Steven Stone's Best of RMAF 2009
Best Sound – I heard many show-goers complaining about the awful sound in the Primrose room hosted by Audio Limits. They had YG Acoustics Anat II Reference speakers ($107,000), Weiss Jason transport ($19,600) Weiss Medea DAC ($16,200), Blacknote DSS-30 ($4500) Aural Acoustics Cables and a HRS SXR rack ($10,000), and FM Acoustics 811 MK2 amplifier ($128,800) with the FM Acoustics 245 preamp ($23,200). According to my math the entire system cost over $320,000. I scheduled 20 minutes before the show opened to hear it for myself. I was amazed how superb it sounded as long as it wasn’t turned up to the point where the room become involved. Once the room started to sing along the sound went straight into the crapper. But at lower SPLs it was the best I heard in terms of resolution and transparency. Too bad most RMAF visitors never got a chance to hear what this system could do since once the show opened the volume was immediately too loud. At show levels the system’s considerable sonic virtues were buried under maelstrom of reverb and unsympathetic room resonances.
Greatest Bargain – The GR research room, which featured their new Super-V speakers ($2495.00 for the component kit plus $995 for the flat-pack cabinet kit) dB Audio Labs Tranquility DAC ($995), Dodd Audio battery powered buffer ($995) with Dodd Audio battery-powered EL 84 15 watt amplifier ($995) Dodd Audio balanced power supply ($1195) and Mac Mini music server ($599) and Pi Audio Group Uber Buss AC device ($995) kept up with all the hyper-priced systems I heard at the show in terms of transparency, clean bass with full extension and dimensional soundstaging. This system, with a total price of approximately $9500 less cables, brings great sound to anyone with a middle income.
Most Significant Product Introduction – Open baffle speakers from Lowther, GR Research, Nola, Battery Powered Technology, and Genesis demonstrated that even, no, especially in boxy badly-proportioned hotel rooms open-baffle speakers can produce satisfying SPLs without engaging and energizing the room’s pernicious nodes and resonances. The room is STILL the most expensive and difficult to optimize component in any audio system. Open baffle speakers offer an elegant sonic solution for audiophiles saddled with even the worst constructed rooms.
Greatest Technological Breakthrough – Harman High Performance Groups’ double extension semi with its superb three-seat home theater listening room. It proves that even a tin-bodied mobile home (that’s in essence what the Harmon vehicle is) can be made to sound superb if properly configured. I’ve never heard “The Fifth Element” sound as good as in the Harman demo, and I’ve heard this movie on more systems over the years than I care to remember.
Best Demo Music – That’s easy – whatever I brought with me. Every showgoer should have the same answer. If you come to an audio show without your own music to demo you might as well have arrived without your pants.
Most Important Trend – Three words – computer music sources. What was writing on the wall at last year’s RMAF has morphed into a Texas stadium-sized Jumbotron display – in the near future all digital music files will be on a computer. Silver discs are deader than Federico Franco.
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Comments
Steve:
Not Battery Powered Technology---it should read Balanced Power Technologies for the large 2-way open baffle speakers in the Iris room.
Hello Chris,
Thanks for the correction. I won't get it wrong again, I promise!
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
what equipment was in the Harman 'room"
The Harman "rooms" had a two-channel system with Levinson electronics and Revel speakers. The multi-channel system had the Lexicon BD-30, Samsung projector and a JBL synthesis system.
The two-channel system was not set up well and sounded appropriately mediocre, but the home theater room was tuned to perfection and sounded very good.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Interesting that you bring up open baffle speakers as if they are something new at RMAF. This is at least the third year that Lowther demonstrated OB systems, and at 2008, Siegfried Linkwitz demonstrated his superb Orion system to a perpetually packed room of listeners, most of whom were duly impressed. Of course none of the main stream press wrote so much as a word about it. I wonder why?
Actually Open baffle designs have been around for a L-O-N-G time. Lowthers go back at least 30 years...
