[Carlman]

At present, I have Selah Audio SA-1's to hear compared to Green Moutain Europa's and Usher X-718's.  I will be doing a comparison later this week... not sure what day yet.

Rick is willing to let me hold onto the SA-1's until Sept. 25th but, I don't want to delay other auditions.  However, if people are interested and can meet that weekend, I'd be more than happy to host some auditions OR I can take them to someone's house for listening.

Also, I'm not sure when exactly I'll be receiving the Shamrock Keelin's but, I'd REALLY like to have those to compare as well.  If I get those by the 25th, it's ON.

Let me know your thoughts and interest level.... and schedules...

[BrunoB]

At present, I have Selah Audio SA-1's to hear compared to Green Moutain Europa's and Usher X-718's.  I will be doing a comparison later this week... not sure what day yet.

Rick is willing to let me hold onto the SA-1's until Sept. 25th but, I don't want to delay other auditions.  However, if people are interested and can meet that weekend, I'd be more than happy to host some auditions OR I can take them to someone's house for listening.

Also, I'm not sure when exactly I'll be receiving the Shamrock Ke ...

I am interested to hear the SA-1. Do you know if the model you have has the luxury Xover?

Sept 25th would be fine for me.


Bruno

[Inscrutable]

Carl,
I'd like to hear this, and can come over on the 25th, or some evening before that.  Would you like me to bring over the Super 3's, or either of the amps?

[Carlman]

The 25th is the day.  That's when everyone will be most available.  I still am not sure whether I'll have the Keelin's, though.

So, sure bring ANY speaker you'd like.  It might be wise if Tim arrived a little early to help find the right setup.

I think it'd be nice to have some extra sets of nice cables... PC's, IC's, and SC's... if you have something you know works well, bring 'em.

I don't know what time will work yet... likely start around 11 and it'll go on until whenever...

-C

[Rick Craig]

I am interested to hear the SA-1. Do you know if the model you have has the luxury Xover?

Sept 25th would be fine for me.


Bruno

When I put together the two demo pairs I used the standard crossover in one set and the deluxe crossover in the other pair. I had planned on keeping it a secret so that it wouldn't bias someone (good or bad) before they listened to the speakers. I also wanted to see if the comments were different enough to show a trend of listener preference for one version or the other.

Since you and a few others have asked - the pair Carl has contains the deluxe version of the crossover. I had hoped to be there for the listening session but my son and I are going camping that weekend. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Rick

[Shamrock Audio]

I've asked that the Keelin's be sent directly to you next, Carl. I haven't heard anything back yet.

[Carlman]

I haven't heard yet about the whereabouts of the Keelin's either... but, I'll be at home some of this week if they arrive.

Consider this my official invite for a somewhat technical analysis of the speakers on hand and whatever anyone brings....

I'd like to hear any high-efficiency stuff Tim might bring... and possibly compare a hi-eff setup to a 'traditional-efficiency' setup.

Right now I'm cycling through the speakers I have on hand, Europa, Usher, Selah... to form some impressions.... which I don't want to share publicly until after others hear them.  I don't want to cloud objectivity... but so far I'm pretty happy with a combination in my room.

The source gear I have is a Pro-ject RM4 w/ Dynavector 10x5 and Bugle phono pre.... and an Eastern Electric Minimax CD Player.

Please bring a cd and or record you'd like to hear.  We'll need to pick a set of 2 or 3 songs to use through some comparisons.

Let me know if you're coming, need directions, or whatever...

Thanks,
Carl

[Shamrock Audio]

When I spoke with Ken over the weekend, he said that he would be shipping them out Monday (today), directly to you. You might verify that with Ken and get a tracking number.

[Inscrutable]

Carl,
I'll be glad to bring over the Omega's and the Decware amp.

[Carlman]

Carl,
I'll be glad to bring over the Omega's and the Decware amp.

Cool!  I've wanted to hear both of those for a while.  Would you be so kind as to bring the Behringer also?

