RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Sonus Veritas is Latin for Gimme Some
Sonus Veritas broke free at RMAF this year, showing in their own room for the first time. It was good to see them step out into the limelight — this is a brand worth keeping […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Vividly Luxman
Ah, Vivid Audio. This is one of those brands that will inspire significant heat — you either love it or you screamingly detest hate it. Personally, I don’t get all the heat, but there you […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Atma-Sphere goes Classic
OTL amps are something of a hidden art. Joule Electra’s Jud Barber, David Berning, and Atma-Sphere’s Ralph Karsten are a trio of designers carrying various implementations of the technology into our listening rooms these days, […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: High Water Sound with Pure Sound and Hørning Hybrid
I’ve gotten so used to seeing and hearing a “certain something” from High Water Sound’s Jeff Catalano that it’s almost a shock to see him deviate from it. Stunned, actually. I mean, I never would […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Aesthetics and Aesthetix Audio
Aesthetix has always intrigued and perplexed me, in pretty much equal measure. By many reports, Jim White & Co. make some of the most sophisticated tube gear on the planet, and the heroic lengths they’ve […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Mega Speakers from Cabasse
Cabasse loudspeakers are definitely a case of form following function, but that still fails to capture the full eyeballyness of their big loudspeakers, in this case, the $160k L’Ocean.
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Mega Speakers from Venture
The second mega-speaker room I ran across, featuring Venture Audio, received some serious forum praise. Honestly, it didn’t leave much of an impact on me, but the Internets were quite aflutter about the new amps […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Mega Speakers from Lansche
There were three rooms on the first floor that were notable, even if only for the shockingly expensive loudspeakers on display. I’ll have to warn you up front that I’m instantly suspicious when loudspeaker prices […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Under Analysis for my Panel Madness
I really like big panels — and the $24,400 Omegas (with optional external crossovers) from Analysis Audio certainly qualify as “big”. The challenge, of course, is powering them adequately, where ‘adequately’ = “lots”. Voila, the […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: NOLA and ARC
The $10k KO loudspeakers from NOLA were very popular at the show, and everyone I stopped and talked to had them in their top 5 for “best in show”. I thought they were really interesting […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Electrocompaniet and Brodmann making me all warm and fuzzy
Next up is a room full of familiar gear from Brodmann Acoustics and Electrocomp. I heard this pairing at RMAF last year, and was quite impressed. The $4,500 Festival S monitors, driven by a pair […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Jolida and VSA — Your Final System?
The optimistically named “Your Final System” (I mean, we are talking about audiophiles here, aren’t we?), an audio dealer with locations in NY and CO, put together a (relatively) affordable room, featuring gear from Jolida […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: TAD evolves
Andrew Jones was showing off the new $29k Evolution One loudspeakers from TAD. Same coincident-style driver as the high-end Reference line, but those use beryllium in both the tweeter and the mid, instead of just […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Groovy sound from Vaughn Loudspeakers and Wavelength Audio
I have to admit that I am a Johnny-come-lately to the whole SET thing, but that doesn’t make me any less a fan. I’m just starting on my complete loving of that scene. And what’s […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Blackbird Heeds that Funky Opera from Simply Italy
Okay, so tortured title aside (apologies), there was a lot going on in the Blackbird Audio room. Hosts Dan Muzquiz of San Diego’s Blackbird, Bob Clarke of importer Profundo, and The Vinyl Anachronist Marc Philips […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Day One Multi-Pack (Part 2) — GamuT, Sutherland/Venture, Fried, Thiel, FAL
There were quite a few rooms that had interesting gear that I simply didn’t have time to revisit or spend any serious time with — but that I had some nice pics of from that […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Hear No Evil brings me the best KEF ever?
I almost hate to say it, but I’ve never been that big of a KEF fan. It’s not that I hate on the brand, or hate on the sound, or had my kitty kicked, or […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: On my own audio Odyssey
Would it be a cliche to say that Klaus Bunge is our latter-day Ulysses, on a quest for heroic sound quality? Whatever. All I have to say is, well, anyone who names his audio company […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Audio Video Logic presents a TAD/Pioneer one-two punch
If I found a TAD CR-1 ($37k w/o stand) and a Pioneer S-2EX ($7k/pair retail) in the same room, wired into the same rig, I’d have been a/b the living daylights out of them. Sadly, […]
RMAF 2012
RMAF12: Antelope and their Rubicon
Somewhere here at RMAF, Antelope was doing their insane live-conversion-from-vinyl demos (can you tell the difference?) that blew me away when I heard it at Newport this past year. I didn’t bother to search them […]