This year’s show had some of the best sound I have heard at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest over the years. One thing that I noticed that seems different is that every room used really expensive racks, cables and power conditioning. In fact, I think the trend at shows is to use more of these than one would normally use in a home environment, with the exception of the two most expensive systems. Anyway, I have chosen not to add racks, cables or power conditioning into the price of the system for these awards.
Best System at RMAF Under $10,000 – ELAC Americas
The ELAC Americas room showed the potential of what you can put together for under $2,500, and it was actually the best room I heard for under $10,000. Here they featured a pair of their Debut F5.2 speakers ($598/pair) driven by the Elac Discovery DS-A101G integrated amp ($699).
Depending on the source,the Elac Miracord 50 vinyl turntable ($499) or the Elac Discovery DS-S101-G music server ($1, 099), this system would total out at about $1,800 to $2,400, and let me tell you, there was something special about how this system sounded, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the quality of loudspeakers designed by Andrew Jones.
Best System at RMAF Under $20,000 – Parasound
Parasound’s room was one of the few with a system that cost between $5,000 and $20,000. Yet, it sounded oh so musical. They were using John Curl-designed Halo JC 5 stereo amplifier at $5,995 with the new Halo P6 preamplifier and DAC for $1,495. The new preamp uses an ESS Sabre32 DAC and supports PCM 384/32, DSD256, and DSD. They were also using their Halo JC 3 Jr at $1,495 with a Marantz TT15-S1 turntable with a Clearaudio Virtuoso MM cartridge for $1,499 and an Aurender A10 network music server/player for $5,500. The speakers were Tekton Electron SE speakers at $4,000 a pair.
Voices sounded very natural and free of any boxiness. The bass was not quite as transparent, but very satisfying. Woodwinds and especially saxophones had a beautiful mellow tone with good air around and within them. No, this is not an audiophile statement system, but it is one I enjoyed listening to music on.
Best System at RMAF Under $60,000 – Spatial Audio/Vinnie Rossi Room
I usually give an award for the best room under $50,000, but this room was too good not to get an award. Clayton Shaw of Spatial Audio Laboratory and Vinnie Rossi’s products seem to have a very special musical synergy. Vinnie Rossi had the production versions of the new L2 Signature Pre-amplifier, which starts at $14,999 and his L2 Signature Monoblock Amplifiers for $14,995 that he had at AXPONA.
The L2 Signature preamp is a Class-A ultra-wide bandwidth, directly-heated triode pre-amplifier. The DHT design allows Vinnie Rossi to use more exotic tubes, and in this case, better sounding tubes. The L2 Signature Monoblocks are Class-A/AB Mosfet amps that have an output of 75 watts into 8-ohms, 140 watts into 4-ohms, and they are stable even into a 2-ohm load, and I really liked their size, looks and sound.
Clayton Shaw was debuting the new version of his Lumina, the L2 at $25,000 in a painted finish as pictured. They are a 3-way, open baffle, servo dipole loudspeaker. The top driver is a 96db sensitive X32 12-inch coaxial midrange driver that has a 1-inch exit compression driver where we normally find a dust cap. Then there are dual 12-inch servo controlled woofers (per speaker), which are self-powered and powered by monoblock servo amplifiers. The impedance is the nominal 8-ohms, with a 6-ohm minimum making for an easy speaker to drive. They are 48-inches high, 18-inches wide and 150 lbs. each.
This was one of the systems at the show that really got my motor running, and I had to go enjoy it more than once!
Best System at RMAF Under $100,000 – High Water Sound
Jeff Catalano of High Water Sound brought the newest version of one of my favorite speakers, the Cessaro Horn Acoustics Wagner, for his system to Denver. This is a spherical-horn-loaded two-way at $65,000. They were being driven by the TRON Electric SE300BI integrated amplifier for $18,000 and their Convergence MC phono-stage at $2,850. The source was the new Holbo air-bearing turntable system selling for $7,500 and a Miyajima Saboten MC cartridge.
