MARTZ Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 Hey guys just returned from the US where I also got to go to RMAF. This is the second show Ive been to - also went to the show last year and it continues to amaze me with the quantity and quality of the gear on show.there is so much stuff there that one gets quite overwhelmed with it especially once youve been listening to literally hundreds of systems in a short period of time. I took lots of pics and brought back info on quite a lot of the systems. I will load a few pics on but i'm not sure how interested everyone is as youve already seen quite a few pictures from the show. thought id start off with a few pics from the headphone area as probably not covered before. Attached files
MARTZ Posted November 2, 2010 Author Posted November 2, 2010 new senheizer 595 's -with the retro look -cream and maroon Attached files
Owen Y Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 Ogliing pics is always good Some brief comments too maybe?
MARTZ Posted November 2, 2010 Author Posted November 2, 2010 I spent a bit of time with Ray Samuels which was kind of neat. He was real enthusiastic and wanted to show me this new h/p tiny amp which he is only still working on -he had a sample pictured below which was so new all he had was the circuit board with no case.It is fully balanced output -plugged the sen 800s into it with a meridian g8 cdp - the sound was very bright and dynamic - the size of this unit is tiny about the size of a box of cigarettes but thinner - there is a little toggle switch on the top which you can use to pug in your ipod and then everything is small and portable. what I was really impressed with is his top of the line units which are tube pre amps with separate chassis power supply for head phones. pictured is the B52 emmeline11 for normal phones and the A10 thunderbolt 11 unit for electrostatic phones. about 6K US each. he had the sen 800s playing with chinese electrostatic phones (i think the brand is Jade electrostatics) in the other unit.meridian g8 playing simultaneously into both units as source.the sound was soft and extremely detailed. I noticed that with many phones one has the urge to turn the volume up loud to hear more of the music but with this set up u can have the volume at low levels and just hear so much extra detail. The curious thing is that u would expect both types of h/p to sound completely different - I switched between them many times using the same source and thought that they were amazingly alike - I asked Ray about this and he said that he has a idea in his head on how the phones should sound and then he tunes the electronics so that he can achieve this particular sound. the silver units in the background is the appache - his solid state version. Attached files
Guest Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 His stuff always looks great, especially his phono stages with front panel adjustments, YAH !
MARTZ Posted November 2, 2010 Author Posted November 2, 2010 One thing that I really wanted to hear was the magico speakers. they had the new Q5 aluminium body there. I know that these are not to everybody's liking. I just wrote one word in my notebook after listening and that was...MAGNIFICENT... Alan Wolf from Magico pictured in the center. amplification was the lovely spectral amps and nagra tape source Attached files
MARTZ Posted November 2, 2010 Author Posted November 2, 2010 its not that evident on the pics but the cone material on the base units is strips of fairly wide material woven together which is quite shiney and looks metallic. It was a pretty good demo -I was sitting right next to Alan Wolf. I asked him about the cone material - he said that it is carbon fiber tubes which are bonded together and then the strips of bonded tubes are then woven together - u can see the woven pattern below. also some pics inside the speakers - a feature of magico speakers are the metal rods u can see which I think reduce front panel resonances by connecting the front panel drive units mechanically to the rear of the cabinet. Attached files
whale Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 Always been keen to listen to some RSA gear. If only I'd won the $28 million Lotto jackpot
nixon76 Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 MMF;137669 wrote: One thing that I really wanted to hear was the magico speakers. they had the new Q5 aluminium body there. I know that these are not to everybody's liking. I just wrote one word in my notebook after listening and that was...MAGNIFICENT... Nice to see a counterpoint to Des W's view on Magico's.
MARTZ Posted November 3, 2010 Author Posted November 3, 2010 One of the systems that I really enjoyed was based around evolution acoustics 27KUS speakers. A US brand I hadnt heard before.consists of a ceramic mid and ribbon hf in a transmission line set up. bass is a seperately powered ceramic oval unit. beautiful looking cabinets creating a beautiful sound. using a dart zeel integrated amp. Attached files
Owen Y Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 Those Magicos look like a very complicated way to make a speaker box!
MARTZ Posted November 3, 2010 Author Posted November 3, 2010 Another totally stunning system was the Venture Reference 111 signature speakers from Belgium.They feature graphite drivers with a heil air motion hf unit.Amps were from FM ACCOUSTICS -Switzerland -245 preamp and the 811 power amp -455 wpc. the sound had incredible clarity and transparency with lovely textures and brilliant dynamics. Just found out the speaker price is 135KUS Attached files
Mycenius Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 Great Photos MMF - well done & thanks for sharing!
Luckiestmanalive Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 Love the look of the evolution loudspeakers. The oval ceramic woofer on the bottom of the cabinet? Keep 'em coming MMF, its great stuff!
MARTZ Posted November 3, 2010 Author Posted November 3, 2010 SONY are now having a go at the high end market. they were demoing prototypes of their new statement speaker. no pricing on these yet but believed to be at least 20kUS they were powered by pass pre and twin pass x600.5 mono blocs front end was EMM LABS Sound was reasonably good. Attached files
kaka Posted November 4, 2010 Posted November 4, 2010 More RMAF photos See Positive Feedback here and here
Owen Y Posted November 4, 2010 Posted November 4, 2010 That above like Lowther America's Field Coil driver. Big rear motor like that wouldn't fit many chambers. What's the tweeter? Xover pic?
Guest Posted November 5, 2010 Posted November 5, 2010 Those are the big black Sonys Des mentioned ? This must be attempt #634 to crack the US high end market. Are these Sony designed or are they a commission like the old SS-M9 etc ?
MARTZ Posted November 5, 2010 Author Posted November 5, 2010 Vandersteen model 7 speakers 45KUS powered by audio reseach 210 mono blocks and the new aniversary preamp. The preamp is pictured at the top of the rack with its separate power supply at the bottom. New reference 2 phono stage in the middle position.Linn t/t on top. these are great speakers to listen to - I would call it an effortless sound where you end up just hearing the music and not thinking about the system being played. I also got to hear this system in a private session with the absolute sound editors. They had the volume turned very high on Talking Heads -take me to the river- At high volume the sound was a slight bit 'glazed' on the hf's. Attached files
MARTZ Posted November 5, 2010 Author Posted November 5, 2010 Wilson Sasha speakers powered by US brand Doshi Audio- Alaap V2.1 pre-amp includes phono (15KUS) AND 31 position transformer volume control. Jhor monoblock 90w push pull pentode amps-19KUS /pair I enjoyed listening to the great sound provided by the small stellovox professional tape deck listening to 5 inch master copies of dark side of the moon. Attached files
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