[mcgsxr]

Not too sure how many folks have heard the A8, but I would like a little advice about their bass performance.

I currently run b200 Visatons in open baffles, and find that the bass response is not on par with the rest of the presentation - this is to say that EQ, or tone controls are required.

I am considering the aperiodic cabinets, and would like to hear from some folks about their experiences with the A8, and in particular, the bass response in their rooms.

My room is an unfinished basement, of about 25x35x7.5 or so...

Thanks!

[audiomaniac]

Your listening room is a larger than mine but I am finding the bass on the A8s quite sufficient. I think the Hemps seem to have a little more bass presence, but I like the A8s for jazz, blues and citizen rock. I also listen near field and the A8s can be placed very close to the wall, whereas the Hemps and a lot of other Omegas need room to breath (3 - 4 feet away from the wall). The real nice thing about the A8s is that they love power. I have a McIntosh MC225 tube amp that probably puts out about 30 watts/channel and the louder I turn it up, the better! The music doesn't compress at all!


System
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;system=609

[konut]

I've owned the A8s since early Sept. Initially I had them very close to the back wall and found solid response to the mid 40s. I had always planned to use a sub (actually I had pre-ordered an AV123 UFW12 in Jan 05! before I had even heard of the A8s OR Omega ). Now I've got the A8s 2ft from the back wall and imaging has improved greatly. I have the crossover at 90hz. 24db per octave. I've been using different subs for going on 15 years and have become spoiled by them. To me The satellites can be positioned for best imaging and the sub for smoothest bass response. Having a full range speaker compromises both unless you happen to have an ideal room where you get good imaging and smooth bass in the same spot, in my experience, very rare. Trying to get 20-20k performance from a single driver is an exercise in futility and full of compromises, the laws of physics being what they are. I'm extremely happy with my setup now and am concentrating on improving my source components. (Red Wine modded SB3 on order)

[Louis O]

Hi mcgsxr,

I do agree with audiomaniac and the cabinet does improve the bass performance a lot. This is way I’m working on the 1.5 way concept for the OB/Darkstar. Adding the second cabinet with the same driver and cut off at 100Hz will give a foundation to the OB and you will still retain the OB sound and soundstaging. You can also get a pair of A8s and add a low pass and run the Obs full range.

Thanks again,
Louis

[ooheadsoo]

No aperiodic cabinet here, but I wanted to mention that with the Odyssey Stratos, the bass is flat to about ~60hz give or take, rolling off to fs around 50hz or so.  Don't know what to say about bass quality.  I've heard better, but not from my system.  With the Sharp digital amp, bass under 110hz was down by about 9db and dropping.

I was excited that I finally got the bones in my ears to move to protect my ear drums with Diz blasting his trumpet into the mic using the b200 in open baffles and wanted to find a thread to post in  If you can get the response of this speaker to be flat, whee

Oh, I should mention that I'm getting plenty of boundary reinforcement.

[JLM]

Mark,

Roughly the B200/O.B. gives up the bottom 2 octaves (maybe more, +/- EQ).  I'm sure this isn't too satisfying.

The A8 gives up the bottom 1 octave without EQ and the dipole presentation.  Many can live with this much bass, YMMV and you can always add a sub later.

Maybe Louis could be talked into building an A8 BPC.  That should offer the best of both and some extra bass.

What are you using for an amp these days?

Did you ever try the CSS WR125S in open baffle?  Tom Z. says the similar FR125S in O.B. is the best he's ever heard.  But as you know it's only about 85 dB/w/m efficient.

[fabaudio]

Mark,

Roughly the B200/O.B. gives up the bottom 2 octaves (maybe more, +/- EQ).  I'm sure this isn't too satisfying.

The A8 gives up the bottom 1 octave without EQ and the dipole presentation.  Many can live with this much bass, YMMV and you can always add a sub later.

Maybe Louis could be talked into building an A8 BPC.  That should offer the best of both and some extra bass.

 I think Louis mentioned he was excited with the prospect of experimenting with the B200's in a bipole configuration in another thread. I guess it's all a question of finding the time. The man is very, very busy right now.

[mcgsxr]

Hey JLM, happy new year!

I just bought a gainclone off eBay last week, and have it plugged into the b200's, via a stock SB3.

More bass than the Panny receiver I tried, and more than the Teacs I used to run, but less than the JVC EX A1 unit - but I am preparing for a modded SB3, and want to run it straight into power amp, and then on to speakers...

So, I was hunting for info around what else I can do with the drivers I have - tks for the responses guys, I have some thinking to do about either integrating a sub, or losing the interesting presentation of the OB.

