Herb Reichert

That is me you see hanging out the car window like an old hound dog—ears flappin' in the slipstream—a big smile on my face. I am happy in the wind 'cause I am heading down to Rockville, Maryland to Capital Audio fest (starting today, November 3, and running though Sunday November 5) where I will see at least 60 fine audio rooms and I'll chatter on a panel about "The Virtues of Vintage" with old pals, Art Dudley, Joe Roberts, and Blackie Pagano. I'll be cruising the Rockville Hilton Hotel halls meeting new people and visiting the rooms of some old and (hopefully) some new friends. Tickets for entry are only $20 a day or $30 for the whole weekend.

Every day in my bunker, I use one of a few high-quality headphone amplifiers to double as a line-level preamplifier-controller and operate as the quality-assurance reference for my ongoing audio experiments. I must choose this component carefully, because it determines the upper limit of my system's ability to reveal any subtle differences among components under review.

Sunday afternoons at audio shows are when the good sound is just kicking in. The rooms' components have recovered from the trauma of travel and are starting to purr. Unfortunately, that's when the toys go back in the boxes. That is also when this humble reporter looks like he's been dragged behind a car.

And this Sunday, just when I thought I was done being dragged, I get this mad call from an out-of-breath Jason Victor Serinus, saying, "Herb! Get your ass up to room 1125 (the Parasound-Tekton room). The sound is amazing, and you must listen to this speaker. Hurry up!"

Last year, Vaughn Loudspeakers' flagship Plasma Signature towers ($20,000/pair), featuring eight midrange drivers in a bipolar configuration (four front and four rear), a 12" powered subwoofer, and their signature plasma tweeter, were my BIG best-in-show discovery…

During my brief audition, this new, 6922 tube-equipped Stax amplifier played smother, slightly fuller, a little lusher, and, less electrostatically…

Dear reader, please stop for a second to imagine how I could go from the above-mentioned MSB room to the $500 setup without feeling pain.

At 8:30am on Friday, my 2017 RMAF began on a solemn note: a moment of silence for Focal's Gérard Chrétien, who passed on October 1st. Along with Jacques Mahul, Monsieur Chrétien was an important member of the Focal team since 1990.