Before Saturday ended, I stopped by a couple more rooms. One was the Audio Physic room which Phil had recommended that I check out. Someone else was in the hot seat when we came by and listened to what I think was part of the Sheffield Drum and Track disc. Unfortunately, they switched the room to a secondary system before I could get a chance to listen to something of my own, or sit in the main seat. I thought it sounded pretty decent (although I only heard percussion on it), but Phil felt that he was more impressed the prior time he had heard it.

Here are some of the static display Audio Physic speakers in the room:

Phil and I split ways for the end of the show to catch some different rooms. After talking with some other friends I the show, I learned that SP Technologies was located in the Tweekgeek.com room. I had missed SP last year and heard that it was a great room. This year, I looked for them in the show guide and didn’t see them listed. The room was running SP Tech Continuum 2.5 speakers (~$4.5k) off of Nuforce Reference 9 amps (~$2.4k) using McCormack pre-amp and CD player (~$6k for both). I listened to a track on them and felt that they sounded good, but not up to the raving I had heard about the SP room last year. Bob from SP Tech gives his explaination (preamp used) of why he thought the room wasn’t up to snuff in this post on AudioCircle.

Here’s a pic of the setup:

I returned to the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest on Sunday for a few hours at the end of the show to catch some of the rooms I didn’t make it to on Saturday. I didn’t make it to the larger rooms the day before, so I started with some of those on Sunday (although I only went through one section of the larger rooms).

I started in the Nordost/Eben room featuring the ~$14k Eben X3 speakers equiped with same Chapter and Electrocompaniet electronics as the smaller Eben room (~$20k). The entertaining Lars from Nordost was hosting the room at the time. I listen to a couple of different tracks in the hot seat and thought that this room was one of the best sounding at the show. It seemed to do everything quite well.

Next was the HighEndAudio room featuring Duevel Jupiter speakers ($26.7k) driven by Thor amp/preamp (~$28k for both) and sourced by only a VRS Audio Systems computer (~$10k). When playing one of my reference tracks (Blue Rider Trio - Death have no Mercy in this Land) which features extremely well recorded harmonica, I felt this system did the best job of anything at the show in making the harmonica part sound like someone was in the room playing. Unfortunately, I felt that the vocals were unfocused and did not give the same effect of someone singing in the room.

The first Audio Unlimited room focused on Boulder Amplifiers electronics: 2060 amp ($39k), 2010 preamp ($39k) and 2020 DAC ($37k). This hefty set of electronics was pushing JM Labs Nova Utopia speakers ($37k). While there weren’t others listening to the setup at the time, the host seemed oblivious to my presence. I’m sure I could have had something played, but I have very little patience for being ignored when I’m the only one in the room. I took a couple of pictures and moved on.

Boulder preamp, DAC, power sources and music sources:

JM Labs Nova Utopias and Boudler amp:

Another Audio Unlimited room featured the new Avalon Acoustics Isis speakers with Boulder electronics. This room was massive with the speakers set about mid-way down the length of the room and room treatment products everywhere. The room was getting a lot of buzz at the show for great sound. While I was there, someone was listening to U2’s ‘Mysterious Ways’ which was not a very demanding or revealing track, so I didn’t get a good impression of the sound. The room also contained a Clearaudio Master Reference turntable, one of the more exotic vinyl sources at the show.

Clearaudio Master Reference turntable

One of the rooms I had been looking forward to was Odyssey Audio whom I had missed last year. Last year they brought their well received $1500 and $4500 systems (speakers with preamp and amp). This year was their Lorelei speakers ($2.7k - part of the $4500 package), Stratos monoblock amps ($2.3k/pair), Symphonic Line preamp (which share components with their Tempest preamp) and Symphonic Line CD player in the main system. A secondary system was composed of the Odyssey Canvas on-wall speakers ($2k), Cyclops integrated amp ($900) and the same Symphonic Line CD player. My listening began and ended with the Canvas on-walls, but I got a chance to listen to a few tracks on the Loreleis in between.

The Canvas on-walls gave pretty impressive sound for an on-wall. The bass was deeper and I expected, but a bit boomy (perhaps because the on-wall position is exciting room modes). Klaus noted that the construction of the wall (drywall, stud spacing, insulation, concrete, etc) impacts the sound and that some tweaking of position and tilt can tune the sound a bit. The artwork and custom photograph grills are certainly the eye-catching feature of these speakers - a well done ’stealth’ speaker.

The Loreleis put out some big sound with wide dispersion and sounded very good. They almost seemed to be a bit too much for the size of the room (typical non-suite hotel room).

One of the Stratos monoblocks and a Lorelei speaker:

Klaus trying for second base with one of his Canvas on-wall speakers. At the bottom from left to right are the Cyclops integrated amp, Symphonic Line CD player, Symphonic Line preamp and turntable:

I stopped into the Hansen Audio room, attracted by their unusual looking large speakers. They were showing their ‘King’ speakers ($55k), a large, silver floorstander driven by what I think was a Jeff Rowland Design 302 amp ($15k) and Jeff Rowland preamp. This room sounded extremely good and was one of my picks for best in the show.

Back to page 3 of RMAF coverage

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