Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2004

Sunday

Eben had a north American premier had their X-3 large floorstanding full range loudspeaker ($14,400) with key featu8res including a planar tweeter that reproduces frequencies upwards of 50kHz. Four 6-inch polypropylene cone drivers are claimed to match the speed and resolution of the tweeter, and go down to 30Hz.

Emotive Audio's Epifania line stage preamplifier ($16,995) integrates a tubed current and voltage regulated power supply, uses a 'true hybrid' single audio stage. Each channel uses a 12B4A triode for audio; gas regulator tubes for voltage regulation and power supply, and Sophia mesh plate 274B for rectification.

Tyler Acoustics super large floorstanding loudspeaker ($12,000) weight in at 250 lbs and use Seas Magnesium Excel drivers. A pair of 10-inch drivers are for bass, 6-inchers for midrange, and a 1-inch silk soft tweeter for the highs. The system was wires with PranaWire including their Cosmos series interconnect and loudspeaker cables; all tri-wired a new Deva series. Samadhi and Maha Samadhi power chords.

A local Denver retail store Audio Unlimited was showcasing many of their wares including McIntosh, Acoustic Energy, Clearaudio, Tara Labs, Air Tight, Tannoy, BAT, JMlabs, Avalon, and many more.

Transrotor's Fat Bob turntable ($5,500 without arm) has the Audiocraft tonearm ($3,500) and Burma Jade Platinum cartridge ($8,000).

Of very interesting note in Air Tight's new vinyl Record Flattener ($1,800) that employs semiconductor heating element with special timed warm up and cool down to remove warps.

AYDN, an impressive equipment distributor, had KR Audio's Kronzilla DM ($22,000) monoblock amplifiers and they Artemis Labs. The Artemis Labs LA-1 ($2,850) tubed line stage has five inputs and uses a pair of 5687 triode tubes. The unit utilizes the Goldpoint stepped attenuator, auriCaps, Wima, and other audiophillia exotica. All circuitry is hand wired point to pit mounted on custom boards.

Dodd Audio had their 120 watt monoblock tube amplifier ($2,600) with a trio of 5687 and quad of EL-34s.

Local Store Listen Up! had many of their goodies including Sonus Faber, Bower & Wilkins, Canton, Music Fidelity, Bryston, Mark Levinson, Rotel, Denon, Audioquest, and Synergistic Cable plus many more.

ModWright's new SWL9.0 preamplifier ($1,400, or $1,900 with remote and uprated internal parts) is a straight-tubed line stage with home theater bypass, six inputs, and a pair of outputs. Internally it has choke regulation, discrete voltage regulation, battery grid bias, and a measured noise floor of -122dB.

Click here for the Rocky Mountain 2004 page.