Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2007

Bombaywalla, I am tied up at work(50 hour weeks and full course load)..so it is impossible for me to make it this year..Will look forward to your report and photos.

Bombaywalla,
If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think.

http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html


Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124.

Cheers
K

Krish schrieb:

Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K

Krish,
interesting concept! thanx for bringing to my attention.
I will try my best to visit & audition them.

Krish schrieb:

Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K

I have heard this;

I have pictures in my office;

Will post on Monday.

I did not like the speaker.

Interesting concept, but not down my alley of sound.

Krish schrieb:

Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K

Dear Krish,
I auditioned them too, I quite liked the big ones on classical and jazz. It had that one characteristic which sets it apart from most normal high end speakers. It kind of reproduced the recorded acoustic in a way that eludes most other setups. I am not saying it has that YOU ARE THERE feel, but yes the recorded acoustic is better represented in your room. As for imaging and that sort of thing, read the 6moons review. One of the best relax and do your thing loudspeaker for sure. Most audiophile gents will mostly dislike it though.
Deaf.

Hi Bombaywalla

If you could spare the time, please,try and and visit the Cogent True to Life loudspeaker room at RMAF.
These guys make field coil horn loudspeakers based on RCA designs from the past.

I would like to hear your opinion of these speakers.
Regards
Rajiv

Hi Bombaywalla

Cogent will be exhibiting their products in the
Main Lobby ~ Evergreen Ballroom C.

Regards
Rajiv

deaf schrieb:

Krish schrieb: Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K Dear Krish, I auditioned them too, I quite liked the big ones on classical and jazz. It had that one characteristic which sets it apart from most normal high end speakers. It kind of reproduced the recorded acoustic in a way that eludes most other setups. I am not saying it has that YOU ARE THERE feel, but yes the recorded acoustic is better represented in your room. As for imaging and that sort of thing, read the 6moons review. One of the best relax and do your thing loudspeaker for sure. Most audiophile gents will mostly dislike it though.Deaf.

Why do you say that, Deaf?

Rajiv schrieb:

Hi Bombaywalla If you could spare the time, please,try and and visit the Cogent True to Life loudspeaker room at RMAF. These guys make field coil horn loudspeakers based on RCA designs from the past. I would like to hear your opinion of these speakers. Regards Rajiv

you did me a favour of pointing these COgent Horn fellas to me - they were one of the best of the show as far as horns are concerned. I returned to the Cogent Horns room time & time again. They sounded simply awesome.
Un-affordable but great to hear in a show.
You can read more when I post my notes from the show upon my return home.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Krish schrieb: Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K I have heard this; I have pictures in my office; Will post on Monday. I did not like the speaker. Interesting concept, but not down my alley of sound.

funny that you should write this - neither did I!
I found the sound to be thin. Maybe not set-up correctly? Maybe that Behold (German) amp they were using was not up-to-the-mark?
the speaker had potential but it was not being realized in that room.

Dear Sir,

Sorry to bombard you with RMAF questions. The speaker of absoulte interest for me at the show was the YG Acoustics, Anat Reference. Did you get a ear in at this room. None of us here have heard a YG. If you indeed managed a listen, can you describe your experience?

Thanks.

Hello B !

Any particular web site where the RMAF has been well covered ?

Audiofederation, Enjoythemusic etc. Please do add any further sites that you may have come across that have covered the show well, Stereophile Blog ?

SWITCH-IT-ON schrieb:

The speaker of absoulte interest for me at the show was the YG Acoustics, Anat Reference. Did you get a ear in at this room. None of us here have heard a YG.

So I read the flyer promoting YG Acoustics' dem in room 446 I picked up in the Marriott's lobby. So I went by room 446. Twice. Neither time could I get in, such was the throng inside. But I did manage to hold my camera above the avid listeners' heads to take a shot of the Colorado company's Anat Reference speaker, which had very much impressed me when I heard it at the 2006 CEDIA Show. I am going to try to get a listen on the Show's final day, but the news that YG has hired veteran sales manager Dick Diamond away from Kimber is a sign that this new speaker manufacturer is aiming high.

