Report from Rocky Mountain AudioFest

Just got back from day 1 and 2 and have to agree with the original poster- the sound was generally way too loud with the exception of a few rooms (Quicksilver and Audiokinesis, Atma-sphere). The best part of the show for me at least and the first real opportunity to really listen and relax was unquestionably the Roy Gregory/ Richard Foster analog set-up seminar. Man was it excellent and eye opening with respect to the absolutely critical aspects of VTA et al. Small and I mean small adjustments mean everything and a 20,000 turntable and phonostage can sound quite ordinary if not for meticulous set-up. Suddenly those protactors and such seem very very much worth the price and anyone having the expertise to set-up tables as well as these guys.

Great frikkin' show, I thought.

It's clear from the posts above that mileage varies considerably. In no particular order, there were some of my favorites (note: I tend to favor smaller systems, generally don't care for horns or single-driver speakers, and I missed some rooms):

Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grands driven by Primare. First time I've liked VA speakers and I liked these a lot.

Quads driven by new Moscode 402.

The Power Modules (Belles) room, where their amps were powering Usher 718 Be (the Tiny Dancers) and a pair of floorstanders from Sonics (which I much preferred to the Ushers).

Audio Note. We listened to everything including Clutch and the system delivered the musical goods unfailingly every time. I'm giving AN serious thought.

Scaena loudspeakers with the Memory Player. These are the follow-up effort to the Pipedreams and strike me as much more successful. I felt the bass modules were not integrating too well but the system was beguiling in many respects. Not sure how much the Memory Player was a factor in that, however.

(By the way, lots of computer audio at this show.)

Harbeths with Resolution Audio and DNM electronics.

JM Reynaud Offrande Signatures with Blue Circle electronics. I spent a long time in that room. Great sound and they were playing terrific music.

The new Von Schweikert Anniversaries, which are a redesigned, hot-rodded VR-4 Jr. Very nice. They were built to mark Albert's 50th year designing speakers (he started when he was 12 but he sure doesn't look 62!).

Wilson Sophia2 with ARC Reference gear. Man, I thought that ARC gear had a wonderful sound.

I liked the Pioneer speakers as some others have mentioned, but not sure I'd partner them with all Bel Canto electronics .

Cool turntables: Artemis Labs was showing a prototype turntable that has the very simple, wood plinth look I like. I want one. Also the Once TT from Australia (oh, that room -- Paragon -- showing ATC, was also nice). On the other hand, the Grand Prix turntable is not sufficiently impressive looking to justify its price, IMO.

Other cool: the Proclaim speakers, which are three independent spheres sitting on movable arms and attached to an external crossover on which you can set levels independently for each driver. On the one hand, it sounds like a recipe for terminal audiophilia nervosa. On the other hand, it makes a fair bit of sense. But you can achieve much of that through digital room correction. I have to wonder how easy it is to do a good job of setting these up manually. They sounded pretty good, though. Excellent bass.

Biggest disappointment for me: the Beveridges.

Drubin, the Proclaim speakers were my standouts when I went to NYC audio show in May...cool idea that you wonder why more speakers dont have that feature.

Rao Audio just launched their company on the first day of the show. VERY nice sounding room in my opinion, for what it's worth. What did other attendees think of Rao Audio?
Was anyone else as impressed as I was with their room?

Just back home to Seattle from three days there with my friend, Peter. Had a great time overall, and it got better from day two as I had more enthusiasm hearing a greater number of better sounding rooms. There were still plenty of compromised rooms, but I guess I didn't let them damp my enthusiasm as much. The highlight for me was in meeting some great folks there. Peter and I shared a van to the airport and a nice conversation with Arnie, one of the founders of Audiogon, who was very responsive to some of our constructive criticisms of recent directions the site has taken and left us with hope that some things may change in the near future. Got to spend some more time with Albert, who is as fine and fun a person, and as much a gentleman as one might imagine from his contributions here. Too many nice conversations and great folks to recount.

As far as the exhibitors, we somehow managed to save the best for last, though certainly not intentionally. In second place for me was the Daedalus / Art Audio system. At the top of my list, was the last room we listened in literally shutting the room down as we lingered for as many cuts we could get them to play. The MBL room playing their larger speakers was truly breathtaking. Utterly astounding and the closest to the illusion of live music in the room from virtually any corner of the room. Effortless. I'm glad we took it in last as it would have made everything else a bit of a disappointment in comparison.

There are a few more rooms I enjoyed listening to, among them, in no particular order, some of the memorable ones for me from today were:

A.R.T. Loudspeakers from Scotland
Proclaim speakers
Blue Circle
Studio Electric Speakers and Amp
Atmasphere
Modwright
Quicksilver (back again)
Vanderstein/Ayre (back again)

Overall for the weekend (we did not get a chance to listen in every room...not even close), top 5 for me:

1. MBL
2. Daedalus / Art Audio
3. Proclaim / Red Rock Audio
4.(Roger) Sanders / Innersound
5. Pioneer / Bel Canto

I had a great time, but I think this will last me another ten years or so before I need to try it out again. I look forward to reading other's impressions.

Marco