RMAF 2012--October 12-14--Denver, CO

[Tyll Hertsens]

Weebles wobble but they won't fall down.

(I have no idea what that means.)

[naamanf]

Weebles wobble but they won't fall down.

(I have no idea what that means.)

Get really drunk while wearing snow shoes.

[Augsburger]

Weebles wobble but they won't fall down.

(I have no idea what that means.)

Tyll, I have always thought of you as the Ken Kesey of audioness. You are so ahead of your time.

You should consider writing a piece on "Monster Does One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest", or RMAF is Really The Sirens of Titan after a few beers.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Augsburger

[The Monkey]

I'm still adjusting to being back and dealing with family and work stuff, but it was as a great time. JH16 stole the show for me. Didn't hear them straight out of a smart phone, but I imagine they will be just fine. The tweaks JHA made makes the differences between the JH13 and JH16 clearer, with the JH13 being the more "linear" and the JH16 being more, well, fun.

We didn't have much of a crew in terms of numbers, but we had quality. More later, but for now it was just nice to see everyone and have a brief respite from a pretty shitty time back in NYC.

[Grahame]

Weebles wobble but they won't fall down.

(I have no idea what that means.)

[cutestory]

Tyll, do you know if are there going to be Freqphase™ versions of the JH16 as well?

That way, I might actually be able to justify another set of CIEMs.

But damn I love my non-Freq'd JH13s...maybe they just became a collector's item! Yeah, that's it...

[shellylh]

Anyone listen to the closed back Audeze prototype?

[The Monkey]

Tyll, do you know if are there going to be Freqphase™ versions of the JH16 as well?

Yes, the JH16s are now freqphased, too.

Anyone listen to the closed back Audeze prototype?

Yup, sounded pretty good to me. Nice and airy for a closed can. Kind of like a Thunderpants without as much thunder in the pants. I believe they are LCD-2 drivers, but could be wrong. Apparently, they've been working on it for 8 months. Doesn't sound like it's coming ot anytime soon.

[shellylh]

^Sounds good (of course, not so good if they cost a mint).

[morphsci]

Based upon previous data it should be $2895.

[n_maher]

Based upon previous data it should be $2895.

Nees MOAR WIRES too. WTF, seriously, did they take old lamp cords and twist them together to make that headphone cable? I didn't think it was possible to jump the shark anymore than Jena did but that has to be one of the worst headphone cables I've seen. Jebus.

[Pars]

Hey, lamp cord (from used lamps) is already burned in And you would have to bring up Jena.

Did any of you who went to RMAF happen to go to the Von Schweikert room or Odyssey Audio? Just curious, and if you did, what you thought.

[deepak]

Nees MOAR WIRES too. WTF, seriously, did they take old lamp cords and twist them together to make that headphone cable? I didn't think it was possible to jump the shark anymore than Jena did but that has to be one of the worst headphone cables I've seen. Jebus.

Looks like a ALO cable

[The Monkey]

Hey, lamp cord (from used lamps) is already burned in And you would have to bring up Jena.

Did any of you who went to RMAF happen to go to the Von Schweikert room or Odyssey Audio? Just curious, and if you did, what you thought.

Not I, but Naaman made me go to the MBL room and that was seriously worth it. I believe Naaman made it to most of the speaker rooms. People tend to get out of his way.

[deepak]

At another board people were raving about the Nola KO speakers which they said sounded better than most at the show.

[Tari]

Ya, over at WBF they're loving it. Steve's endorsements (and Roger's posts) have me demoing a new Sanders sound system soon...

[n3rdling]

Tari do you have a link? I don't know what wbf is

[Tari]

Sure. Whole lot of BS and more expensive is better (especially in the DAC section) but there are also a lot of experienced people on the boards and they bring industry insiders as well to talk about the tech behind products and technologies - they also have an "expert forum" thats very cool.

They also have the biggest pictorial and some of the most extensive show coverage I've seen, this RMAF included.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Tari

[naamanf]

I figured I would chime in with my thoughts and favs of the show.

I did the tour of the rooms this year with my friend Dave who has pretty much the same ear and taste in speakers. We usually sit down and take a quick listen, and know relatively quickly if the speakers are worth a further listen. There were some systems that we didn't listen to because we had a relatively good idea what they would sound like based on driver selection. I would say we gave 95% of the systems there a shot. Of those there were really only a handful that we thought sounded good.

In my opinion the MBLs were the best at the show, just an amazing speaker with a sound stage like no other. At around $100K they are not cheap.

I really liked the Tad speakers with the Tad driver Pioneers being a real standout due to the price and the fact it was a "Pioneer". They were priced at about $5K

Next was the Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. They just sounded amazing and were one of my favorites of the show. Such an amazing sound stage and dynamics from a small package, a good looking one at that. $2500 puts them in the realm of affordable, I really wouldn't mind picking a pair of these up.

