So this is the wrap-up of my Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2019 coverage, and basically, I wanted to post some pics of the rooms I dug but haven’t posted yet. Zu Audio’s room was pretty cool with the Druid 6 and Omen Dirty Weekend paired with Pass Labs/Holo Audio gear, the newly launched Sonus Faber Olympica Nova/Audio Research room was impressive based on looks alone.
PS Audio had the latest prototype of their first speaker, the AN3 on display, of course with PS audio electronics, and the newest version with the revamped tweeter array sounded pretty good to me. Gobel High-End speakers are always sexy, and the five and a half foot tall gloss black Divin speaker was majestic.
The Mcintosh Room was huge and had three separate systems on display, it’s looked cool, but I think the cavernous room worked against in the form of reverberations. The Klipsch Heritage rooms sounded really good with the revamped Cornwall playing in one room, and the revamped Klipschorn in the other. Both had Cary Audio tube gear commissioned for Klipsch.
I was also a fan of the Ayre/Auralic/Dali Epicon 8 room…the sound was good…I just wish they picked up the tempo a little bit with the demo tracks…The Tekton Design MOAB pretty much swallowed up the room they had it in, but they still managed to have one of the best, if not the best sounding room at the show, and I heard several people in the halls saying the same thing.
The Wilson Audio/VTL room featured the new Wilson Audio Sasha DAW and they sounded excellent with the VTL amps. I also liked the room with the Paradigm Personas and the New Anthem STR Integrated Amplifier. The Anthem Room correction had the floorstanders and subs locked in making for a very cohesive sound.
One room that had everyone talking was the Endow Audio/Hegel room. As soon as you walked in, you know some really different was going on in there. Endow unveiled their new $44,000 FS301 speaker with something they call Point Array technology. Each speaker has a noticeable pod or array of full-range drivers at the top, which in conjunction with outboard passive signal processors allow for very low crossover point.
This, in theory, allows for enhanced imaging, and greater transparency, since there is very little manipulation of the signal in the part of the spectrum where our hearing is most sensitive. I must say the transparency and imaging of the FS301 were pretty good. I would love to hear them again for a longer period of time.
Two other rooms that sounded really good was the NOLA/VAC room where they had the brand new $44,000 Nola Concert Grand Reference Gold 2 Speakers running with a VAC amplifier…I guess for that scratch they should be good, but that’s not always the case. The Salk/Schitt room impressed me again even though they switched up the Salk Audio speakers (SS 9.5) from the ones they used at Axpona which were the Song 3.
Check out the pics of the rooms I highlighted, plus a few more! Enjoy!
I’m an audio writer who started as a young audio salesman/consumer electronics professional back in the late 90s. That’s where I discovered the magic of 2-Channel sound. My thirst for great sound has led me on a delightful music quest that continues today.
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