Rocky Mountain Audio Fest - Uniti and Statement

Posted by: Bob Edwards on 09 October 2016

All-

Had the opportunity to visit the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest today. It was the right day to go - systems were as warm as they could be, and it was not crowded at all.

A few impressions:

The new Uniti: I thought the Atom was terrific. It looks and sounds very good (driving a pair of Focal towers, with a sub hidden in the corner). Also great to meet Alec and Steve S. from Naim. At $3k for the Atom, I think it will do very well. Very nicely made, and if didn't quite sound as good as the Statement, well, it shouldn't.

Statement: This was my first chance to hear the Statement, driving some enormous Focal speakers. Once acclimated to the speakers, you could hear what the Statement was doing. It sounded fine - the room did it no favors, and it seemed as if the setup had been interfered with.

Chord: I was able to hear the Hugo, the TT, and DAVE with the same headphones and the same music. I now understand why so many people love the Hugo - it was very good through headphones. The TT, I thought, was a noticeable step up, and the DAVE was a rather grand leap forward.

Two other rooms: the Audio Alternative room, with ARC and Vandersteen 7s (complete with Richard Vandersteeen) sounded terrific. The Nagra/Avalon room also sounded very good.

Slow day, so was able to linger in any room you wanted.

All in all, a fun day, and great to see a number of people I hadn't seen in too long a time.

Posted on: 09 October 2016 by Moussa

Bob thanks for the nice summary, which focal speakers was the atom driving?

Posted on: 11 October 2016 by Bob Edwards

Moussa -

I think someone else (Bill Allen?) said they were the Focal 926. Towers, about 3 feet tall, or as we used to say in the store, "just another speaker."

I quite liked the Atom; will be interested to see the Star in person. I don't stream at all, so may not be the ideal buyer, but it looked terrific and sounded very good (as far as you can judge such things at a show, anyway).

Posted on: 11 October 2016 by Timjoebill

Bob Edwards posted:
All-
Had the opportunity to visit the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest today. It was the right day to go - systems were as warm as they could be, and it was not crowded at all.
A few impressions:
The new Uniti: I thought the Atom was terrific. It looks and sounds very good (driving a pair of Focal towers, with a sub hidden in the corner). Also great to meet Alec and Steve S. from Naim. At $3k for the Atom, I think it will do very well. Very nicely made, and if didn't quite sound as good as the Statement, well, it shouldn't.

Thanks for the info, Bob. Did you get to see other new models in the Uniti range. Wondering what impression the Uniti Nova is making.

Posted on: 11 October 2016 by Bob Edwards

Timjoebill posted:
Thanks for the info, Bob. Did you get to see other new models in the Uniti range. Wondering what impression the Uniti Nova is making.

Tim -

It was fun to go to - and very laid back compared to the last one I went to, back around 2010.

They did not have the Star or Nova; IIRC they should be out by February. They only had the one working Atom upstairs, and a static Core and Atom in the room with the Statement.

Posted on: 11 October 2016 by Moussa

Bob Edwards posted:
Moussa -
I think someone else (Bill Allen?) said they were the Focal 926. Towers, about 3 feet tall, or as we used to say in the store, "just another speaker."
I quite liked the Atom; will be interested to see the Star in person. I don't stream at all, so may not be the ideal buyer, but it looked terrific and sounded very good (as far as you can judge such things at a show, anyway).

Thanks Bob, I am alsointerested in the Atom mainly for the living room setup.