Speakers....ohhhh, my head hurts

Parnelli777 · « **Reply #40 on:** 28 Nov 2007, 01:16 am »

I'd recommend a visit to Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek. They really do have a lot of nice gear–for nearly every budget. They use Linaeum tweeters to great effect as a modification, if you wish. See if you can get a listen to the Avantgarde Trios before they're sold. They're worth the visit by themselves (*_^)

I'm just a happy customer of theirs, trying to spread the joy.

http://www.stereounlimited.com/

Imperial · « **Reply #41 on:** 28 Nov 2007, 01:29 am »

Quote from: TheChairGuy on 27 Nov 2007, 04:25 am

Quote from: arthurs on 27 Nov 2007, 03:10 am
LOL...Mini-Chris held onto his beer through the shrinkification process

That pic still puts me in tears of laughter looking at it

Wow, never seen that picture before!

Hehe!!! Uhm... looking a bit on the "lean" side there mini-Chris..
That was good humor man!!! What a cool picture!!!

Imperial

Imperial · « **Reply #42 on:** 28 Nov 2007, 01:37 am »

Quote from: TheChairGuy on 24 Nov 2007, 06:38 pm

Imperial
Except for the Dali's...I think the other two aren't available in the 3rd world country now called the USA But, thanks

Oh, those are not Dali, but Doxa. The Doxa was reviewed by a norwegian tester in 1999. It's on audioreview.com
The reviewer is a dude that Srajan mentions in a DAC article, his name is Ivar Loekken (one of the best Tech-heads in Norway)
The Doxa was and is a beauty, but alas no longer in production.

Imperial

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #43 on:** 28 Nov 2007, 04:41 am »

Quote from: Parnelli777 on 28 Nov 2007, 01:16 am

I'd recommend a visit to Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek. They really do have a lot of nice gear–for nearly every budget. They use Linaeum tweeters to great effect as a modification, if you wish. See if you can get a listen to the Avantgarde Trios before they're sold. They're worth the visit by themselves (*_^)

I'm just a happy customer of theirs, trying to spread the joy.

http://www.stereounlimited.com/

Great link, Parnelli777

I almost bought a par of Linaeum (Corian) Extremes from these guys years ago while living in Washington DC...I forgot they're (figuratively) down the corner from me now in Walnut Creek. I need to check them out - and soon.

They are truly Linaeum experts it seems (they are all over their website)...I do really love those drivers.

Thanks, John

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #44 on:** 1 Dec 2007, 04:50 pm »

The Aural Ecstasy 805SD's from Bizzy Bee Audio arrived yesterday....and I'm still perplexed how he does it for $189 delivered to me (via FEDEX Ground)

They are very nice, reasonably solid non-boxes (no two walls are parallel except the front and back). they weigh 17 to 17.5lbs.....given that they have no crossover network, that's pretty commendable weight

The finish is good - as good as I've seen speakers at for 4x the money.

It's still well into the break-in phase at about 10 hours now, so I'll reserve judgement on sound quality for another 290 hours, but right outta' the box they aren't fatiguing or troublesome in any noticeable regard. The sweet spot is smaller than my Linaeums as they have much more forward/uni-directional firing tweeter modules.

Experimenting with placement will be important here as the tweeters fire slightly downward, I assume in place with the woofer, so they arrive in phase together at your ears. This is an awful lot of thoughtfulness on the part of the manufacturer for $189, no?

They came double boxed, lotsa' packaging materials and look good. I haven't found a shortcut at the price yet....while I haven't opened the speaker up to look inside yet, poking my peepers thru the front-mounted port (which is dimpled, not smooth, for supposedly better port air control), there is even some damping inside the walls of the speaker. And, the wiring (quality unknown for now) looks to be about a commendable 14ga to the woofers (I cannot see the tweeter wiring - which often is better suited to smaller gauges)

Here's some pics:

They look good and not troublesome about their performance at all. In fact, I'd describe their midrange performance as rich and bass as surprisingly decent right now

With everything rather more uni-directionally now, the troublesome windows in the back of the speaker that you see has all but been negated now...making for a cleaner delivery to my ears several feet in front of it.

John

AB · « **Reply #45 on:** 1 Dec 2007, 05:36 pm »

"Bookself Speaker"

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #46 on:** 1 Dec 2007, 05:42 pm »

Quote from: AB on 1 Dec 2007, 05:36 pm

"Bookself Speaker"

Yeah, a bit of an outdated term for many speakers now...back in the day when most were an acoustic suspension (sealed) six-sided box and the tweeters were front firing only you really could put them on bookshelves without too much sonic degradation.

Nowadays, with ported speakers and irregular shapes of various kinds......'Standmount Speaker' is probably more appropriate.

Hey, I still call my Notebook PC a 'laptop' no matter how many times I read otherwise

AB · « **Reply #47 on:** 1 Dec 2007, 09:00 pm »

BookSELF Speakers.

Sometimes I get paid to do this...

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #48 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 08:32 am »

John....

