Summary of my brief tour of RMAF 2012

[MadFloyd]

I only arrived at noon on Saturday, so I missed Ann Bisson’s performance I also didn’t have the luxury of visiting every room, so I needed to be strategic. Every year I miss out on some good rooms, but that’s the way it goes for me. I probably only entered about 5-6 rooms per floor and still ran out of time (partly because I end up re-visiting certain rooms).

The first room I visited was the Wilson/VTL room as I am very interested in the new Alexia. I had a mini checklist:
1) See them in person
2) Get a feel for the new tweeter
3) Compare the scale of the soundstage in comparison to the Sasha and Maxx3.
4) Listen for differences in bass articulation.
5) Listen for differences in upper midrange presentation

I felt satisfied with the first 3 items, but not the latter two. There’s only so much you can expect from a hotel demo and during my visits to this room over the course of 2 days I heard the same small selection of music repeatedly. Also, the electronics were not my cup of tea. I got to chat with Peter McGrath, whom I greatly respect and always appreciate. Also got meet Deb Wilson which was a real treat – she is doing a wonderful job for Wilson on the community side of things and it was great to put a face to the name.

Next I visited the Doshi / Paragon room. I currently own and use Nick’s Alaap preamp and having heard his electronics, I am interested in anything he builds. This year he had new amps (160 watts versus 80 watts), a new remote controlled version of his line stage and a tape (NAB) stage. The speakers were Maxx3’s in a small room but they actually worked quite well considering. Totally different sonic presentation than the VTLs with the Alexia. I spent a fair amount of time in this room and really enjoyed it. My take on Nick is that it’s all about the music with him and his passion comes through in the selection of music he plays, how he introduces it, and how it’s not all about equipment specs. Of course Larry Marcus was there who is another music lover (his home system is one of the most engaging systems I’ve ever heard) and one of my favorite dealers.

One of my fav rooms had the Schroder tonearm with Allnic electronics and Zu speakers. They were playing a piano trio and it sounded gorgeous. I could have sat there all day. Great weight to the piano with good transients without an overabundance of harmonics clouding everything.

I was interested in hearing the Veloce gear and I ended up in a couple rooms with YG speakers. In the past I’ve never liked these speakers (thin, shrill, analytical), but this year they sounded very, very good. I'd love to demo that Veloce pre in my own system. It not only sounds great but looks great!

I also really liked the Rockport Avior speakers. I’m not a huge Rockport fan normally, but enjoyed them even though there weren’t any tubes and the soundstage was small and thin. A BAT REX pre was supposed to be used but it was damaged in transport; too bad, I bet it would have sounded much better. Another product I'd love to get to know better.

I enjoyed the MBL room for the 5 minutes I spent in there. The TADs sounded good as well.

Other highlights:
I met and spoke with Michael Fremer and enjoyed that very much. Met Steve Williams (of this forum) along with many other members (including Bruce B) and Ivan from the AA site.

Absent at the show that I would have liked to hear:
Avantegard
Magico
Spectral
Avalon (they did show some mini nearfield monitors which were nice however)
Evolution (they had a small pair but had no amp working when I went to listen)
Pass XS
Vandersteen 7’s

 

[arnies]

The Vandersteen 7 speakers were definitely there - in one of the larger suite rooms (room 9030 - if I remember correctly). They were paired with all of the latest ARC reference electronics - Ref 250 amps, the new Ref 10 2 box preamp ($30,000), Ref 2 SE phono stage, an AMG turntable and arm with the Lyra Atlas cartridge. They also had the new ARC Ref DAC there.

I do agree with you that the Xactaudio room with the Schroeder Linear Tracking tonearm was really good. One of my favorite rooms and it was very nice to meet Frank Schroeder to better understand how the arm works. I am looking forward to hearing one of those arms in my system in the not too distant future.

 

[flez007]

I also liked the Devialet and the Doshi's room!

 

[rbbert]

The Vandy 7's didn't sound nearly as good to me as they did last year, and in fact not nearly as good as the similarly priced Wilson's in a similar room.

 

[flez007]

I found the Veloce room sounding a tad "thick", but it could be me and my biases

The Rockport and the Nagra room on top of my list as well.