Only for you - switch it on - !!!!!!
Enjoy;;;;;

Enjoy the music has a coverage..although i must say not very impressive
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/rmaf_2007/

http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2007/

some pics from stereophile

Well some info on the new YG Anat. The tweeter is a new design, assembled from the best scanspeak parts and uses the newest radial magnet structure and has a special coating which allows it a 30KHz bandwith. The mid/bass enclosure has the latest in enclosure chamber technology to increase impulse response performance. The subwoofer changes from the 10" paper carbon to a custom woofer assembled by scanspeak based on the new revelator series. Th biggest difference from the regular scanspeak product is the chassis design exclusive to
YG Acoustics for better rear wave airflow. The amplifier module is now more powerful for the new woofer and will allow for a higher SPL than before. All older models of the speaker can be upgraded to the newest version.
Price USD 72500/- approx.
Deaf.

Kamal schrieb:

deaf schrieb: Krish schrieb: Bombaywalla, If you find the inclination, could you please audition this brand of speakers and tell us/me what you think. http://www.podiumsound.co.uk/homepage.html Here is where you will find them - 100 Tower - Level 11 ~ 1122 / 1124. Cheers K Dear Krish, I auditioned them too, I quite liked the big ones on classical and jazz. It had that one characteristic which sets it apart from most normal high end speakers. It kind of reproduced the recorded acoustic in a way that eludes most other setups. I am not saying it has that YOU ARE THERE feel, but yes the recorded acoustic is better represented in your room. As for imaging and that sort of thing, read the 6moons review. One of the best relax and do your thing loudspeaker for sure. Most audiophile gents will mostly dislike it though.Deaf. Why do you say that, Deaf?

Dear Kamal ,
The product is more for Classical and Jazz so the choice of music and its intended users are limited.
Only a regular live music chap will identify with the sound and not all of them necessarily. Example, I identified with it, my two friends who I hold in high regard in their listening abilities did not, all three of us are regular concert goers and avid audiophiles. In this case I wanted to sit and they wanted to walk out asap. I think that example says it all.
Deaf.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

SWITCH-IT-ON schrieb: The speaker of absoulte interest for me at the show was the YG Acoustics, Anat Reference. Did you get a ear in at this room. None of us here have heard a YG. So I read the flyer promoting YG Acoustics' dem in room 446 I picked up in the Marriott's lobby. So I went by room 446. Twice. Neither time could I get in, such was the throng inside. But I did manage to hold my camera above the avid listeners' heads to take a shot of the Colorado company's Anat Reference speaker, which had very much impressed me when I heard it at the 2006 CEDIA Show. I am going to try to get a listen on the Show's final day, but the news that YG has hired veteran sales manager Dick Diamond away from Kimber is a sign that this new speaker manufacturer is aiming high. Only for you - switch it on - !!!!!! Enjoy;;;;;

Bhagwan69,

did you come over to the USA for the RMAF07 show?
if you, how come we did not meet up???

SWITCH-IT-ON schrieb:

Dear Sir, Sorry to bombard you with RMAF questions. The speaker of absoulte interest for me at the show was the YG Acoustics, Anat Reference. Did you get a ear in at this room. None of us here have heard a YG. If you indeed managed a listen, can you describe your experience? Thanks.

Indeed, I did!
I made a special effort to go in there to listen 'cuz of the very bold claim they had made "The Best Loudspeaker in the World".
The speaker was driven by a dCS stack.
I did not ask about the cabling.
Personally, I did not like the sound from the speaker - I thought that it was too bright. There was nothing in that sound that made be say that their claim was correct. The speakers were pushed out quite a bit into the room & there was rope barrier indicating that nobody should get upclose to the speaker or behind it to get a close look.
I did sit down & listen (it was not in the sweet spot. there were too many people in there that wanted that spot!).
So, there could have been several reasons for my not liking the sound:
Not being in the sweet spot made the sound worse
it could have been the dCS stack
it could have been the room
it could have been the cabling


I can also say that I listened to MANY speakers at the show where I did not have the sweet spot because of their being many other people in the room & there are only a very few speakers (can count on 1 hand) that I did not like because of being removed from the sweet spot.
So, yes, you could say that not being in the sweet spot triggered what I wrote about the sound but then I can counter it by saying that the speaker is rather twitchy if the sound falls off a cliff so dramatically if I'm not in the sweet spot!

