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RMAF


RMAF 2013 Part IV

Channel D / Merrill Audio / TAD Merrill Wettasinghe of Merrill Audio and Rob Robinson of Channel D were on hand.  Rob was “spinning” some excellent-sounding “Pure Vinyl.”  This room overall was a real treat to the ears. The system included the superb Merrill Audio Veritas monoblocks (which I reviewed earlier this year), the TAD […]  read more…


RMAF 2013 Coverage Part III

Saskia /EMIA / TelWire Here is a room that really defied my audiophile sensibilities. Mr. Win Tinnon of Win Tinnon Audio teamed up with Mr. Dave Slagle of EMIA to put together a rather stunning display of what can be done when much care and purposeful design and execution are the order of the day. […]  read more…


RMAF 2013 Coverage II

Incredible as this may seem, RMAF 2013 was my first experience attending the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. What first struck me about the show was its sheer size. This is far from being simply a regional audio show. While I have covered many regional shows over the past several years on these pages, I must […]  read more…


RMAF 2013 My Three Favorite Rooms

I’m going to list just my three rooms All three were head and shoulders better than any of the other rooms I heard. (I suppose it says something about me that so many of the rooms that other’s raved about, sounded boring and without soul to me. ) My three favorites very different from one […]  read more…


RMAF 2013 Coverage I

This year’s RMAF was better than ever. I decided to make my major emphasis on the equipment I had not covered at the California Audio Show. I will get to some of that later. Let me start with a brief run through and then I’ll come back with a few articles on specific room and […]  read more…


2012 RMAF Coverage, Part III

Day three usually brings a mad rush to hit the rooms that you don’t want to miss, plus the “must hear” rigs heard about via the grapevine. Still, day three is triage; some rooms are cut from the list while others survive. Here are the “last gasp” day three entrants this year. Some systems bring […]  read more…


2012 RMAF Coverage, Part II

Kef and McIntosh system Day two started with a great deal of potential, as I dropped in on the KEF Blade Speaker ($30K) exhibit. I noticed that it was paired with McIntosh electronics; the MCD500 CD/SACD Player ($6.5K) C48 Peamplifier ($4.5K), and MC601 Monoblock Amplifiers ($6K). The speaker sounded vast spatially. The strength of the […]  read more…


2012 RMAF Coverage, Part I

As a summary of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this year, I will take you on a sweeping (as in quick, not comprehensive) tour of the show with the interesting experiences in systems I had day by day. You will see the good, the bad and the unusual. The show seemed thinner in attendance this […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage IX: Rooms that surprised me the most

Rooms that Surprised Me Most The Silbatone Acoutics room had several big surprises. The first was Joe Roberts was there. Joe was the founder of Sound Practices Magazine that started in the Summer 1992. Sound Practices was the first mag I had run across that was dedicated to the sound of SET amps and the […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage VIII: Sometimes good things come in great, big packages

Aaudio Imports was playing the Acapella Audio Arts’ High Violoncello II MKII speakers powered by the Einstein tube electronics. What else can be said they were simply amazing. Analysis Audio were playing their Omega planar and ribbon speakers. The Omega is the middle of their line, but these big planars were sounding so musical. I […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage VII

Salk Signature Sound/Audio by Van Alstine The Audio by Van Alstine components have been getting a face lift of recent, as well as additional tweaking to their operation, all with good effect as I heard through Salk Signature Sound’s Soundscape 12 speakers. I am currently underway on a review of the Soundscape 10 and anticipate […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage VI: Turntable Eye Candy, Part 2

Clearaudio’s new Master Innovation turntable with stand Clearaudio Master Innovation with the new Graham tonearm Clearaudio Innovation Wood Compact The new Luxman turntable and tonearm VPI Classic Bergmann Magne turntable Analogue Heaven? Hanns Acoustics T-60 turntable Kuzma Stabi S turntable with optional external power supply, new Kuzma Stogi S 12 VTA tonearm A VPI in […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage IV: Turntable Eye Candy, Part 1

Oracle’s Delphi and Paris Oracle’s Delphi MkVI Oracle’s Paris Two more Paris turntables, but I’d go with the red Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith holding court after setting up some one else’s turntable with his new cartridge Isamu Ikeda San’s beautiful tonearm Vintage Luxman turntable, one of my all time favorites Kodo’s MagDrive turntable Nice to […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage V

Avatar Acoustics There are many speakers’ names bandied about at shows and yet I do not often hear that of Rosso Fiorentino. It’s a name that should be spoken more often. I will be reviewing this sweet transducer with a built-in supertweeter following CES 2012. I have heard this system fronted by AMR source and […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage III

Was it just me, or was the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest mood more subdued this year? Days prior I had received a diagnosis of tears in my medial and lateral meniscus in my knee and a narrowing of a spinal vertebrae, forcing “retirement” from basketball and racquetball, two sports I’ve loved and played for more […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage II: Sometimes Good Things Come In Small Packages