But that's not my point - the important thing was the VARIETY of open baffle designs - ribbon, compression driver, dynamic driver, servo system bass, etc.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
"Most Important Trend – Three words – computer music sources"
I completey agree here. I was floored by the number of servers being used, from the high priced full on units to Apple TV's and Mac MIni's. It great seeing technology that can be used by so many coming to the for front.
its funny - the yg acoustics room - the $320,000 system should sound wonderful regardless of the room - shouldn't it? - thats why i think that hi end audio is so over-rated sometimes - who would know that the room is the problem if i spent all that money?
i would always assume that the electronics at that price could overcome any room problems!
it perpetuates my belief that sometimes high end is a croc of shit
stu margolis
No electronics can overcome a bad room.
If you think it should, or can, then your grasp of acoustics is a crock of shit...
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
your right - my grasp of acoustics is a cos - totally -
so what your saying is that over the years that some or most of the time it hasn't been my electronics that sound lousy but it could have been or still is my room that needs to be looked at?
How do i know if its my room or the electronics? - How would the average person know just getting into the "high end" - I guess room acoustics should be 100% touted over electronics - new people should be warned that room acoustics plays a very fundamental part and if you don't pay attention to your room setup - your in for a confusing ride.
im not trying to be smart or anything - just want to get clear.
thanks
stu margolis
A Perfect Question. Dig up Stereophile Test CD 2. released in 92 and still available just about anywhere. Select Track 19, The MATT Test and listen over headphones. That's the electronic version of your system at work. MATT means Musical Articulation Test Tones. Next switch the signal over to your mains. Sit down into your listening position, take a deep breath and hit play. What you now hear is your room's rendition of that test signal. Ouch, and it will hurt. It's a wake up call you can't forget. If your system, which includes the room, can't play that test signal clearly, that means your system can't play music. Go to http://www.acousticsciences.com/matt.htm to learn more about this room acoustic test. There is a free download of the acoustic test signal available there. Also, you’ll find an AV tutorial that lets you listen to how a simple rectangular room picks up speed and clarity as it is taken through the stages of room acoustic treatment which includes corner bass traps, as illuminated by the MATT Test…….Art Noxon
Hello Stewart,
"By George He got it!"
The Room should DEFINITELY be touted over electronics - it is, except in very rare cases, the most expensive part of a sound system.
The best high-end dealers include the room in the equation for creating a satisfying system. The "plodders" and "box merchants" don't.
There are several good books for beginning audiophiles that include a lot of material about room acoustics. Bob Harley's book has excellent sections on rooms, how to position speakers in rooms, and how to go about making a room speaker-friendly.
Frankly, unless you have acquired a truly ghastly assemblage of gear that is completely mismatched or downright broken, your room will always be the weak link in your system.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
thanks for you suggestion - i do really like your reviews in the absolute sound - i have been listening to high end stuff for about 18years and have purchased quite a bit of gear over the years - nobody - i mean no one - not one dealer has tried to sell me any room acoustic stuff nor was it talked about when making a purchase
perhaps dealers shoud make it a point to not sell you something if the room isn't optimixed properly - i mean i have had so much gear pass thru my home - im still waiting for speakers and amps to "break in" . perhaps it has been my room all along
i guess my bass traps and my corner triangle pads and uneven bookshelves and curtains need to go - ill go back to my hardwood floors and take out the carpet i had installed in my listening room
i hear what your saying - i guess i have seen (listened) to so much hype and not enough substance
so glad you engaging me!
"i guess my bass traps and my corner triangle pads and uneven bookshelves and curtains need to go - ill go back to my hardwood floors and take out the carpet i had installed in my listening room"
That's a fine start,
Have you tried to damp first side reflections?
What about floor bounce and ceiling bounce?
Are your bass traps tuned to the worst low frequency resonances in your room?
Is your listening position off-center in relation to your center line and midpoints of the room?
So many things can contribute to making a room more acoustically benign.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
good points - ill address them - wasn't that aware of them - wish some one had said that to me in the past
thanks
You are so right. Dealers do have to put bass traps in the corners of their show rooms if they want to demo why intro high end is a whole lot better than mid fi. But they think of their bass traps as if they were retail display racks, widgets that help move product through the doors. And why would they want to sell their retail display fixtures to their customers?