FWIW.

RMAF 07 – My Favourites

Horn Loudspeakers:
The Cogent Horns fed by Chris Brady’s electronics & Teres Model 360 TT. Very life-like, no horn shout & superb PRaT. I kept coming back to this room whenever I’d take a break. That told me something about the sound.
The Classic Audio Reproductions came a very close 2nd. The had all the same attributes as the Cogent Horns but the Cogent was better to my ears.

Planar/Metal Ribbon Loudspeakers:
Hands down – the Apogee Acoustics Duetta Signature speakers fed by all Audio Research gear. Rick Murray & his team did an excellent job re-finishing that Duetta Signature speaker in an automotive finish. The sound was totally dynamite. I was smitten!

Integrated Amplifiers:
Hands down – the Luxman 30W/ch playing thru Vivid loudspeakers demo’d on the Mezzanine floor. This was a kick-butt (pun intended) class-A amp that could bring the house down SPL-wise. Besides the bass quantity, the overall sound was excellent. It was not just the bass.

Turntables:
Here there was no clear winner for me as I liked several designs –
The Raven AC 3M,
Thom’s/Galibier Gavia,
Redpoint’s Model A in Dan Wright’s room,
The very unassuming TT in Berning’s room w/ that Allaerts MC1B cartridge (loved the sound of this cartridge!),
The Super Scout Master w/ the strain gauge cartridge,
Chris Brady’s Teres Model 360
just to name a few.

I got several opportunities to hear a Schroeder tonearm & I liked it each & every time I heard it. I think that I heard a Reference model every time except 1-2 times when I heard the Model 2. There was correctness about the sound thru it & it was always rich & full-bodied. Great arm!

Complete Systems:
Here again there were no clear favourites for me. I heard a lot of excellent amplification -
* The Art Audio Vivo sound is stuck in my head. Maybe it was the ModWright – ArtAudio combination that worked superbly with each other?
* Another sound that is stuck in my head is the new Berning Quadrature Z $30K power amps. The sound of these amps was simply excellent & without fault. I spent a good bit of time w/ Allan talking about the ZH270 & the latest Quadrature Z amps. We had a very amicable long chat (Thanks very much Allan! ).
* The Mark Levinson-WA Sophia was another great combination. I surprised myself by actually liking the Sophia sonics!
* The ARC HT200-WA Sophia was yet another great combination.
* I’ve already mentioned my viewpoint on the ARC HT200-Apogee combination.
* Yet another great sounding system was the Shanling-Selah Audio Galena (a slight bass boominess – the room?) because it produced great sound for an affordable amount of money.
* The McIntosh room down in the Lobby area. We heard some tracks from Chris Botti’s album & a track from an album called “Vertigo”. Also several tracks played by the person demo’ing the gear (I did not get his name but it looked like either was a McIntosh employee or a long-time dealer).
* The Gershman-Clayton Audio room sounded very good to me. Very life-like & with music flowing effortlessly. Terry Rossen & Ofra Gershman very personally running the demos.
* The Art Audio-Dadaelus room was very good sounding. They were using a Bluenote Koala CDP. On the day I visited they had the 845 mono driving the larger Dadaelus speakers. Very musical, emotional. Other than the track that was playing when I came in which was bass heavy that showed me that the 50W/ch 845 were no bass slouches, we played tracks from The Michael Wolff Trio “2AM”.

Digital:
I heard some great digital gear spanning from Wadia’s 581SE to more modestly priced Oppo & Original players.
I also really liked the Squeezebox in stock & modified form (as in ModWright’s room).
The player from Nova Physics was yet another great music server.
The Abbington Music Research CDP also sounded good. It was surprising to see just how many rooms had the AMR CDP!

