Time is short…on to my Audio Oasis! Awards. These I give to the rooms that were of high quality, drawing me in to sit down and really get into the music. You know: An audio oasis! Rest for the weary audio traveler and all that. For me, that's a sign of great accomplishment, especially under show conditions.
Wherever possible, I'll supply lists of equipment in a given room, but remember that many exhibitors are rather diffident (or worse) about getting their room lists ready for journalists and visitors. Big mistake. When that happens, I can't let you know the specifics.
Exhibitors, if this is you, pay attention…you know who you are.
This year's RMAF winners, in no particular order, include:
GTT Audio/Audionet/YG Acoustics/Kubala-Sosna/KRONOS
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Another year of really righteous sound from Bill Parish, Joe Kubala, Dick Diamond, and company. This team really has their room down to a fine art, with the YG Acoustics speakers fed by the KRONOS Pro LE turntable to the Audionet electronics via Kubala-Sosna Elation! cables and the XPander Power Distribution Unit. Show in and show out, this combination has set an extraordinarily high standard, with massive synergy all around. With the quad set of MAX amplifiers, the YG's reproduce the KRONOS feed with an effortless authority that must be heard to be believed.
This was truly an amazing system, from a team of companies that are producing state-of-the-audio-arts sound. Only a few high-end audio rooms are able to maintain such an exalted standard from year to year, in my experience. (Yes, I have a short list of names.) This is one of them. If you haven't heard the GTT Audio room and this collection of designs, you really owe it to yourself to visit their room the next time that you go to Newport Beach or RMAF.
It's a true reference standard.
GTT Audio/Kii Audio/Kubala-Sosna/PS Audio
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Right next door to the GTT Audio room above was another excellent space, featuring Kii THREE speakers, Audionet electronics, and Kubala-Sosna cabling with the XPander. The source was the excellent PS Audio PerfectWave transport and the DirectStream DSD DAC. The Audionet/and K-S gear I've praised above (and elsewhere; see Issue 77 at for my notes on Audionet), and the PS Audio gear has also been reviewed by me in past issues (see, for example, my review of the DirectStream back in Issue 74).
Here I concentrate on the remarkable performance of the new Kii THREE speakers, retailing at $16,400 for a pair of speakers and matching stands. Each of these monitor speakers features no less than six drivers…but also six amplifiers, each dedicated to a speaker, and, to top it off, six DACs, each also dedicated to a speaker. One could drive the Kii Three speakers with a computer or music server if you liked, although this room used PS Audio and an Audionet PRE 1 G3 on the source end.
http://positive-feedback.com/show-reports
