What Was Up At RMAF This Year?!?!

[MylesBAstor]

So what was everyone's fave rooms this year? What new products at the show piqued your interest? Any cool software? Anything ordered? Bring anything home?

[philb7777]

I've never been a big fan of Magico, but the M3's at the Presidential suite at the Hyatt were spectacular. Fleshed out mids with body and smooth treble with great natural dispersion. They had the best room to work with, but were clearly in my opinion the best of show.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the Vivid room with the Luxman amp. Best reproduction of classical music I have ever heard. And when the Fremer Hi Rez file of Whole Lotta Love was played it was a religious moment. (Fremer recorded the track off of his RL copy of Led Zeppelin II).

[Ritmo]

I wasn't able to go this year. From what I've read, the construction at the Marriott had minor impact to the show,

What were the highlights and lowlights Myles?

Thx!

[MylesBAstor]

I'll do that in a separate thread!

[Rob]

So what was everyone's fave rooms this year? What new products at the show piqued your interest? Any cool software? Anything ordered? Bring anything home?

we were kinda waitin' for your debrief and MEP's and anyone else from AN...

[Gusf]

I'm with you Rob.

[rbbert]

I wasn't able to go this year. From what I've read, the construction at the Marriott had minor impact to the show,

You must be reading different comments than I have been!

Aside from the fact that several notable exhibitors pulled out, most posts I have seen commented on the relatively low percentage (compared to years past) of good to great sounding rooms.

[MylesBAstor]

You must be reading different comments than I have been!

Aside from the fact that several notable exhibitors pulled out, most posts I have seen commented on the relatively low percentage (compared to years past) of good to great sounding rooms.

To be honest Robert, it was those companies loss. The only two companies that stick out in my mind that were missing from this years show were Jeff Catalano/High Water Sound and d'Agostino (I don't think MBL was there last year but I might be wrong). The show was as well attended as any RMAF I've been too--and that accounts for everything being on one side of the hotel--that might have given the impression of more people than there were actually were. For the first time in my experience, rooms were packed on both Friday and Monday. The KEF Blades room was jammed the whole show as were a number of other manufacturers. Nordost told me they sold more product this year than last and their room was packed from 9-6.

Yes there were some issues like the inability to remove desks that affected the ability to have the same distance between the side walls and speakers in both channels. Yes there was some issues with how they put the new ac in the rooms. But on the whole, it was a great show.

As far as sound goes, I actually thought the overall sound at the show was better than usual. Several rooms had the best sound I've heard from them such as Thrax/Dohmann. Maybe that was because there was more analog and I tend to stick to those rooms. But the Magico, Vandersteen and Nagra rooms had as good a sound as I've experienced at shows. But you know so much depends upon where you sit in the room, if you can listen to music you know, how many people are in the room, etc. I am somewhat lucky that most exhibitors will play the music I bring along and I can find times when the rooms are near empty or empty--such as Magico and Vandersteen. Or I can make before or after hours arrangements to hear a room in some cases.

[rbbert]

Was the Nagra room focused toward digital, analog or both?

I'm really glad to hear that the show was a success on most levels at least (and that seems to consistent across all posts I've seen), because I definitely plan to go next year

[mep]

we were kinda waitin' for your debrief and MEP's and anyone else from AN...

OK. I'm writing my show report for PF, but I will spill some beans here. Magico had a huge advantage with regards to their room at the Hyatt. It was a big room with plenty of space for the system to breathe not to mention that the room was gorgeous. Magico M3 speakers, Solution electronics, and the Kronos table (never mind the digital gear). When I walked in they were playing a digital copy of Miles Davis Kind of Blue. The cut was "So What" and I heard the distortion from the horn that I'm always bitching about, but it wasn't as pronounced as I'm used to hearing it. Alon then switched over to a hi-rez version of "So What" and wanted to know if anyone could hear the difference. The first thing I noticed was that the distortion from the horn was now way more pronounced and more like what I hear from analog. I asked Alon if he would play some analog and he obliged. For some reason he had to go through some machinations which involved shutting down the amps in order to unplug a set of ICs and plug them in so he could go "direct" as he told us.

Alon put on Keith Jarrett Changes and I was unprepared for how good this LP sounded and I own it. Huge soundstage and dynamic as the day is long. The funny thing was I asked Alon to play a cut from my Neil Young Live at the Cellar Door (Don't Let it Bring You Down) and it didn't sound anything like it does at home in terms of SQ and dynamics and I have no explanation for why an LP I know so well didn't sound as good as I expected and the other sounded far better than I expected. I was going to ask Alon to play another LP, but there was a DCP (Digital Couch Potato) sitting behind me making smart ass remarks about analog and bitching that he wanted Alon to switch back to digital. And so I left because I don't enjoy being around know-it-all DCPs. It kills any good vibes, ruins Karma, changes the colors of your aura, and drops your credit score by 100 points.