Last but not least where the Hsu HB-1 Mk2s. I almost didn't go into the room because I figured he was just showing off his subs and the boring black box bookshelves were just there to fill in the upper end of the sound spectrum. Boy was I wrong. They sounded really good, better than 90% good. And that isn't even taking into consideration their price. At $300 a pair it almost made the rest of the rooms seem silly. The rest of his system was super simple and very un-audiophile. Sony DVD player source, Onkyo integrated, zip wire cables to the speakers. It was almost comical how cheap it looked compared to all the rest of the rooms. One thing he did have that many rooms didn't was lots of sounded panels around the room.

There were many rooms that probably have sounded much better if they would have used an appropriate amount of room treatment. Actually kind of amazes me that companies will bring 1000lbs of gear costs as much as a house but not a single sound panel. There loss I guess.

Some others speakers I thought sounded pretty good were the Focal Be Utopias (I have always really liked these), Thiel CS 3.7, and Lawrence Cello. Wilson Audio actually sounded okay for once but nothing to get excited about.

Best part of the trip was Saturday night drinking some fine Montana brew provided by Todd. Had a great time hanging out with Dinny, Tyll, Todd, Pete, Steve (who I don't think remembers anything), Val, Dan, Jude, Jerry, and everyone else.

Edited October 16, 2012 by naamanf

[cutestory]

Yes, the JH16s are now freqphased, too.

Sweet! Does the new manufacturing process have to be—ahem—phased in? See what I did there?

And are they making an announcement at all, or is it just all new orders from after a certain date will have the new hotness? I haven't seen anything on their website or blog...

[shellylh]

Hmm, those Hsu sound like a pretty good deal. May have to try out a pair at some point.

[Leonardo Drummond]

Did anyone get to listen to the Unique Melody PP6? I'm quite interested since it appears to be what the JH-3A was supposed to be in the first place.

[deepak]

I figured I would chime in with my thoughts and favs of the show.

I did the tour of the rooms this year with my friend Dave who has pretty much the same ear and taste in speakers. We usually sit down and take a quick listen, and know relatively quickly if the speakers are worth a further listen. There were some systems that we didn't listen to because we had a relatively good idea what they would sound like based on driver selection. I would say we gave 95% of the systems there a shot. Of those there were really only a handful that we thought sounded good.

In my opinion the MBLs were the best at the show, just an amazing speaker with a sound stage like no other. At around $100K they are not cheap.

I really liked the Tad speakers with the Tad driver Pioneers being a real standout due to the price and the fact it was a "Pioneer". They were priced at about $5K

Next was the Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. They just sounded amazing and were one of my favorites of the show. Such an amazing sound stage and dynamics from a small package, a good looking one at that. $2500 puts them in the realm of affordable, I really wouldn't mind picking a pair of these up.

Last but not least where the Hsu HB-1 Mk2s. I almost didn't go into the room because I figured he was just showing off his subs and the boring black box bookshelves were just there to fill in the upper end of the sound spectrum. Boy was I wrong. They sounded really good, better than 90% good. And that isn't even taking into consideration their price. At $300 a pair it almost made the rest of the rooms seem silly. The rest of his system was super simple and very un-audiophile. Sony DVD player source, Onkyo integrated, zip wire cables to the speakers. It was almost comical how cheap it looked compared to all the rest of the rooms. One thing he did have that many rooms didn't was lots of sounded panels around the room.

There were many rooms that probably have sounded much better if they would have used an appropriate amount of room treatment. Actually kind of amazes me that companies will bring 1000lbs of gear costs as much as a house but not a single sound panel. There loss I guess.

Some others speakers I thought sounded pretty good were the Focal Be Utopias (I have always really liked these), Thiel CS 3.7, and Lawrence Cello. Wilson Audio actually sounded okay for once but nothing to get excited about.

Best part of the trip was Saturday night drinking some fine Montana brew provided by Todd. Had a great time hanging out with Dinny, Tyll, Todd, Pete, Steve (who I don't think remembers anything), Val, Dan, Jude, Jerry, and everyone else.

The MM3 are fantastic speakers, probably my favorite box speakers, looks like I need to hear the micro1

[naamanf]

The MM3 are fantastic speakers, probably my favorite box speakers, looks like I need to hear the micro1

Yup, the MM3 is a favorite here as well.

[Augsburger]

Naaman, did you have any opportunity to hear the Magico speakers? The Magico and MBLs are at the top of my list and I agree with you regarding the Wilson speakers. I have heard a few of the Wilson models in different venues and each experience has been the same............ nice but not exciting and certainly not worth the money.