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The 2010 edition of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, occupying parts of nine floors of the Denver Marriott Tech Center, is set to be the biggest and best RMAF yet. For now, guests, exhibitors, and press are enjoying "the calm before the storm." But that will soon change, and this quiet, sun-soaked hall will be one big blur of color and activity. Judging by the show's directory—which is obviously thicker than ever—we're in for some serious fun.
Some savvy exhibitors, such as Audioengine (seen here), have announced their presence at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2010 with banners hung across their balconies, so everyone knows where the party's at.
The Lift, conveniently located outside the Marriott's large, central atrium, is where weary show-goers and audiophiles will raise their spirits with pints of the finest local brews. Some of those fine brews include: 1554, Fat Tire Amber, Blue Paddle, 5 Barrel Pale Ale, Titan IPA, Modus Hoperandi (ha!), Hoss, Avalanche, and Cutthroat Porter.
I know where to find John Atkinson.
That man in the black shirt (to the left of the frame) is none other than Music Hall's rascally Roy Hall—already causing a stir and the show hasn't even started!
I wonder who will be greeting guests at the Stereophile booth. Will it be every audiophile's favorite booth babe, Rosemarie Torcivia?
We can only hope.
Things are slowly heating up, as I sit here in the hotel cafe, The Trading Post. In the last few minutes I've spotted Mike Manousselis of Dynaudio, John Quick of Tempo Sales & Marketing (distributors of Nagra, Verity, dCS, and Musical Fidelity), Paul Barton of PSB Loudspeakers, Walter Swanbon of Fidelis AV, Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen (of course), and Vinnie Rossi of Red Wine Audio.
In addition, I just met Matthew Silberstein of The Sound Organisation, importers and distributors of Rega, Primare, Dali, and the Chord Company. Silberstein assures me that review samples…
For some time now, I’ve been urging (begging) the audiophile vinyl-reissue houses to focus on Duke Ellington’s great 1950s albums on the Columbia label, and finally Pure Pleasure Records has done it.
Pure Pleasure is a British company that has remastered lots of great jazz titles, many of them unjustly unsung, from the Columbia, Candid, Verve, and RCA catalogues. A few Ellington Columbias have been among them, but they’ve either been sonically less-than-pristine (Ellington Uptown, First Time with Count Basie, Blue Rose with Rosemary Clooney) or musically slight (The Nutcracker Suite).…
James Harrell’s Jumping Cactus Loudspeakers are high-efficiency designs (94dB) with isolated aluminum enclosures. The speaker’s front panels are finished in Bubinga wood, while the aluminum portions feature a nice satin black power coat. All three drive units are from Eminence. That’s a 10” paper cone woofer, a 6” paper cone midrange unit, and a 1” phenolic dome tweeter. The midrange and tweeter are secured atop the woofer enclosure via Velcro, and can be angled or moved back and forth. A passive Butterworth 1st order crossover is in its own enclosure and is velcro’ed onto the back…
In his Jumping Cactus room, James Harrell has put together a very fun system, and one that promises to be unlike anything else here in Denver.
Speakers: Jumping Cactus
Amplifier: Cary AES SE-1 kit
Preamplifier: Dynaco PAS 3 upgraded with Curcio power supply, Alps volume pot, 12AX7 Telefunkens
DVD player: Denon 2910 modified by Underwood HiFi
Turntable: Rega P3 (from 2001) with RB300 tonearm, Shure V15 VxMR cartridge with Jico replacement stylus
Subwoofer: Genesis Servo 12
Interconnects and speaker cables: homemade silver over copper Teflon-coated
Power…
Win Analog’s S Series-833 100W monoblock power amplifier (in the rear of this image) was designed to be “a statement product, both sonically and visually,” sales director John Dark explained. The amps measure 18” x 24” x 19” and weigh 200lbs. Its aluminum chassis panels are CNC-milled, 0.375” thick. That colossal tube in the center of the chassis is an RCA 833, originally employed as a radio transmitter. Dark says it was chosen here for its “very, very liquid sound.”
The amps were driving a pair of Rockport Technologies Mira Grand II loudspeakers. The system had a distant…