RMAF 2018 Debut Products that Really Impressed: Part 4, Vinnie Rossi, Spatial Audio, and Klipsch

So it’s hard to believe we were in Denver this time last week. Now, Becky and I are enjoying the beautiful views of the red rocks and a little rain here in Sedona, AZ. There’s still a lot we want to say about RMAF so we are working a little from our vacation condo. I’ve just never been to an audio show with so many good sounding rooms, or one with as many debut products, even rooms that were mostly debut products.

Vinnie Rossi and Spatial Audio Debuts

Vinnie Rossi was debuting his new  L2 Signature Pre-amplifier, which starts at $14,999 and his L2 Signature Monoblock Amplifiers for $14,995 in two rooms. Both sounded great, but it was in the Spatial Audio Room that was simply in awe of the sound.  The L2 Signature preamp is 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. The power supplies for these little amps truly are powerhouses. They are100,000uF of low ESR power supply rail capacitance and each with a custom-wound 500VA power transformer, and I really like their size, looks and sound.

Clayton Shaw of Spatial Audio was debuting their top of the line Lumina 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 mono-block 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. The source in this system was the Innuos ZENITH and all of the cables were from ANTICABLES.

This is one of the systems at the show that really got my motor running. The whole system didn’t cost what many of the speakers at the show sold for, and it sounded better than most. It was dynamic, open, had emotional energy and was very natural sounding. These were three great debut products.

Klipsch La Scala AL 5 and R7 III Debut

There was a lot of interest by the public in the debut of the latest version of the Klipsch La Scala Loudspeakers AL 5 loudspeakers. They are true high-efficiency speakers at over 100dB and are still handmade in Hope, AK. Every time I went by the room, there were people waiting for the presentation on the Klipsch Heritage Speakers. I went to one of the press demonstrations and enjoyed it very much.

Right across the hall, Klipsch was also debuting their new R7 III’s (the bigger speakers pictured above).  I was so impressed with the sound of the new Klipsch R7 III, especially at $3,600 per pair, that I went back to hear them three times. The R5 IIIs are the only speakers in their line other than the Heritage series that are made in their home factory in Hope, AK.

They have a frequency response of 32-25,000 Hz (±3dB) with a sensitivity of 100 dB and an impedance of 8 ohms. The Tractrix® horn with 1-3/4-inch titanium dome tweeter and dual 10-inch Cerametallic™ woofers with a bass-reflex design with dual rear-firing Tractrix ports. The finish, like that of their Heritage series, is furniture-grade. They weigh 97 pounds each and are 49 inches high and around 14 inches wide and 18 inches deep..They come with a 60-day money-back guarantee trial period and a 5-year warranty:

I found these speakers to be a great combination of the sound of vintage Klipsch and a truly modern speaker. At $12,000 to $15,000 these would be serious speakers, but  at their price they are a steal!