[bronal]

Hello all:

The Hoyt Bedfords I ordered some weeks ago have arrived and have taken up residence in my second system, which is in my back bedroom measuring 2.7 x 3.0 metres.

I am currently running the speakers in and should have about 20 to 25 hours on them by the weekend.  I am wary of giving initial opinions, but I can say that they have at the very  least met, and pin all probability exceeded, my expectations.  Imaging, soundstaging and detail retrieval are all superb.  I am running them in 'closed box' mode through a KRK Ergo room processor.  I would like to be able to run them ported but that'll have to wait until I can recalibrate the Ergo.  As it is, bass is more than adequate.  They are about 1.80m apart slightly toed in so that they point at my shoulders in sitting position.

Funnily enough they sound better with the Dayens Ampino than the Vista Audio i84.  The Ampino brings out their speed and detail, whereas the i84 seems a little cloudy in contrast.  The i84 was better with my other speakers.

Finish is first class and the stands work well with the spikes and dots.  I don't know whether I'll fill them.  They are of course fingerprint and dust magnets, but fortunately my compulsive tendencies are more than a match for that! 

Here are some photos I took this morning.  Excuse the quality, but I'm no good as a photographer and also the room isn't easy to shoot in, with light coming in from one side.

I'm torn between running the speakers plugged or unplugged.  Unplugged they have a richer tone and of course more bass extension, but can be a tad boomy with lively music.  Hopefully the recalibrated Ergo will fix that, but I'll have to wait for a friend to come back from a business trip as it's a bit fiddly if you don't know exactly what you're doing. (Which I don't.)

The music I mainly listen to is ambient/electronic, acoustic, folk(y) and world.  Very little rock these days, apart from Porcupine Tree.  Hence the need for detail and soundstaging.

In summary, these speakers are exceptional value.  Happy to answer any questions.

Many thanks to Tony Schmidt of Audio Addictions in Brisbane for a very smooth purchase.

Cheers

Alan

[bronal]

PS: I'll take some better pix and post them soon. A.

[DonB]

Pictures are OK but giving them proper orientation would be nice 

[satfrat]

 

 
Cheers,
Robin

[vizion]

Beautiful. I can't believe these are entry level speakers. Can you show us how deep the speakers look ?

Thanks.

[AudioAddiction]

Alan,

Thanks for the post.  So everyone else understands we are in Australia so before I sent the speakers onto Alan I unpacked them and test run them.  After all they had just travelled from the other side of the globe so I wanted to make sure there weren't any issues before delivering them.

Alan had ordered a gloss black finish and Louis really came to the party by supplying a gloss pearl black that is just amazingly good looking.  Fit and finish is just outstanding at any price.

The stands I made from high grade MDF and had them two pack coated in satin black.  The dots that Alan mentions are Herbie's small fat dots which I find to be really great at decoupling the speaker from the stand.

While they were unpacked I took a few photos as below:











If you are looking at a single driver speaker in this price range do yourself a favor and have a listen to these.

[doctorcilantro]

Now I'm really chomping at the bit for mine to arrive. Thanks for the post and pics!

[bronal]

Many thanks for the pix, Tony.  Much better than mine!

I've got about 35 hours on the HBs now, so I think I can report my impressions on them with some accuracy.  My experience is that equipment usually shows its general characteristics after about 20 hours, which are then refined until full burn-in/run-in is achieved.

I have to run the HBs in 'sealed' mode (ie: with the disturbingly-named 'Poof' balls inserted into the rear ports  ), so I am not getting the maximum bass extension the HBs are capable of.   I've tried with the ports open, but there is too much bass energy for the room and I get some bass boom.   Not the speakers' fault, of course, and I'd dearly like to hear them in a larger room.   Despite this, with the KRK Ergo in circuit I'm getting pretty good bass down to 50Hz and something down to at least 40.