[konut]

Happy new year everyone! May I recommend getting a sub before you do anything else? I own the A8s and used them for a couple of monthes before getting a UFW-12 from AV123. While the A8s sounded great by themselves, the right sub will add a 'foundation' to the presentation that you juat cant appreciate until you hear it. My preference is to crossover above the natural rolloff. What I have found is that by relieving the B200 of its low bass duties, and impedance rise, even greater dynamics and less distortion is realised. Another advantage of this is that bass modes for the A8s are lessened allowing for better placement for imaging. I do know that many disagree with this approach.
     As for the OB vs the aperiodic loading, I came to the con conclusion a few years ago, after owning a pair of Magnaplanar Tympani IDs for many years, that the bipole presentation, while captivating and exciting, did not give as pinpoint an image as I'd like, and was very sensetive as to placement and sweet spot. This is, of course, highly subjective and only you can make the final determination as to which presentation you like
better.

[tyee]

Hi konut
   I have the A8's too and have been looking for a sub for a few months.  I narrowed it down to the UFW-12, the ACI Titan, and the TBI Magellan VIII, and maybe one of the SVS's.
  Did you try any others during your search, and what made you choose the UFW-12?

tyee

[konut]

I had actually preordered the UFW-12 last January before I even heard of Omega or the A8. I had done extensive web searching via forums and product pages and based my preorder on a threads over at the AV123 site, one touting the musicality of the UFW-10, and another monster thread discussing the upcoming UFW-12 showing a picture of the driver. There was one poster who had compared the UFW-10 to various other well regarded subs and subsequently purchased multiple UFW-10s. I have not personally auditioned the subs you mentioned but if you search the AV123 forum, I think you may find others that have. I think you'll find that while other subs may perform as well, or slightly better, for the money the UFW-12 cannot be beat. Mine has exceeded my expectations and that is without the included R-DES 5 band parametric equalizer that was included in the price, but was held up pending a redesign. Those should be shipping shortly though and I know I'll be even happier once I can dial in a more precise tuning. The UFW-12 is very musical due to its sealed alignment and keeps up with the speed of the A8s. I couldnt be happier with this combo given the price points of the respective units.

[Louis O]

Hi Everyone,

The bass is really an issue with he OBs and the 1.5 way will cover it. I was thinking about the B200 or the hemps in Bipole too. I have to experiment with this some more. This will give much more weight as well. Looks like the 1.5 way will have to have the second B200 running in front as the could would have to be set much higher.

I'm really working on getting the site running and getting the sub page fixed as well. Konut's sub is very good and I wouldn't go with the TBI. I had it and it's not a good match. The ERA is also good.

When I come back from the show the finished version of the new stuff is getting built. The OBs first.

Thanks again,
Louis

[-Richard-]

Hi Konut,

I owned Maggie 1.6's for a few years and played around with them quite a bit.

The B200's in OB are entirely different in sonic character.

Yes of course they are both dipole and use the back wave to combine with
with the front wave to create a subtle spatial "overlapping" that has the effect
of opening up the highly directional sound of a front-firing-only cabinet driver.
Something that is not necessarily noticeable if one has been exposed to a steady
diet of front firing cabinets...until one gets used to the OB sound...

But the B200's are a pistonic driver...the dynamics are very intense...and
penetrate the room differently...the air of the room is highly stimulated in a
similar way that live music does...also there is a tighter focus of the instrumental
presence compared to the Maggies...which tend to "spread" the sound of
instruments larger than they would present themselves in a real space in a real room...
the Maggies increase in instrumental scale renders the instrumental sound
somewhat soft around the edges with the center transient acting like a hot spot...
I am exaggeratting slightly in order to find the words to describe this admittedly
very subtle phenomena...

I am currently using the Monica dac battery powered with a cheap Pioneer
universal player...the detail is astounding...Deb is in continual amazement of
the musical information we are hearing on CD's that we thought we really knew...
and what the Monica is doing is truly musical...not just detail...but something entirely
organic...everything appears out of the musical fabric as one gestalt...

And the Monica has not even burned in yet...only perhaps 30 hours on them...
a revelation...

The lack of "absolute" focus of the B200 in OB is not really a fault at all as many
suggest...but is actually one of the characteristics that allow it to present music
with such life-like fidelity...more focus than the B200 in OB now sounds like
a very exaggerated presentation to me...this is not a criticism of any other speaker
modality mind you...I am only sharing what I am hearing...

I have ordered a pair of Super 3 Bipoles to see if they render music with a similar
realism...knowing that Louis plans on making available his new Hemp 4.5 inch
drivers as drop-in replacements when he has solved the formidable design issues
with them...

Warm Regards -Richard-