The room that I spent the most time in and kept coming back to was the Skogrand room with the Endeavor E-5 speakers, VPI Classic 4 table, VAC pre and VAC 200IQ amps, and J-Corder Technics deck. I really like the sound of this room and that is why I kept coming back. Myles brought his brand-spanking new copies of Ben Webster and Janis Ian tapes to the room and they sounded so good I went and bought both tapes. The gear in the Skogrand room would have only sounded better if it had a bigger space to breathe in.

The other room that really caught my attention was the Vandy room playing with their new subs. The Vandy room with ARC gear and the Vandy amps was SRO which is why I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked. I did cop a front row center seat for awhile and had them play "Show Biz Kids" from Ricky Lee Jones It's Like This which sounded marvelous as it should.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Nagra room that Myles mentioned. It too sounded really good. That's another room that I wish I would have spent some more time in, but there are so many rooms and so little time. I cheated enough with the Endeavor room.

So, my rankings for the best sounding rooms at RMAF 2016 are a little bit different than Myles. If I didn't have an annoying DCP sitting behind me at the Magico room and could have spent more time there, I may well have placed Magico at the top of the list as others already have. However, given the inherent advantages of the room they had and the lingering questions I had even though I saw/heard tremendous potential with the system, I can't place it first in my book. That honor goes to the Skogrand room. I will give Magico second place, the Vandy room third, and a very honorable fourth place to Nagra. All of these rankings could easily be swapped around if I had more time to spend in all of the rooms. All you are hearing are snapshots in time which sometimes can be deceiving. Systems can go from good to great to crap depending on the source material and gremlins. Both the Skogrand room and the Vandy room sounded consistently excellent to my ears from cut to cut. The Magico room went from OK with digital to outstanding with the Keith Jarrett LP, and to a very surprising head-scratching so-so with the Neil Young LP.

[Rob]

Digital Couch Potato, that's classic... not surprised about the possitive reaction to the M3, similar praises have been sung on different 'boards. I have a hard-on right now for a pair of S3s, just trying to find a way to work them in my set up.

[MylesBAstor]

Order aside, it's pretty interesting that we had the same four rooms.

[Madfloyd]

Alon played that same Keith Jarret LP for a bunch of us at the Magico factory. It might have been the most impressive track of the day.

[MylesBAstor]

Was the Nagra room focused toward digital, analog or both?

I'm really glad to hear that the show was a success on most levels at least (and that seems to consistent across all posts I've seen), because I definitely plan to go next year

That's an interesting question.

Actually both but need to go a little deeper. As you know, Nagra has had its hands in both the pro and consumer markets for many, many years. So several of the digital pieces they played were actually analog recordings transferred using the Nagra A-->D to digital. On top of that, several of the selections were of recordings never before published. Perhaps the most interesting of the group was a 1978 recording of Nina Simone performing at Montreaux done on a Nagra-T tape deck and transferred to 24/176. It was simply a mouth watering performance in addition to stunning sound. Indeed, one tape that Chad has to gets the rights to reissue on vinyl (Chad's interested since he loves Nina). In addition, Rene played a recording he made of Bill Evans in Germany; according to Rene, it was on the last Evans ever made and again was really awesome.

On top of that--and Rene and I must have been on the same page--he had brought five of the six LPs that I had also packed for RMAF. And these weren't just audiophile standards. One was a German Jeton direct-to-disc LP that MikeL turned me onto of Ray Brown and Laurindo Almeida. Now what were the chances of that happening? Then Rene pulls out the Elvis '57 album. And so on.

[MylesBAstor]

So did anyone who went to RMAF leave with some new software?

My wallet being much lighter leaving Denver.

2X tapes from Chad.
Opus 3 Sampler tape #6

Four new LPs including:

SRV and Double Trouble: Texas Flood, AP 45 rpm
SRV and Double Trouble: The Sky is Crying
Cowboy Junkies: Trinity Sessions, AP 45 rpm
Dr John: Dr John's Gumbo, AP

[allenh]

Myles, please let me know how the Trinity Sessions is!

[Albert Porter]

The most interesting thing for me was the MARA tape machine. As I understand, about $4K and it's a completely rebuilt MCI and capable of swapping from 1/4" to 1/2 inch tape in minutes. I spoke with the engineer at length about this and turns out he is friends with the Studer expert in Nashville that i depend on for my A810.

I think this is a marvelous way for a tape beginner to get into a reliable pro machine without breaking the bank. I admit I don't have first hand experience with this in my own system but MCI machines recorded many masters for the music we listen to, just as Ampex and Studer did.

[c1ferrari]

Myles,

Who's Rene?

[MylesBAstor]

Myles,

Who's Rene?

Rene LaFlamme.

[c1ferrari]

Looked him up...thanks.

[bmoura]

You must be reading different comments than I have been!

Aside from the fact that several notable exhibitors pulled out, most posts I have seen commented on the relatively low percentage (compared to years past) of good to great sounding rooms.

Attendance at RMAF was down this year. But that mirrors a trend over the last few years.

The use of the tent for Can Jam and PODs for the seminars was due to the construction underway.
Not optimum but the show still provided some good product debuts at RMAF.

We'll see if they recover next year when the hotel construction should be complete.