Looks like it'll be Tim, Bruno, and myself at the moment.  Some others showed interest but didn't let me know one way or the other... So, let me know if you're planning to come.

Thanks,
Carl

[hometheaterdoc]

Carl,
I'll be glad to bring over the Omega's and the Decware amp.

Cool!  I've wanted to hear both of those for a while.  Would you be so kind as to bring the Behringer also?

Looks like it'll be Tim, Bruno, and myself at the moment.  Some others showed interest but didn't let me know one way or the other... So, let me know if you're planning to come.

Thanks,
Carl

I'll try to make it... no guarantees as I have a full calander this weekend...

[Carlman]

BTW, I'll still be doing the comparison today... I'll be ready for people by 11 but the comparisons probably won't start until noon or so.  I'll order pizza for lunch.

-C

[hometheaterdoc]

Thanks for hosting yesterday Carl... much appreciated...

It was a great chance to swap around and try out new gear.... I love being able to compare stuff back to back to hear the differences.  It's always interesting to hear other people's impressions and see what they like and dislike.

Good times.. thanks again Carl...

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for hosting yesterday Carl... much appreciated...

It was a great chance to swap around and try out new gear.... I love being able to compare stuff back to back to hear the differences.  It's always interesting to hear other people's impressions and see what they like and dislike.

Good times.. thanks again Carl...

Any comments on what you heard ? Thanks !!

[hometheaterdoc]

Any comments on what you heard ? Thanks !!

I do..... but I don't know if it is appropriate to share them on a public forum.  While I attended yesterday's meeting as nothing more than an enthusiast interested in hearing equipment and sharing with fellow audiophiles, I now have the responsibility of being a retailer as well.  Since one of the products being compared was one that I sell, I don't think it appropriate to share my thoughts... because as unbiased as I think I am, I don't want anyone to feel that there is inpropriety in my comments....

I will say this... there was some good, there was some bad, and there was some ugly.... two of the good things that really stood out was the sound of the Cray and Collins collaboration on one of Tim's records.  It was almost enough to make me break my promise of never putting up with the hassles of vinyl...... and Rick's Selah speaker was faaar better than I was expecting.

[Carlman]

We had a really nice time, there were 4 attending members including myself.

The main goal I had in this meet was to compare 4 pairs of speakers; namely: Selah Audio SA-1, Usher X-718, Shamrock Keelin, and Green Moutain Audio Europa.

I had spent a good bit of time with all but the Keelin's... which I'd received a day previous to the meet and connected to ensure they worked.. however, I had them on the floor and didn't do any serious listening... however, I thought they sounded a little veiled.... but, they were on the floor...  When we put the Keelins up in the comparison, everyone thought something was defective in the Keelins.  

I called Mike today and we did some troubleshooting.  One of the drivers had become unsoldered and even after that was fixed, the meter readings were incorrect at the posts.  So, those are going to Mike to be fixed.

So, the comparison was amongst the other 3.  For the main comparison, we used Stereophile's Test 3 cd, track 8, which is an instrumental jazz piece.  It's about 5 minutes long so we would end it whenever we got the gyst.  We also used 'Closer to Fine' by the Indigo Girls on vinyl.

We played the jazz track first on all the speakers and then worked backwards with the Indigo Girls.

I had already formed an opinion of what I liked before this meet since I had a lot of time with all 3.  I'm still surprised that I prefer the Usher's overall.  The SA-1's present more detail, the GMA's have better midrange but, my combined preferences for an enjoyable speaker *under 1,k* are met by the Usher.

To me the Usher was the clear winner in bass.  It provides the most detailed, tuneful bass of the bunch.  The midrange is a little recessed and therefore makes 2 things happen; slightly less palpability in vocals than I like, and a little bit forced-sounding details.  This amplifies the issues I have with a digital source... but sounds great on vinyl which I prefer anyway.

I noted that when we played the jazz track no one asked to turn it off early... the Usher is a good 'jazz speaker' if you will.  I don't think anyone prefered the Indigo Girls on the Usher's, though... correct me if I'm wrong.

