Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review

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kenscott30

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 88
Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« on: 5 Jan 2012, 09:11 pm »
Let me start by saying this.  I love them.

Are you going to love them, who knows? :roll:

I had a pair of Mini Me's back in the day, they were skinned in Ebony with a leather front.  They were very impressive and were the focal point of the room.  Everyone wanted to know about these pieces of art before I even turned them on.  I think that with these Hoyt Bedford Type 1 speakers people will feel the same way, I know I do.

I got away from audio for a number of years (no space in my apt)and now I am back.  I wanted to upgrade my speakers and I happily returned to Louis.  My new apartment's listening room is 16'x20'8'tall.  I was looking for something 'budget' and I really wanted the Ebony finish, because it's sexy as hell.  I am in my 30's a photographer and enjoy ALL types of music.  Let me add that I wear fancy ear plugs at concerts and I don't listen to headphones loud and I don't play my music in my car loud.  I have two ears and I want to keep them sharp for the rest of my life.  2 years ago I spent New Year's Eve at a Rave with a very nice younger lady dancing my butt off and this year I spent it with current GF and another couple playing a board games listing to Miles Davis on vinyl.  I am not saying that I am getting older but that my tastes are varied.

I make no excuses for my setup nor my review but I wanted to give you an insight on who I am and why I bought these.  I wanted to share my experience in hopes to show someone that they don't need a 2K amp or a 'perfect' setup to enjoy high fidelity. 

Speakers should be about the music but for me, it is also about how they look in the room, how much they cost, the fact that they are a single driver unit, the fact that they are hand made in the USA, the fact that I can get on the phone and call the designer and builder.  I am buying the total package, not just something that sounds nice.

Speakers are on the floor (with small rubber feet like home depot)
I plan on getting stands, Lovan Jazz seem popular but I don't have the cash at the moment.

The amp is a Charlize class T amp that I built a few years ago with a nice stepped volume knob and Cardas rca's.

diyparadise.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

My current source is an iPad 2 using the headphone out via a radio shack cable.

Cables are Signal Ultra Speaker cables, banana termination.

http://signalcable.com/ultraspeaker.html

Power cable to the amp is from Signal as well.

I plan on getting a nice external DAC and using a mac mini is a music server.

Music is Apple Lossless ripped using iTunes or XLD.

I have listened to a variety of music

R.E.M. -Automatic for the People
Sinead O'Connor -Am I not your girl?
U2 -All that you can't leave behind
Chris Isaak -Forever Blue
Zoe Keating -One Cello x 16: Natoma
Zero 7 -Simple Things
Wax Tailor -Hope & Sorrow (amazing dj using tons of pieces old/new)
Thievery Corporation -Richest Man in Babylon
Snow Patrol -Eyes Open
Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble -Music For The Native Americans
Robbie Robertson -Robbie Robertson
The Police -Synchronicity- MFSL cd
Pete Yorn -Live From New Jersey
October Project -October Project
Mazzy Star -So Tonight That I Might See
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin [Disc 1]
Ian Brown -The Greatest
Heather Nova -Oyster
Grant Lee Buffalo -Mighty Joe Moon (all time favorite please re-master)
Dead Can Dance -Toward The Within
Dave Matthews Band -Live at Red Rocks
Beth Orton -Trailer Park
Ben Harper -Both Sides Of The Gun (Disc 1)


You get my point on a variety and I have left a lot out as not to totally bore you.

As far as my review, I won't really talk about the sound stage and imaging, vinyl vs CD.  I don't have stands yet and they aren't really broken in and sometimes you can hear the cars drive by my house.  I think that I have about 40 hours on them.  I am running them with the puff balls out and speakers are 4' from the side wall and 1' from the back wall zero toe in, pointed straight.

They are very musical and the lower end is full.  Wind insturments sound great, so do female and male vocals.  They don't have the slam or a stiff bass hit that I might like in some songs but I am not really feeling like I am missing a lot with these.  Again, these are single drivers driven by a 10 watt amp.  I find that the speakers can go louder that I want them too :o.  I do not want a louder speaker, something that I did with the mini em's.  It would be interesting to pair these with 1 or 2 subs from Louis, maybe someday.  What does stand out Dramatically is that if the recording is bad, it really sounds bad, like really bad :duh:.  It is almost like watching a VCR tape on a 55" plasma tv.  The level of detail on these speakers really shows off the good or bad mastering of the music.  Some of the older stuff, Led Zepplin (not known for their mastering) or Jethro Tull, Bob Marley is iffy at best but for cleaning my floors its great.  Beth Orton, Ben Harper, Cat Stevens, Dead Can Dance and some Grant Lee Phillips/Buffalo are Scary Good. Scary Good.  Music is different for everybody.  I love hearing someone take a breath between notes, a chair creek, the pick being dragged over the strings and with these I get to hear that. 

I wish I had 2-3 other speakers to compare these to, but I don't.  That said, I am very happy with my purchase.  The sound, fit and finish, time frame and price are perfect for me.

I hope this helps someone on the fence trying to build a budget system that sounds amazing. 

You will not be disappointed and it truly is like listening to the song for the very first time, I know it is for me!

Thank you Louis.

Cheers,

Ken 



radarnyc

Re: Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« Reply #1 on: 5 Jan 2012, 09:20 pm »
Hi Ken
Thanks for the post; there's not a lot posts/reviews on the HBs yet. Could you post a photo of your speakers?
Thanks,
Mike

kenscott30

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 88
Re: Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« Reply #2 on: 5 Jan 2012, 09:59 pm »
Mike,

I am a professional but, they are this pretty in person  8)











radarnyc

Re: Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« Reply #3 on: 5 Jan 2012, 10:39 pm »
Thanks Ken. It's a hard choice btwn zebra wood and ebony. Love Louis' finishes....

kenscott30

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 88
Re: Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« Reply #4 on: 6 Jan 2012, 12:12 am »
I'm happy to help. 

I can't wait to see a pic of yours!

Canada Rob

  • Industry Participant
  • Posts: 1072
    • Industry Participant
Re: Hoyt Bedford Type 1 review
« Reply #5 on: 7 Jan 2012, 05:33 am »
Hello Ken,

Nice review and nice pictures.  I too love the Type 1 and your plan to use the Lovan Jazz stands is a good idea, especially since you appear to have laminate floor.  The Jazz' do not come with spikes but they do come with cones which will work well on your floor.  The uprights on the stands can be filled with sand or crushed glass, taking some of the metallic ring out of them.  Another option is the tilted platform Louis is working on which will tilt the speakers back (like the Super 5 XRS etc.) causing the driver to line up with the ear.

If you have the 64 gig iPad, I strongly recommend going to full lossless AIFF files.  The iPad itself can make an excellent music server using the Apple USB camera adaptor running into a KingRex UD-01 Pro USB DAC.  I have played with quite a few DACs and the UD-01 ($350) is my favourite under a grand.  These changes will take your Hoyts into another league.  Your choice of the Mac Mini for a music server is an excellent one, and your iPad will make a beautiful remote using Apple's remote app.