[Chris Adams]

What a freakin bummer! I've been following this thread and your anticipation at getting the speakers.
Shipping speakers is a crap shoot for sure. Hope it works out.

Thanks. When you ship anything, you put your trust in the shippers hands and hope each individual who handles the item will treat it well. Doesn't always happen. I was in the retail audio business for 20 years and have been an avid hobbyist for the past 10. The percentage of damaged goods from shipping has been small. AJ shipped these FedEx and I have used FedEx for the past 8 years. Overall they have been very good. The last time I filed a claim with them, it was taken care of very quickly. In fact, that was the only claim I've filed in 8 years for items I've shipped.

Back to the thread. Can't wait to hear these speakers. Well I have heard one, and it sounds like...one speaker.

[Chinaski]

I'm having a go with the SAM1s also.  Mine arrived Tuesday unscathed, thankfully.  I have them positioned along the long wall, about 3 feet off the wall, toed-in to have the tweeters cross about six inches in front of my head when in my listening position (per AJ's suggestion).  True ear candy!  Nice depth in the soundstage, sound height projection also impressive, really excellent imaging -- very impressive wall of sound, especially on top notch recordings.  Wide wide sweet spot (er, sweetwedge?).  My room is largish pushing 5600 cu. ft. and opens to two adjacent rooms, plus I have 2-story ceilings.  I'm only driving these, right now, with a Yamaha RX-V3200 receiver, streaming lossless tunes via a Squeezebox Touch.   Room filling sound without having to push the amp one tiny bit.   I clearly understand the buzz now.  It's quite well deserved! 

So far I'm liking these more than a couple other pairs I've demoed:  ML Electromotions (a bit too polite with rock for me; tiny sweet spot when seated, no sweet spot when standing!) and B&W CM9s (don't do rock well, relatively overpriced, sweet sax though; veiled sound compared to the SAM1s).   More to come...

[neekomax]

Welcome to the SAM1 fold, Chinaski!

Where did you find out about them, here?

Post photos if you'd like!

[neekomax]

Just brought my SAM1s over to my girlfriends house. She has a bigger living room which is a bit more acoustically damped (rugs, bookcases etc.), and most importantly, there are no close in neighbors, so I finally get to CRANK 'em.

So awesome! Listening to Peter Erskine - The Interlochen Concert right now. Loud but smooth, these little babies.

I have them set up wider than I can at home, and I did the crossfire toe-in thing, and man! The soundstage is really deep and wide, as Chinaski was saying. Wow!

Only minus, I bottomed out the subs with some VERY bass heavy music at high volume, had to dial back the subs a bit from there (probably had them set a bit too high from the get go).

This is cool.

[Rclark]

 Can you describe the "spherical wavefront" a little more? Is this a driver or crossover thing? Is it true these require minimal room treatment?

[Rclark]

Hey neekos, http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=97379.msg994469;topicseen#new

[neekomax]

What's it do? 

[Rclark]

apparently SUPREME sq volume control. No mechanical connection, uses light! People are replacing very expensive tube preamps with just this unit.

 Get on the list 

[neekomax]

Can you describe the "spherical wavefront" a little more? Is this a driver or crossover thing? Is it true these require minimal room treatment?

Uh, I know this is a question for AJ, but in the meantime, I'll take a whack...

I believe that the propagation of a spherical wavefront is the basic goal/advantage of a true point source design - as in the coaxial array of the Kef mid driver/tweeter. So when the wavefront is spherical because all the information is originating at the same point (as opposed to multiple points, as with more common driver arrays), there is a much more balanced off axis frequency response, and therefore a more coherent, clear, in-room sound for the listener. And the sweet spot isn't just one spot  .

I may be mistaken, but that's what my wee bit of research was able to get to...  . If you google 'spherical wavefront', you get some heavy physics sh#t right off the bat, takes a little digging to find out how it relates to sound and audio design. 

[AJinFLA]

Can you describe the "spherical wavefront" a little more? Is this a driver or crossover thing? Is it true these require minimal room treatment?

Neeko explained it pretty well. A point source like the coincident KEF, essentially creates a spherical wavefront, so that what is reflected off each surface, floor, ceiling, sidewalls, is a spectral "mirror" of the original direct field response.
i don't want you to plaster your room with bandaids and bandages to "treat" the wounds of horribly mangled polar response. i want them reflected at you, uniformly.
You know there is a fantastic resource right here under your nose at AC:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=58304.0

of special interest is the 2nd to last one: Loudspeakers and Rooms for Sound Reproduction—A Scientific Review
Take the time to read it carefully and see what Dr Toole (and dozens of perceptual scientists) are saying with regards to what we hear, vs what we measure in a real living room. Things like cognitive "adaptation" and "plausibility". And the issue of so called "treatments". Fascinating stuff.

cheers,

AJ

[jtwrace]

AJ

I want to know when you're passing through NC again so I can hear them.   

[AJinFLA]

AJ

I want to know when you're passing through NC again so I can hear them.   

If I'm humping stuff that far, I'm bringing big bro, for some mma action vs your abbeys in situ. You know that's why they have weight classes right?
No RMAF for you?

cheers,

AJ

[jtwrace]

If I'm humping stuff that far, I'm bringing big bro, for some mma action vs your abbeys in situ. You know that's why they have weight classes right?
No RMAF for you?

cheers,

AJ

No RMAF for me this year. 

I have electronics....just bring the speaks!   

