Any opinions on these Morel speakers?

jackman · « **Reply #40 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 12:02 am »

Quote

BTW, speakers that can be obtained for similar dough and measure and sound good:

Ascend 170 and 340
Axiom M22
Some of the lower end Polks
NHT SB3 among others

These speakers may sound good (haven't heard them) but I believe Dennis threw in the towel on the Ascends. I don't think he posted his measurements on his site but I believe they measured poorly. I admit that I'm going off memory so I may be wrong. Anyway, he seems pretty happy with the $10 fix on the Morel's. For the money (that price is delivered), they look like a very good bargain.

I hope to hear them one of these days. I have a small pair of Murphy designed monitors that use the MD29 tweeters (Isreal made) and they sound very good. On a whim, I took the tweeters apart and looked inside. It's very easy (and cheap!) to replace the voice-coils on these babies.

Anyway, didn't mean to jump on you. I hope you stick around and tell us about your audio adventures! We need some new blood around these parts.

I'm a bit bummed because I wasn't able to make the DIY Iowa event. I was looking forward to hearing John K's NaO speakers. They look like the poor man's Orions!

Cheers,

Jack

mac · « **Reply #41 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 12:16 am »

Quote from: jackman

I was looking forward to hearing John K's NaO speakers. They look like the poor man's Orions!

Yes, and we know what can be said about looks.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #42 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 12:56 am »

mac, what do you have against the nao? I saw you lightly mocking them on madisound as well. (Just curious.)

mac · « **Reply #43 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 01:26 am »

Quote from: ooheadsoo

mac, what do you have against the nao? I saw you lightly mocking them on madisound as well. (Just curious.)

I have nothing against them, per se. From what I've read, they are probably very decent speakers. What I take issue with is them being compared to the Orion as if they were on equal footing or a cheaper alternative. Aside from both being dipoles they have little in common with one another. I will concede that if SL's Orion weren’t as popular (and good) as they are, the nao would not exist.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #44 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 01:37 am »

It seems natural to me to compare them. They both have considerable engineering put into them. They're also both mtms with bass modules. "Poor man" already concedes that the speaker is less expensive and probably not in the exact same category, quality wise. On the other hand, what if they are better? It would be very interesting indeed to compare the two speakers.

mac · « **Reply #45 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 01:57 am »

Quote from: ooheadsoo

It seems natural to me to compare them. They both have considerable engineering put into them. They're also both mtms with bass modules. "Poor man" already concedes that the speaker is less expensive and probably not in the exact same category, quality wise. On the other hand, what if they are better? It would be very interesting indeed to compare the two speakers.

The Orion is not an MTM and doesn't use bass modules. SL's prior generation speaker, which used Scanspeak drivers, was the Phoenix. Perhaps this is the speaker you're thinking of?

If you add up the cost to build the Orion and nao I think you'd find they aren't too far apart (discounting the cost of two additional channels of amplification). IMO, once you live with a triamped system (Orion or otherwise) you'll may view the nao is a different light. With that said, I'd love to hear a set sometime.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #46 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 03:21 am »

Oh yeah, I was thinking of the phoenix for the mtm. It's not on his website, but I remember Linkwitz using a couple of peerless xls drivers with his orions in at least a few orion builds that he did. On the other hand, I could be mistaken, but I believe I saw it on madisound. Unfortunately, I can't turn it up since the search isn't going past september right now.

mac · « **Reply #47 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 03:41 am »

Quote from: ooheadsoo

Oh yeah, I was thinking of the phoenix for the mtm. It's not on his website, but I remember Linkwitz using a couple of peerless xls drivers with his orions in at least a few orion builds that he did. On the other hand, I could be mistaken, but I believe I saw it on madisound. Unfortunately, I can't turn it up since the search isn't going past september right now.

Phoenix system: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/builtown.htm

Unlike JohnK's nao, the Orion hasn't changed since it was introduced two years ago. If you'd care to research SL's background you'll discover that the type of research he does is very different from most professional loudspeaker engineers, let alone DIY'ers like JohnK. His site has a wealth of information, most all of which is freely provided. http://www.linkwitzlab.com/page_index.htm Cheers, mac.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #48 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 04:46 am »

Yeah I've read his page several times in the last few years. I can't say I understand everything there, of course. I still don't see the need to knock JohnK's work without even hearing it. SL has definitely tweaked his plans for the orion in this time. Not saying he's made any massive changes. SL couldn't really make major changes easily even if he wanted to since he sells the plans and he would either have to sell a revision 2 plan or ... you get the idea.

jackman · « **Reply #49 on:** 24 Oct 2004, 11:57 am »

Hey dudes, lighten up. Calling something a "poor man's" means getting the same performance (or close) for less money. I have never heard the Orion or the Nao, but there are a couple people (including Dennis Murphy) who have heard the Orion (Dennis said it was one of the best speakers he has ever heard) who will have a chance to hear the Nao. Either way, the Nao should be much less expensive than the Orion to build. I don't know if it sounds nearly as good but look forward to the comments from my friends who attended in Iowa.

If they say it sounds better to them or at least as good, don't look for any comments from me saying one is better than the other. I would only state which one sounds better to me if I personally heard them side by side or at least in a similar room. THe problem with those large shows is the rooms are often too large. The last Iowa DIY fest had only one room. It was very large and none of the speakers really sounded great. There were several really nice speakers that I suspect would sound good in smaller rooms. And the DIY croud is really cool. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Chicago event. Phil Bamburg is bringing a pair of his speakers. I believe he will be demo-ing an active setup.

THanks,
J

birdwizard · « **Reply #50 on:** 26 Oct 2004, 08:21 pm »

Quote from: tonygeno

These appear to be a very poor deal and birdwizard should get out more and hear what real music sounds like.

Thank you for your baseless opinion.

The funny thing is, my impressions are based on my listening sessions with this speaker in comparison to Europas, Rockets, VSA 4.5's, Martin Logans, etc...

What are your listening impressions based on Mr. Geno?

Oh yeah, you have none

Maybe you should stay out of threads where you really have nothing constructive to offer

Kevin P · « **Reply #51 on:** 27 Oct 2004, 12:12 am »

The tweeters are well designed and work well with low crossover points as others have pointed out. The final quality of the speaker though is going to have more to do with design rather than the quality of a given driver.