Capital Audiofest Report 2016

[MylesBAstor]

[MylesBAstor]

Tidal and Bricasti

[MylesBAstor]

Joseph Audio and LKV Research (our own Bill Hutchin's line and phonostages!

[MylesBAstor]

Part of the VPI team at breakfast along with Louis and Dee, the US Ortofon distributors!

[MylesBAstor]

Louis and Dee, US Ortofon distributors along with Capital Audiofest head honcho Gary Gill outside the DSA Audio room. Gary and his crack team including Paul Eliot, Chris Yuin and numerous volunteers, did a yeoman job of putting this show together, keeping it running smoothly despite some AC glitches, etc. and putting the Capital Audiofest on the map and a show to be reckoned with in the future. Congrats on a job well done!

[MylesBAstor]

Stay tuned for more about the show!

[tom_hankins]

Great pics! Thanks Myles

[KLH007]

This show just keeps getting better. Relaxed, casual atmosphere, great sounding rooms, large & small, small enough to survey all the rooms, and time to go back to your favorites and listen more and talk to the designers as well. The system giveaway was a wonderful event at the end of the show, a big crowd gathered in the Atrium to see who walked away with a great system. The shy Mat Weisfeld had the crowd eating out of his hand, great job Gary, Paul, and Christina!

[Goheelz]

Myles, thank you for the excellent photos. Will have to make a visit to next year's CAF.

[MylesBAstor]

Yes, I will be back. CAF should be bigger and better next year! Just hoping it doesn't conflict with the NY Show next year.

[allenh]

+1!

[MylesBAstor]

Capital Audiofest 2016

Yes, this is the audio show that I didn’t almost go to and then because of inclement weather that turned a normally a bit over four hour drive into a little over eight hour nightmare journey, almost didn’t make! In the end, though, my perseverance paid off handsomely. Capital Audiofest 2016 was a rousing success with 42 rooms full of audio equipment and over 110 exhibitors turning out to demonstrate their wares. Success of a show can be gauged by a number of criteria with new product rollouts being one of them. Here, CAF 2016 didn’t disappoint with VPI, KEF, Martin-Logan, DSA and several other companies debuting new products at this year’s show.

Capital Audiofest 2016 marks the second show since Gary wrestled control of the show back from the Chester Group and the second show at the Hilton Rockville Hotel. This year’s show was of an entirely different caliber than the last CAF I attended two years ago. The show is run far more professionally and most strikingly a lot less of a DIY show and more of a real product show.

What really set this year’s Capital Audiofest held from July 8-10^th in Rockville, MD apart from the competition, though, was the overall tenor of the show. Exhibitors were extremely approachable and enthusiastic. Exhibitors paid attention to attendees entering their rooms. Exhibitors held different events during the day in their rooms. Talk in the rooms was at a minimum though I did have to politely ask one person in a smaller room to take their conversation outside. One exhibitor remarked that, “while other shows might have had more foot traffic, he was very impressed by the quality and seriousness of those that came.” Many attendees as this exhibitor observed, “had some real serious systems.” As well it should as the Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia area is one of the hotbeds of high-end audio. The highlight of the show came at the conclusion of the show when the show sponsors held a drawing for a system composed of components donated by VPI, Alta Audio, Luminous Audio in addition to giveaways from Tweak Studio, Viva Audio (the store), and Everything Audio Network. No doubt several audiophiles went home with a big smile on their face.
A tip of the hat to show organizer and owner Gary Gill along with his team of Paul Elliot (Paul had a booth at the very first CAF selling used vinyl and gear, met Gary and offered his website services) and Chris Yuin as well as the many volunteers that kept the Capital Audiofest running smoothly despite as all shows encounter, some minor glitches. You know. The AC isn’t working. A package hasn't arrived. And so on.

The future looks very bright for the Capital Audiofest too! Gary signed a three year lease with the hotel and next year’s show will be moved to November 3-5, 2017. That change in date alone should result in a massive increase in show traffic. Gary is planning to add two additional floors of exhibits and meeting rooms bringing the total number of rooms to a grand total of 60. Gary also shared that several leading high-end audio manufacturers have expressed interest in next year’s. Capital Audiofest is definitely one high-end audio show on the rise and make sure to mark the date on calendar for next year!

[MylesBAstor]

More to come.

