Hi, My name is 'Ronin A' and I play nice with most amplifiers!!!

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PaulHilgeman

I just got done tweaking the heck out of a new model in the Ronin line of speakers, and I am loving what I am hearing.

Imagine this, an impedance that is between 6 and 8 ohms through the entire pass band, with 87.5dB sensitivity, and no requirement to play anything below 250Hz.  You aren't kidding, talk about dynamics from even lightweight amplifiers.  Add in a 500W amplifier for each woofer, built right into the cabinet, with no bulky or tweaky external crossover or pieces to go between your preamp and amp.  It connects just like any other speaker.  It gives the bass range the power and control of a 500W amplifier. 

Power aside, it adds quite a bit of adjustability, you will get a single band of parametric EQ to smooth out one room mode per speaker, as well as adjustable subsonic filtering.  The level is of course adjustable and is perfect for a situation like mine where one speaker is loaded by a side wall and the other is not.  It makes sense to turn one up a bit louder than the other, or set the EQ settings differently.  Plus it will make your main amplifier sound better.  Even higher powered class D and Class A/B amps sound more pure and less glassy at higher volumes.

It is just finishing details on this pair, and then they are out of here, destined for Reno, NV.  But I totally sold myself on these, the pair that comes back from the road trip will undergo some serious repairs and then get the woofer amplifier added.

I'll have some pictures up soon, and add it all to the web page, but here is the conceptual engineering plans that I did:



If you are interested, it is a simple $500.00 option and can be retro-fitted on to any existing model.  Of course, if you want to go to the DEQX, this can serve as one of your sets of amplifier channels, and you would only need to supply 4 channels.  It does have a crossover disable switch that would allow you to fully disable the crossover so that the DEQX can do its magic on the woofer low pass and EQ.

-Paul Hilgeman
Nomad Audio


PaulHilgeman

Hey,

I finally got some pictures up here of the Ronin A.  The last picture is a really nice photo of my system, I think it turned out great.





-Paul

nzera

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 15
Looks great Paul!  My Ronin's may be making another trip back to Chicago soon. 

Have you had a chance to try out any tube amps on the active bass version?  Any impressions with your Hypex Ucd amp?

With my Ronin's, I've been going back and forth between a Consonance 880 integrated (60W, 4 6550 tubes/side) and your Niagara amp with a Modwright pre.  The Ronin's are so transparent that its hard to believe it is the same speakers with the different amps.  With the Consonance, the sound is very pleasant,relaxed, and the midrange is fleshed out nicely, but the bass/midbass is a bit mushy. 

The regular Ronin's are amazing for price, but the active bass version could be a real giant killer!

PaulHilgeman

Hey Noa,

Thanks!  I too have found that they are very transparent to any upstream changes, they are obviously neutrally voiced, with very low distortion drivers. 

I did quite a bit of the testing with a modded 6L6 P-P amp, either way, it is only about 20W per channel.  I also used a 'gainclone' amplifier for testing as well, which is even lower powered.  I think that a really nice balance can be had when using the tubes for the midrange and highs, and the built in amp for the bottom end.  The tubes give a really nice liquidy warmth to the midrange and the highs sound great with tubes, very natural and extended.  At the same time, you can retain the transparent, deep bass had with good solid state amps.  The bottom line here is that they Ronin can sound really excellent with many types and power levels of amplifiers.  The Ronin A can take it a step farther with all types of amplifiers as well, the step is just a bit bigger with the lower powered tube amps.

With the Niagara, they were truly excellent, the one characteristic of the Niagara and every Hypex UcD amplifier that I have listened to, they show very little compression, distortion or coloration leading up to their max power output.  It is typically very hard to reach this ceiling under normal listening conditions, but adding the woofer amplifier pushes the ceiling a bit higher, the key gains here are in terms of adjustability.

As a side note... I am pretty sure you are not stressing the parallel push-pull 6550's all that much, thats really a lot of power, you experience here would be having the tightness and depth of the Niagara.

Using that Consonance Calaf amplifier pictured, which I had taken on trade out of curiosity, the woofer amplifier made a much greater improvement.  That amp, like many moderately good Class A/B amplifiers out there shows signs of strain as dynamics and volume levels increase.  It, like the tube amp and gainclone breathed a sigh of relief when relieved of full range duties.

Either way, a good tube amp or the Niagara plus the woofer plate amplifier make a great, very flexible combo. 

I am really glad that you are enjoying your purchase so much.  I think that the active version really takes the Ronin design a long way in in terms of making an outstandingly clean, simple design, flexible design.  The simple ability to tweak bass levels from disc to disc can't even go understated.  First put on Paul Simon's "Graceland", which can be a good reference of balance and tonality.  Then throw on Bruce Hornsby's "Spirit Trail" and you can turn it down a few dB to balance that album back out, and make it even more enjoyable (IMO) than it is on a non-adjustable system. 

While there are things to be said for leaving things the way they were intended, we all have certain albums that we just don't like something about the bass.  The Ronin A is not a cure-all, but it can help.

Thanks for the Compliments, glad you are enjoying the music.

Have a great weekend Noa, feel free to contact me about upgrading if you are interested.

-Paul

Soundbytes

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 13
This is my first post to this forum, after a lot of lurking, so please feel free to temper my impressions.  In brief I've been mucking about in audio for the last 30+ years with phases of equipment construction, purchases, and evaluations occasionally settling on sound that meets my desires for musical reproduction.  These period of settling can last a few years.  I'm getting close to the settling point again.    aa

I don't, can't, and won't claim to have any expertise other than knowing what I like when I hear it.  I do trust my ears.