Jeff’s room sounded as I have come to expect from High Water Sound. It had rich, big tones without being overly warm. The sound had musical authority and more than enough resolution to sound like real music and to provided realistic scale, size, air and space. The dynamics and power of the bass were uncanny in a room this small.
Best System at RMAF Under $200,000 – Gershman Acoustics
At AXPONA, I fell in love with the Gershman Acoustics room, but at RMAF they brought multiple speakers including the Grande Avant Garde costing $13,000 (the smaller speakers pictured next to the POSH in the photo above). They were driven by the VAC Statement 450S Amplifier for $46,000 and the VAC Master Preamp with Phono for $40,000. The source was a VPI Signature turntable with ART 1000 MC at $11,000.
With these speakers, this system is under $150,000, and no they aren’t the equal to the POSH speakers. The sound was still rich with wonderful harmonics, a huge holographic soundstage and a shockingly deep and powerful bass. I didn’t hear any system under $200,000 that had this balance of musical sound combined with a speaker that produced this kind of soundstage.
Oh, and by the way, if you are counting, this is one of two rooms on my best rooms list powered by VAC amplification.
Best System at RMAF Under $500,000 – Musical Surroundings
The Musical Surroundings room featured two different analog sources and a digital source. While all of these were incredible, the system I’m giving this award to was the consisting of the AMG Viella V12 Doppio turntable complete with both an AMG 12J2 and an AMG 12JT Turbo tonearm for $29,250. From DS Audio, there was the Master1 optical phono cartridge and the Master1 EQ/Phono Stage at $22,500.
The rest of the system was a pair of Audio Research Reference 160M mono amplifiers for $30,000 per pair and their Reference 6 line stage at $14,000. The speakers were the Sonus Faber Aida Loudspeakers, which go for $130,000 for the pair.
I’ve owned and been a fan of Audio Research since my first SP-3 preamp, but it’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from them that blew me away like this system. On every LP I heard from Bluegrass to classical, the sound was so beautiful and emotionally involving. It had rich, warm tones without sounding overly warm. And, it had both amazing dynamics and micro-dynamics. The soundstage was also the type that I love with proper air, space and scale; a very holistic soundstage with great weight.
Best System at RMAF Over $500,000 – The Audio Company
Now before we delve into this system, let me first remind you that this post started with the Best System Under $10,000 lest I be accused of only writing about the expensive stuff. However, we all know that we all have different-sized bank accounts, and I think we all enjoy hearing what is possible with a system in this price range whether or not we can afford it or have the room for it. By the way, this system is that much above $500,000 and there were a few systems closer to or over $1,000,000.
The Audio Company of Marietta, GA brought an amazing system to Denver. It featured two debut products; the Von Schweikert Audio Ultra Nine Loudspeakers for $200,000 and the VAC Statement 450i iQ Integrated Amp for $150,000.
This multi-driver has two 9-inch reinforced ceramic woofers, a 7-inch reinforced ceramic midrange, beryllium tweeter, ribbon super-tweeters on the front and back, a magnesium horn-loaded tweeter on the rear of the enclosure and a 15-inch compound woven subwoofer with dedicated 1000-watt amplifier also on the back. I wrote more about this amp in part 1 of my “Debut Products That Really Impressed Post,” so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here. The system also included Von Schweikert’s V12XS Shockwave subwoofer for$11,500
The digital source was the Esoteric Grandioso P1 transport for $38,000 with two Esoteric Grandioso D1 monoblock DACs for $19,000 each were used with an Esoteric G-1 rubidium clock at $20,000. They also had an Esoteric N-1 music server for another $20,000. This digital source in this system was simply incredible. The vinyl source was a Kronos Pro turntable that will set you back $51,500 with an Airtight Opus 1 cartridge for $15,000.
The sound of this system was really impressive.The ULTRA Nines and the VAC Statement 450i Qi Integrated Amplifier are an incredible sounding combo. The system performed at a level very close to The Ultimate System that The Audio Company showed at AXPONA, and this system is a better fit in most houses, well in most big houses.
