Rocky Mountain Audiofest Defies the Odds Act 2

[Guest]

Myles, tHanks for writing these reports!

[MylesBAstor]

Sadly, the Aaudio Imports room also fell into the incomplete category. No one could be found to answer questions or play some familiar albums brought to get a feel of the system's sound. The system was made up of Thales new and real sexy looking $4500 TTT Compact II turntable, $9200 Simplicity arm and $8500 Ikeda Kai cartridge. The electronics included the $25,000 Ypsilon Integrated amplifier with "bridged single-ended" output stage, $26,000 VPS-100 Valve phonostage and $6200 MC26L Reference Level step up transformer. Brian Ackerman of Aaudio brought this year Wilson Benesch new and latest thinking on carbon fiber technology $40,300 A.C.T. One Evolution P1 'Ettore' speakers along with their $12,500 Torus (plus amplifier) infrasonic generator. All cabling was provided by Stage III Concepts.

[MylesBAstor]

Some other shots from the show. Lumin Audio, Amadeus Philharmonia from France and Metronome digital.

[MylesBAstor]

The Kuzma Stabi M turntable, 4 Point tonearm and CAR-30 cartridge in the Tidal and Zanden room. One spec they should include with at least Kuzma's series of cartridge is their size. The CAR-30 has to be one of the largest--at least this side of an old Ortofon SPU or Jan Allaerts--cartridges made today. Yuge!

[Gusf]

Love this table. On my wish list if and when I ever upgrade.🤑

[MylesBAstor]

Devore Fidelity Orangutan 93 speakers.

[MylesBAstor]

The End!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Nicely done Myles!

[ack]

Great write-up Myles, thanks!

[Socrates]

Indeed grateful to Myles for the Pics and Postings Much appreciated here also.

Soc

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks guys!

[bmoura]

An enjoyable show as always. But challenging when half of the hotel is under construction!

Discoveries at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2016
http://positive-feedback.com/show-re...dio-fest-2016/

[JCOConnell]

Ringling Bros Audio show?

[Guest]

"That the show happened at all is a testament to the bloody-minded perseverance of RMAF and its exhibitors alike..."

Roy and Dennis' brief coverage at TAB.

[MylesBAstor]

La verdad!!!

[philb7777]

The Boulder/Rockport/REL/Feickert/AudioQuest room located on the second floor of the Tower ranked as another one of the show's "super-systems." Featured in Room 2024 was almost $200K of Boulder electronics ($55K 2160 amplifier, $65K 2120 DAC, $60K 2110 preamplifier and $13K 1008 phonostage), Feickert Woodpecker table and arm and Ortofon cartridge, $62,500 Rockport Cygnus and $4K REL 212SE subwoofers.

The sound here was much better on Sunday than when I first sat in with Mark on Friday. On Friday, the system was a bit bright and grainy; by Sunday, the system has smoothed out and was characterized by its speed, smoothness and detail. One thing bothered me though whether I sat in the primo or other seats here. There was a serious lack of soundstage depth; the soundstage was almost two dimensional. I can only wonder if moving the speakers out from the back wall might have improved that aspect of the system's performance.

Note to self: How can this attendee sitting behind me possibly hear anything with a Bluetooth ear bud in one ear?

I agree. As a Cygnus owner, I was shocked at the 2-D sound of this megasystem compared to my sound at home. Very perplexing that the Cygnus were so close to the front walls. I even asked the exhibitor was the placement due to the ventilation wall irregularity protruding into the room on the left side (irregular dimensions) and he said not at all and placement was designed by using the 'Masters" technique. In my opinion the Cygnus needs to be pulled out into the room to breath. Soundstage depth is my system with the Cygnus 80 inches from the front wall (baffle to front wall) is phenomenal (room is 21 ft x 15.5 ft x 9 ft). I was dying to hear the Cygnus with Boulder with those speakers out in the room!

[MylesBAstor]

I agree. As a Cygnus owner, I was shocked at the 2-D sound of this megasystem compared to my sound at home. Very perplexing that the Cygnus were so close to the front walls. I even asked the exhibitor was the placement due to the ventilation wall irregularity protruding into the room on the left side (irregular dimensions) and he said not at all and placement was designed by using the 'Masters" technique. In my opinion the Cygnus needs to be pulled out into the room to breath. Soundstage depth is my system with the Cygnus 80 inches from the front wall (baffle to front wall) is phenomenal (room is 21 ft x 15.5 ft x 9 ft). I was dying to hear the Cygnus with Boulder with those speakers out in the room!

I know Ken has a different model of Rockports but as I remember, his speakers are pulled out from the front wall too.

To hell with the "Masters" technique. Listen! Use your two ears!

And now that I think of it, why didn't they put the speakers at the other end of the room?

[lasercd]

I can take measurements if needed but basically yes - the Aquila are out into the room and soundstage like a mofo.

[philb7777]

I know Ken has a different model of Rockports but as I remember, his speakers are pulled out from the front wall too.

To hell with the "Masters" technique. Listen! Use your two ears!

And now that I think of it, why didn't they put the speakers at the other end of the room?

Agree Ken and Myles.

Ken - my Cygnus are +/- 1.0dB down to 30Hz and then linearly drop slowly by 3 dB at 20 Hz. And my room is a smaller size for the Cygnus. My sound staging is incredible too. I'm not a huge fan of the Masters technique and nothing duplicates using your ears. My measurements were made months after my final speaker placement using my ears and were done simply out of curiosity.

Thanks for the great reporting and pics Myles. I was there, but its great to have a reviewers' opinion and great pics to bring back show memories.

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks Phil! Next time we'll have to break bread!

[lasercd]

Phil if you ever find yourself in the Philadelphia area let me know. You can come hear the Rockport/Boulder combination. BTW, rumor has it that Andy Payor is now using Boulder in his system.

[MylesBAstor]

Andy also has a full system of Nick Doshi's electronics too.

[lasercd]

Where? In his boat? PUHLEASE!

[MylesBAstor]

Nick was up there a month or two ago. Both Transparent Audio and Andy are using Nick's electronics. Nick was up there for Andy's last speaker rollout that a few press members and others attended. See JA's writeup.