Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Part Three: Mixed Bags

Mixed Bags

In the Larkspur Room, Acapella was showing its $192k Triolon Excalibur three-way horn system with separate bass towers, driven by Einstein electronics. In the past I’ve liked the Acapella High Violin with Einstein gear, so it may be that the sound I heard was, as was the case with the big Focals, a huge speaker struggling with a lousy room. Whatever the reason this wasn’t an entirely satisfying presentation. Although tone color was rich and rather sweet, the Triolons were too forward and aggressive and “shouty” on dynamics. Deep bass from the towers was very good; soundstaging wasn’t.

In Room 1110, Audience was showing its 16-driver ClairAudient Line Source Array ($33k plus $9k for the 12” subs, which are also available with 10” or 15” drivers), with a $25k Immedia Spiral Groove SG-1 ’table equipped with a TriPlanar arm and Lyra Scala cartridge as the source. The sound was very nice, with good low-level detail and delicate textures.

In Room 1116, the first of two High Water Sound rooms, the $8k Odeon Rigoletto two-way floorstander with transmission line bass was being fed by a $20k TW Acustic AC-3 ’table and the newly introduced $9k TW Acustic phonotage via Thoress electronics. The sound was very fine, indeed! Limited in the low bass, of course (the Odeon was a two-way, after all), but rich in tone color (in part thanks to the TW Acustic AC-3), alive in dynamics, with good midbass, nice staging, and a sweet treble.

In Room 1118, High Water was showing the $9k three-way Hornung Aristotles, which use a folded horn for the bass. On my Marc Cohn cuts, via the Raven Two turntable and Tron amplification, the sound was pretty good if a mite polite. I thought the midrange was a bit accentuated and the bass a little weak, but clarity was high.

In room 1121, the Serbian company Raal Advanced Loudspeakers showed its $80k Requisites, omnis comprising faceted columns of cone/ribbon drivers and woofers in cast bronze cabinets! The Raals didn’t have bad focus (for ominis), although the sound was a little dark and a little vague on “Keys to the Highway,” with a touch of “cupped-hands” coloration. That said, they showed better than I would’ve thought given their old-fashioned faceted-omni design. Not great, but not at all bad.

In room 1122 the German company Volent was showing its $5k VL2 two-ways, with a ribbon tweet and cone mid/bass that looked very much like the titanium driver in the original Magico Mini. The sound certainly was Mini-like in many ways. Limpid, transparent, lively, a little thin in tone color but very fast. This is a speaker I think TAS might want to consider for review.

In Room 1124, the Swiss loudspeaker company Boenicke was showing a $10-12k ribbon/cone line source with a folded horn woofer. Light, bright, lively, without any edge, it made a very neutral, transparent sound. There wasn’t much bass, but the rest was commendable.

In Mesa Verde A, Harbeth was showing its latest version of the classic 40.1 nearfield monitor (now $13k!). Perhaps it was the room, perhaps it was where I was sitting (which wasn’t particularly nearfield), but the Harbeth didn’t show its best—one-note in the bass, colored in the mids, with virtually no stage width, although the 40.1 had good depth and excellent transients. I know from the past that this classic is much better than it showed here, so I assume something about the setup was playing small havoc with its sound.

In the Hyatt Thunder Pass room, Legend Acoustics of Australia was showing its $35k four-way Tikandi Maestro with a DEQX digital processor dsp’ing the whole she-bang. In spite of eq’ing, the speaker was very loud in the bass and rather dark-hued overall.

In Room 9002, Feastrex was showing a $59k trial model of a horn-loaded single-driver loudspeaker with field coils in a gorgeous cabinet coated with many layers of Urushi lacquer. As exotic as you could find at a show filled with exotica, the speaker, alas, didn’t show particularly well—a bit hooded on “Keys to the Highway” (although very detailed), a little rough and boxy on “Rainy Night in Georgia.” Although the speaker was better close-up than at a distance, this wasn’t a neutral sound.

In Room 9030, Audio Federation was showing a giant four-chassis speaker system from the Swedish speaker company Marten, the $295k (!) Coltrane Supremes driven by Lamm ML-3s (which sounded marvelous at CES). The sound was exceptionally sweet, smooth, and detailed but also, I thought, a little bland. I’m sure this is a swell speaker (I’ve liked Martens in the past) and I know the Lamms are great amps. I assume the room was taking a small toll in liveliness. Even at that, this was very fine sound.

In Room 540, I heard the $60,900 Tidal Contriva, a large floorstander with all-ceramic drivers in an enclosure beautifully finished by a piano-maker. In the room it was in, the Contriva was a bit boxy, very detailed, quite warm and lovely sounding in timbre, but not as “there” as some others at the show on either the Guitar Gabriel or Captain Luke tracks. Where it not for the touch of added warmth and boxiness (perhaps room-induced), this would have been quite good. (Just as a point of comparison, the $39k Tidal Piano two-and-half-way sounded superb in Room 538—much more open, natural, and realistic. Perhaps it was the dCS Puccini used with the Pianos as a source that made some of the difference.)

In Room 574, the Austrian company Trenner & Friedl showed the $10k two-way Ella floorstander with a ceramic mid/bass and Vifa tweeter. Unfortunately, the Ella was sounding more like the Louis—boxy, chesty, weighted toward the bass. Bad room acoustics, I think.

In Room 570, I heard an Apogee Diva ($13k) full-range ribbon, restored by TrueSoundWorks and driven by ARC and Pass electronics. The sound was superb—boxless, open, airy, with very realistic timbre. One of the better sounds at the show.