Great news! Lumina 2s are on their way!

Shredder · « **Reply #20 on:** 19 Sep 2019, 02:10 pm »

Those look great, you are going to love them.

jazzman463 · « **Reply #21 on:** 19 Sep 2019, 04:53 pm »

Music makes the world go round.

ttan98 · « **Reply #22 on:** 19 Sep 2019, 10:38 pm »

Quote from: targa02 on 18 Sep 2019, 11:08 pm

They are here! The L2s arrived via freight during tropical depression Imelda. I mean it was pouring when the poor truck driver pulled into the driveway. Now to un-crate and figure out how to get them up the stairs...

If I am not mistaken you spent >$25,000 on this pair of speakers, you still have to carry them up to the 3rd floor, be careful about your back. After that Enjoy.

RolandButcher · « **Reply #23 on:** 20 Sep 2019, 12:00 am »

Good luck to you and the other Houston folks riding out Imelda. Looks like another bad one.

Manolo · « **Reply #24 on:** 24 Sep 2019, 12:13 pm »

So, any updates on these speakers?

targa02 · « **Reply #25 on:** 24 Sep 2019, 05:29 pm »

Hey Slushpuppy. We love in a 3 story west of the Galleria. We are loving Houston.

targa02 · « **Reply #26 on:** 24 Sep 2019, 05:35 pm »

Sorry I have been delinquent in posting updates. Life has been extraordinarily busy. The speakers are upstairs and making music (posting pictures soon)! Clayton suggested not doing any serious listening until the coaxial driver has had a chance to break in. I have been playing them for about 24 hours straight. I am having an issue with my Baetis server not picking up my external drive. 🤬

targa02 · « **Reply #27 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 03:20 am »

Here are some pics of the Luminas in place. I LOVE the way they look. The paint job is flawless. Although I am following Clayton's advice and giving the Luminas a chance to break in prior to critical listening, I can tell you there is a huge improvement in how open they sound now compared to one day ago. Much more open and life-like. BTW, the bass on these things is ridiculous!

BTW, how do I rotate the pics? They are right side up when I download them to my desktop.

Manolo · « **Reply #28 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 11:01 am »

Nice! and you use the Pass XA-25.... like I do with my Spatials M4 TM. That is going to sound awesome. Although you have the two woofers in the L2’s actively powered and mine are full range driven, the bass control that the XA produced in the M4’s is spectacular. Likewise for its low extension. My F4 cannot do the same. My M4’s are also red, but not that same shade, yours tilt to orange. Looking forward to your impressions.

Shakeydeal · « **Reply #29 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 01:00 pm »

Congrats on the speaker. Nice system and room. I'm sure you are really enjoying those.

Shakey

targa02 · « **Reply #30 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 02:24 pm »

Hi Manolo. I love the Pass XA 25, but I am beginning to wonder if it has as much power as I want to drive the coaxial driver. On paper it should be more than enough, but I am having to raise the volume level on my MSB DAC up quite a ways to generate dBs in the 80's.

BTW, my speakers are Lamborghini Arancio Ymir, which is orange, with 8 layers of clear coat. I think they look amazing!

Shakeydeal · « **Reply #31 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 03:03 pm »

Quote from: targa02 on 25 Sep 2019, 02:24 pm

Hi Manolo. I love the Pass XA 25, but I am beginning to wonder if it has as much power as I want to drive the coaxial driver. On paper it should be more than enough, but I am having to raise the volume level on my MSB DAC up quite a ways to generate dBs in the 80's.

BTW, my speakers are Lamborghini Arancio Ymir, which is orange, with 8 layers of clear coat. I think they look amazing!

I ran into the same issue with my X3s. On paper, my Decware Torii II should have been able to drive the upper section since all bass duties are already handled. This was not the case. The Decware ran out of steam pretty early. I had to explore other options.

Shakey

Chris Adams · « **Reply #32 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 03:43 pm »

Manolo · « **Reply #33 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 06:31 pm »

Maybe you both need an active preamplifier in there... try one. Or in the case of the L2’s the setting on the active amp. is set too high..

Shakeydeal · « **Reply #34 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 06:57 pm »

Gain was never an issue. And that's what an active preamp will bring to the table. The Torii was driven to clipping long before I ran out of output from my front end devices.

On another note, I have had active preamps up to the 7K price range. And since my system has always been very passive friendly, none of them can beat an LDR or TVC to my ears.

Shakey

targa02 · « **Reply #35 on:** 25 Sep 2019, 10:05 pm »

Thanks Manolo and Shakey. I will try lowering the setting on the bass amp. I am not keen on adding an active preamp. I generally feel less is more, like you do Shakey.

Also, Thank you so much Chris!!! They look so much better oriented correctly.

genjamon · « **Reply #36 on:** 26 Sep 2019, 02:26 am »

Despite the high efficiency specs, I’ve always found Spatial M line to need real power to properly open up. The TM upgrade was an attempt to make them a bit friendlier to low power tubes, but they appear to still need real power/current. My guess is it’s probably phase/impedance swings.

I’d be surprised if the Lumina completely avoid these issues.

That said, these Luminas look awesome and I’m sure sound even better. They’re worthy of finding the “just right” amplification to bring out their best.

JackD · « **Reply #37 on:** 26 Sep 2019, 03:27 am »

targa02

Over the last 3 1/2 years I've tried my M3TS's and then M3TM's with a lot of different amps tubes. SS and Class D and for whatever reason they respond the best to Class D amps. A really good amp to try at a good price is the Mivera Purepower SE amp listed in the Trading Post. If it doesn't float your boat re-sell it. That is what is currently running with my M3TM's.

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=165623.0

targa02 · « **Reply #38 on:** 26 Sep 2019, 03:20 pm »

Thanks Genjamon. Actually the Luminas took a big step forward yesterday during the break in process and it sure seems to me that besides sounding way better, they also seem to be easier to drive.

Hi JackD. Thank you for your input. I have some Ncore monos that I could use on the Luminas. Have you compared the Minerva to Ncore?

genjamon · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 Sep 2019, 03:25 pm »

Very true - as long as you’re not worried about stress on output tubes (which you’re not, with the Pass), then it’s definitely wise to be patient through the break-in process to see what you’ve got on the other side before making any conclusions or investments.

I had DIY ncore monos a long time ago and sold them in favor of a Job 225 amp. IMO the Mivera is an entirely different league, but still will have the general clean and controlled character of class D if that makes sense.