RMAF 2016 Show Report
Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest & CanJam 2016
Part 2 By Steven R. Rochlin

  Looking at my Rolex Daytona in Everose gold, i ask myself "Has it been 15 minutes?" Andrew Jones of ELAC surely has used up his 15 minutes of fame, yet he has earned another 15 for engineering another line of spectacular-sounding speakers at an astonishingly reasonable price!  Here he is warmly accepting an Enjoy the Music.com Blue Note Award for the ELAC Debut F5 floorstanding speaker. It seems that every reviewer, every show attendee, and every customer who has heard or bought a set of the new ELAC Debut speaker truly enjoys the music they produce. Sure i could go on and on about the great build quality of the Debut F5 floorstander, the low price of only $588 per pair, or how Andrew Jones is one of the truly talented speaker designers of our lifetime. But, instead, let me give you a sneak peek into a review i'm writing up right now. During my review i used a normal amp priced of around a few grand. For the past 90 days or so have been reviewing a unit that is priced well over $20,000 and just for grins and giggles hooked up the ELAC Debut 5 speakers. OMG, you would not believe how great the ELAC F5s can sound when you use an  ultra-fi serious amplifier with big wattage driving them! Decades ago did this same 'trick' with JM Lab small monitors hooked up to massive Threshold monoblocks and, well.... Massive expensive amps driving reasonably-priced speakers might seen crazy, yet once you hear the results you may walk away wondering which component is truly the most important. Check for my review of this reference-quality $20,000+ amplifier within the November 2016 issue of Enjoy the Music.com's Review Magazine.

Getting ready for my seminar titled something like "We gave you 24 hours to put together a seminar and find people for it so send us the list, and guess it'll be along the lines of 'industry pros with fun personal stories because we're having more fun that is legal while enjoying music', i wound up at the ChannelD, Cardas Audio, and JosephAudio room. Their room was just setup as their gear arrived late and so the sound was still settling in. Made a note to stop back and give it a listen, yet business meetings and partying at night with longtime industry professionals while we shared heartwarming personal stories together. We had a blast, especially dinner with this one legendary speaker designer and two print magazine editors (those there know who the guilty party is!). Well, guess it is time for that truly fun and relaxing seminar thing and so....

Have you ever seen a more motley crew, well, besides the band Motley Crüe? Ok, we kinda sorta bait-n-switched the audience a bit on the title of the seminar because, well, why be so retentive about life? If you're not having fun, then you're not doing it right and everyone on our panel had a great time as audience members had an abundance of time to ask whatever questions they desired. It could be about future tech, retailing, manufacturing, portable audio, speakers, amps... Brannan Mason of Noble Audio, Arnold Martinez of Tweak Studio, Warren Chi of Cavalli Audio, Leif Swanson of Von Schweikert, Mat Weisfeld of VPI and Stephanie Scola of KEF. The audience was truly outstanding and they asked some excellent questions too! Both newbies and seasoned music lovers enjoyed the many fun stories and tales of the industry. Maybe one day i'll write a tell-all book? A most humble thanks to all those who attended the seminar and if there are any additional questions you can always e-mail, PM via FaceTwit, etc. Don't be shy :)

Speaking of tell-all and sharing a heartwarming story, it is no secret i'm (proudly) a bit of a geek. And surfer, Championship winning SCCA race car driver, mechanical watch, camera guy, etc. So when i saw the above poster it reminded me of my days as a librarian's assistant in my youth-ish. Sure it was due to having access to all those books, including the rare and very valuable research / deep knowledge ones in the back few ever see. And yes, there was this lovely librarian, you all know the fantasy, and if not, well, that's cool. (Live the dream. Live the dream.). Eh hem, anyway....

If you're an audiophile and want to have access to the industry's best library data for cables and system matching / mating then The Cable Company is the best place for you! Owner Robert Stein was at RMAF 2016 not only touting their immense library data for cables and system matching, he was also giving demonstrations with their Vinyl Cleaner Pro ($4199). Vinyl lovers know you need to clean those LPs, no matter if they are brand new or garage sale find, and so The Cable Company offers cables, vinyl record cleaners, and even tweaks and audio gear too. You need to visit their website as am sure they offer something you need to make your system not only sound better, it'll make your life a bit more enjoyable too. Enjoy the music!

---> Click here for RMAF 2016 show report part 3 by Steven R. Rochlin.