[ikakenewa]

All
Am the happy owner of a new pair of XRS's.  Have followed some of the break-in advice posted on the forum and am hearing some audible benefits; as I mentioned to Louis in an email it's exciting to think that things will only get better.  They sound wonderful now but on certain things--Mingus Ah Um's saxophone bleats, Deerhoof's processed guitar--there are some biting and skree-like highs that send me running for the volume knob...Bass is less defined than I'd like at times (again, I bet they only have 30 to 40 hours of hardcore break-in on them, when I left Mastodon on repeat) but definitely present and I'm assuming that more focused bass will be a further benefit of break-in.

Question: I'm using a rather high gain Aikido preamp I built with a pair of Fisher 30a monoblocks, rated at 12 wpc, and wondering if anyone would like to revisit the earlier thread about amp matching with these speakers.  A friend has completely gutted an old Harman Kardon A300 and turned it into a flea-powered 2-3 wpc push/pull amp and I'm wondering how that might sound with the Aikido.  I can tone the Fishers back with their little onboard signal oomph dials but am still in search of a soundstage; at certain volumes things can get pretty blarey.  Part of this is due to the weird Broskie/Aikido pot design (very insensitive, steps on the master gain are BIG ones, hard to nail down a settled volume) but I'm also curious to hear 1) what other folks experiences are with vintage gear and XRS's and, 2) what folks think might be a good amp match with the Aikido pre (high gain) and the XRS's and, finally, 3) if anyone out there has any new ideas about new flea powered amps on the market.      The Yamamoto products are unfortunately out of my price range but I'd love to hear from any Omega users who've taken the plunge!

Thanks,
JC

[Quiet Earth]

Try not to think about any equipment changes until you have at least a couple of hundred working hours on your speakers. Making changes right now will only frustrate you more. I can tell you from my own experience (with the Super 3s), that the peakiness in the middle highs will mellow out in time. Other nice things will happen too . . . . you'll see. Keep'em moving.

Patience really pays off with these speakers. Knowing this in advance is one thing, but sometimes it helps to hear it again while you are going through it.

[jrebman]

The first question is: did you get the hemp drivers?  If so, then my experience with fostex driver break-in won't help you too much as I don't know the particular quirks of those drivers... yet.

I've gone through the break-in process with a couple of different fostex drivers, and as the previous poster mentioned, they take a long, long time to fully arrive.  And it really won't happen as good as it can unless you put some real power behind them -- it's going to take a couple of lifetimes to do properly with a 2 or 3 watt amp.

I'll also echo the idea that you really don't want to even start thinking about system changes until everything settles down.

If you want to stay vintage in the long run, then you can't go wrong with a rebuilt Eico, Fisher, Scott, Heathkit, etc.  Many of us who own Louis' speakers have amps of this generation -- mine happen to be on standby waiting to go in for an overhaul, but there are plenty of others who have these and I hope will chime in here and relate their experiences.

I was actually talking with Louis about just this yesterday so I'm sure he'll agree that you can't go wrong with these.

Look up a thread on this forum about EL84 tubes and hemp drivers and you'll probably see what moved me in this direction.

Good luck, and really, you have to be really patient with these single driver speaks -- they take forever to sound their best, but when they do, you'll be very glad you stuck it out.

-- Jim

[ikakenewa]

Thanks for your responses; in no way do I want to come across as a nervous Norvis--these things sounded great out of the box, imo--and indeed I *do* have the hemp drivers.  I'm pretty sure the first thing I played was Bill Evans at the Vanguard...and suddenly found myself among hipsters, jazzbos and floozies wanting a martini and a filterless cigarette.  And, though my wife might argue otherwise, I am a patient man and am not being at all disingenuous when I say that I'm psyched that these already awesome speakers will only get better.

Aside from the sound, the build quality is fantastic.  They've got heft and mass.  And I have already blown away many a music fan who can't believe that there isn't a sub hidden somewhere; the bass presence is something akin to engineering genius.  LEst anyone wonder, they are works of visual and audio art, no question.

That said, and as has been repeated many a time on this forum and elsewhere, the high end peaks will test anyone's threshold for volume.

[Louis O]

Hi ikakenewa,

Many thanks for posting your experience with the hemp XRSs. I really appreciate your kind words and I wish the break in wasn't so long. They are like the Fostex in regards to needing a lot of break in time. Unlike the 8" drivers it isn't a roller coaster ride, but if they are played at a good volume they will break in much better than with lower volumes.

Jim and Quiet Earth have great points and I wouldn't look for a change in electronics until they settle in. If you do want to make a change the  amps Jim mentioned are amazing. I really like Fisher and Scott and the Mac MC225 is on my wish list.

Thanks again,
Louis