[Paul K.]

Jim, will you please stop mimicking my personal designs? 
Paul

[robcentola]

lol WOW!

[Austin08]

I am sure this new Exotica tower sound real nice but if I want to upgrade my speaker to this, I have to listen to it first. My SS8 is dang good and fit my taste nicely. I wish that this Exotica would deliver a bit more effortless due to its high sensitivity while retain all the SS8 quality. 

Talking about the style. I like the look but if I order a pair them it would be no chamfer. More like those Audes speaker that I saw long time ago

 

[Magnatest]

  I think the gap at the bottom in front makes the speaker look unfinished. It contrasts the nice arch on the side too much. ... nice arch vs. squared off.

  They did sound Very nice.

Gregg

[DMurphy]

Jim, will you please stop mimicking my personal designs? 
Paul

I smell Royalty. 

[Saturn94]

Yes I would. On the flip side is this question. Would I spend $4500 on a FetValve without a good looking case? The answer is no.  Many people would pony up for nicer casing. They do it all the time! Just look at the Salks in the same room. Salk wouldn't have made it a year with vinyl cabinets. Most of the posts  in this circle show the veneers that people pick out. It's on equal footing with the sound. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

+1

I found it humorous that "looks don't matter" was being mentioned in a forum dedicated to a brand of speakers that prides itself on first class looks.

 

[jackmonster]

Austin08,
Jim was nice enough to play the SS8's late Friday at Axpona for my friends and I.  He had them CRANKING!  The sound, as you know was superb.  BUT, the Exotica's were a step up in my book.  Because of the built-in subs- the bass was soooo accurate and deep.  The mid and highs were what sold it for me.  A think the Exotica's  just have better, more accurate and more pleasing drivers.  Just my 2 cents worth.

[Austin08]

Austin08,
Jim was nice enough to play the SS8's late Friday at Axpona for my friends and I.  He had them CRANKING!  The sound, as you know was superb.  BUT, the Exotica's were a step up in my book.  Because of the built-in subs- the bass was soooo accurate and deep.  The mid and highs were what sold it for me.  A think the Exotica's  just have better, more accurate and more pleasing drivers.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Thanks for sharing your though. I think the SS8 will have to serve me one or two more year before I will do any upgrading. I hope that someone in Tri state area buy it so I can ask for an audition. 

[fsimms]

Congratulations on apparently creating another winner.  I guess I will have to limp along with my SoundScapes too.  I played Willie’s Stardust and Hugh’s Stimela on 45 rpm vinyl today and both of them were so good it literally hurt.  With my weak heart it is probably best that I don’t upgrade. 

Bob

[JonnyFive]

Austin08,
Jim was nice enough to play the SS8's late Friday at Axpona for my friends and I.  He had them CRANKING!  The sound, as you know was superb.  BUT, the Exotica's were a step up in my book.  Because of the built-in subs- the bass was soooo accurate and deep.  The mid and highs were what sold it for me.  A think the Exotica's  just have better, more accurate and more pleasing drivers.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Jackmonster, can you elaborate some more?  I would believe that active, servo controlled woofers have more control than the dual 8" + 12" PRs.  Regarding the tweeter, did you feel that the E3 dome tweeter was more accurate than even the RAAL?  I can't imagine anything being more accurate than the RAAL, in fact, I often think it's too accurate for the rest of my humble equipment and CD quality source material.

[jackmonster]

I don't want to start World War 3 here.  The bass in the Exotica is simply more accurate than the SS8's.  The Raal tweeter is very , very good.  It may well be more "accurate" than the soft dome in the Exotica.  Maybe the soft dome in the Exotica is "colored".  The things I value most in a speaker are clarity, dynamics(it must sound "alive") and a naturalness to the sound especially in the midrange and vocals.
Of course, the Exotica already has super clarity and is very dynamic.  I think Jim made a great choice in the mid woofer and tweeter.  The mid-range and vocals just sound more natural to me than the Raal tweeter.  The Raal tweeter may very well have more clarity than the soft dome tweeter.  But what gets you excited in this hobby is the emotion connectedness you have to the sound.  Jim has an outstanding job of provided clarity, dynamics, great bass,(they rock!), and a  naturalness to vocals and the midrange that is  better than any speaker in he made before(IMHO)

[SCompRacer]

Maybe try a different amp that can keep up if you think SS8 bass isn't accurate.

