[paul79]

No real rule, and it varies. Some don't believe in break in for any component at all, but I sure do. One of the Vapor guys will know.

[pconley2]

I am hoping that Ryan, once he is back in St Louis from RMAf will have some thoughts on this, there is no question that the very active RAAL tweeter has calmed down considerably, from way toooo much clarity to a more gentle burnished clarity that is quite appealing. As I said before, I still believe that I will get daily improvement for many days to come, I would guess at least 3 or 4 more weeks of continuing to get better and better imaging, significant 3-dimensional depth and scary visibility into the music.  I only wish I were already 3-4 weeks into the future and I knew that I had reached audio nirvana.

phil

[Pete Schumacher]

I am hoping that Ryan, once he is back in St Louis from RMAf will have some thoughts on this, there is no question that the very active RAAL tweeter has calmed down considerably, from way toooo much clarity to a more gentle burnished clarity that is quite appealing. As I said before, I still believe that I will get daily improvement for many days to come, I would guess at least 3 or 4 more weeks of continuing to get better and better imaging, significant 3-dimensional depth and scary visibility into the music.  I only wish I were already 3-4 weeks into the future and I knew that I had reached audio nirvana.

phil

There's also the critical "burn in" of the listener's brain.  When you get something in front of you like a RAAL tweeter when you've had nothing but domes producing the high frequencies for you, there is a break in time for the listener to make sense of this new sound.  When a RAAL is substituted for a dome tweeter in a system, crossed over at the same slopes, padded to be the same sensitivity, the resultant sound is radically changed.  Some might describe their initial impression of the highs with a RAAL as having an edge or aggressive quality, but that is simply the difference between hearing the leading edges the way they are supposed to sound and having everything smoothed over by the loss of detail in the other tweeters.  After a while, what seemed like "extra energy" up high just begins to sound natural, real, transparent.  The proof is in the measurements . . . our speakers measure very smooth and quite flat.  There is nothing "extra" up high other than an impeccably designed high frequency transducer whose membrane weighs less than the air it energizes.  And the distortion of Joule is amplifier like, running about .2% across the band at ~90dB.

Accuracy . . . that's what Joule delivers; as transparent a window into the recording as possible using the best drivers we can find.

[Vapor Audio]

I am hoping that Ryan, once he is back in St Louis from RMAf will have some thoughts on this, there is no question that the very active RAAL tweeter has calmed down considerably, from way toooo much clarity to a more gentle burnished clarity that is quite appealing. As I said before, I still believe that I will get daily improvement for many days to come, I would guess at least 3 or 4 more weeks of continuing to get better and better imaging, significant 3-dimensional depth and scary visibility into the music.  I only wish I were already 3-4 weeks into the future and I knew that I had reached audio nirvana.

phil

I have to agree with what Pete said, honestly I think there is very little break in time with the RAAL.  The break in encountered is primarily between your ears, getting used to a speaker that actually tracks the incoming music signal precisely.  The midrange and woofer do have more break-in due to having suspension parts that do loosen with use, but yours did have significant use before shipping. 

Accuracy . . . that's what Joule delivers; as transparent a window into the recording as possible using the best drivers we can find.

And a cabinet that contributes nothing, except what it should.  The same drivers in a more 'traditional' box that doesn't eliminate resonances and energy storage, that does little to address edge diffraction, where drivers are mounted on a flat baffle without any effort for time alignment, and without the textbook perfect TL output, simply wouldn't be able to deliver the same see-through transparency and in-room disappearing act.  Put the best drivers and crossover components in a cabinet like that, that's when you have something special 

[Vapor Audio]

Hey Phil, here's another shot of your Joule White to share ...

[pconley2]

Ryan, they look, as you know, fabulous.  I would like a nice picture of the veneer job that you guys did, I have tried to get an acceptable picture to put up but I don't have the quality of camera that you have.  If you took one of the sides, so people can see the Sepele and the color work that you did, I am sure people would like to see it.  I will continue to try and get an acceptable picture but if you already have it, I know people are curious.

[a.wayne]

Hey Phil, here's another shot of your Joule White to share ...

Fantastic looking finish,  what is the wood ...... ?

[pconley2]

Quoted from Ryan"s description in his our newest build section of AC:

"About the build, the veneer is Sapele Pomelle with a bright red tint, with about 40 coats of 2K Urethane on top and wet sanded/buffed to perfection. The paint on front is a 3-stage candy red that looks incredible in person, lots of depth and sparkle.  This pair is upgraded with Jensen silver capacitors, silver/gold RAAL transformer core, and Kimber AG23 wire on the tweeter."

My reaction when I really look at them is they look like what rain looks like when it it pouring and running down a window pane, on the other hand, I am in California and it has been awhile since I have seen rain 

[Brucemck]

Nice writeup on this site:
http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/rocky-mountain-audio-fest-2014-coverage/