[Escott1377]

Looking for some advice here.  I own the jr's w/ the latest upgrade from Albert.  I have thought they would be my end game speaker.

I have been interested in these speakers for quite a while as I have bought some equipment from Underwood Hifi that owns the company - http://www.emeraldphysics.com/products/ep-28.

I have no experience w/ open baffle design and I am hoping someone may have previously owned them and compared them to VSA's.

I would have to sell my current speakers to fund the change, and my pair is the only pair with an upgraded finish b/c of damage during transit.  I would never be able to get them back.

So, seeking opinions on just sitting tight w/ what I have???  My wife and I just had twins so I don't see myself being able to move up the VSA food chain for quite a while.

Thanks for any help -

[SundayNiagara]

Looking for some advice here.  I own the jr's w/ the latest upgrade from Albert.  I have thought they would be my end game speaker.

I have been interested in these speakers for quite a while as I have bought some equipment from Underwood Hifi that owns the company - http://www.emeraldphysics.com/products/ep-28.

I have no experience w/ open baffle design and I am hoping someone may have previously owned them and compared them to VSA's.

I would have to sell my current speakers to fund the change, and my pair is the only pair with an upgraded finish b/c of damage during transit.  I would never be able to get them back.

So, seeking opinions on just sitting tight w/ what I have???  My wife and I just had twins so I don't see myself being able to move up the VSA food chain for quite a while.

Thanks for any help -

What are you driving the Jr's with? How big is your room and how do you have them placed?

[Escott1377]

Jr's are bi amped with prima Luna dialogue 6 mono blocs on tweets / mids, wyred for sound mAmps on the woofers.

I also use a DSpeaker to control bass up to 500Hz and I have 2 x 300 W active subs.

Speakers are 3 feet from the wall, room sucks since it is an open loft area.

We will be building our next house w/in the next 3 years and I will have the ability to build a listening room.  This will be a standard bedroom size, maybe 10 x 15 since it will have to serve as my ofifice as well.

[magister]

Interesting post, since I own the IV jr's and my next upgrade will be speakers.  (Not for a while, though, since I just invested in a new amp and preamp -- PS Audio BHK pieces.)

In a 10 x 15' room, would you have enough space to get open-baffle speakers sufficiently far from the walls?  IIUC they need a lot of distance to sound good.

[SundayNiagara]

Jr's are bi amped with prima Luna dialogue 6 mono blocs on tweets / mids, wyred for sound mAmps on the woofers.

I also use a DSpeaker to control bass up to 500Hz and I have 2 x 300 W active subs.

Speakers are 3 feet from the wall, room sucks since it is an open loft area.

We will be building our next house w/in the next 3 years and I will have the ability to build a listening room.  This will be a standard bedroom size, maybe 10 x 15 since it will have to serve as my ofifice as well.

Stick to the Jrs, but give them A LOT more space.

[Escott1377]

Stick to the Jrs, but give them A LOT more space.

What do you mean?

3 feet from the wall is ideal for my listening space. 

I know 1 problem is I cannot pressurize the room since it is so open.

i do have my subs against the rear wall, any reason to pull them out further?

[JackD201]

Hi Escott congratulations on the twins!

Sound is such a subjective thing and I do like Emerald Physics. I'll key in more on practical considerations. If you move and do set up your office/listening room at 10 by 15, the Jrs will have the edge because OBs typically like having more space to play around placement with being dipoles. In the case of the Emerald Physics this would apply specifically to the OB bass which can be magnificent IF placed optimally. The front facing hybrid transmission line of the Jrs are easier to integrate into a smaller room because they can be placed closer to the front wall with less penalty. The OB could be better at filling up your current space but what happens when you move? Personally I would wait it out.

[walterslw]

Interesting post, since I own the IV jr's and my next upgrade will be speakers.  (Not for a while, though, since I just invested in a new amp and preamp -- PS Audio BHK pieces.)

In a 10 x 15' room, would you have enough space to get open-baffle speakers sufficiently far from the walls?  IIUC they need a lot of distance to sound good.