Cone/Dynamic Loudspeakers:
Green Mountain Audio’s Calypso was my favourite.
I heard several excellent cone/dynamic speakers but the Calypso sounded the best & the most life-like of them all and that too w/ very modest electronics & an older Sony CDR source.

here are some pix from Day 1. Sorry for the mediocre quality!
I had the camera in "night shot" mode & I could not hold it still enough while the shutter was open! Hence the blurred pix.
I did better the 2nd day & even better the 3rd (I think! we have some expert photographers amidst us & I know that I am at the bottom of the list! )

http://picasaweb.goo...?authkey=fUMEYv0Ly5o

Hi Bombaywalla
Glad you liked the Cogent horns.
The drivers are unique and are modern replicas/reproductions of the RCA field coil drivers from 1930's.
My interest in these speakers began when I found the RCA MI 1443 mid drivers, I needed a field coil supply for the RCA drivers as the original supply was not available when I bought the drivers.Searching the net led me to Cogent.Steve Schell of Cogent has been very helpful and hopefully I will be able to use these drivers soon in a conical mid horn simmilar to Cogent. I will also be getting his new carbon fiber diaphagrams to replace the old phenolic ones.The bass will be handeled by Altce 515B woofers.

Hope you find the link below interesting.


http://www.oswaldsmillaudio.com/2007a.html

Regards
Rajiv

Day 2 pix. Much better quality, I think!


http://picasaweb.google.com/bombaywalla9/RMAFDay2

Day 3 pix.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bombaywalla9/RMAFDay3

Mr. B ! thank you so much for the pics..true audiophile eye candy.


Page 3 the JM Reyanaud speaker seems to be the new Offrande ? there seem to be couple of changes including drivers !

do you remember how it sounded.. also did the Vienna Acoustics Bach leave any impression ?

I have heard the Apoggees (Diva ?) some time back except for its 1 Ohm amp-killer load they can be pretty sublime.

Finally..how was the Pass labes First Watt amp? it is supposed to be a very different amplifier. surprised to see it running an opne baffle speaker since its power output is pretty low and my impression of thse speakers are of not being in the easy to drive category.

bombaywalla schrieb:

Day 3 pix. http://picasaweb.google.com/bombaywalla9/RMAFDay3

Nice snaps 'B' !

When will you be in town ?
I did not come to the US; Just saw some pictures of the RMAF - 2007.

Do call on me when you get here. Lots of audio sessions are in store for you !!!

Regards,

Using Argento cables. This one I took specially for you, Bhagwan69! Looks like these fellows are also fans of Argento cables.



Yes, they are nice cables indeed;
They would have been better if they were cheaper. I would really have loved them then. !!!!!

Arj schrieb:

Mr. B ! thank you so much for the pics..true audiophile eye candy.

Thank you! indeed there was much audiophile candy & a lot of great sounding gear given that it sounded good under show conditions.

Arj schrieb:

Page 3 the JM Reyanaud speaker seems to be the new Offrande ? there seem to be couple of changes including drivers !

I think you are correct re. the model name. There were lots of people in the room & I could not ask the Blue Circle + JM Reynaud dealer.

Arj schrieb:

do you remember how it sounded.. also did the Vienna Acoustics Bach leave any impression ?

I'm afraid not!
I can say that it sounded nice but nothing that made me take notice.

Arj schrieb:

I have heard the Apoggees (Diva ?) some time back except for its 1 Ohm amp-killer load they can be pretty sublime.

What they had in the room was a Duetta Signature, which is 1 model lower than the Diva. I was made to understand that there are several Duetta models - Duetta when it 1st came out, Duetta II & Duetta Signature. Each of these speakers had a different efficiency level. The Sig model was 89dB efficient & did not go down to 1 Ohm load!
The Scintilla did & it was a very difficult load to drive hence I was told that its sales are also correspondingly lacking.

Arj schrieb:

Finally..how was the Pass labes First Watt amp? it is supposed to be a very different amplifier. surprised to see it running an opne baffle speaker since its power output is pretty low and my impression of thse speakers are of not being in the easy to drive category.

