Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!

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Russell Dawkins

Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #280 on: 29 Oct 2012, 06:05 pm »
FWIW, I had the SAM1's for about a week as part of the tour, and posted my impressions as part of an essay here.

Thoughtful review - thanks!

AJinFLA

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #281 on: 29 Oct 2012, 06:13 pm »
i am not sure i would be looking for $3k amps for your sam-1's, aj..
That's because you've never heard them. The M1's, that is... :lol:
Different strokes for different folks Doug. Me personally, I'm happy with a $400 Yaqin. YMMV

cheers,

AJ

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #282 on: 29 Oct 2012, 06:21 pm »
That's because you've never heard them. The M1's, that is... :lol:
Different strokes for different folks Doug. Me personally, I'm happy with a $400 Yaqin. YMMV

cheers,

AJ
hi aj!

it's not cuz i didn't want to gear them, but you had some more upscale speakers at the caf this past summer.   :lol:  and they were definitely one of the better sounds i heard at that show.   :thumb:

but i am w/you - i think there's plenty of excellent reasonably priced tube gear out there.  if i were wanting more spendy stuff, based on my experience w/almarro, i would go w/that.  still somewhat moderately priced, especially when you consider what it's compared to...

best,

doug s.

AJinFLA

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #283 on: 29 Oct 2012, 06:39 pm »
hi aj!

it's not cuz i didn't want to gear them, but you had some more upscale speakers at the caf this past summer.   :lol:  and they were definitely one of the better sounds i heard at that show.   :thumb:

but i am w/you - i think there's plenty of excellent reasonably priced tube gear out there.  if i were wanting more spendy stuff, based on my experience w/almarro, i would go w/that.  still somewhat moderately priced, especially when you consider what it's compared to...

best,

doug s.

Well, of course "moderately priced" is a sliding scale issue...and quite subjective :wink:. Guess my point was more "hey, glad you found a match", rather than "what a bargain" regarding the Triodes. The impedance of the SAMs are fairly benign, but there is no question about the "EQ" effect when a high output impedance/low/no-NFB amp is concerned.
I once made the mistake of hooking those aforementioned CAF speakers (with a very complex reactance at the time) to some 0.75 watt ( :o) SETs....for about 20 seconds. Real horrow show. :lol:
Actually DS21 was there. Our ears are probably still not recovered.
More power to Skite30 (no pun intended) if he's found that match made in audio heaven.

cheers,

AJ

DS-21

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #284 on: 29 Oct 2012, 08:25 pm »
**
I once made the mistake of hooking those aforementioned CAF speakers (with a very complex reactance at the time) to some 0.75 watt ( :o) SETs....for about 20 seconds. Real horrow show. :lol:**

Yep. Utterly amazing how much better they sounded on the HK A/V receiver than on the light-bulbs.

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #285 on: 29 Oct 2012, 08:37 pm »
ya, i think for truly "flea power" amps, you need really efficient speakers = like >105db/1w/wm...

doug s.

DS-21

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #286 on: 29 Oct 2012, 09:08 pm »
ya, i think for truly "flea power" amps, you need really efficient speakers = like >105db/1w/wm...

doug s.

In this case, it wasn't the quantity of power that was the problem, but rather the "signal processing" caused by the lightbulbs' high output impedance. That is to say, one wasn't hearing clipping, one was simply hearing an ear-bleeding frequency imbalance.

skite30

Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #287 on: 29 Oct 2012, 10:06 pm »
I originally heard these amps at axpona in the acoustic zen room. Some of the best sound I heard both in jax and atlanta. This was a dealer demo with about 15 hours on it. I got it got it for 1400 so it matches up well with m1's. i have a 4 watt amp that didnt sound good with these at all. 

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #288 on: 30 Oct 2012, 12:16 am »
In this case, it wasn't the quantity of power that was the problem, but rather the "signal processing" caused by the lightbulbs' high output impedance. That is to say, one wasn't hearing clipping, one was simply hearing an ear-bleeding frequency imbalance.

yes, i agree that impedance matching is also important.  i once had a pair of 14 ohm 97db-efficient speakers; a well respected ~5wpc 4 ohm amp sounded like crap w/them, when other 4-5wpc amps i had sounded superb w/them, thru 8 or 16 ohm taps that they had...

still, even w/correct impedance, 3/4 of a watt isn't much for anything except soft listening levels with 86.5db speakers, even when only powering the midrange/treble above 200hz.

doug s.

DS-21

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #289 on: 30 Oct 2012, 01:18 am »
yes, i agree that impedance matching is also important.  i once had a pair of 14 ohm 97db-efficient speakers; a well respected ~5wpc 4 ohm amp sounded like crap w/them, when other 4-5wpc amps i had sounded superb w/them, thru 8 or 16 ohm taps that they had...

still, even w/correct impedance, 3/4 of a watt isn't much for anything except soft listening levels with 86.5db speakers, even when only powering the midrange/treble above 200hz.

doug s.

The speaker AJ and I are talking about was probably 10dB more sensitive than that (OEM'ed BMS concentric driver). And the woofer was self-powered.

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #290 on: 30 Oct 2012, 03:16 am »
The speaker AJ and I are talking about was probably 10dB more sensitive than that (OEM'ed BMS concentric driver). And the woofer was self-powered.
oops - my bad.  if they were like the ones aj had at the caf this past summer, then yes - a good deal more efficient.  but, as i said, even 5w isn't enough, per my experience, w/a severe impedance mismatch.

doug s.

DS-21

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #291 on: 30 Oct 2012, 01:17 pm »
oops - my bad.  if they were like the ones aj had at the caf this past summer, then yes - a good deal more efficient.  but, as i said, even 5w isn't enough, per my experience, w/a severe impedance mismatch.

doug s.

Power is irrelevant here. Amps with 0.001W or 50kW are both going to be be low-fidelity devices if the amps aren't properly designed (very low output impedance) or the speakers aren't specially designed to cover for the basic design flaws of obsolete amps (i.e. extra passive junk in the crossover circuit to flatten the speakers' impedance as much as possible).

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #292 on: 30 Oct 2012, 05:32 pm »
Power is irrelevant here. Amps with 0.001W or 50kW are both going to be be low-fidelity devices if the amps aren't properly designed (very low output impedance) or the speakers aren't specially designed to cover for the basic design flaws of obsolete amps (i.e. extra passive junk in the crossover circuit to flatten the speakers' impedance as much as possible).

yes - i am agreeing w/you!   :wink:

doug s.

neekomax

Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #293 on: 22 Jan 2013, 06:14 pm »
Hey, wow, just logged back into AC after a very long hiatus, and I see that this thread seems to have continued up until relatively recently. I'm sitting in front of my still beloved SAM1s, listening to some Me'shell N'degeocello with very deep bass, and loving it! These things cured me of speaker upgrade-itis the day I got them, and I haven't gotten sick since.  :D

Saturn94

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #294 on: 22 Jan 2013, 06:38 pm »
Hey, wow, just logged back into AC after a very long hiatus, and I see that this thread seems to have continued up until relatively recently. I'm sitting in front of my still beloved SAM1s, listening to some Me'shell N'degeocello with very deep bass, and loving it! These things cured me of speaker upgrade-itis the day I got them, and I haven't gotten sick since.  :D

Yeah, mine still make me smile.

Since you've been absent for awhile, you may not have heard that AJ discontinued the SAM1 and is working on a new model.

doug s.

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #295 on: 22 Jan 2013, 07:26 pm »
Yeah, mine still make me smile.

Since you've been absent for awhile, you may not have heard that AJ discontinued the SAM1 and is working on a new model.

tell us more! 

doug s.

Saturn94

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #296 on: 22 Jan 2013, 07:33 pm »
tell us more! 

doug s.

Other than the pictures AJ has posted on his website, I really don't know anything about the new models. :dunno:

http://soundfieldaudio.net/Coming_Soon.html

Knowing AJ, I expect they will offer alot for the buck.  I'm hoping he will show them at CAF this year.

pslate

Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #297 on: 22 Jan 2013, 08:07 pm »
I also would love to see how things are evolving. My SAM-1s continue to please as well. I have them in a 2.1 setup in our new home and they do double duty with my big screen. They are perfect for this, just great all around speakers for any source material. My only problem is that in a bigger space I lost my dac to the second system (audio only), so I'm left lusting for a new dac or receiver. So as problems go it's a pretty good one  :thumb:

Letitroll98

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Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #298 on: 23 Jan 2013, 04:50 am »
Other than the pictures AJ has posted on his website, I really don't know anything about the new models. :dunno:

http://soundfieldaudio.net/Coming_Soon.html

Knowing AJ, I expect they will offer alot for the buck.  I'm hoping he will show them at CAF this year.

I've heard the 1812's, very impressive.  A lovely blend of sweetness and power.

bigbang

Re: Soundfield Audio Monitor 1... Here We Go!
« Reply #299 on: 23 Jan 2013, 02:58 pm »
I know a secret!!!!!!!!!!!!