[DR]

Greetings,

I received the Sapphires today. They are in and I am on the second hour. This is going to be short but holy cow. How can a pair of speakers sound twice as good, look twice as good for a lot less money than I paid for B&W Nautilus 805's 7 years ago or more? Right out of the box! Having broken in the Emeralds, I know these won't sound their best for about another 60 hours of music. These speakers are not for the feint if heart. Griller be prepared.

Hey - I just noticed there is a spell checker in here!

[DR]

MIKE!! HELP!!!

I had to put the plugs in the ports just to settle those Revelators down. My gosh, these things have bass that really does sound like the Force is on. I turned the force on crossed over at 35Hz. With the plugs in it seemed to help. So as I go through my break in period, I have 2 questions:

1. Will the bass settle down over time? I seem to remember the Emeralds were the same way just not with a steroid overdose like the Sapphires.

2. Like the Emeralds, the grills are difficult to get off. I nearly ding the tweeter everytime. Will a little Vaseline on the male end help it slip in and out of the female receptacles?  Any other suggestions?

3. I know you say the Force is designed to be left on all the time. My problem is I had one outlet left and it is switched. So instead of turning the Force on and off with the lamps, I just use the Force Amp switch. Will this shorten the life of the Amp?

Thanks much. This is going to be quite the adventure.

[ajayrav]

Hello DR,

When I first received my Sapphire XLs, what really wowed me was that the bass was tight with minimal overhang- a function of the Revelator woofer.  True, I didn't really listen till after about 40 hrs of break-in.  My advice you to you:  Wire one speaker out of phase and place the speakers so that they face each other.  Play music with your CD player in a constant loop for a couple of days at moderate volume.  Then start your listening tests.  First run the speakers full-range with a number of cuts you know well.  Ensure that the speakers are at least 12-18 inches from the rear wall.  If you find that the bass is too strong for your liking, move the listening position forward, 6 inches to a foot at a time, to find a position that yield bass to your liking.  You are just utilizing the principles of bass reinforcement and nulls in a room.  If that doesn't work, play with plugging the ports.  Once you are satisfied with your full-range sound, begin integrating the sub into your system.  The ideal speaker position, listening position, sub level, crossover settings etc will require some tweaking, and will come with time.  Enjoy your speakers.....

Ajay

[griller]

DR, I'm most prepared, and jealous!  Mine aren't coming until sometime in January.  Guess I'll hve to listen vicariously through you other owners in the meantime.

[Eric]

Things will tighten up as they break in

[Mike Dzurko]

MIKE!! HELP!!!

I had to put the plugs in the ports just to settle those Revelators down. My gosh, these things have bass that really does sound like the Force is on. I turned the force on crossed over at 35Hz. With the plugs in it seemed to help. So as I go through my break in period, I have 2 questions:

1. Will the bass settle down over time? I seem to remember the Emeralds were the same way just not with a steroid overdose like the Sapphires.

2. Like the Emeralds, the grills are difficult to get off. I nearly ding the tweeter everytime. Will a little Vaseline on the male end help it slip in and out of the female receptacles?  Any other suggestions?

3. I know you say the Force is designed to be left on all the time. My problem is I had one outlet left and it is switched. So instead of turning the Force on and off with the lamps, I just use the Force Amp switch. Will this shorten the life of the Amp?

Thanks much. This is going to be quite the adventure.

Dave:

It will be a great adventure    Yes, the bass will tighten up with hours, and the advice that Ajay gave was right on. The Sapphire XL bass is so potent that it always causes jaws to drop.

Vaseline will work fine in this application . . .    

The Force amp really likes to be left on 24/7. It draws very little power at idle ( we should advertise it as a Green amp). If you can find a way to leave it running, it would be better for it.

[satfrat]

MIKE!! HELP!!!


3. I know you say the Force is designed to be left on all the time. My problem is I had one outlet left and it is switched. So instead of turning the Force on and off with the lamps, I just use the Force Amp switch. Will this shorten the life of the Amp?

I'm not sure what you're using for an outlet here but if it's you typical duplex oiutlet, couldn't you just get a 3-outlet adapter to use 1 plugin for your lamps and use the other plugin for the Force? 

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1294805


Cheeers,
Robin

[DR]

Well one way or the other I will have to find a live outlet for the Force. I am not lookng forward to moving the bemouth of a TV/ Audio cabinet I have.

