Hard to believe I've had my X3s for one year this month. No regrets. No desire to change to a different set of speakers. I have three X3s up front (L, C, R) and two bookshelf speakers for rear surround duty. Since I'm retired and play music a couple of hours a day, burn-in is obviously done. I also use my speakers in a "home theater" configuration for movies (probably one movie a week). The speakers are on GAIA II feet and then on carpet sliders. I move the speakers out five feet from the front wall, no toe-in, for music. If we are going to play a movie, I slide the speakers to about 2 1/2 feet from the front wall with extreme toe-in so the movie sounds balanced across all three recliners.
The learning curve was steep. I wanted the best sound I could get from my system. All movies and music are ripped to my "home built" server. I use JRiver as my media player. All movies play via HDMI through my Marantz AV8805 pre/pro. All music plays via USB direct to my exaSound S88 multichannel DAC. I discovered along the way that JRiver has a facility called "Zones". This was extremely helpful. I have zones for movies via HDMI playback (and all the associated settings) whether the speakers are 2 feet or 5 feet from the front wall (just in case I get lazy and don't move the speakers). Also, zones for music via my DAC. Again, for every possible configuration. These zones can be selected using JRemote2 right from my listening position. I have speaker distance correction and crossovers set in JRiver for music. I cross over the X3s at 40 Hz to my SVS SB Ultra 13 subwoofers. My X3s don't like low organ notes. Plus some of my surround music includes an LFE channel. All these settings are set using Audyssey in my pre/pro for movies.
I'm finally at the point where I can sit down, select music, the proper zone and play. It is glorious. My system is in part of our "great" room. This is a huge space but the X3s fill the space completely. Bass is so good I had to dial the volume down. Soundstage and depth are beyond my expectations. I mostly listen to classical music and the orchestra might as well be in our Livingroom. Vocals are clear with proper height. Instruments are precisely placed all along my front wall. I guess I am a music snob. Most of my music is high resolution surround across all the various formats (PCM, DXD and DSD). I want to feed my X3s the very best signal. The music files. DAC and amplifier get the job done. I have quite a few BluRay concerts and opera which I have set to also play through my DAC. Sure, I also have a lot of CD quality stuff and even YouTube videos of concerts. I set JRiver to remix stereo to surround and play through my DAC.
Can I make it better? Sure. There are a few "gear" items I could improve. To be honest, these would be emotionally satisfying improvements but I am certain I could not hear a difference. The gear is important. But, the X3s make it all come alive. My "gut" check is when my son, also a classical music lover, comes over for some serious music listening. He is blown away by the sound. This makes me feel I am not fooling myself.
Thanks for listening.
Marcus