They sounded very good - very refined. Played w/o straining & brought no attention to themselves. The First Watt 3 powered only the Lowther driver. The Lowther is very efficient hence that amp had no issues driving it.
The X250.5 was driving the bottom 2 SEAS drivers where more grunt was needed.
For a DIY open baffle speaker w/ that electronics, it sounded really good & I stayed a while to listen & chat with Nelson Pass.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Using Argento cables. This one I took specially for you, Bhagwan69! Looks like these fellows are also fans of Argento cables. Yes, they are nice cables indeed; They would have been better if they were cheaper. I would really have loved them then. !!!!! :cut

I know what you mean, chief!
I was polite & did not ask him what the cables costed!! I would have needed to sit down if he had given me the $ figure!
It sure sounded beautiful, smooth & life-like.

The cables are very pretty to look @ with that all-natural greyish-white jacket. A very pro job in manuf them.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

bombaywalla schrieb: Day 3 pix. http://picasaweb.google.com/bombaywalla9/RMAFDay3 Nice snaps 'B' ! When will you be in town ? I did not come to the US; Just saw some pictures of the RMAF - 2007. Do call on me when you get here. Lots of audio sessions are in store for you !!! Regards,

Thank you, sir!
I will be in town starting Nov 20th for 3 weeks. The other 1 week or so will be spent visiting my brother in Bangalore. This is the plan so far.
I probably need to PM you so that I can get your latest contact numbers.







I was going to write a post about my upcoming visit to Bombay but since Bhagwan69 has "chedo-fied" this topic, this post might be a good point to say it now: I'd like to say that I will be coming to Bombay for a holiday with my family. I should be arriving on Nov 20th & staying for a total of 4 weeks in India. My home is in south Bombay (hence my moniker!) in the Nepean Sea Road/Malabar Hill area.
Bhagwan69 is very close to where I live & the plan is to meet up with him several times during my stay. With many thanks to him I also get a chance to meet other forum members that he is in touch with.


I would also very much like to meet Amp_Nut, Manek, Krish. I'm sure that there are other forum members who live in BOM that participate in this forum that I would also very much like to meet. I hope that this is possible.....

Works well with me;
You are most welcome home; Music & Malt !!
We shall try and visit some more houses.
Look forward to meeting you.

bombaywalla schrieb:

I was going to write a post about my upcoming visit to Bombay but since Bhagwan69 has "chedo-fied" this topic, this post might be a good point to say it now: I'd like to say that I will be coming to Bombay for a holiday with my family. I should be arriving on Nov 20th & staying for a total of 4 weeks in India. My home is in south Bombay (hence my moniker!) in the Nepean Sea Road/Malabar Hill area. Bhagwan69 is very close to where I live & the plan is to meet up with him several times during my stay. With many thanks to him I also get a chance to meet other forum members that he is in touch with. I would also very much like to meet Amp_Nut, Manek, Krish. I'm sure that there are other forum members who live in BOM that participate in this forum that I would also very much like to meet. I hope that this is possible..... :D

Look fwd to meeting up.

Cheers
K

http://picasaweb.google.com/dannykaey/RMAF2007

One of the most comprehensive show reports.

Please do try and take a look !!

Thanks,

http://www.hometheat...rmaf-2007-index.html

some more pictures to splurge on.

Do Enjoy !!!

Did you get to hear the Jim Salk’s speakers driven by Frank Van Alstine’s electronics ?

more here
http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2007/RMAF2007/index.htm

Arj schrieb:

more here http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2007/RMAF2007/index.htm

Just to add a bit more to what Arj posted. Many pages, comprehensive and detailed coverage.

http://www.audiofede...00/Floor10/index.htm

Please do move around the pages. abou 8 to 10 pages are there.

Bhagwan69, did you go thru the 4th link (Finale) on the index..it links to another page which has a floorwise description
http://www.audiofede...007/report/index.htm

you have an option of choosing the image resolution based on the internet speed .

Yes ARJ;

That is the exact link I have posted.

Very Informative report - indeed.
Except for the listening experiance, one can surely get a jist of what is being used by who in which room. Really a great learning curve with regards to product compatibility !!!

Thanks for the links.

bhagwan69 schrieb:

Yes ARJ; That is the exact link I have posted.

Oops you are right. Quoting Shr Ranjit Singh of "Mind your language ..a Thousand Apologies