[Tyson]

Hola all, Jason (Pez) came by today for a lengthy, but relaxed, listening session.  We made 2 interesting discoveries right away.  First, the line level passive crossovers I had made to remove the bass signals sent from my preamp to my tube amp was seriously mucking up the signal.  Second, the V2's sounded better with the foam in the tweeter throat than without it. 

Other than that, I thought the V2's sounded the way I've been describing them - very coherent, very even bass, very dynamic, and able to convey emotion like nobody's business.  I would describe my previous speakers as "relaxed" because they were a bit dark and a bit warm.  With the V2's, they are just as easy to listen to, but not at all dark, and only the tiniest bit leaning toward the warm side.  Mainly they are just super transparent, without being analytical in the least. 

The other thing that constantly impresses me with the V2's is their overall coherency.  I sit nearfield most of the time and most speakers with a separate tweeter and midrange location just bug the hell out of me.  The V2's act as a true point source for most of the audible range and are as close to my reference as I've ever heard.  My reference is the Sennheiser HD600's with custom cryo/teflon/6nCopper cable.  OK, enough of me fawning over my own speakers.  I'll let Pez chime in here, when he gets a chance...

[satfrat]

When you say nearfield, exactly how far away are the V2's from your sweet spot Tyson?

[Tyson]

V2's are 3 ft from the back wall and 8 ft from the sweet spot.

[Pez]

Ok first off I want to say Tyson did a great job on the veneer work and the overall appearance of his V2s. Once he gets the grill cloth inplace these suckers will be a work of DIY art!

The sound of the V2s was much improved from the last time I heard them which is saying a lot because last time they sounded pretty damn good. This time I have to agree with Tyson they were much more smooth and relaxed. We definately agreed on the foam there is definately some sibilance with the V2s that the foam eliminates. It makes it so much nicer on the ears. I like the way they had a very flat response throughout the room unlike the Ellas they performed a lot better as a non-sweetspot speaker. The bass output leaves very little to be desired though I will say the V1s with the active servo woofers at RMAF had a bit more punch I didn't feel like it the V2s were missing much in the bass dept.

As Tyson said the cap going into his amp was definately trouble. It caused the sound to be muffled and sort of boxy sounding, but once it was removed things opened up a lot. For probably the first time ever we didn't do a lot of tweaking, just sort of enjoyed the music. A bit of experimentation with the speaker placement, but beyond that, the foam and the cap we didn't do much (that's saying a lot because normally we're changing things around constantly with our sessions). Always enjoy getting a chance to hang out and speak dorkinese with Tyson. 

[Tyson]

Just an update - I made two changes so far that have really improved the V2's since the listening session with Pez - 1st, I replaced the 10uf and 1.5uf Sonicap Gen I tweeter caps with Obbligato Gold caps of the same value.  This was a very good improvement - larger than the improvement I heard from bypassing the Gen I caps with the Platinum Teflon Caps.  Very nice!

The other thing I did (very recently, ie: today), is install the spikes on the bottom of the speakers.  Wow, this has had an inordinate improvement to the already great bass of the V2.  In fact, the V2 improved more from the installation of spikes than any other speaker I've owned.  Of course, the V2's are still not on the same level as the Super-V's in the bass, but they are certainly closer!

[django11]

What do those darn spikes do anyway?  Are they just for carpet?

[Danny Richie]

What do those darn spikes do anyway?  Are they just for carpet?

They couple the speaker to the floor so that they don't move. This keeps the bass response nice and tight.

[Tyson]

Not just the bass - the midrange cleared up and "pops" even more now.  The speakers are overall "tighter" and more punchy, better dynamic tracking through the entire range.

[NeilT]

Kind of difficult if you have them on a laminate floor. My OB7's weigh 80+ lbs each. I like to slide them out for serious listening. Any ideas, anyone? Or just get my wife to move them for me?

Thanks,
Neil

[Tyson]

I also got in the Obbligato Gold 22uf cap in today.  I'd previously replaced the 1.5uf and 10uf Sonicap Gen 1 caps with Obbligato Golds to good effect. 

I'm happy to report that even straight out of the box the Golds beat the Gen 1s pretty handily.  They make the Gen 1s sound muddled and slow in comparison.  With all my caps switched to Obbligato Golds and bypassing each cap with Auri-T or Sonicap Platinum Teflon caps, the sound has a top-to-bottom coherence and clarity that I just can't get over.  Highly recommended!!

[Groundzero]

Hi Tyson,
Do you have any pictures of the speakers with spikes? I'm about ready to put them on my V2s but am unsure what would be best.

Thanks,
Kristian