RMAF 2008

Old and young—I mean, young and younger—dirtying their fingers and nourishing their souls, digging through the crates of vinyl.

Luxman and Vivid distributor Philip O'Hanlon, of On A Higher Note, always has a great selection of music at Shows, and RMAF was no exception. With a system based on Vivid B1 stand-mounted speakers ($13,500/pair) driven by a Luxman 30Wpc class-A integrated amplifier via Synergistic Research cables, the sound of an open-reel dub of a Reference Recordings Malcolm Arnold orchestral piece was distinguished by an enormous, stable soundstage, and excellent dynamics, with superb resolution of low-level orchestral detail. But I just can't get used to the speaker's alien-pod appearance.

I was surprised not only by the ease to the sound of my hi-rez audio files played on the system in the Wavelength room, but also by the resolution. Surprised, because I am not naturally a tube guy, and not only is Gordon Rankin's gear tubed, it is unshamedly single-ended.

Newcomer Virtue Audio made its debut at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest showing a colorful collection of affordable Tripath amplifiers. The 45Wpc Audiophile One ($249) integrated amp was engineered by Audience's Roger Sheker and uses VirtuCap input capacitors designed for Virtue by Audience. Inside the chassis, you'll find the cutest little heat pipe designed to maximize space and keep things cool. On the rear panel, propeller post binding posts makes making connections easy, and the amp's aluminum chassis is available in five bold colors (black velvet, snow [a kind of frosty white], red brick, clouds [a kind of frosty blue], and mesa [a kind of mustard]).

Putting together a loudspeaker kit may be an art of an older generation. I had model airplanes and cars, but I often hear older audiophiles talk about the first loudspeaker they ever built. It always kind of freaks me out.