Sometimes good things come in small packages. Bob’s Divices Bob Sattin of North Carolina makes small but great sounding SUTs. He uses Altec, CineMag, and Sowter transformers to make these wonderful little SUTs for your moving coil cartridges. Lindemann’s BL 10 Speakers These little speakers are really little and it defies my understand how big […]  read more…


2011 RMAF – Coverage I: Setup Day

Pre-Show Setup Images  read more…


2010 RMAF Part 5

Classic Audio Loudspeakers Classic Audio was demonstrating their T-3.4 Project high efficiency horn system which uses an all-wood 300 HTZ radial tractrix horn coupled with a beryllium-fitted compression driver, two 15” woofers (one firing to the front, the other to the floor), a 4” beryllium diaphragm loaded into a field coil compression driver and finally […]  read more…


2010 RMAF Part 4

Have you ever turned a corner to be face to face unexpectedly with someone you find so amazingly attractive that it makes your stomach go soft and your legs feel weak? Of course you have, we see people everyday we find physically attractive, but we learn to block it out. Until, without any notice, without […]  read more…


2010 RMAF Part 3

The systems that most attracted me at RMAF this year were those based around highly efficient speakers driven by electronics with very short, simple circuit paths, almost always single-ended triodes driven by choke coupled tube power supplies. I was also quite taken with a number of turntables, particularly Steve Dobbins’ “The Beat”. This is not […]  read more…


2010 RMAF Part 2

The Cable Company (retailer) Music Interface Technologies This year, Gavin Fisher of MIT and his colleagues continued educating audiophiles of the difference between MIT and generic cables. In a system comprising the Electrocompaniet EMP-1 SACD/DVD-A/CD player ($9,990), the EC4.8 preamplifier ($4,990), a pair of the AW400 monoblock amplifiers ($6,250 each) and the Chapman T8 floorstanding […]  read more…


2010 RMAF Part 1

Xact Audio (retailer) In this room permeated with the all-alluring Allnic tube electronics, such as the H3000V variable LCR phono ($13,900), the L3000 Linestage ($10,900), and the M3000 140-watts monoblocks ($12,900/pair), one gets the sense of extraordinary bandwidth via the tubes. The MBL 111F ($39,500/pair) featured the radial tweeter that complimented the unusually resolving Allnics […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 12

Mike Allen and Jolida always brings great gear and this year he displayed a trio of his little 12-watt EL84 driven Cube amps. He was also using his own Tascam BR-20 10-inch reel-to-reel. Are these tape decks making a comeback? Evidently so and I for one am glad. While Mike’s little amps may not be […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 11

Sanders I have always been taken with the Sanders speakers and electronics. This year the system had excellent speed and leading edge definition, and excellent extension at the frequency extremes. Resolution and imaging were also strong points. It could have been a bit warmer through the midrange but overall was one of the better systems […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 10

Some of you may not be familiar with the name of Haniwa yet but you will be. Born out of the fertile mind of Dr. Tetsuo Kubo and his Kubotek Creation Engineering company, known worldwide for their CAD engineering programs, Haniwa and is manufacturing the full compliment of audio gear including amplification and phono cartridges! […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 9

Last year I did a show report entitled the “Top Ten Rooms” where I simply listed my ten favorite rooms in alphabetical order. This year I tried to spend more time in the rooms that “really floated my boat” so I would be able to tell you much more about these rooms. I’m not claiming […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 8

ECONO-SHOCK! In the past Wharfedale has always meant polite Brit sound to me and nothing serious. Lately the company is getting more serious, especially with its Opus 2-2 Towers ($2,299 – 3,499 depending on finish). The big payoff in design is the implementation of the same upper drivers as the flagship Airedale at $20K. Large […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 7

Attendance was down significantly this year. A number of exhibitors chose to stay in the rooms which they had used in past years (Audio Federation, Aaudio Imports, EAR, Audio Unlimited, etc.). In general this was a wise choice, particularly with respect to setting up systems in more familiar acoustics. Exhibitors generally seemed upbeat. Sound was […]  read more…


RMAF Coverage 14

K.T. Audio Import The K.T. Audio Import exhibit took place in the extremely large Evergreen Ballroom A. Though large, the room was occupied by none other than the $155k Gamut S9 loudspeaker system, as driven by the $26,000/pair M250 monoblock amplifiers. What normally would require the larger of systems to fill the room sonically with, […]  read more…


2009 RMAF Coverage 6

As is the case for my audio trips, I met early Friday morning in Dallas with an audio buddy, this time John Semrad, to eat breakfast. Breakfast at Mama’s Daughter’s is a tour de force of old fashioned Southern style breakfast. Eggs, biscuits, bacon, sausage, ham steak, and even chicken fried steak, are mainstays on […]  read more…

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