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2006 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
Denver,
Colorado. The 2006 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest
put on one dandy of a show this, its third
consecutive year. As a matter of fact, it
turned out to be one of the best shows I've
attended EVER! Consider my reasons too
numerous to enumerate. Attendance seemed better
than last year but I wouldn't consider this an event packed with visitors.
Nor would I prefer it.
This show was, in my
opinion, perfectly balanced. Especially if you're a music lover.
Exhibitors may not agree with me. I certainly
am understand why.
There was
plenty of sweet-spot availability the very
moment you walked into a room with none of
those CES tire-kickers that normally walk into
a room while you're listening, interrupt your
session with loud talk about everything in the
room except the music playing.
Sigh.
I was in what
can only be described as a perfect situation
with which to judge the music via all these good
sounding systems...that is, until my beloved
pack of CD samplers were stolen. Oh well,
thank god they were only samplers or I would
have thrown a S...fit. Those new Andy Bey discs
I had just purchased only days ago would have
definitely been the death of me.
 Ad
designer Carlos Sanchez accompanied me on
this, his first audiophile show road trip, and
may I say for a first, he was quite lucky
because this was one of those events I doubt
anyone in attendance could easily forget. The
show's overall atmosphere appeared infused
with a positive energy that went from room to
room, person to person. Everyone looked in a
festive mood for some reason. Was it me? Was I
(and everyone else I ran into) adversely
affected by Denver's high altitude? Nah, don't
think so. This was simply a very good show
that turned out better than anyone expected.
So much in fact, Audio Note (photo above
right), who earned my "worst setup" at CES a
few years back, and who's infamous at
demonstrating their super expensive gear under
hotel tables, made a statement by employing
one of my favorite iso-racks in Acoustic
Dreams' 4-tier rack and amp stands.
First things
first, I must take my hat off to all those
well setup rigs that seemed to call out to me
at every stop and every turn. The price of the
setups seemed only secondary or merely
incidental to their performance. In fact, most
of the rooms that sounded extremely good were
real-world oriented and thus affordable.
Speaking of
real world....
 The
Blue Circle/Selah Audio Room put Bill Wells
(photo right) and I in a virtual sonic
spin-cycle. Here was a full blown Blue Circle
setup composed of a (soon to be announced)
Blue Circle BmPH integrated and BC501 D to A
converter strapped to a Stello transport. Blue
Circle BC92 (shotgun, bi-wire configuration)
speaker cabling, BC95 interconnects, BC62 AC
Cords and AC conditioning (BC602 and BC606).
Loudspeakers were the surprisingly involving,
open and musical sounding Selah Audio 3D
loudspeakers($5k) employing an open rear
baffle design reminiscent of my old Von
Schweikert VR4.5s. Supported by a 10" woofer
housed in its own separate enclosure, this
ceramic mid-driver and ribbon tweeter had me
revisiting this room again and again. It was
this room in particular that threw me for a
sonic loop. Considering the cost of this
entire setup, the sound was absolutely stellar
regardless of price. The Stello transport,
very affordable at $995, performed quite
impressively with Blue Circle's new prototype
BC501 dac. I considered this room as my
reference in affordability/performance.
A
Scandinavian feast on the mezzanine...
 The dCs P8i
one box Player ($14k), along with the Raidho Eben
X3
loudspeaker ($17k) driven by an Arcam pre and
mono amps ($3,600) via Nordost cabling through
and through put
on another great demo in the same room as last
year. The sound was cool, clear and concise
with oodles of harmonic bloom. Nordost cable has always been a curiosity
of mine. The overall neutrality of this system was another
good reason why. The one thing you've got to
give those folks on the mezzanine is their
very nice sized rooms. Among the best at the
show.
Boulder in
Denver?....
 Audio
Unlimited of Denver put on demo that featured
all top tier products such as Wilson Audio's
Maxx 2 driven with Boulder's 2060 stereo
amplifier, 2010 pre, 2020 dac, and 2008 phono
stage. The Accuphase DP78 SACD/CD player was
steadied in case the need for hi-rez was
called on. Depressed yet? To further humble Us
With Little Paper, they employed the Clear
Audio Master Solution turntable fit with that
amazingly musical Graham Phantom tonearm while
the cartridge was the Koestu Onyx. Running
Springs handled all the AC pollutants while
Tara Labs 0.5 cables were used throughout. I'm
not going to even try explaining the sonics of
this room. You can think what you want about
Boulder electronics but I've heard them both
under ideal and not so ideal conditions and
they're world class no bout adout it (sic).
Consider using this big rig 'table from Clear
Audio and again you push the envy-lope still
further. Tell you what, I've always been
impressed by Boulder no matter what it was
driving (appears to be Wilson at present) and
you know, there's plenty to like in those Maxx
2s as well. 'Least from my vantage point here
in the sweetspot!
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