[HighRez]

Hello,

I want to start off by mentioning that I am very impressed with what I have seen so far of the various Selah speaker lineup. I am in the market for a new pair of speakers and have just recently stumbled upon this brand. My current system uses Legacy Audio Signature III towers and thus far they have served me very well over the years. This time around, I am looking for a speaker that has similar qualities to the Legacy's but with more detail and accuracy while maintaining the strong bass performance I have enjoyed in my current setup.

My musical tastes are mainly with Rock and Trance music at fairly high volumes (95+db) during normal listening sessions but on occasion I will go up from there if I catch a glimpse of the neighbors heading out for the evening. I will also play some more mellow stuff once in a while like Blues and some Jazz in 24/96 format.

My questions at this time are about the 3 speakers listed in the title of this thread. Taking into account my listening habits and musical tastes which of these 3 would be the better performer? Certainly, one of them is a much different design then the other two but they all line up pretty closely in terms of price.

What are the +/-'s between the Mejor vrs the Cima Monitor Sub combo's? How do these two stack up against the Visionario towers?

I use a non-biwired connection to my speakers now, can these setups be run in a similar fashion or do they require bi/tri wiring? My current amp is a PASS Labs x250. Ultimately I am looking for a speaker that can take off the gloves and kick in some teeth when asked but also feel right at home sipping champagne in tux. That's not too much to ask is it   

Thanks for any additional info you can provide 

[HighRez]

One thing that I forgot to mention was the room. I posted this in another thread on AC but figured it would be adding here as well. My listening room is on the small size and not modifiable which keeps me a scant 7ft from the speakers and forces them to be somewhat close to the walls...Thanks

http://home.comcast.net/~postuser/pics/Room.bmp

[pslate]

Check out Rick's monitor page. The Circondare or Tempesta have the aluminum illuminator driver which he has used in his latest creations. I have a pair of cheap speakers he made, but they sound incredible. When I step up it's because I need more output 

[cstory]

Hi HighRez,

I can't speak directly to your question since I've never heard the models you mention, and I don't listen that loud,  but based on what I know about my Grandeur's I would second Pslate's recommendation to take a look at the Circondare + sub as a possibility as well. I'm sure the Cima and Foundanzione would work, but given the high sound levels, I might think that the two 7" woofers of the Circondare would be better for you than the 5" ones of the Cima.

In the end, the best thing to do is to give Rick a call. He know's his speakers and he will be able to configure something that would meet your needs.

Chuck

[kip_]

Since you like to listen at high output levels maybe you should consider something with the Anarchy drivers. I believe Rick's produced a couple of floorstanding designs with it, perhaps one of those would work for you (and be less expensive)

[Rick Craig]

Based on your setup the best solution is a speaker that has active bass equalization. Since you like the Legacy's driver format I would suggest a system that I just quoted for a customer. It involves one TC12 subwoofer per side and using the sub as a base for the Tempesta. My customer suggested it would be a good rival to the much more expensive Salk Soundscape. The active bass section allows you to correct for room peaks which can really screw up the sound.

Hello,

I want to start off by mentioning that I am very impressed with what I have seen so far of the various Selah speaker lineup. I am in the market for a new pair of speakers and have just recently stumbled upon this brand. My current system uses Legacy Audio Signature III towers and thus far they have served me very well over the years. This time around, I am looking for a speaker that has similar qualities to the Legacy's but with more detail and accuracy while maintaining the strong bass performance I have enjoyed in my current setup.

My musical tastes are mainly with Rock and Trance music at fairly high volumes (95+db) during normal listening sessions but on occasion I will go up from there if I catch a glimpse of the neighbors heading out for the evening. I will also play some more mellow stuff once in a while like Blues and some Jazz in 24/96 format.

My questions at this time are about the 3 speakers listed in the title of this thread. Taking into account my listening habits and musical tastes which of these 3 would be the better performer? Certainly, one of them is a much different design then the other two but they all line up pretty closely in terms of price.

What are the +/-'s between the Mejor vrs the Cima Monitor Sub combo's? How do these two stack up against the Visionario towers?

I use a non-biwired connection to my speakers now, can these setups be run in a similar fashion or do they require bi/tri wiring? My current amp is a PASS Labs x250. Ultimately I am looking for a speaker that can take off the gloves and kick in some teeth when asked but also feel right at home sipping champagne in tux. That's not too much to ask is it   

Thanks for any additional info you can provide

[HighRez]

Hey thanks for all the replies. I like the sound of the Tempesta / TC12 combo. Two things that come to mind when I think about a setup like this would be the connectivity options I have to the sub and the current power capabilities of my Pass x250 amp feeding the Tempesta's.