At first, bass was a bit disconnected, but with time it has become fully integrated.  Similarly, treble was at first a little sharp at times, but this has also calmed down.  I am not using the front covers.  Overall, the sound is very smooth and detailed but dynamic. Imaging is absolutely spot-on and soundstaging is excellent, within the restrictions of the room. The stands are also very good.  I haven't filled them, as I don't think it would make much difference in my room. The spikes work well, as do the Herbies Audio Lab dots that were supplied with them.

Speaker finish is excellent and I can see no imperfections.   All in all, superb value for the price in every way.  I'm very happy with them.

They are, however, quite particular about the amp you use.   I thought: 97dB + 8 ohms = valves, but in point of fact the amp that works best with them to date is the Dayens Ampino (MOSFET, 25wpc).    Apart from any other requirements, the HBs do need an amp that is nimble and has good bass grip, because they are so fast.   I also have a sneaking suspicion that they like a bit of current.   Valve amps can sound a bit slow and out of puff in this respect.  It would be interesting to try a RWA amp with them, but I have to be realistic and stay within my budget.

[doctorcilantro]

Interesting notes, thanks for sharing. I think the 6V6 (or 6L6/6K6) mini-Torri should mate well with these:

"This amp uses a small amount of feedback on the output stage that makes it ideal for single driver speakers that benefit from a little more control.  Remember this amp is a pentode design.  Triodes are linear without feedback so why bother with a Pentode amp?  Pentodes have more speed and spank than triodes and if properly controlled can come off sounding more like real music via better dynamics and tighter bass control.  The operative word there was "properly".  It is much easier to get a triode to sound "right" than it is a pentode, however if you're successful the pentode can sound "more right" in many systems. 

All this comes together to ideally serve all of the single driver high efficiency speakers such as Lowther, Fostex and others by giving them a smooth frequency balance, an adjustable top end, and flatter more extended bass."

[vizion]

Play with a triode push-pull. Bass sounds/feels fantastic.

[doctorcilantro]

Superb packing as usual. Fit and finish is top notch. I ordered Cherry and they look just like my 3i which was expected given they are also Cherry; just nice to order something years apart and have it match my sub. These are big speakers, as big as my Deep Hemp (cherry), and they seem monstrous ; ) ....especially coming from the 3i. It's been awhile since I owned something larger, RF7s years ago.

Initial impressions with mini-Torii was a lack of presence from first couple vocal tracks. Now, I think what is gone with regard to focus or presence from the MQ5L which sound more in your face?, more forward? (but honestly those 3i sound incredible) is that things have literally opened up, the sound is much more spatial, and a better choice than "loss of presence" is that the sound stage is wider and the presentation is less forward. I kept thinking that the vocals sounded effortless. I may hook the 3i back up next to the HB and experiment.

I use E80CC instead of the 12AU7, and the music is so transparent on vocals. No strain. In hindsight, the 3i may have been doing too much "growl" in the mids, if that makes any sense. That was with Diana Krall. Then I played some Gene Ammons XRCD and easily the most realistic sax I have heard in this house. I have done very little listening so I need to run through a lot more material.

The Who, some MoFi or XRCD stuff?, was rocking. From what Louis said they don't need a lot of break-in, but once I seal the ports and some Herbie's fat dots under them (Vibrapods wouldn't fit under in my bookcase), since I have a sub, I'll do some more listening.

So far, hats off to Louis of Omega Speakers, happy holidays everyone.

[ZLS]

    Glad to hear that the H-Bs are living up to expectations. 
    I am expecting delivery of a pair that I ordered after the first of the year. 
    A suggestion, if you do not already own any, go out and buy some Johnny Hartman recordings. 
    He was one of the best Jazz singers ever, and for whatever reason he sounds spectacular of speakers made by Louis Chochos.  Just one of those magical things. 

[doctorcilantro]

I have some Hartman as .flac of the album "John Coltrane w/ Johnny Hartman".

Will check it out asap.

thanks!