The song was reproduced better on the GMA's and the SA-1's.  The midrange details were painted more accurately, specifically the guitars sounded more like guitars...

The SA-1's had all the detail one could ask for without being harsh.  However, like all ribbon tweeters I've heard, I just don't care for the way they do it.  On vocals it sounds like the singer's mouth is open wider than possible and instruments sound more spacious than the original.  The bass on the SA-1 was a bit soft for me.  It needs some more punch or impact to satisfy my tastes.  On the jazz track, there are a lot of fast changes and the way the bass sounded slowed down the impact of the music.

The Europa's had a full-bodied upper mid-bass and midrange reproduction.  I will likely measure the response from the Europa but they didn't sound like they reproduced much under 80Hz.  The highs are a bit unrefined compared to the SA-1's or the Usher's.  The imaging on the Europa's is the most vague of the 3.

So, that's all I can think of to write about the speaker comparison at the moment.  If you'd like more info, ask away...

Also in this meet, I was really interested to hear the Omega's that Tim had and his Decware amp.  We compared the Decware and the Eastern Electric amps to each other briefly as well.  There were some noteable differences here but I didn't note them very well.... I was impressed with the Decware for the most part... I still prefer the EE overall but, I'll let others chime in on that.

The Omega's (don't remember which model) were very interesting.  I liked them better than the only other full-range I've heard.  The single-driver full-range sound isn't for me though.  The highs are kind of strange and the bass is kind of hollow... the midrange is fast and the imaging was very good.

We had a nice time and I was happy to see everyone.  I greatly appreciate that everyone brought something to hear or use.  We even experimented with Bruno's foam cocoon before the comparison which I found interesting.  With his methods, the SA-1's imaged better than my traditional setup.  We used his foam on the window to help tame reflections.  Thanks for bringing extra cords, also!

Shane brought a nice Panamax power conditioner which I greatly appreciated.  We used this throughout all of our comparisons.  He also supplied the test disk.

We listened to the Scott Nixon Monoblocks connected the SA-1's before we got started.... which I think are very impressive, especially considering their cost.  We used the AKSA 100w Plus for the comparison, though since it had better bass.... and from my experience has better dynamics.

Tim has left me a Behringer to play around with.. So, I'll be checking that out over the next few to several days... (just let me know when you need it back)... Thanks again.

Well, that's my report.  You can see photos in my gallery (linked in my sig)

Thanks,
Carl

[Inscrutable]

Thanks for hosting, Carl.  I think we all had a good time, as usual.

My preferences were similar to your own.  While I could probably live with any of the 3, I would be happiest with the Ushers.  As you know, I am spoiled with a fair amount of deep articulate bass, and the Ushers did the best job of recreating some of that, and having a pleasant balance of everything else.  I thought the upper midrange and treble of the Selah's was the best of the group.  As you say, the attack and decay of the piano in the upper registers and the cymbals were far and away the most realistic.  There was almost too much detail, perhaps the relative lack of bass exagerated that impression of mine.  I think I need to listen to these longer.  The Omegas certainly gave up a lot at each extreme, and didn't sound very good.  And as I carried them out one turned on its back and there is something thunking/rattling in there.  Not sure what there could be in there to come loose.

Gotta run now, I'll post more later.  Thanks again Carl!

[Inscrutable]

two of the good things that really stood out was the sound of the Cray and Collins collaboration on one of Tim's records. It was almost enough to make me break my promise of never putting up with the hassles of vinyl......

Shane,

HERE is the link to that album. And if this one doesn't do it for you, you might try THIS

If these two temptresses can't seduce you into breaking your vows, you win the award for Amusical Fidelity

[claud]

Cool !! My Trinity Sessions has doubled in price.

[Carlman]

two of the good things that really stood out was the sound of the Cray and Collins collaboration on one of Tim's records. It was almost enough to make me break my promise of never putting up with the hassles of vinyl......

Shane,

HERE is the link to that album. And if this one doesn't do it for you, you might try THIS

If these two tem ...

Half the price here... don't know if it's a Mo-fi, though.