A Report From the Front Lines - 2008 RMAF

Its been a few days since I have returned from Denver and the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. It was a interesting time... given the turmoil in the stock markets that week and econ0mic issues that have been going one for the past year or so, there is obviously much concern by dealers, manufacturers, and customers about the Hi-End audio industry. After talking to many folks at the show here are some thoughts about were things stand and were they are going as well as some comments on a few neat things I saw at the show.

The (Hi-End) industry is reasonably healthy. There will be some companies that will have some problems during the next few years, but many have a number of factors working in their favor. One is that they do business globally and while the US market may be having issues, other markets around are doing somewhat to significantly better. Another factor is that to a certain extent, the more expensive end of the business has a customer base that is not so sensitive to economic issues compared to the regular middle class working family (the old saying, those with money will always have money and be willing to spend it). I'm not saying that the Hi-End audio industry is going to have a easy time of it, the next few years will most likely be slow going for many. The folks in this industry who will have (and are having) the toughest time of it are the smaller US independent hi-end audio retailers. I spoke to a few other retailers at the show and some (especially those in markets were the real estate foreclosure and drop in property values is the worse in the USA) are having it really tough. In those markets many dealers did allot of business with mortgage re-fi or mortgage financed high end audio based home theater systems. Many of these dealers are making their way back to do more traditional two channel audio... some will muddle through and make it and some will not. A good deal of this has been going on for a while now. In general, I have found my own business slow in the past couple of years compared to previous years and expect it to continue this way for a few more years until our country finds it way out of the the many issues it is now facing.

Audiophiles are a pretty upbeat bunch though. Some (mostly us average middle class folks) are naturally freaked out by the current economic issues and are keeping their hands in their pockets. I'll also say the currents issues with war and politics (the upcoming major election) do allot to keep folks minds distracted as well. All this tends to have a negative impact on the domestic US high-end audio marketplace, but for many some tunes played on a nice HiFi rig are the best kind of distraction from these things and this at least keeps interest in HiFi up. So it was not too surprising to hear that attendance was up at this years shows and the number of exhibitors continues to grow too. This means that this 4th Rocky Mountain Audio Fest has seen its forth continued year of growth in both exhibitors and attendance. That's a good thing, and despite the occasional joke about what was happening to our 401Ks, folks were happily running around buying LPs, going to the seminars, and checking out the gear. My traveling mate for the show (Bobby P from Merlin Music Systems showing his VSM-MXe Speaker System) reported that those folks who were about were serious about buying too as he was getting a number of serious sales leads from consumers attending the show. BTW, I thought the sound in our room (Merlin, Joule-Electra, Cardas) was smashing good (must be that Audio Aero Prestige CD player of mine that we were using ;-) or somthun). For those of you who did not make it to the show or who have never been to a HiFi show, you can see s short vid below of our room to get an idea of what a (well set-up) room looks like.





OK, as to the gear, there was the great and sometimes unusual assortment of HiFi gear at the RMAF this year. This always makes it a fun show to attend. Some of it sounded pretty good and some didn't. Ipod and PC based digital front ends seems to be as ubiquitous as cool ol analog set-ups. It was not as unusual to see a laptop feeding a DAC via a USB input or a iPod sitting in a Wadia iTransport dock via its coax digital out feeding a DAC. One of the more cooler digital friendly type peices I hard was the Peachtree Audio Decca integrated amp. This very handsomely styled unit has a tube analog stage, solid state 50W/ch output, analog inputs as well as a built in DAC with USB and co-ax digital inputs for only $799! If your like me and have a Sonos digital music system, it even has a empty slot in the back were a Sonos ZP-80 or ZP-90 ZonePlayer will fit inside! A short digital cable from the ZonePlayer to the Decco and you have a sharp all in one package.


I was also eyeing the new Benchmark Media ADC1 USB A to D converter in the room next door to the Merlin/Joule/Cardas room that I was working out of. I have been considering archiving some my LP collection to digital so I can enjoy some of the music on the Sonos digital music system in the house, my iPod, and in the car and the Benchmark looks like the way to go. You can spend much less for a A to D to do this, but those units will not supports up to 24 bit resolution and 192 Khz sampling rate. For $1,800 the Benchmark ADC1 USB packs allot of technology into a small package and I like its reputation for transparency, low jitter and high quality USB interface. It doesn't hurt that the Benchmark Media folks are great guys that design and build their gear just a few miles away from my place in the Syracuse New York area!

There is no shortage of unusual gear for a audio enthusiast to check out at the RMAF. Take for example the ViV Laboratory Evanui Signature Loudspsekaer system from Japan. These creative folks have design a full range driver from Floating Diaphragm Mechanism driver made from pure magnesium. From a side view these speakers look like something more akin to E.T. than a speaker, but the sound was surprisingly good. I could go on, but there is (or will be) no shortage of coverage on this stuff from the Folks at Stereophile Magazine, Soundstage.com, EnjoytheMusic.com, and ohter HiFi mags and websites.