop tricks later in show report.

Hate sound in room. Every year hate sound in this room. Sharp sawtooth-like sound that is always too loud. Maybe room has bad joo-joos. Rooms is right above ours which does not. I think. Exit room at high velocity.

Next room. Pleasant sound severely constrained in dynamics and resolution. Think sound is very good for this kind of speaker. This kind of price-range. More musical than Merlins and more neutral than Sonus Faber pianos. Perhaps. Not familiar with the prices of those speakers. Presume less than Acoustic Zen* Adagio.

After show, photos reveal Emm Labs* CDSA in system. Camera not only has better memory but is more observant than it wielder. Take moment to ponder meaning. No meaning sprang forth.

Boringly modest system shifts focus to cables.

Sophisticated. Lots of detail. A little sweet. Pleasant. Later return for second listen. Too polite. Prefer too polite to sound in most rooms. Size and demeanor should appeal to members of the less-masochistic sex.

Same speakers as found in sister room earlier. Ears go to defcon one. Legs armed for 5 yard spurt for door. Not necessary. Sound within expectations of sound at shows. Better than average dynamics with worse than average frequency response. Exit still shaken but with faith in Audiophiledom restored.

Do not remember sound. Remember being bored and happy to weirdness on table. Not as weird as hoped. Boredom is to show reporters as knee injuries are to football players. Must suck-it-up. Must overcome.

Boredom still occupying mind and soul. Thinking slapping own face would freak out people nearby. Instead go to next room.

Distributor here is nice - but do not like AMR sound. Too blanched and constipated. Wonder if only blanched and constipated people like it. Or only those who are not. Must ponder if self is blanched and constipated later.

Took photos of surprise Feickert turntable. Maker of setup tools now makes turntable. The two skill sets only peripherally related. Turntable market very full. Hope it is very good or very cheap. We need both. Love taking photos of turntables.

Feedback by the exhibitor:

"Dr. Chris Feickert has been designing turntables and motor drives for tables for many years now for multiple different turntable manufacturers. He only recently designed the alignment tool as he was unhappy with the other products available on the market. He's primarily a turntable designer and not a protractor designer. Matter of fact, he also designed the Adjust Plus alignment software and gave a presentation on the software alongside Michael Fremer at RMAF and received a rousing applause.

His turntables have been available in Europe for over three years now! This was their U.S. Premier and there are 3 models that span the price gamut. He even makes his own tonearm, the DFA 10.5 which was on the table in my other room 511.

When you took the photo in my room, I was working on the computer. I hadn't realized that the hard drive had become disconnected. I stood up to let you take the photo and asked if you would like to stay and listen to something since we weren't actually playing sound at the time. Of course you were in a rush due to the many photos you take and unfortunately couldn't stay. As you can plainly see from the photo you took, the AMR CD player is a top loader and the door is open with the puck is sitting on top of the player. The AMR CD player was not playing at the time of your visit, therefore I guess the blanched constipated sound that you were hearing must have been coming from one of the neighboring rooms. Since the AMR is a truly all tubed CD player, I’ve yet to hear anyone who’s listened to it in a familiar system call it blanched and constipated. Should you ever desire the opportunity to compare it to the EMM Labs that you use, I believe you too will find this to be true.

I do appreciate the comment about being nice as I was severely hung over when you stopped by. We try to provide great customer service along with great products here at Avatar Acoustics.

Once again, thanks for the great photos!

Darren Censullo
President
Avatar Acoustics
Peachtree City, GA 30269
(678) 364-9194 W
(305) 608-6079 C
(678) 364-9193 F
www.AvatarAcoustics.com
DCensullo@AvatarAcoustics.com"

Feedback on feedback.

Talking about AMR family sound. Not room sound. Not room next door sound :-) Other components here in system besides AMR. AMR is several systems at several shows. Also private demo at previous show.

We use EMM Labs. Use Audio Note and Audio Aero as well. Recommend whatever fits system and personal preferences. All digital is blanched [harmonically deficient] and/or constipated [dynamically deficient] compared to analog. Some more so. Some less. Different people focus on different things. Thank nice distributor for nice email.

Very attractive setup with pillow marshmallows on the side. Some good components but disappointed in sound. Must surrender to conclusion that some rooms for card-carrying single-driver speaker lovers only [Feastrex D5 monster alnico]. Clipped note envelopes, harmonic-shy bandwidth-limited neighborhood. Similar sound in main Feastrex driver room both years. New Feastrex room excellent. Self now hated by card-carrying single-driver lovers and manufacturers. Try to report what ears hear, not what ideologies predict.

Do not remember sound in this room. Was there sound in this room? Do not remember.

Like most ModWright rooms - sound good but not inspiring. Bored show reporter symptom lurks. Manufacturer targets competence of equipment, like Marten*. Perhaps should change name to Blue Wine. Then attract circling cult to good sound.

EAR with inexpensive Marten* 'Form' speakers and subwoofer. Sound musical. Detailed. Very linear for price. Bass also good when subwoofer off. Hard to detangle sound of speaker from sound of electronics. Try to subtract EAR and add X components. Fail. Avoid thoughts of inadequacy and worthlessness with much effort.

Same system. Audio Aero* Prestige adds some harmonics and organics to parched speakers. Surprised Trelja thinks Joule Electra amps not juicy enough for speakers. Speakers must be as dry as mouth. But must continue on.

Impressive looking. Impressive name. Sound overly neutral and did not engage mind. Observe that mind is difficult to engage when on photographic quest through the wilds of the Marriott. Like anorexic, hungry for music but very picky and slowly starving.

TweekGeek is a local dealership. We do not review rooms of local dealerships.

Studio Electric in new upscale chassis. Flunked this room. Too much talk. Not enough listening.

Eye candy. Did not know eyes were so bored until now. Very jaded eyes. Wonder about what they will be like in 5 years. 10 years.