Quote

It's still well into the break-in phase at about 10 hours now, so I'll reserve judgement on sound quality for another 290 hours, but right outta' the box they aren't fatiguing or troublesome in any noticeable regard.

So John.....how are they sounding ? Thanks....

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #49 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 04:09 pm »

Hello Emperor Chris

I have about 200 hours on them now....and, from the get-go until now, I haven't found anything particularly troubling about them.

The direct, top-mounted tweeter gives off the necessary air and ambiance to make music sound more realistic, it seems extended and I don't hear any objectionable peakiness or ringing. The direct firing design actually works better in my room as I have so many hard surfaces, windows, etc. Neither is it overly soft - it seems well enough integrated to the 6.5" woven kevlar woofer.

It's a poly dome...which I realize are pretty cheap usually, but it sounds better than almost all the aluminum and titanium tweeters I've heard, and it's not fatiguing.

I'm pretty lousy at evaluating speakers - about the only thing I have conclusively found objectionable are aluminum and titanium convex domed tweeters in the past - this tweeter works for me, at least.

The cabinet is commendably dense...the front baffle seems thicker (deeper thunk to the knuckle wrap test) than the sides. Commendable, too, is that only the front and rear panels are paralell...the others are curved in some way. The port is dimpled (a la B & W 800-series) - I don't know if it's purely cosmetic or it has some basis in fact, but it sure looks purdy

I think the speaker could use more wattage...I'm just guessing at that....but the Bell 10 watt 6V6 monoblocks seem to be inadequate. I hope to hook up the 50 watt Dukane mono's soon to see. It's recommended wattage range is 10-120 watts.....despite being crossover-less, it's not suited for SET's. The woven kevlar woofer isn't sensitive/efficient versus true single driver paper/hemp types, it seems.

I'll find out soon about the wattage.

Overall, I'd be impressed if I paid $600+ for these....but very happy at $189 delivered

Oddly, break-in has been less of an issue than other speakers I've owned. I would have though the driver(s) needed mucho time to break in....but in previous speakers I've owned it may well have been wiring (the teflon dialectric, more than anything) and the crossover components that may have been breaking in.

I hope to open these up soon and begin charting a 'tweek' course for them. They probably have stamped steel woofer baskets...so they're gonna' get Plast-i-Clay'ed (amazing what it does for cheap steel baskets). They probably use cheap wiring....I'll change out to decent OFC, at least. As you never can have a box that is too non-resonant, they'll probably get a some No-Res (from Danny at GR Research) acoustical damping treatment on the inner walls soon, too.

A lot of what this speaker likely gives up to pricier designs is less resonant box design...taking care of that will likely pay off rich dividends

Ciao - your humble servant - John

TomS · « **Reply #50 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 04:43 pm »

Those look really nice John. It's really hard to believe the price on them.

Now see if you can talk Danny into doing a trick crossover a 'la Insignia. That would be fun to just see how much you can really spend on a pair of $189 speakers

Tom

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #51 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 05:20 pm »

Quote from: TomS on 13 Dec 2007, 04:43 pm

Those look really nice John. It's really hard to believe the price on them.

Now see if you can talk Danny into doing a trick crossover a 'la Insignia. That would be fun to just see how much you can really spend on a pair of $189 speakers

Tom

Tom,

These have no crossovers...supposedly 'purer' because of it. Can't say for sure...but they sound (and look) nice if they had cost $600+...for $189 delivered I still don't know how it was done

I think they are $289 now.....still very, very good value.

They might improve dramatically by simply mechnically damping down box and woofer frame resonances....and reducing air turbulance within the box (acoustical damping).

Typically, with speakers, the largest portion of the build budget goes to the boxes/frames...so it's probably there that some corners were cut most. Tho from outward appearances, it sure doesn't look like it

Lonewolfny42's humble West Coast servant, John

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #52 on:** 13 Dec 2007, 06:21 pm »

Thank you Sir Cart Master John....

From your comments and that price

....sounds like a very good deal....

Thanks again......

Chris

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #53 on:** 14 Dec 2007, 08:44 pm »

Switched to my 50 watt tube monos today....much, much better.

Not completely sure why as 10 watts sould be adequate with these speakers...but they sounded a bit thin (more headroom now in dynamic passages). Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are sounding quite nice today.

The 50 watters, in addition to generating a lot more wattage (and commendably high current level for tube amps due to use of TV 'Sweep' tubes, 6CD6's) are also (tube) regulated....so the bass is a bit tighter/tucked up versus the softer (but, typically lovely) 6V6 mono's.

The 6V6 also has one or more tired tubes in it (hum is audible now)....so for a bevy of reasons it sounds better now

I think these speakers are now $289 (shipping included with USPS Money Order) within US...still an immense value for you get I think.

I'll see if they improve with some resonance control tweeks...I assume they will quite a bit. Not now tho...I have some turntable projects to get to

They are good enough stock to not bother with it for a time - if they sucked in the least, they'd have either been rotated out, sold, returned or tweeked by now. They work fine for my small, imperfect room with a Galo TR-1 subwoofer fleshing out the bottom adequately.

John