[Louis O]

Hi bronal,

Many thanks for the great post and your impressions with the new speakers.
They do have the flavor of the omega line, but they are a little different too. I'm very happy that I could engineer the speakers at this price point. I worked pretty hard developing the new driver and within the budget. Overall they worked out very well as a system with the new cabinets.
The sealed and vented formats are a big plus too and I do like the versatility especially with smaller rooms.

Pretty interesting regarding the tube and SS amps. I too like the SS amp with these speakers. I run them with a few different types of tube amps as well as SS from Bluenote, rega, and RWA. I also noticed that the break in is pretty easy with these. The break in is important and they will gel in no time.

Very happy you like the black finish. I did have the option to get the pearl and I thought they would look better with it. I was very happy with the result and I would offer this finish from now on.

Hi AudioAddiction,

Many thanks for the great pics and this really helps. I will use them for the new website too. The stands look awesome and a great foundation for the speakers. I have the other pictures too and I will get them set up with the new site very soon.

Hi doctorcilantro,

Thanks and they are pretty big for stand mount speakers. Needed all that volume too. The cherry is the same as on the 3i's.

I'm hearing a lot of great things about the mini torii. I heard that tube rolling makes a big difference too. The 8" driver is more dynamic and will rock out. I have played them pretty loud over here. Many thanks and I'm very happy you like them.


Hi ZLS,

Working on them now and can't wait for you to get them in your system.

Getting the Johnny Hartman too. More music is better.

Thanks again and more to follow soon,
Louis

[doctorcilantro]

Had a session last weekend with some folks and the HB's were a hit.

I had gone to Wal-Mart and found two sets of poof balls. One are what I believe Louis is probably mailing me: they are a lightweight spongey "POOF" sphere.

The other is a "POOF" football which is MUCH more dense and fits in the port perfectly.

I have a less than optimal setup in that since we have kids, I have been using 3I's in a bookcase/entertainment center. Old picture but gives you an idea. Kid friendly, not so much sound-friendly.



The HB's replaced those and they needed to have the ports sealed or they were too boomy. I also have a Deep Hemp which really does integrate wonderfully with both 3i and HB. FYI, I added the same spikes seen on the Hemp sub, to the platform it is sitting in the pic.

So, we decided halfway through the night to swap out the Genalex re-issue 12AU7s with the E80CC (which I normally use). These were all tested on my Amplitrex.

Then since John had brought his JW Audio Cryo cables, we had to pull the pseakers out and we ended up leaving them on the floor with spome makeshift risers; about 3 feet out into the room.

Then we unsealed the ports.

These Hoyt Bedford's sing. Proper placement of course did so much for these, but honestly, as I think Bronal stated upthread, the tone is just incredible unsealed. Maybe this matters more with some types of music. We tried briefly putting the footballs back in but they sounded a bit too tonally constricted. More experimentation is needed (see below).

Switched off the Deep Hemp and was SHOCKED at how good the bass sounded. My room is pro-treated but failrly well off: I have (7) absorbers and carpet, couch/chair, Acoustimac baffles, a large Art Panel, etc. so maybe this helped with the boominess perceived by Bronal. My room appears to be larger as well and is "ported" with an open wall to the rest of the house.

We listened to a lot of music. We didn't even have any stands, which I am looking for (planning on setting them up for critical listening only). I reluctantly put the speakers up last night, knowing my wife would be home with our 1-year old, so I set them as far away from the wall in the bookcase as to still be stable, and I put in the light weight Poof balls as opposed to the footballs in an attempt to tune the sound a bit better.

I will next play with the JW Audio Cryo wire which so far is a serious contender for replacing my Clear Day cables. Thanks to Louis for designing, building, and pricing such a wonderful and NEW speaker. I imagine it would be rather easier, in this economy, to regurgitate a design etc. so hats off.

Now I really have plenty of volume with the Mini-Torii; more than I will ever need.