What do they say when the customer asks: “Hey, what are those round cylinders in the corners of your room?” They always say, “Oh, you know we’re stuck doing high end audio in a leased commercial space. We do the best we can here to set up our systems so they sound here like they will sound when you get them home. Those cylinders help us do that…..” The bass traps in the store are not a product for sale, they are store fixtures.
We supplied over 140 TubeTraps for free to 60 manufacturer and dealers demo room at RMAF 2010. The insiders of the audio business know for a fact that you just have to put a couple bass traps, preferably TubeTraps, in the front corners of any hifi or recording studio setup. What did most every spokesman say during the equipment-list part of their pitch? “ …and here we have the TubeTraps. We needed them because, as you know, the sound in these motel rooms is pretty awful. We want you to hear our system the way it would sound at home.” Again, a sales fixture.
I had a dealer once who was always putting in order for TubeTraps, like clockwork. One day I was in the neighborhood and stopped by for a visit. I was curious what his trick was for making so many sales. I was in for a rude awakening but didn’t know it yet. He hemmed and hawed for a while and then decided to confess. He said he actually couldn’t sell a TubeTrap if his life depended on it. When ever someone bought a whole system, he gave them one set of TubeTraps for free. “Just put them in the front corners of your listening room. It helps the system work more smoothly if you have to play it in a box shaped room.” And why did he do that? No one ever came back for a refund when they went home with the bass traps. I left the shop of my good dealer ….stunned into silence.
The only time a dealer sells a TubeTrap or any other bass trap is when they are in trouble. The customer is bringing back a brand new more expensive amp, can’t hear the difference. The dealer says, Oh, no problem, must be your room is messing with you. Here, take a couple of these hummers home, put them in the front corners of your room so they’ll calm down your room a bit. Then listen to that great amp you just bought. You’ll hear how good it is.
………………Art Noxon
Too bad that dealer couldn't encourage his customers to check out the ASC website.
More than enough solid info to make anyone into a room correction enthusiast.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
It is not the room. It is buffoons like Mr Stone that have the nerves to declare a system “best in show” when played softly. What’s next, “sounded best not played”? If the audio press was just a bit more professional, this industry would have looked a lot better. BTW if the room is so bad, why would a manufacture choose to show in it? I have to say, Mr Margolis have a point.
If I had a dollar for every time some moron called me a buffoon I'd be able to buy that whole system with cash...
Sometimes, actually most times, a dealer or manufacturer has to take what's available for a show such as CES or RMAF. Often they want to show what's new, which may or may not be appropriately-sized for that room.
For the past four years I've heard various systems in this particular room at RMAF and no one has ever been able to make their system sound good when turned up because the room is fatally flawed.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Perhaps you should hold these “dealer or manufacturer” to a higher standards? They are not selling vegetables you know. If the rooms are so bad, why bother making sound? That will be like showing fine art in a badly lit gallery. Or test drive Ferraris on a gravel road.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Have you ever been to the Louvre in Paris?
When reality and idealism grounded in unreality clash, reality wins every time.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Are u saying that getting some good sound out of a $320K system in a show is an unrealistic expectation? I have been to many shows over the years and heard plenty of good sound. Form much cheaper systems I may add.
Did u rd mi pst?
did u understand it?
I think not...
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Curious to know if you made it to the Audio by Van Alstine and Salk Sound room. Salk has a new set of full range speakers. They are now called Soundscape 12 or SC12. They used to be called HT-4 before being given a proper name.
If you had a chance to listen I'm curious to know your impressions.
Thanks,
TV
I did hear both Salk speakers in the Van Alstine Room.
Considering the lack of any room treatments the system sounded quite good.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Hello Mr. Stone, I am aware that this article is a bit older and may be stale, however I would be greatful if you could give a bit more impressions(if you can recall) on the GR Research open baffle(super v) that you heard at RMAF. ie)upper range detail, air, mid range, low end accuracy/musicality, soundstage, imaging etc. I realize this may be a tall order, but would appreciate any insights from memory or your notes.
Thanks for all your years of balanced reviews and insight.
Shane
Hello Shane,
It's been a long time (in Audiophile years) I really can't give you anything useful.
I do believe that the Super V's are more than worth a listen, even if you have to travel a bit to hear them.
I encourage you to find someone with a pair within your area. Danny Ritchie can help you with this.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications