I've had many speakers in and out of my home as of late, and have attended several shows. All this candy has made me want to up my game. I have seen and heard a lot of interesting loudspeakers, including many Vapor Audio designs, but nothing within my price range satisfied me completely. Exposure to such a wide range of loudspeakers is a double edged sword! It was looking like it would be a while so I started saving and continued my search.
I spoke with Ryan and Pete repeatedly, in person, by phone, mobile text... a lot of time was spent with me discussing what I was looking for. Coming off of high sensitivity pro sound speakers, I need a speaker capable of hitting high outputs, to be used in a mixed media music/home theater system. What to do? The Aurora was mentioned, but I am really enamored with the RAAL ribbon. The Arcus was considered, but is out of my personal budget, at least if I want to have something in the year 2015.
Ryan suggested the Sundog Black as a solution for my needs and budget constraints. It's a little smaller than I thought I'd want, but I do have subs bringing up the bottom end. Hesitating, I did a little research and found no reviews, nothing out there that would give me an idea of it's capabilities. Digging deeper (I am nothing if not OCD) I read all I could on the drivers and loudspeakers that appeared similar (outwardly) to the Sundog Black. Everything I read (plus my experience listening to Vapor Audio speakers) pointed to the improvement in soundstage/imaging that I was looking for over my current monitors while still being able to hit the levels I need.
So I decided to trust Ryan's suggestion and took the plunge. If they didn't work in my room with my system, I reasoned that they would be easy to sell, being such a high value product.
Well, I am not going to sell them. I hooked them up at 11 PM the first night for a little listen and managed to stay up until 7 AM, finally forcing myself bed. My room is difficult and part of the reason I used waveguided loudspeakers was to help over come my asymmetrical room's limitations. The Sundog Black's ability to disappear while filling in the space in between and around them is far superior even to the directivity speakers I was using. Volume levels are satisfactory and it isn't too hard to get carried away with the volume control, as distortion is lower...
...okay, I just stopped typing so I could get a dose of TOOL "Aenema"goosebumps, yes! Listening now as I post this.
Sundog Black standout features are; they image so well, micro dynamics and detail, plays surprisingly loud, and beautiful cabinets and stands that look fast standing still. A very welcome addition not only to my system, but to my home, as well.
Upgrades include Amorphous core RAAL, Audyn True Copper Caps, bi-wire terminals, and I'm very glad I sprung for the matching stands. I'm still playing with the crossover point between the 'dogs and my dual subs, but between 90-120 Hz seems to work great. I've been wanting to watch a movie and see how they perform for HT, but am not really big on TV, so it's just been one music marathon after another, thus far.
This solution
has introduced another problem. Being a mixed music/HT system, I am in need of matching surrounds and a center channel, now!
