Hi All
Figured it is about time to give some impressions and my thoughts so far of the OB7's.
First off, I have to thank Danny for designing these. I love them, both in sound quality and appearance. The sloped tops and full length grills really give them a sleek look, I've been getting a lot of comments on their appearance from people coming by to see/hear them. . The other night I finally put the finishing touches on.... adding the GR logos/badges to the grills to show their origin
Everyone who has been by is totally amazed at the sound quality, one of the first things they notice is the transparency ... There is still a "sweet spot" but overall l they "disappear" quite a bit better than my N3's did. Unfortunately I do not have a dedicated listening room, my computer is up against the rear wall of the room so when I am using the PC, my back is toward the music. As I'm typing this, Steely Dan- Gaucho is playing behind me. There is no hint that the music is coming from 2 speakers, it just sounds like the whole room behind me is sound. The soundstage is easily as wide as the room, sometimes wider. It is also deeper than what the N3's generated. And it sounds wonderful
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was always very impressed with the detail of the N3's. In my opinion, these have taken things up a level, a considerable level. Whether I'm listening to something quietly or fairly loud, there is just so much detail and what I would call precision. There seems to be a lot of separation in both notes as well as instrument placement within the sound stage ( recording dependent). This afternoon I listened to John Sharp's "Better Than Dreams" and again , the things I mention above (clarity, seperation, detail) all combine to make a wonderful presentation. Plain and simple, it just sounds great
I have been listening to many different types of music on these. They have been playing non stop since hooking them up 2 weeks ago, so I guess they have approx 300 hrs on them. That is playtime, not listening time.. I wish
While the bass response is not as deep as the N3's ( I knew that going into this) the 7's definitely have quite a bit more punch. I had been running the BMS with 1 of the extra 3 resistors hooked up,, the other day I removed it and am now running them " wide open" This relatively small room is not easy to get good bass in.... I really discovered this when I took the N3's over to the folks and hooked them up. Their room is more than double the size of mine and the N3's really surprised me over there. The bass response was incredible when compared to how they sounded in this room. I would love to take the 7's over there and try them in the large room but don't think I'd be happy when I brought them home again. It's probably better not knowing what I am missing.
I'm not saying that I am not happy with the bass of the 7's, on the contrary . It is very well defined, tight and fast The quick drum rolls on both "Talking in Tongues" - Talking Heads, and "Candy O" - The Cars is really awesome. The really cool thing is that it sounds equally as good at low volumes as it does at higher levels. The effect is the same, just to a lesser degree at lower volumes.
I have been listening both with and without my sub. Unless you really want to hear the lower notes, I find you don't need the sub. Last night I listened to " Planet Drum" by Mickey Hart and had the sub turned on. What a great CD I turned down the lights and turned up the volume ... pretty impressive effect. In some of the tracks, the sound stage stretched out to what would seem to be much wider than the room, even wrapping around somewhat. The drums sounded so real it was as if I was right there with them. Just needed a big fire, masks, and some dancers .
I listened to the same cd this morning without the sub just to compare. You definitely miss out on some of the deeper sound but what you do hear is so clean and accurate, I don't find myself missing the sub. My plan is to still build one of Danny's servo subs hopefully in the not too distant future and have that to fill in those lows
I am going to also make some bass traps to try and improve the acoustics in this room. There is a lot of bass near the ends and in the corners which I am sure bass traps will help deal with. There seems to be a real lack of bass in the center. I realize that the waves are building up in the corners and around the edges, hoping the bass traps will help even things out a bit although I am not sure this will help the center of the room or not
As stated above, I have been listening to a lot of different music on these. A bit of classical, some reference recordings, classic rock, blues, pop, even some heavy metal and everything is sounding great. One thing I have really noticed since switching to the OB7's is differences in recording quality. While I could always notice these differences , since switching , they have become much more apparent. I don't think an average recording sounds any worse than it did. but I do think a high quality recording sounds better than before. The differences just seem more evident now which can be a little frustrating ... why can't everything be a great recording ?
Finally, I guess I should mention vocals. Vocal reproduction, both male and female seems to be equally as strong as the rest of the sound. I listened to some Diana Krall and Joni Mitchell , both sounded amazingly clear and precise yet somehow smooth. I had no issue with becoming fatigued at all. Male voices also sounded great.. Never did any become harsh or "hard" to listen to. Everything was very clear
I rally do feel that the open baffle deign really helps with creating a large sound stage and making the speakers very transparent. I really can't wait to get rid of that big old TV in between the tow speakers and to see how much more of an improvement is noticed
Overall, I am just thrilled with the performance of these. As the hours have been put on them, they seem to have gotten smoother without losing any of the detail. Possibly I could just be "getting used to" the new sound. Whatever it is, I really like it.
About the only drawback to them is the need for the space beside/behind them I have mine at 38" to the rear of the front baffle from the wall. I'd like to pull them out even further but I just don't have the room. As I said previously, I think getting rid of that big thick TV will make a difference as it sticks out 20"+ from the wall in between the speakers , it is taking up a lot of what should be open space
For those who really love the deep bass, a sub will definitely be in order but if you read the specs, you already know that . I'm not necessarily a huge bass fan but I'd still like to try one of the servos to fill in the lows but also keep things as tight as possible. . That fast, tight , clean bass is more important to me than the really deep tones
I realize this hasn't been the most technical or detailed analysis , I'm still relatively new to this hobby or sickness as I see it referred to quite often
If I can provide any more details or info to anyone don't hesitate to ask and I will do what I can to help
Thanks again to Danny, Ron, Neil and Perry for all the help you guys gave me, I really appreciated it
-jay
Now then, time to queue up some more tunes