[JoshK]

I'm curious of those who have heard these drivers in this speaker.   Do they rock? or rather can they rock?  I've always thought of Lowther/Fostex (I realize these aren't those, but they are like those) speakers as for those who like acoustic only music, ultimate detail but no real authority and oomph.   Counter example is old skool JBL or Klipsch big monitors that can deliver slam but don't necessarily have the best refinement and intimacy.   Of course my goal is the intersection of the two, but curious as to people's take.   And for the record, my style of music and listening favors the authority over the last word in detail.

[strat95]

Congrats on building another product that has people excited and congrats to AVA for providing the electronics to excite!!

I have a question about the active servo controlled woofers.  Since they are powered by their own internal amp, do they have a volume control somewhere on the speaker much like a home theatre sub woofer?  If that is the case, how do you get the volume setting on the active woofers to match the volume setting on the amp driving the mids and highs?  What happens when you change the volume level on the amp driving the mids and highs?  Do you have to adjust the volume on the active subs to match the change in the mid/hi amplification?

TV

[Austin08]

Congrats on building another product that has people excited and congrats to AVA for providing the electronics to excite!!

I have a question about the active servo controlled woofers.  Since they are powered by their own internal amp, do they have a volume control somewhere on the speaker much like a home theatre sub woofer?  If that is the case, how do you get the volume setting on the active woofers to match the volume setting on the amp driving the mids and highs?  What happens when you change the volume level on the amp driving the mids and highs?  Do you have to adjust the volume on the active subs to match the change in the mid/hi amplification?

TV

There is a picture on the back of this speaker on the other Discussion here

[jsalk]

Congrats on building another product that has people excited and congrats to AVA for providing the electronics to excite!!

I have a question about the active servo controlled woofers.  Since they are powered by their own internal amp, do they have a volume control somewhere on the speaker much like a home theatre sub woofer?  If that is the case, how do you get the volume setting on the active woofers to match the volume setting on the amp driving the mids and highs?  What happens when you change the volume level on the amp driving the mids and highs?  Do you have to adjust the volume on the active subs to match the change in the mid/hi amplification?

TV

Good question!  We pick off a signal from the binding posts (thus from the outboard amp) and feed it directly to the plate amp circuit board.  Then the gain, phase and crossover frequency are calibrated.  Once this is done, the woofer section gain tracks the signal from your amp perfectly.  No user adjustments are required (in fact, they are strongly discouraged).

- Jim

[Austin08]

Good question!  We pick off a signal from the binding posts (thus from the outboard amp) and feed it directly to the plate amp circuit board.  Then the gain, phase and crossover frequency are calibrated.  Once this is done, the woofer section gain tracks the signal from your amp perfectly.  No user adjustments are required (in fact, they are strongly discouraged).

- Jim

So all the control knobs on the plate amp were disengaged? If they are not then how do you prevent them of moving to different position during shipping?

[Austin08]

Congratulations on apparently creating another winner.  I guess I will have to limp along with my SoundScapes too.  I played Willie’s Stardust and Hugh’s Stimela on 45 rpm vinyl today and both of them were so good it literally hurt.  With my weak heart it is probably best that I don’t upgrade. 

Bob

I was just listening to Steve Ray Vaughan-Texas Flood and Holly Cole - Don't smoke in bed LP. The SS8 gave me a feeling like the band was in front of me. Can not imagine how much more real the Exotixa is. Wish I could audition them somewhere here in Tri state area.

[PMAT]

I was just listening to Steve Ray Vaughan-Texas Blood and Holly Cole - Don't smoke in bed LP. The SS8 gave me a feeling like the band was in front of me. Can not imagine how much more real the Exotixa is. Wish I could audition them somewhere here in Tri state area.

You probably would not notice a huge difference in that quality. More real is so subjective. Many people would dearly love to have speakers on par with your SS8s. Of course, if money is no object......

[jsalk]

So all the control knobs on the plate amp were disengaged? If they are not then how do you prevent them of moving to different position during shipping?

We are planning to have a "cap" that fits over all of the controls so that they won't be disturbed.  This would allow someone to remove it if they wanted to change the settings.  But, of course, it would be their responsibility to get them returned to the same position if they wanted to return to the "factory" setting.  In other words, once they removed the cap in order to access the controls, they would be on their own.

At some point, we may go so far as to remove all the pots and switches entirely and simply hard-wire all the values in place.  We'll see.

- Jim