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Report from Rocky Mountain AudioFest

First day at fest...Heard some pretty good sound...speakers from PSB (new Symphony line), Tyler Audio, Acoustic Zen (new Crescendo is really good), Wilson Benesch were most memorable. Also appreciated chatting with reps from Audio Research, Acoustic Zen, PSB...and members of audio press (Jonathan Scull). BUT, overall, sound is WAY too loud for anyone who cares about his hearing or evaluating sound. And, there was a surprising amount of truly bad sound. Also, it seems like the only music being demo'd was percussion tracks and cuts by any number of women with an acoustic guitar. At the end of the day, my ears hurt and I had a headache and reaffirmed my feeling that the ONLY way to evaluate equipment is in my home...Maybe my impressions will be more favorable after a cocktail and some aspirin. Cheers to all!
77jovian
baranyi's avatar
baranyi
719 posts
 
Rballdude,
Just a note about the Apogees. The room needed to be far larger for the planar to create the bass that is possible. I have my rebuilt Scintillas 6 feet from the backwall. In the setup you heard, I agree that the bass was lacking.
aktchi
274 posts
 
Mdhoover: 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?

Did you take any brochures or contact information? I can't google a web page for them.
turbofc3s
16 posts
 
Hey Duke, thanks again for coming down to listen to my creation ... and thanks for the kind words. The dynamics especially have spoiled me already. I've never had anything this dynamic, it's addictive!

We don't have a name yet, but they'll be sold through BPT. And the projected price is just a hair under $3000/pair. A lot of people told me I should charge much more than that, but I'm in a fortunate position of not really needing to make money off them ... I just want to do something fun and cool!

BTW Duke, I still think yours was one of the top 10% of rooms there. I'd give yours the edge over Emerald Physics too, their tweeter has some grain to it, especially if the volume is turned up. Your tweeter felt much smoother. Bravo Duke!
mdhoover
695 posts
 
Refering to Rao Audio:
"Did you take any brochures or contact information? I can't google a web page for them."
Aktchi

I thought I had taken some literature but apparently not. At least I couldn't find any in the red WBT bag. I also tried to Google them, even trying rao-audio.com as a search term and had no luck either. Sorry.
markc2
15 posts
 
Walked in not knowing prices of anything, the MBL suite to me was awesome. Really liked the Mcintosh room they had those MC501's hitting 500 watts quite easily, Stevie Ray Vaughn was very much alive in that room.

I had never heard quad's before, that was an unexpected surprise, such clarity but not pushed in any one directions.

The Reimyo room was I think my favorite, I think :-)

I love Nordost, but the Odin's weren't my bag, though I can see what they are doing. 15,000 owwww!!!!!!

I wanted to hear what Accuphase sounded like but the Wilson room looked like they were just using it for a transport. I had never seen one before and they exude class, and the drawer movement was so high tech smooth, I just had to wonder what the player sounded like.

The whole thing felt like a Dorm room party with out the alcohol. :-)
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