RMAF 2012 Postmortem

I'll chime in eventually, I just have to rewrite my notes. One small correction, the DeVore speakers were the Orangutans and not the Gibbons. Did you like one over the other? I personally preferred the 96s. Excellent well defined and intimate midrange for jazz, slight lack of pronouncement in the lows and tended to be somewhat bright for the symphonic recording that someone had brought in...which is a stretch for these speakers driven by 8 watts of power IMO. I visited this room all three days, so I admit that I did like the speakers and they're on my list. John is also a very interesting guy with many other intriguing and divergent pursuits. I could easily spend hours engaged in conversation with him.

If you like efficient speakers then you must of died when you heard the Volti Vittora with the Border Patrol S10. Did you hear the Volti with the NF5 Feastrex driver or either of the two speakers in the Feastrex room? Voices are just heavenly.

As for price, nothing compared to Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90 IMO. If you had a chance to sit in the sweet spot you may agree with my assertion.

More on my best of show picks later.

I love this show: great people, great music and how can you not have a great time if you’re obsessed with sound. Obviously it is disappointing when some of your favorite manufactures don’t exhibit, like First Sound, Yamamoto, Thoress, Audiopax, etc,

I have to admit right off that a slight tinnitus issue currently dictates my listening preference, thus ribbon tweeters are off my list (and I’ve owned Apogee and a RAAL ribbon speaker, but I won’t buy one now). I always make it a point to visit Jim Jordan (Vaughn) because he is a great guy, but unfortunately his ribbon creations are a bit much for my ears. (sorry Jim, my loss).

Here we go:

Best of Show:
Yiddish lessons with Gideon Schwartz. Oh he was so disappointed in me but what can I say, after three generations on the West Coast we go wondering again…

Zellaton Studio Reference One with all Nagra gear. Heavenly! Outstanding tone, wonderful extension and sumptuous rate of decay. I visited this room all three days to ensure that I heard what I heard, and I did indeed hear it.

Close runner up of a different sort:
Volti Vittora, Border Patrol S10, EMM DAC and transport. Big horns done well! The sound takes me back to what I vaguely remember of my college roommate’s Klipsch and MC 2505. Small Jazz ensembles just suck you in; extremely intimate, breathy, extended and voices are simply magical. Like the Zellatons, the lack of high note fatigue was so relaxing. The caveat is I did not listen to full spectrum symphonic or raucous rock. Nevertheless these are for sipping, not gulping. I’d have these in my home if their mass didn’t take up so much space, or rather if my wife and dogs would let me have my own listening room. I just hope Greg Roberts keeps doing what he does. He and his wife are a joy to be around.

Speaking of raucous rock, in the Zu room on the 5th floor did anyone get the urge to body slam the guy next to you and proceed to wreck the place? Young guys spinning angry high energy music, good times!? I’ve got to hand it to them; at least it wasn’t your typical Norah Jones-esque sound that everyone thinks brings out the best in their speakers (yawn).

2nd runner up:
Estelon Xb. OK I admit that the beautiful Estonian sales representative was a bit of a distraction but I swear she did not sway my vote. I did get bonus points when I said I’d been to Tallinn, but then I lost them when I said my family was originally from Lithuania…D’oh like that has any relevance to anything. Well back to the odd looking Estelon: great bass, drums had superb separation, percussive speed and splendid timbre. I heard a slight glare punch in the highs but the piano notes had wonderful extension. I could tell you that their aesthetic appearance would not get my wife’s seal of approval. They also give the impression that they may move a round on their own when you’re not looking.

I too am a big fan of efficient speakers and I always enjoy what Mike Zivkovic did with the Lowthar driver in his Teresonic Ingenium, although I hate to watch videos when listening to music. I preferred the Ingenium to the Voxativ (another Lowthar driver) that was just a couple of doors down the hall. I was also very excited to hear the Feastrex NF5 and thought the Feastrex in the Feastrex cabinet and the Volti Veretta were wonderfully expressive, particularly when listening to vocals. And then there was the FN9…wow! I can’t wait to see what some cabinet builder does with that driver.

Best Value:
Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90. Unbelievable for under 5K. I give these speakers 4 out 5 merely for their affordability and outstanding dynamic sound, which can be modified by six switch settings in the back of the speaker (a tweaker’s dream).

Most interesting exhibitors:
Steve Nober, Kenji Furukawa (Feastrex), John Devore and of course Jeffrey Catalano are all really enjoyable and engaging people to hang out with. The eccentric Robin Wyatt is very entertaining…many of us just sat there in disbelief as he yanked and replaced one tubes after another, without turning off the power, and tried to convince us that the 206 was the paramount of tubes. I was just there to see if he’d blow a tube in his hands: please Robin can you do that again!

For you Wilson lovers, did you not catch the Maxx 3 and the Doshi jhor 160s. I’m not a big fan of Wilson, but I love Doshi’s preamps and the Wilson sang with those 160 monos IMO.

Any opinions on Morch’s DP-8 tonearm or were you more taken with the beautiful Schroder LT?

Apologize for the length. I got carried away.