I found an interesting web site and followed the instructions setting up the Sapphires. I also ordered the 65hz crossovers just in case. By the way, with the Emeralds it took time and music to break them in. The short cuts didn't seem to work.
http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

“Let's try another example, this time where the speakers are arranged against the long wall of the same room.  In this case, we'd have 6'4" (i.e. 19' divided by 3) between the inside edges of the speakers.  With our 1' wide speakers, there would be 5'4" from the outside edge of each speaker to the nearest side wall.  Distance from the front edge of each speaker to the wall behind it would be 4' (i.e. 12' divided by 3).
The final adjustment in either of these arrangements will be to aim the speakers, sometimes called adjusting the "toe-in".  While making sure the front, inside edge of each speaker remains at the 1/3 points, rotate each speaker around this point until it aims at the center of the wall behind the listening position.  In other words, you'll be bringing the outside front edge of each speaker toward the listening position while leaving the inside front edge where we've already placed it.  Note that the speakers will not be pointing directly at you but instead will converge at a point behind you.”

I will let you know how they sound tonight.
     

[satfrat]

Well one way or the other I will have to find a live outlet for the Force. I am not lookng forward to moving the bemouth of a TV/ Audio cabinet I have.

I found an interesting web site and followed the instructions setting up the Sapphires. I also ordered the 65hz crossovers just in case. By the way, with the Emeralds it took time and music to break them in. The short cuts didn't seem to work.
http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

“Let's try another example, this time where the speakers are arranged against the long wall of the same room.  In this case, we'd have 6'4" (i.e. 19' divided by 3) between the inside edges of the speakers.  With our 1' wide speakers, there would be 5'4" from the outside edge of each speaker to the nearest side wall.  Distance from the front edge of each speaker to the wall behind it would be 4' (i.e. 12' divided by 3).
The final adjustment in either of these arrangements will be to aim the speakers, sometimes called adjusting the "toe-in".  While making sure the front, inside edge of each speaker remains at the 1/3 points, rotate each speaker around this point until it aims at the center of the wall behind the listening position.  In other words, you'll be bringing the outside front edge of each speaker toward the listening position while leaving the inside front edge where we've already placed it.  Note that the speakers will not be pointing directly at you but instead will converge at a point behind you.”

I will let you know how they sound tonight.
     

That's basically how I have my Lorelei's setup which also use simular Scan-Speak drivers. In my 11' x 17' x 7', I have my Lorelei's spead apart 7' with 18" from the side walls and 39" from the front wall with the toe-in coming together close to 8' from my sitting position,,, very little toe-in for my seating position that's around 8.5' away(sometimes a little closer). If the Sapphires are anything like mine, just a little toe-inwill create a huge soundstage with solid imaging. I look forward to see what you come up with. 

Cheers,
Robin

[Joe_K]

3. I know you say the Force is designed to be left on all the time. My problem is I had one outlet left and it is switched. So instead of turning the Force on and off with the lamps, I just use the Force Amp switch. Will this shorten the life of the Amp?

Thanks much. This is going to be quite the adventure.

DR,

Is there anyway you can have one (or more, same phase) dedicated outlet(s) installed, 20 amp.
Sounds like you're on circuits with other stuff, it's well worth having dedicated power!

Joe

[bpape]

If you have a circuit that's separate from the switched one, you can cut out the single duplex and replace the box with an 'old work' quad box that will hold 2 duplexes in the same box. 

Bryan

[DR]

Just for fun after seeing the picture of Mike's new show room, as well as reading it in the manual, I reversed the Sapphires so the tweeter is to the inside. In addition, while I am waiting for the 65HZ crossovers - I inserted the 85HZ that I bought with the Emeralds.

Listening to piano, I have a very fine soundstage, tone and no bass problem. (The Force XL is at about 85HZ as a guess). This indicates the possibility that my room can't take the bass load from 3 different woofers. If I like this and after comparing the sound with the 65HZ crossovers, I will run a warble tone sweep just to make sure. By the way, I recommend to anyone buying Mike's Emerald's or Sapphires with a sub to always get the appropriate crossover to play with. They are inexpensive, easy to use and in no way degrade the sound. I have used them for many years.

[Eric]

When I had the Jag 2000's and the Titans I used the corssovers. They really worked well

[DR]

Eric,

My intention was to use the 65HZ crossovers when they arrive. I am sure I will try all different combinations but which ones did you use with the Jag's? The 85's sound great so far.

Thanks

DR

[DR]

This is starting to get a little spooky. I have the Marcus Roberts Trio on (In honor of the Duke). I am still well inside the Sapphire break in period, using the same setup I described before including the 85HZ crossovers. On "There it Is" I can easily hear Guerin's fingers scrape across the strings of the acoustic bass. I am talking finger prints!

The Sapphire drivers seem absolutely freed. I am no speaker expert but I am guessing Mike has these crossed over to the tweeters fairly high. That is what gets that "point source" effect so effectively. The piano comes in with great depth and in perfect balance. The Force XL is handling everything below 85HZ -no boom no overhang - just sweet.

I know from my Emerald experience that this is just the beginning and can't wait until break in is over. However, if there is a better combination of speakers out there I would pay to hear them.

DR