I received my SoundScape 10s on September 17, 2010. Since I have had them a year, I thought I would give a few current impressions. I keep tweaking the setup and they keep evolving. Along with my Aesthetix Calypso tube preamp, this is the first time that I have learned to love CDs almost as much as my LPs.
I found that music sounds best when played at or just above 80db. On Audiogon, I asked why music sounds best played at 80db to 85db and someone replied that most audio engineers balance recordings at the 83db sound level. At lower levels, the music is transparent and just there. At 80db the magic happens and they rival the clarity and transparency of any speaker that I have heard.
I read where the signal phase is important with open baffle speakers. With the SoundScapes, it is true. Singers are usually placed a few inches behind the front of the speakers. I have a phase switch on my Calypso preamp and when I reversed the phase, the singers were a few inches in front of my speakers! If you don’t have a phase switch then all you have to do is reverse the wires on both speakers. If you do just one speaker then the speakers will be out of phase. Make sure you power the amp off for a good while before you reverse the wires. I have blown out amps making connections without turning off the amp.
Sounds are clearer with the back of the midrange chamber installed. This makes the SoundScapes normal closed box speakers. Removing the back of the midrange chamber gives the speakers an open baffle sound. This extra ambiance can muddy the sound. Closed box clarity is not very realistic as some natural ambiance is always heard in live settings. I stuff poly-fil in the midrange chamber to improve the clarity. This reduces the level of the ambiance to my preferred level. It is easer to adjust the stuffing on TV news shows. With the spoken voice, I can more easily tell what a natural amount of ambiance is. I always leave the back off with music. I prefer the open baffle mode every time I do a music comparison. With TV and movies I sometimes use the closed box mode.
My mother loved the Larwence Welk show. When it came on I just wanted to go in the bathroom and puke. A few weeks ago I happened to catch a rerun on PBS and was shocked at how wonderful it was. It was even in mono!? This weekend I watched another episode and was getting pretty bored. I happened to notice that I had the midrange back on and changed the speakers to the open baffle mode. I was suddenly transported back 30 years into the front row of the audience! The music was exciting! It is amazing the difference the open baffle mode can often make.
The SoundScapes are laid back, neutral and transparent. Audiogon has several audio show reports. They sometimes have audio recordings of the systems in many of the display rooms. Listening to these recordings through my SoundScapes is interesting. On systems with warm speakers, the music is reproduced through my speakers as a warm sound. On forward systems, I hear a forward speaker sound. On systems with a lot of excitement, the music was exciting. On Quad speaker systems, I hear a beautiful refined low level sound. The incredible transparency of the SoundScapes seems to allow the recorded sounds to come through my system with minimal change. I guess that is what an audio system is supposed to do.
As you probably already have guessed, I am still amazed at the SoundScape’s many remarkable qualities.
Bob
