AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!

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martyo

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #60 on: 16 Dec 2010, 03:26 pm »
If you can afford the SoundScapes and a couple of UltraValves, you could get a pair of GedLee Abbeys and some subs and one UltraValve and I bet you'd have a better system and still save money. :)



You are halirious. Gimme some compression drivers. You're downright silly sometimes. Of course YMMV.

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #61 on: 16 Dec 2010, 03:41 pm »
You are halirious. Gimme some compression drivers. You're downright silly sometimes. Of course YMMV.

I think you'd be amazed at how good a compression driver on a waveguide can sound. I sure was.

Minn Mark

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #62 on: 16 Dec 2010, 03:44 pm »
Ooh, yeah, Klipschorns and Ultravalves.   Anybody want to send me donations for this experiment?  C'mon, its Christmas !

 :D

M

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #63 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:04 pm »
Ooh, yeah, Klipschorns and Ultravalves.   Anybody want to send me donations for this experiment?  C'mon, its Christmas !

Earl's speakers have all the dynamics of K-horns, but none of that typical horn sound. They're better than any other speakers I've heard, regardless of price. (The Salk speakers I heard weren't horrible, but they seemed to be overly polite and the highs were kind of tinkly. They definitely didn't even come close to the Orions, which were the best I had heard prior to hearing the GedLee Nathans.)

I like Jim and Dennis seems to be a really nice guy too. Jim is giving people pretty good value, based on what he puts into his speakers (in terms of material costs and effort). His cabinet work is excellent, although I can't say that I care for the shapes of some of his speakers (for instance, the HT1, HT3, and SoundScape all look awkward).

If I were looking for well-done mundane speakers (what Aczel called monkey coffins) that looked like fine furniture, I'd be calling Jim right away. However, I don't buy speakers to look at, I buy them to listen to.


Tom Alverson

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #64 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:10 pm »
If you can afford the SoundScapes and a couple of UltraValves, you could get a pair of GedLee Abbeys and some subs and one UltraValve and I bet you'd have a better system and still save money. :)

Wasn't he the singer from Rush?

A waveguide is not the same thing as a horn, although they are similar.  Waveguides normally do not have the hard corners of horns (everything is rounded off).  The waveguides in the GedLee speakers are round, but you can make a rectangular waveguide (looks like a horn but with all corners rounded).  I think the main objective with horns was originally maximum efficiency, whereas the waveguide designers are mostly looking for "controlled directivity" where the response off the sides of speaker have a uniform falloff vs. frequency.

Minn Mark

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #65 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:17 pm »
Tom,

+1  :lol:

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #66 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:44 pm »
Wasn't he the singer from Rush?

Not quite.

Quote
A waveguide is not the same thing as a horn, although they are similar. 

Earl came up with the name and the equations to describe them. http://www.gedlee.com/Earl_resume.htm

Quote
Waveguides normally do not have the hard corners of horns (everything is rounded off).  The waveguides in the GedLee speakers are round, but you can make a rectangular waveguide (looks like a horn but with all corners rounded). 

You can make a waveguide in whatever shape you want, and it doesn't have to be rounded off. It just depends upon what you want it to do.

Quote
I think the main objective with horns was originally maximum efficiency,

Essentially, yes. Horns were needed because amplifiers didn't have much power, and the drivers available couldn't handle much power anyway.


martyo

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #67 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:47 pm »
Quote
I think you'd be amazed at how good a compression driver on a waveguide can sound. I sure was.

That's certainly possible. I'd bet the dispersion is marvelous. You were expressing your opinion so I did the same. Through our private communications and reading your posts, I'm convinced you and I hear quite differently. Even in this thread, your comments on the highs of the Salks, we hear it way different. Now with the RAAL tweeter, they are even better. But I guess it makes sense with your choice of speakers. I don't mean that as a dig, it makes sense. Hey, a Fostex driver with a wizzer cone doesn't float my boat either. Or....... 8)

catastrofe

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #68 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:48 pm »
I thought this was a Van Alstine Ultravalve thread. . .when did it become a GedLee promotional opportunity?

PMAT

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #69 on: 16 Dec 2010, 04:58 pm »
Yea, typical self serving yap. The moderator needs to step in. This is a freaking STICKY on AVA for gods sake. :duh:

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #70 on: 16 Dec 2010, 05:15 pm »
Yea, typical self serving yap. The moderator needs to step in. This is a freaking STICKY on AVA for gods sake. :duh:

How is it any more or less self-serving than what anyone else posts on AC?

I didn't realize that this was a sticky, but Frank is free to delete my posts.