In terms of connectivity I use a BEL Canto DAC3 as a DAC/Pre which has XLR and RCA outputs. Currently I am running XLR to my Pass amp and do not use the RCA's. Taking the distance of the speakers into account my first thought would be that I may need to consider using XLR to feed the Sub portion and then use RCA to feed the Pass but I'm not sure if the Bel Canto can output signal to both at the same time.

My understanding is that long runs of RCA can be prone to potential noise issues entering the signal path given the 15' run that I would require to feed the signal to the Subs. Can an XLR Input be integrated into the TC/12 Sub portion?

Regarding the Tempesta's, I see that they are rated to handle up to 150w of power. Since the speakers are 4ohm that would mean my current amp would be jamming roughly 500w of juice down on them; if not more knowing how Pass amps are notorious for being under rated in terms of power output.

Now I usually like feeding a bit more power to a speaker then its RMS rating but this may be really pushing it unless the Tempesta can be setup in an 8ohm configuration instead of a 4ohm.

Is it safe to assume that the Visionario speaker wouldn't be a good fit in my configuration due to the rear firing port, or any port for that matter. The specs seem like a good fit showing a healthy dose of bass extension.

Rick, your recommendation of having the Tempesta mounted ontop of the TC/12 had me interested in seeing what this configuration may look like so after looking at the Gallery you have I found the picture linked below. I'm guessing this would be very close to what that configuration would look like.

http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=18024

Was this setup was done by a customer or by Selah? It does look very nice either way.

Thanks again for any additional info you can provide

[richidoo]

Hi Rez, the amp will only provide the power that the speaker asks for, based on the voltage of the amplified signal and the impedance load of the speaker. Your 500W amp will not hurt the speaker at all, unless you play it too loud (unlikely with Selah speakers.) Playing a 90dB speaker at normal volume will only draw 1-2W most of the time, but much more on peaks, so the powerful amp will make loud listening much smoother sounding on loud peaks.

With a powerful amp, just make sure you always turn on the amp last and turn it off first to avoid sending transient pops to the speakers.

A too small amp can distort and clip due to lack of power which can damage a speaker, especially one with ribbon drivers, even with a passive crossover.
Rich

[Rick Craig]

15 ft. for a subwoofer with limited upper end bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. I would guess that both preamp outputs can be used at the same time but I'm sure the manufacturer can answer that if it's not in your manual.

Rich made good comments about the power handling and I agree with his advice there.  The rear port on the Visionario is tuned low so placement near the rear wall isn't a problem - this is a common misconception. The greater issue is in the lower mid / upper bass region which is sensitive to placement near the rear wall. If you don't use some kind of active EQ the best way to handle this is to voice the speaker for that type of placement. I do that quite often for customers and can do that with the Visionario or other designs. The type of bass loading - sealed,ported, transmission line,etc doesn't matter - all of them will be affected by being close to the corner and rear walls.

That design you noted was built by a customer from a kit. I thought that it looked pretty cool too!

Hey thanks for all the replies. I like the sound of the Tempesta / TC12 combo. Two things that come to mind when I think about a setup like this would be the connectivity options I have to the sub and the current power capabilities of my Pass x250 amp feeding the Tempesta's.

In terms of connectivity I use a BEL Canto DAC3 as a DAC/Pre which has XLR and RCA outputs. Currently I am running XLR to my Pass amp and do not use the RCA's. Taking the distance of the speakers into account my first thought would be that I may need to consider using XLR to feed the Sub portion and then use RCA to feed the Pass but I'm not sure if the Bel Canto can output signal to both at the same time.

My understanding is that long runs of RCA can be prone to potential noise issues entering the signal path given the 15' run that I would require to feed the signal to the Subs. Can an XLR Input be integrated into the TC/12 Sub portion?

Regarding the Tempesta's, I see that they are rated to handle up to 150w of power. Since the speakers are 4ohm that would mean my current amp would be jamming roughly 500w of juice down on them; if not more knowing how Pass amps are notorious for being under rated in terms of power output.

Now I usually like feeding a bit more power to a speaker then its RMS rating but this may be really pushing it unless the Tempesta can be setup in an 8ohm configuration instead of a 4ohm.

Is it safe to assume that the Visionario speaker wouldn't be a good fit in my configuration due to the rear firing port, or any port for that matter. The specs seem like a good fit showing a healthy dose of bass extension.

Rick, your recommendation of having the Tempesta mounted ontop of the TC/12 had me interested in seeing what this configuration may look like so after looking at the Gallery you have I found the picture linked below. I'm guessing this would be very close to what that configuration would look like.

http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=18024

Was this setup was done by a customer or by Selah? It does look very nice either way.

Thanks again for any additional info you can provide