ACI Seven Channel Essence V system review ...

Glenn S. · « **Reply #100 on:** 20 Dec 2005, 01:58 am »

Craig

About how large is the room you have the XLs in? I'm just trying to put things in perspective.

Craig Chase · « **Reply #101 on:** 21 Dec 2005, 09:27 pm »

Quote from: Glenn S.

Craig

About how large is the room you have the XLs in? I'm just trying to put things in perspective.

It is 44 x 14.5 feet. The is not quite as bad as it sounds, though - Here are some pics of the room:

As you can see, the sitting area is about 11 feet from the speakers.

Glenn S · « **Reply #102 on:** 14 Jan 2006, 05:16 pm »

Craig nice room! Big! The Sapphire XLs must look pretty tiny in there

If you have any pices of the XLs I'd love to see them. Decisions, decisions.

Craig Chase · « **Reply #103 on:** 27 Apr 2006, 10:48 pm »

Glenn - Finally got a few pics done ... Here is one of the whole system...

AND, As an update - over the past three months, I have tried various speakers in place of the Essence (just the 3 front speakers, I left the Emeralds and Emerald On Walls in place) ... Including the Rocket 760's/Bigfoot, Paradigm Studio 100 V.3's/470, and Energy Veritas 2.4i's/2.C center.

The breakdown was along these lines :

1. Essence/Essence V's ($2700 MSRP for 3) - basically, each time I tried a different speaker, the sound just lost clarity and dynamics. When I came back to the Essence, everything was "right" again. This is one of those times in which the concept that one really needs to spend twice the $$$ to get comparable sonics is true.

2. Energy Veritas 2.4i ($5799 MSRP for 3) ... a little less dynamic and less clear than the Essence. Nice speakers, also now nice speakers for sale.

3. Rocket 760's and Bigfoot ($2100 MSRP) ... definitely lacking in all aspects to the Essence, but excellent value, especially when one considers the discount package pricing. A comparison with the Protege package would be more fair.

3a. Paradigm Studio 100 V.3's/470 ($3200 MSRP) ... slightly behind the Rockets. If you never heard something like the Essence, the Paradigms would sound good. But WHAT a difference !

The biggest question ... Do I go back to having some Maestro subwoofers, and make this an entire ACI room ?

ajayrav · « **Reply #104 on:** 28 Apr 2006, 02:35 am »

So Craig, what are your thoughts on the using the sapphire XLs instead of the Essence Vs? Are their any other sonic differences other than the Essence Vs not going down as low?

Craig Chase · « **Reply #105 on:** 28 Apr 2006, 03:15 am »

Ajayrav - The Essence are quite a bit more dynamic. They can fill our 4500 ^3 foot theater room easily. Of course, this was the design decision - the Sapphire XL's can be run sans subwoofer, an give a very well balanced 40 Hz and up performance.

The Essence don't give 40 Hz bass - as they need a subwoofer. But by leaving the below 80 Hz bass out, ACI was able to give the Essence a very high threshold of SPL ability with no harshness.

The Sapphires, OTOH, are just plain wonderful as music reproducers, and we will be adding a Sapphire center soon. In a smaller area, the Sapphires are one fantastic speaker. Well, I say smaller, but the room is still 4000 ^ 3 feet.

thedeskE · « **Reply #106 on:** 28 Apr 2006, 05:51 pm »

After owning the P Studios, Rkt 750s&200, and now Essence(center only - I use the full rng Pano/Sapp) I agree with Craig's pecking order.

I could add B&W 804/HTM to his list and it would land under the ACIs as well (not to mention topping the money/fashion factor)

BTW Craig, is the 5.1 Morph growing on you or what! Listeners in my pond are anointing it `Best Mix Ever'

E

Craig Chase · « **Reply #107 on:** 28 Apr 2006, 06:05 pm »

E - I love Morph the Cat ... It and Two Against Nature are quite the blood pressure lowerer ...

Adding to what you said about the "pecking order" .. I was not including the Sapphire XL's in the mix.

The Sapphire XL's would have been a 1A for home theater - just behind the Essence.

However, someone looking for absolute stellar music performance AND excellent Home Theater ... 5 XL's would be amazing - especially with a Maestro

Speaking of Maestros ... I am waiting on a price from Mike for dual Maestro XL's in Cherry. I still have yet to hear their equal for proper bass reproduction, including my DD-18.

So ... if anyone sees Mr. Dzurko ... Wake him up !

thedeskE · « **Reply #108 on:** 2 May 2006, 06:00 pm »

Sounds like you're on the way to an ALL XL set. Should be smokin' with that new XLC (my name guess)

I'm excited to hear what these and my ACIs can do when we get around to uncompressed audio later this year on BR movies (assuming we get a realistic to process)

E

finsup · « **Reply #109 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 11:45 pm »

Craig,

I've read somewhere a list of all the stuff you've owned. Given that you really like and have the means to bring in new stuff fairly frequently, I think it says a lot about both the Essence and XL's that you STILL have them. Which set-up are you now running with your Emotiva gear? Have you swapped in tubes at any time since you put both systems together?

And, if I may shoehorn this question in on this thread, has anyone run tubes with Essence or Sapphires in one system that is used as both HT and 2-channel? If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences and will probably start another thread on that subject.

Thank you.
--Michael