BTW, I still think the UltraValve would work well with the GedLee speakers. So there. ;)


catastrofe

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #71 on: 16 Dec 2010, 05:47 pm »
BTW, I still think the UltraValve would work well with the GedLee speakers. So there. ;)

Now that's an appropriate comment!!!   :green:

rave959

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #72 on: 17 Dec 2010, 01:07 am »
Me puking > :drool:

I cringe everytime I hear those speakers.  I've yet to hear them (any Wilson) and think they were nice.  Just horrible!

Hi There,

I have heard most of the Wilson lineup - The Sasha (Innovative Sound, NYC and CSA Audio), along with Wilson Sophia 2 and the Alexandria X2 Series 2.  I thought they sounded pretty good.  They were setup in a well-treated room with powered by Spectral, Ayre MX-R and Mark Levinson (I forget the model but they look like awesome stand-alone heaters...model 53?), respectively.  I thought they sounded very well-balanced.  For reference, I currently own Gedlee Abbey 12a.  I also used to own Linkwitz Orion ++, and in my setup at home, the Sashas and Orions had more in common than different.  Keep in mind I had the Orion setup in MY own living room powered by Integra Research RDA-7 and AVA Transcendence 7 Preamp at the time.


Happy listening and congrats, Frank!


Ian

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #73 on: 17 Dec 2010, 01:12 am »
Hi There,

I have heard most of the Wilson lineup - The Sasha (Innovative Sound, NYC and CSA Audio), along with Wilson Sophia 2 and the Alexandria X2 Series 2.  I thought they sounded pretty good.  They were setup in a well-treated room with powered by Spectral, Ayre MX-R and Mark Levinson (I forget the model but they look like awesome stand-alone heaters...model 53?), respectively.  I thought they sounded very well-balanced.  For reference, I currently own Gedlee Abbey 12a.  I also used to own Linkwitz Orion ++, and in my setup at home, the Sashas and Orions had more in common than different.  Keep in mind I had the Orion setup in MY own living room powered by Integra Research RDA-7 and AVA Transcendence 7 Preamp at the time.


Happy listening and congrats, Frank!


Ian

It scares me that you own the Abbeys and like the Wilson's.   :scratch:  I'm going to audition the Abbeys this weekend.

See this thread http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=86403.0

rave959

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #74 on: 17 Dec 2010, 01:31 am »
Why does that scare you?  I think the Wilsons are overpriced, but I don't think they're horrible.  I thought the Sonus Faber Stradivari was pretty good, too - I heard them powered up with McIntosh 500 watters.  I can't afford them, either but they're much nicer looking than the Wilsons, IMHO.

Don't be scared - different speakers, different strengths.  Some measure and sound better than others.  Not to mention the biases of the listener.   

I own the Harper and have heard the Nathans as well.


Brett Buck

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #75 on: 17 Dec 2010, 03:52 am »
What Frank said about tube rolling has been my experience with the Ultimate 70. I've decided that I liked this or that brand, but then when I've switched back to something I had in earlier it has sounded just as great. JJs, EHs, it's all good. Strong reliable tubes are the ticket, not NOS. His circuit doesn't seem to really care which brand of power tube it is.

   Which is a very good indication that, among other things, the feedback is doing what it is supposed to do. The less feedback, or the more screwed up it is, the more "funnies" happen when you switch tubes.

     Brett

simon wagstaff

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #76 on: 29 Oct 2011, 12:45 pm »
I guess this is yet another good place to state that I LOVE my U70!

I am using it to drive a pair of Infinity IM 4.1 so the 850 watt sub amps take over at 80 hz. I get a huge bubble of sound coming from the front of the room, the dimensionality and cymbal splashes have to be heard to be believed.

i think this would be a great amp for any speaker with a powered subwoofer section like the Mythos or the Golden Ear Triton with the heil type tweeter.

Yomaha

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #77 on: 3 May 2016, 10:05 pm »
Any one have any thoughts about how the Ultravalve would jive with an Insight+ AVA pre with Vision phono and Salk STRT's?  Is it a good idea to have tube amp coupled with a solid state pre?

TIA

Lefty052347

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #78 on: 3 May 2016, 10:22 pm »
I have had my Ultravalve for 6 years and I can personally attest that it mates well both solid state and tube AVA preamps.  I don't know any amp that mates with the Songtowers any better than the Ultravalve. 

If you decide to get one I recommend trying both the 4 ohm and 8 ohm taps to see which gives you the best match.  My somewhat limited experience with Songtowers suggest the 4 ohm taps will work the best.

Regards,
Dean

Yomaha

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #79 on: 5 May 2016, 05:32 pm »
Thanks for the feedback, Dean!