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Rocky Mountain Audio Fest next weekend Oct 20-22!


gonzp

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Well, having just returned from a 3 day weekend at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival, I am glad that I have got my system pieced together. I would hate to have to go to a show like this, to figure out which direction I would want to go. Integrated, separates,tubes, solid state, floor-standing speakers, bookshelf speakers, monitor speakers, music server, CD player, vinyl, ipod???? cables, room treatments...... The choices are endless, as is the amount of money that can be spent. I seen and heard $250,000 speakers, $50,000 turntables, $25,000 CD players, $5,000 interconnects and, in my opinion an awful lot of snake oil. I also heard an awful lot of noise. Very few vendors take into consideration the size of their show rooms when they bring their latest and greatest wares to show off.

The rooms are probably 16'x 20' most speakers are placed along the short wall, to provide seating space for attendees. A 300 WPC set of mono-blocks with a pair of 6 foot tall multiple driver speaker array with sub-woofers placed 3-4 foot away from the wall comes off as a wall of noise rather than the latest and greatest $35,000 wonder stereo from company X. Sensory overload was the only thought that raced through my mind as I made my way home Sunday night. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful things happening in the two channel world, there is just an awful lot of choices.

I was able to spend some time in the Juicy Music room with our pal Mark and his lovely wife. After seeing and hearing hundreds and thousands of dollars in gear, I believe that what we here on the board listen too on a daily basis is every bit as good as what is displayed in those rooms. The amp builders here, such as Craig and Mark take a back-seat to no-one. While waiting for an elevator at the fest on Saturday, I overheard one gentleman tell another "I have got to get down to that Juicy Music room. I hear this guy is running his stereo on on a $600.00 pair of ...Klipsch... speakers, with lamp cord? " On Sunday afternoon while talking to the Dineens' this guy comes into the room and starts tapping his feet and you could tell that he was impressed with these $600.00 speakers hooked up with lamp cord. While talking to Mark, I overhear him telling Mark that "this was what stereo was all about and how musical Mark's set-up was" He bragged that he had interconnects, that cost more than Mark's entire system. He was wearing a yellow badge, which indicated he was from the media. I did not catch his name but, I did see that he was from Stereophile Magazine. I have no idea how many amps,preamps or phono kits Mark sold but he did sell the $600.00 Klipsch speakers! All in all the show was fun. I hung out with a half dozen or so audio buddies from Colorado, drank way too many beers on Friday night with my brother Dave from Centennial Colorado and met Mark and Paula. Can't wait for next year!!!

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