Stephen Mejias

Newcomer Virtue Audio made its debut at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest showing a colorful collection of affordable Tripath amplifiers. The 45Wpc Audiophile One ($249) integrated amp was engineered by Audience's Roger Sheker and uses VirtuCap input capacitors designed for Virtue by Audience. Inside the chassis, you'll find the cutest little heat pipe designed to maximize space and keep things cool. On the rear panel, propeller post binding posts makes making connections easy, and the amp's aluminum chassis is available in five bold colors (black velvet, snow [a kind of frosty white], red brick, clouds [a kind of frosty blue], and mesa [a kind of mustard]).

Hey, have you met Frank Schroeder?

Something funny happened to me when I walked into the Marriott's Room 422. I had been feeling particularly stressed and particularly drained, and I really didn't want to listen to any more music or exude any more pleasantries. But I was suddenly relieved of all that negative energy&#151seriously, I could feel it!&#151upon walking into Room 422.

And here's that sexy Modwright-modified "Truth" Transporter with its tubed analog stage. Transporter owners can have their units modified for $2000, plus shipping; Modwright provides new units for $3800. All Modwright modifications are only available factory-direct.

I was very happy to finally meet Modwright Instruments' Dan Wright, possibly best known for his Modwright "Truth" modifications to popular components such as the Sony '9000ES universal player and Logitech Transporter.

Joachim Gerhard kneels beside his very attractive Amerigo loudspeaker ($5500/pair). The Amerigo is a 3-way bass reflex design with a 0.8" dome ring radiator tweeter and proprietary 6" midrange and 8" bass drivers. Gerhard uses expensive birch plywood because he feels it sounds better than MDF.

Allen Perkins and Immedia put together another great-sounding room.