[MylesBAstor]

Dynamic Sounds Associates

VPI Avenger Magnetic Drive with three 3D arms ($30,000); Ortofon MC Anna ($9000) and MC A95 ($6500) moving coil cartridges; Ortofon Cadenza mono cartridge ($1280); Dynamic Sound Associates Phono II ($13,500); Dynamic Sounds Associates Linestage ($16,500); Dynamic Sounds Associates monoblock Amp 1 power amplifiers ($25,000/pair); Spendor SP100R2 ($11,995) speakers; Kanso Audio Hamoni furniture ($10,804) and amp stands ($3500)

Dynamic Sounds Associates featured some of the Capitol Audiofest’s best sound this year. All analog based, the system revolved around their own amplifier, preamplifer and phonostage, a VPI Avenger table and Spendor speakers. All the equipment was housed in the stunning looking Kanso equipment rack or sitting on Kanso amplifier stands.

What really caught many a visitor’s eye in the DSA room was the prototype version of their new monoblock Amp 1s. Designed by Douglas Hurlburt (a fascinating person and suggest reading this interview for further information: http://www.dagogo.com/an-interview-w...associates-llc), these 125 wpc, Class-A amplifiers were on public display for the first very first time. One of the noteworthy things about the design of these amps is that Doug worked very hard to make the amplifier into an attractive piece of equipment without tons of heat sinking on outside. "The amplifiers don’t use any loop feedback'" and according to designer Hurlbut, "have as a result, vanishingly low levels of TIM.” The amplifiers aren’t fazed by speaker load and don’t exhibit phase shift with different speakers.

What intrigued me the most was the DSA Phono II phonostage with its three independently adjustable phono imputs and the VPI Avenger sporting three different cartridges in the same VPI 3D arm. And curiousity got the better of me and I was able to easily persuade DSA’s Director of Sales and Marketing David Sckolnik to let me compare the Ortofon MC Anna vs. MC A95 in this system. David played a couple of albums that I had brought along using both cartridges and to my ears in this system, I preferred the MC A95. And yes, both cartridges were thoroughly broken in and properly set-up. In fact, the Anna was Harry Weisfeld’s own cartridge. For whatever the reason, the Anna in this system, just sounded boring, sluggish and rolled off compared to the A95.

Overall, I found the system really easy to listen to and what struck me the most on say ORG's excellent new 45 rpm reissue of Bill Evan: The Paris Concert was the quality of the midrange. Very natural, nicely filled in with great imaging qualities. The music just never seemed strained whether their was opera or small scale music on the turntable. I for one, am definitely eager to hear the final production version of these amplifiers at this year's RMAF.

[vnlrlz]

Hi Myles,
Thanks for the enthusiastic report on the Adams Room. Just wanted to set the record straight on a couple of things. First, the brand new MC Anna we were running was provided to us by Dee and Louis from Ortofon. It was brought to CAF by VPI who had mounted and aligned it on their 3D tonearm. Harry Weisfeld auditioned it and apparently responded much in the way you did. It was put aside and did not receive any kind of real break in.

You know the story: it’s a universal “tragedy” at these show for us exhibitors as, invariably, we have our best sound on the last day of audio shows when the press has already heard us and the crowds thin out. Even still, we were mostly happy with our sound from the get go.

Specifically, as time went on, the Anna started to deliver much better sound. And since the show, I have been able to keep using it and continue its break in on my reference system- very much like what we were running at CAF this year.

I can’t stop listening to it. It has opened up considerably and provides stunning dynamics and attack without any sense of strain. While the A95 still sings an irresistible tune, the Anna is clearly its “daddy” as far as my taste goes.

The good news- you’ll be able to hear it once more at The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in October. That is, unless, you can slide the down the coast and come visit us in Florida before. As a matter of survival, we have superb AC systems down here. You are most welcome… anytime!

I also want to give a shot out to Mike Garner of Tweek Geek. His various conditioners and room tweaks did yeoman’s work to minimize the adverse of effects of the hotel space.

Thanks for all,

David Sckolnik
Dynamic Sounds Associates

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks David for setting the record straight! Guess I got the info partially wrong. I stand corrected there and like the Atlas next door, both cartridges needed some hours. Knew there was some explanation.

Glad to have you aboard!