That said I'm in the process of setting up these Ronin As at my home.  My initial impression is positive enough to cause me not to lurk.  Paul you have far exceeded my expectations with the music that is inhabiting my house.  I have a lot of setup, break-in, and listening to do but I can already tell that this is going to be a very enjoyable experience.

Current system setup for those that are interested:  Mac > Wavelength Co secant w/volume > Zu Varial ICs > Pass X-150 > Zu Libtec > Ronin As.

Lots of stuff to try laying around to compare with these, mainly around amps and speakers, so more as this progresses...

-- jim


Brad

Welcome to AC, Soundbytes/Jim   :D

Let us hear more about the Ronin A's as they settle in.

NealH

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 373
Looks to me like an already nice looking speaker just got nicer looking.  You did a good job integrating the amplifier plate to the back of the woofer box.  Very nice. 

I realize that balance, smoothness and depth in the lower registers is probably much improved but, do you find that the driver integration is as good as on the standard Ronin speaker with basic crossover components?  Does this "A" version speaker provide that very coherent sound plane bottom to top?

Levi

That's an excellent idea.  It never occured to me that you can retrofit an amp inside.




PaulHilgeman

Jim,

Thanks for the prompt feedback!

I am glad that things are working out well, I can't express how satisfied I am with what I was hearing from them.

rnhood,

Although I had less time with them than I would have liked, I shipped them because I was satisfied.  So, in other words, yes, they are extremely coherent from deep bass through the mids.  This is of course very dependent on the room and set-up as JoshK can acknowledge.

-Paul

Soundbytes

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 13
I decided to put together a second system with the Ronins in my main living room which offers an far easier environment for setup but I have to re-arrange the room considerably to have a place to listen.  Fine for me and for the short term but not as easy to share, so my main system is in the other room.

Having done this the Ronins are now revealing much more of their personality!  As I said before this is going to be a very enjoyable period of getting to know each other.  Again more later as we get situated...

Paul configured this set of Ronins so that I can easily try a DEQX solution as things move forward if desired.  For someone who loves simplicity this for me is an experiment in flexibility and Paul really stepped up to the plate in this regard.  Right now everything is set to the defaults that Paul supplied me for the amps.

The second system setup (currently) is a Wadia 6  > Zu Gede > Red Wine Signature 30 > DH Labs T-14 > Ronins > Ears...

-- jim

PaulHilgeman

I am assuming you mean the defaults in the manual.

Did they sound pretty 'default' to you? ;)  As in balanced and well integrated?

Have a good one, thanks for the feedback.

So, just to clarify, are the Ronins in the room that we spoke of earlier, or a different room? 

What are the details on the main system?

Thanks!!!!

-Paul

Soundbytes

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 13
>  I am assuming you mean the defaults in the manual.

Yes for the woofer amps.

>  Did they sound pretty 'default' to you?   As in balanced and well integrated?

Sound 'default'?  OK that's an understatement! :lol: Yes yet even more so in the second room.  In the first room the left side which has a very close side wall took on a touch of a confused character which is not unexpected.  Before putting in the effort to work speaker placement, room adjustments, tweeter setting, and woofer amp settings, which I completely expect to do, and since I'm fortunate to have another room and other equipment I decided to move there and see the difference.  Further this allows me to keep one system mostly in tact as I learn the Ronins in a second space as they and I break-in.  The result with the Ronins in this second space with very little time put into setup is balanced, coherent, integrated... just lovely.   8) 

Since I've set up the second room I've not stopped listening to the Ronins long enough to try any adjustments.  I've just been enjoying listening to a wide range of music.  Considering that they are breaking in, thats darn good!

It is very clear from the result that you spent the effort to work these fine speakers out!  I'll take some room measurements in the near future and seek your advise for even more improvement.

>  Have a good one, thanks for the feedback.

> So, just to clarify, are the Ronins in the room that we spoke of earlier, or a different room? 

I moved them into a different adjoining room that is far less constrained on the sides and has far more air  behind the listening position.

> What are the details on the main system?

Main system probably conjures up the wrong impression.  Maybe other system...  :wink:  Details change here too but currently it is:  Mac > Wavelength Co secant w / Volume via USB > Zu Varial IC > Pass X-150 > Zu Libtec Speaker Cable > Zu Definitions.

The Definitions are on trial in place of the Hyperion 938s that I've been enjoying since they replaced my Spendor 2/3s which were supported on the bottom end with a Rel Strata II.  As discussed along with the Sig 30 and X-150 there are two lower powered amps to try. One a Wavelength 300b and the other a First Watt F-3. 

FWIW:  The Ronins are singing nicely on the Sig 30!




Duke

  • Industry Contributor
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    • http://www.audiokinesis.com
Hello Paul,

You mention that the Ronin A's have an impedance curve "that is between 6 and 8 ohms through the entire pass band". 

Wow!  That is amazing.  As one who has dabbled a bit in speaker design, I'm very impressed. 

For those who aren't familiar with the implications of such a smooth impedance curve, it means that there will be negligible change in frequency response even if these speakers are used with tube amps having a very high output impedance.   

Have you considered showing the Ronins at the Lone Star Audio Fest, taking place in Dallas the first weekend of May?   

Best of luck to you,

Duke

PaulHilgeman

Hey Duke,

Here is a plot of the impedance vs. Frequency



Oops, as it turns out, it dips a bit below 6 ohms, but add in speaker cables and that should be right around 6!!!

I don't think any amp would have much of a problem driving that!!!

Yeah, you will only hear the sound of the amplifier, not so much the sound of the damping factor as you would with a speaker that has a big hump in the midrange impedance, or bumps and dips elsewhere.

As to Lone Star Audio Fest, not sure yet...