Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2015 review
Thursday, 29th October 2015
John, Simon and our PR guru Phil all went out to Denver recently to support Rohan and Russ - along with friends Mandy and Joely - at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Possibly the most prestigious in the USA, the show attracts visitors from all over the country throughout the three day event.
L to R front row: Russ, Rohan and Mandy L to R back row: Phil, John, Joely and Simon
Russ Andrews USA had a main shop display in the hotel lobby along with a separate demo room on the third floor. The demo itself was based on our popular UK version where we buy some decent mid-range kit on eBay and compare the performance of the standard out-of-the-box cables with the start of the Kimber and Russ Andrews range. This was particularly pertinent at Denver as our corridor was showcasing another budget system of the same value but majoring on new components. It's no exaggeration to say that the audience was stunned by the level of performance that came out of our little $1600 system in comparison!
Budget system:
- Amp: Arcam Alpha 7
- CD Player: Arcam Alpha 7
- Speakers: Focal 706
Cabling:
- Power Cables: RA100 x2
- Interconnects: Kimber Timbre
- Speaker cable: Kimber 4PR
A couple of reviewers who came to listen to the demo were mightily impressed by the results. First up was Rick LaFaver of www.enjoythemusic.com. We got the impression that there are not too many demos like this at US shows i.e. ones where a direct comparison is made between the 'before' and 'after' effects of products, and we certainly had an impact: "This was a great demo as they switched between cheapy out of the box speaker cables and interconnects to Kimber and Russ Andrews' entry level line. It was truly pulling a veil off the sound and letting the music shine". So surprised was he with the results that he had to check behind the system just to check there was no trickery going on! "I assure you" he says, "it was just the cables" and concludes by saying "I am a believer". Click here to see his full review
www.theaudiobeat.com was already familiar with our UK operation so had some idea of what to expect, but even they were surprised by the effects:
"This simple three-minute demo left many listeners stunned by the degree of musical improvement that resulted. Every single aspect of musical reproduction was lifted, and not by a little bit. More bandwidth, more dynamic range, more color, more immediacy, more emotion, more expression, more detail, more naturalness, more convincing -- I could go on, but it’s easy to conclude that there was simply, substantially more music".
President of Russ Andrews USA, Rohan Andrews, in the shop area
Amusingly, the reviewer, Roy Gregory, continues with the observation that:
Amusingly, the reviewer, Roy Gregory, continues with the observation that:
"I saw several (I assume) cable skeptics blundering out of the room as if they’d just had their compasses demagnetized. Never mind -- I’m sure they’ll recover and convince themselves that it was all an illusion, bad dream or con of some description. More open-minded individuals would do well to take the lesson on board: cables matter, all cables matter, and using all the same cables matters".
We couldn't agree more! See the full review here
Patrick Dillon's blog at http://audiomatters.blogspot.co.uk suggested that the "Winner of the great fun room award has to be Russ Andrews" adding that we were a "great part of the proceedings, and a cheery bunch of folks too, they know how to make room visitors feel welcome. Listen and learn others - this is the type of room that encourages people to enjoy RMAF and the audio hobby". Thanks Patrick – that's some complement!
He was impressed with the results of the demo too, noting that "it took all of 5 seconds to hear the difference even on a Neil Diamond track... the differences were obvious and should be a required experience for those who claim wire is wire".
Click here for the full review
Kimber were exhibiting in force too with a major space allocated to showcase their high-end cables along with our PowerKords, for which we received a joint award for Best Exhibit from EnjoyTheMusic.com. The system sounded simply 'awesome' and garnered some very high praise from the press, including this quote from Rick LaFaver of the aforementioned Enjoy The Music: "The experience was nothing short of breathtaking! I've heard live performances that didn't reach this level of realism, dynamics, and scale." Click here for his full statement.
Their room also featured a 'real-life' grand piano and audiences were treated to stunning performances from Fan-Ya Lin, a great reminder of what live music actually sounds like - and a wonderful comparison to be able to walk a few yards and hear the same performance played back through the wonderful system next door!
Kimber were also present on the ninth floor with 3 rooms dedicated to entry, mid and high end cabling, using a mixture of Hi-Fi and Home Cinema systems, whilst in the CanJam headphone area their new range of headphone cables was being previewed prior to its full launch early next year. Kimber have gone right back to their roots with an adaptation of 4PR and 8PR for this new range of beautiful headphone cables. Click here for a video of Nate Allen from Kimber Kable explaining the new cables at the RMAF.
Our presence throughout the show prompted Enjoy The Music to issue the following statement along with their Award for Best Exhibit at RMAF 2015:
"As good as all of the systems sounded, there was really only one exhibitor that MADE the show. They brought beautiful live performances from the like on Fan-Ya Lin, they had multiple cabling AB demos, even headphone AB demos. They also, with help from EMM Labs and Martin Logan, had one of the better sounding rooms in the show. I am speaking of course of Kimber Kable and Russ Andrews. They successfully brought an interactive and vibrant room to RMAF 2015 that was awesome!"
Written By Simon Dalton
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