[Saturn94]

I'm having a go with the SAM1s also.  Mine arrived Tuesday unscathed, thankfully.  I have them positioned along the long wall, about 3 feet off the wall, toed-in to have the tweeters cross about six inches in front of my head when in my listening position (per AJ's suggestion).  True ear candy!  Nice depth in the soundstage, sound height projection also impressive, really excellent imaging -- very impressive wall of sound, especially on top notch recordings.  Wide wide sweet spot (er, sweetwedge?).  My room is largish pushing 5600 cu. ft. and opens to two adjacent rooms, plus I have 2-story ceilings.  I'm only driving these, right now, with a Yamaha RX-V3200 receiver, streaming lossless tunes via a Squeezebox Touch.   Room filling sound without having to push the amp one tiny bit.   I clearly understand the buzz now.  It's quite well deserved! 

So far I'm liking these more than a couple other pairs I've demoed:  ML Electromotions (a bit too polite with rock for me; tiny sweet spot when seated, no sweet spot when standing!) and B&W CM9s (don't do rock well, relatively overpriced, sweet sax though; veiled sound compared to the SAM1s).   More to come...

Glad to hear you are enjoying the SAM1s.  I look forward to reading more of your impressions.

Hmmmm....... I may have to invite myself over one day to hear them.

[Rclark]

If I'm humping stuff that far, I'm bringing big bro, for some mma action vs your abbeys in situ. You know that's why they have weight classes right?
No RMAF for you?

cheers,

AJ

 Oh no way, you've got a range of speakers coming?

[neekomax]

If I'm humping stuff that far, I'm bringing big bro, for some mma action vs your abbeys in situ. You know that's why they have weight classes right?
No RMAF for you?

cheers,

AJ

These joints?

http://www.stereophile.com/content/soundfield-audio

[Letitroll98]

You know there is a fantastic resource right here under your nose at AC:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=58304.0

A heavy dose of Floyd E. Toole, Ph.D. there.  While I respect Dr. Toole's work and his motives, and I think everyone should read his papers for the tons of valuable info therein (especially the work on small room acoustics), while reading remember he does have a bit of a skewed outlook and much of his work has not been subject to repeatability.  Not to say he's a nutcase or anything, there's some truly groundbreaking work there, but note some of his methodology has had some questions.  For some slightly different viewpoints you might try: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm   
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/stereo%20reproduction.htm
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/publications.htm

[JohnR]

Could you be more specific? What methodology questions? In what way is his outlook skewed?

[Letitroll98]

Could you be more specific? What methodology questions? In what way is his outlook skewed?

Not to be contentious, but his double blind testing was rudimentary at best with tiny sample sizes and poor controls, the skewed part is that he is (was) employed by a speaker manufacturer.  This is not to invalidate the reams of fabulous work Dr Toole has done, but a cautionary note to not use him as a single source. 

[AJinFLA]

A heavy dose of Floyd E. Toole, Ph.D. there.  While I respect Dr. Toole's work and his motives, and I think everyone should read his papers for the tons of valuable info therein (especially the work on small room acoustics), while reading remember he does have a bit of a skewed outlook and much of his work has not been subject to repeatability.  Not to say he's a nutcase or anything, there's some truly groundbreaking work there, but note some of his methodology has had some questions.  For some slightly different viewpoints you might try: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm   
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/stereo%20reproduction.htm
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/publications.htm

I have linked SLs articles before as well Dan. There is not 100% agreement, but on most cores issues, there is. That is, it is the acoustic source that matters most, "treat" the typically furnished room with a uniform source...and the need for band aids and bandages "treatments" dissipates proportionally.

Not to be contentious, but his double blind testing was rudimentary at best with tiny sample sizes and poor controls, the skewed part is that he is (was) employed by a speaker manufacturer.  This is not to invalidate the reams of fabulous work Dr Toole has done, but a cautionary note to not use him as a single source.

I've seen this claim before, but zero evidence. Toole's tests were rudimentary?? Please give specifics as to the deficiencies in the blind protocols used. Sample size too small? Please look at the specific article I wanted referenced:

10 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is the compilation of data from many sources
and the result of discussions with several persons who
volunteered their time to review and comment on the
manuscript. In addition to the Harman International Corporate
R&D Group, Sean Olive, Allan Devantier, Todd
Welti, and Don Keele, the author is grateful to Richard
Small, John Bradley, Gilbert Soulodre, Marshall Buck,
and Brad Gover for their insights.
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J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 54, No. 6, 2006 June

Dan, this isn't Toole on the pulpit. It's a unison of a virtual who's who in acoustics science. It challenges the dissenters to speak up and produce some data to contradict or question the huge body of accumulated data of these findings.
Lastly, I've also seen Toole's motives questioned and impugned before as well.
Exactly how would this benefit his employer Harman (and btw, much of his referenced work was prior to Harman when he was at the NRC...which casts a tad bit of doubt on such conspiracy theories )? What benefit(s) specifically?
Exactly how would Harman benefit from any of this publicly disseminated knowledge that many other manufacturers (including yours truly) are privy to and employ? Did the dozens and dozens of referenced non-Harman employees collaborate with Toole to Harman's benefit as well?
I understand your point that a wide viewpoint should be kept and that nothing said, including by Toole, is gospel. But to somehow suggest his outlook might be skewed by his employer is simply belied by the facts.

Oh no way, you've got a range of speakers coming?

If I did, it would be posted in Industry Ads, not here....in Neeko's M1/Dr Toole thread.

cheers,

AJ