 

[Steve Williams]

The Vandy 7's didn't sound nearly as good to me as they did last year, and in fact not nearly as good as the similarly priced Wilson's in a similar room.

Gosh Robert

this is twice I am agreeing with you. I thought the Vandy 7's with ARC at CES was in my top 5 but not so here at RMAF. Not even close other than getting to see all of the ARC gear

 

[A.wayne]

I found the Veloce room sounding a tad "thick", but it could be me and my biases

The Rockport and the Nagra room on top of my list as well.

I saw what you did there ...

 

[sMckee]

Gotta like the MBL room, wow!

 

[flez007]

Gotta like the MBL room, wow!

We liked the room, the looks, the music played...but the musical engagement was not there (at least for me).

 

[DaveyF]

We liked the room, the looks, the music played...but the musical engagement was not there (at least for me).

Funny you say that Flez. I totally agree with you on this point. Whenever I have heard the MBL's they have done nothing for me. No musical engagement at all. IMHO music has to be able to raise goosebumps and more than once in awhile. Every time I have listened to an MBL system, doesn't happen for me.

 

[Andre Marc]

Funny you say that Flez. I totally agree with you on this point. Whenever I have heard the MBL's they have done nothing for me. No musical engagement at all. IMHO music has to be able to raise goosebumps and more than once in awhile. Every tie musicme I have listened to an MBL system, doesn't happen for me.

Same here. At CES I was totally underwhelmed......visually stunning, yes. Did not sound like live music to me.

 

[FrantzM]

Same here. At CES I was totally underwhelmed......visually stunning, yes. Did not sound like live music to me.

Andre

I am not a fan of the MBL 101 , yet your remark seems unfair to me .. Do you know a speaker that sound that way ... like Live Music?

 

[Andre Marc]

Andre

I am not a fan of the MBL 101 , yet your remark seems unfair to me .. Do you know a speaker that sound that way ... like Live Music?

Not too many...but for a system costing $300,000 it should come a lot closer.

My point of reference....they were playing Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin. I saw her perform the entire album live from 3 feet away. The MBL flagship system was not even close.

I heard the record sound a lot closer to the real thing on far more modest systems.

 

[DaveyF]

One of the things that I have noticed whenever I have heard the MBL's is that they seem to be what I call an ' in your face' speaker. No subtlety, whatsoever.
As an example of this, the last time I heard them, they were being played LOUD. I suspect the person doing the demo thought that's what 'live' music sounds like.
I asked him to turn the system down, and as soon as he did, the strange imaging that the speakers were exhibiting simply fell apart. Last weekend I attended a 'live'
musical event with jazz bands and a superb Elvis/Rock and Roll impersonation band. These bands were all playing outdoors. None of them sounded anything like I hear from the MBL's.
The volume level of these bands was louder than any MBL's could ever dream of, yet the 'live' music had me entranced and simply 'digging' the music ( that's a musicians
term, I know, BUT I think everyone can get the picture). IMHO the reproduction of music has to engage otherwise something MAJOR is missing.

 

[mep]

I heard the same MBL system sound not so good last year at RMAF and this year I thought it sounded fantastic. If money was no object, I would plunk the money down and buy it and be done with buying any gear for a very long time. Like Myles has said, you can’t judge a system based on unknown reference material. I spent enough time in enough rooms with Myles listening to his reference LPs, tapes, and CDs that I got a handle on what each of the systems were or were not bringing to the table.

And yes, reviewers get deferential treatment over mere mortals when they walk into a room. Ron Sutherland didn’t realize that Myles and I were hanging and he actually asked me to get up out of my seat and let Myles sit there since it was a better listening position than what Myles had. So, like the riff-raff I was at the show, I got up and moved.

As far as Shelby Lynne and her Just a Little Lovin’ album goes, if you want to enjoy it, don’t listen to it on a full range system. The bass is overblown if you hear it played back on a system that can actually capture the bottom end cleanly.

 

[rockitman]

As far as Shelby Lynne and her Just a Little Lovin’ album goes, if you want to enjoy it, don’t listen to it on a full range system. The bass is overblown if you hear it played back on a system that can actually capture the bottom end cleanly.

I agree Mark. Just listened to it and my room is fully bass trapped. Definately overblown a bit on the bass mix and I heard tape print through at the begining and during the first 2 or 3 songs on side A.