I love this show: great people, great music and how can you not have a great time if you’re obsessed with sound. Obviously it is disappointing when some of your favorite manufactures don’t exhibit, like First Sound, Yamamoto, Thoress, Audiopax, etc,

I have to admit right off that a slight tinnitus issue currently dictates my listening preference, thus ribbon tweeters are off my list (and I’ve owned Apogee and a RAAL ribbon speaker, but I won’t buy one now). I always make it a point to visit Jim Jordan (Vaughn) because he is a great guy, but unfortunately his ribbon creations are a bit much for my ears. (sorry Jim, my loss).

Here we go:

Best of Show:
Yiddish lessons with Gideon Schwartz. Oh he was so disappointed in me but what can I say, after three generations on the West Coast we go wondering again…

Zellaton Studio Reference One with all Nagra gear. Heavenly! Outstanding tone, wonderful extension and sumptuous rate of decay. I visited this room all three days to ensure that I heard what I heard, and I did indeed hear it.

Close runner up of a different sort:
Volti Vittora, Border Patrol S10, EMM DAC and transport. Big horns done well! The sound takes me back to what I vaguely remember of my college roommate’s Klipsch and MC 2505. Small Jazz ensembles just suck you in; extremely intimate, breathy, extended and voices are simply magical. Like the Zellatons, the lack of high note fatigue was so relaxing. The caveat is I did not listen to full spectrum symphonic or raucous rock. Nevertheless these are for sipping, not gulping. I’d have these in my home if their mass didn’t take up so much space, or rather if my wife and dogs would let me have my own listening room. I just hope Greg Roberts keeps doing what he does. He and his wife are a joy to be around.

Speaking of raucous rock, in the Zu room on the 5th floor did anyone get the urge to body slam the guy next to you and proceed to wreck the place? Young guys spinning angry high energy music, good times!? I’ve got to hand it to them; at least it wasn’t your typical Norah Jones-esque sound that everyone thinks brings out the best in their speakers (yawn).

2nd runner up:
Estelon Xb. OK I admit that the beautiful Estonian sales representative was a bit of a distraction but I swear she did not sway my vote. I did get bonus points when I said I’d been to Tallinn, but then I lost them when I said my family was originally from Lithuania…D’oh like that has any relevance to anything. Well back to the odd looking Estelon: great bass, drums had superb separation, percussive speed and splendid timbre. I heard a slight glare punch in the highs but the piano notes had wonderful extension. I could tell you that their aesthetic appearance would not get my wife’s seal of approval. They also give the impression that they may move a round on their own when you’re not looking.

I too am a big fan of efficient speakers and I always enjoy what Mike Zivkovic did with the Lowthar driver in his Teresonic Ingenium, although I hate to watch videos when listening to music. I preferred the Ingenium to the Voxativ (another Lowthar driver) that was just a couple of doors down the hall. I was also very excited to hear the Feastrex NF5 and thought the Feastrex in the Feastrex cabinet and the Volti Veretta were wonderfully expressive, particularly when listening to vocals. And then there was the FN9…wow! I can’t wait to see what some cabinet builder does with that driver.

Best Value:
Steve Nober's Pranafidelity fifty 90. Unbelievable for under 5K. I give these speakers 4 out 5 merely for their affordability and outstanding dynamic sound, which can be modified by six switch settings in the back of the speaker (a tweaker’s dream).

Most interesting exhibitors:
Steve Nober, Kenji Furukawa (Feastrex), John Devore and of course Jeffrey Catalano are all really enjoyable and engaging people to hang out with. The eccentric Robin Wyatt is very entertaining…many of us just sat there in disbelief as he yanked and replaced one tubes after another, without turning off the power, and tried to convince us that the 206 was the paramount of tubes. I was just there to see if he’d blow a tube in his hands: please Robin can you do that again!

For you Wilson lovers, did you not catch the Maxx 3 and the Doshi jhor 160s. I’m not a big fan of Wilson, but I love Doshi’s preamps and the Wilson sang with those 160 monos IMO.

Any opinions on Morch’s DP-8 tonearm or were you more taken with the beautiful Schroder LT?

Apologize for the length. I got carried away.

Sorry about the double post. Not sure how that happened.

John,

I can hear to 18 kHz no problem. Old CRTs, and whatever is going on in the fluorescent lights or hard drives I can here a continuous high pitch sound. Having worked near wind tunnels for 25 years I've undoubtedly broken off some of the tiny hairs in the cochlea. Thus a small portion of my midrange has dimensioned. Unfortunately this accentuates the highs, which means that any persistent frequency between 10 to 13 kHz will cause extreme listening fatigue for me. I can easily hear a 10-12 kHz buzz from and ribbon or electrostatic tweeter and ribbons can produce sound way beyond 20kHz (hardly anyone past their teens can hear or ever heard 20kHz). I'm more amazed that other people don't have similar issues.

When I say that there’s a pop or punch in the highs I’m just referring to a sudden seemingly uncontrolled burst of energy that doesn’t dissipate well at 10-12 kHz. This is different then the constant buzz of a ribbon; rather it’s punctuated. I can tell you within 30 seconds whether a cone tweeter has this tendency. The buzz of a ribbon tweeter will fatigue you over time because it’s sustained. Just my opinion…