After having the Exotica 3 for about 2 months I'm ready to post listening impressions.
Setup: Marantz AV8801 and Parasound A21, Blue Jeans XLRs and cables. Room is hard wood floors over a crawl space with rug, plaster walls, 65” TV right in between the speakers, and speakers too close to the wall. Seated a hair over 8’ away.
I owned the Soundscape 8s for about 1 year, and I did the Mundorf cap upgrades. I have owned the Exotica 3s for about 2 months (and will own them for a long time), and I did Sonicap upgrades.
The Soundscape 8 (SS8s) are incredible speakers. Off axis response is amazing, bass was better than I could have asked for, RAAL is detailed without being harsh, the midrange is accurate (the open back is also a nice feature). They are very open and airy with the midrange in the semi-open configuration (which is what I preferred). With a bigger room and a proper setup, I’m certain the SS8s would disappear entirely: they are almost holographic. The only way I can describe it is that they don’t sound like speakers at all, they just flawlessly reproduce sound with no commentary of their own.
Sitting 8’ away from them in a hard room with my modest solid-state electronics and poor recordings, they were a little too lively (stiff?) for my preference. They showed the errors in virtually all of my recordings. If only I was into this Diana Krall I hear so much about instead of George Lynch’s outrageous guitar solos. I just wanted speakers I could relax to with humble electronics, sometimes poor recordings, and a glass of Balvenie Doublewood. I thought a soft midrange and a traditional dome tweeter might do the trick. Enter the Exotica 3 (E3s).
The E3s are also incredible speakers, and I will not say they are better or worse than the SS8s. They are more or less suited to particular tastes and tasks. The E3s are detailed, but it’s a subtler detail. The E3s romance you into the details, whereas the SS8s presented the details more matter-of-factly and upfront. The midrange is, in my opinion, the centerpiece of the E3s. What a feast: vocals sound better than I’ve ever heard. The midrange reproduction is so realistic I just fall into the recording, next thing I know it’s 5:00 PM and I forgot to go to work.
They are neutral, and just like the SS8s they do not offer any commentary on the material. They do not perform the disappearing act like the SS8s, but I actually enjoy this since my room isn’t treated. With more toe-in I’m removing more of the effects of the room and increasing the ratio of direct to reflected sound. My left SS8 sounded sharper than the right, since the left had a wall and window near it and the right opened into the dining room.
There is something about the SEAS T35 tweeter and W8 midwoofer combination that is simply magical. The integration of those two drivers is absolutely seamless, certainly the best I’ve ever heard (although of course I haven’t heard everything). Is it the alnico? Perhaps, but Dennis certainly deserves a pat on the back.
The one place that without doubt I have to give the advantage to the E3s over the SS8s is in the bass department: the Rythmik F8 powered woofer section is fantastic. It opens up more options for power amp choices (and tubes), and the ability to adjust the bass to taste/room loading is a welcome feature. I have so much energy sub-30 Hz that the option to set the rumble filter to “high” really tightened up the low end (18 dB/octave rolloff starting at 28 Hz). I am now officially spoiled by powered woofers: fast and deep without ever calling attention to itself. How did I ever live without a powered bass section? It literally laughs at everything I throw at it. Pacific Rim/Tron Legacy sound as good in 2.0 as they do in 5.1 with the SVS SB13 in the mix.
The Exotica 3s have raised some thoughts on my end. First, I was trying to find a way to make the SS8s sound more analog, but I don’t have the same desire with the E3s. While I’m sure the E3s sound great with a tube amp or tube pre-amp, I think I’d be happy with a Class A solid state amp and SS pre-amp. Second, is there something to having a single driver reproduce most of the vocal range? Maybe. I just can’t get over how enticing the midrange reproduction is. Lastly, in the future I may open up the E3s disconnect the internal connection from the binding post to the plate amp. Use dual sub outputs from the preamp into the plate amps, and run the mid-tweeter section through a nice Class A amp. Then I can tweak on the bass section without affecting the signal sent to the upper portion.
In Summary:
I have a small, hard room and relatively modest electronics. The E3s are the right choice for me for their overall presentation, but both are incredible speakers. I believe I haven’t even scratched the surface of the performance either of these speakers have to offer.
Every speaker is a compromise, but wherever those compromises were made with the E3s, I certainly don’t mind. There’s nothing else I could ask for in the bass department. The midrange is as good as I’ve ever heard, and the T35 tweeter is smooth and perfectly integrated with the W8.
I’m done searching. A big thanks to Jim and crew for these amazing speakers.
Lean towards the Soundscape 8 if you like:
Detail retrieval, a lively performance, disappearing speakers, wide off-axis response, the option to open up the midrange or leave it closed, $4k extra dollars in your pocket, a speaker you could be happy with for life.
Lean towards the Exotica 3 if you like:
A seductive presentation, an indescribably good midrange, a powered woofer section with bass-tweaking options, a more sensitive speaker, $4k fewer dollars in your pocket, a speaker you could be happy with for life.
-Jon