Hi Magister,


I have VSA VR 5 Anni's Mk 2.5s (one of the last pair) and have also just purchased PS Audio PHK Pre.  It hasn't arrived yet.  Wanted to see how you like the pre-amp.  What tubes are you using with it?


Thanks

[SundayNiagara]

What do you mean?

3 feet from the wall is ideal for my listening space. 

I know 1 problem is I cannot pressurize the room since it is so open.

i do have my subs against the rear wall, any reason to pull them out further?

Pearson's rule of thirds.

[magister]

I have VSA VR 5 Anni's Mk 2.5s (one of the last pair) and have also just purchased PS Audio BHK Pre.  It hasn't arrived yet.  Wanted to see how you like the pre-amp.  What tubes are you using with it?

I like the preamp very much.  It is a noticeable improvement over my c-j Premier 17LS, which was no slouch.  Lower noise floor, better separation of instruments, overall cleaner sound.  The c-j is at least 15 years old; I'm not sure whether it is old enough that its sound has gone downhill from deteriorating capacitors and such, hopefully not. 

I am still running the stock tubes in the BHK, although I have a set of NOS Tungsram PCC88s that I will install in a week or so.  I also have some Matsushita PCC88s that I can try.  I used those in my c-j and liked them so much that I bought a backup set that I never installed; in the c-j they were extremely smooth and easy to listen to.

[JackD201]

Stick to the Jrs, but give them A LOT more space.

Since measurement is front of baffle to front wall and the Jrs are almost 2 ft deep, looks like a perfect fit for the rule o' 3rds.

[SundayNiagara]

Since measurement is front of baffle to front wall and the Jrs are almost 2 ft deep, looks like a perfect fit for the rule o' 3rds.

They do their best well out into the room.

[mcgsxr]

My kids are older now  (10, 12) but I had OB mains for the first 8 years of living in this house.

They needed to be 3 feet off the front wall for optimal sound.  They were DIY efforts.  3x4 foot mdf panels folded slightly with piano hinge.  My girls loved playing hide and seek behind them when they were small, and never did rough up anything.  My nephews were a different lot.  They immediately started yanking wires etc.

I think, from a kid perspective, that it really depends on the kids involved.  If yours are less prone to monkeying with wiring, and you can live with baffles out in the room OB can be delicious.

That said, I currently use boxed speakers, as they provide a significantly better WAF around here.  I did have mid sized Maggies for a year, but the cats kept climbing them.

If I were you, I would be optimizing those VSA's and enjoy the ride of the twins first 8-10 years.

All the best!

[JackD201]

My kids are older now  (10, 12) but I had OB mains for the first 8 years of living in this house.

They needed to be 3 feet off the front wall for optimal sound.  They were DIY efforts.  3x4 foot mdf panels folded slightly with piano hinge.  My girls loved playing hide and seek behind them when they were small, and never did rough up anything.  My nephews were a different lot.  They immediately started yanking wires etc.

I think, from a kid perspective, that it really depends on the kids involved.  If yours are less prone to monkeying with wiring, and you can live with baffles out in the room OB can be delicious.

That said, I currently use boxed speakers, as they provide a significantly better WAF around here.  I did have mid sized Maggies for a year, but the cats kept climbing them.

If I were you, I would be optimizing those VSA's and enjoy the ride of the twins first 8-10 years.

All the best!

Funny that. When my girls were little one of them poked the tweeters of my then Revels. I went to Maggies until they were poke trained LOL. Kids, pets, gotta love 'em!

[Wind Chaser]

They needed to be 3 feet off the front wall for optimal sound.

Over the years I have had 5 primary listening rooms. The room plays a huge role in how any speaker will sound or can be set up. Without going into specifics, bigger rooms are usually better. And it has been my experience, the more space you can put between any speaker and the walls, the better.

3' isn't what I would call optimal for an OB, to my ears that is the absolute minimum requirement. If you can pull them out 4 - 6 feet away from the front wall, it's worth experimenting. Optimal/precise speaker placement takes a lot of patience and experimentation.

[SundayNiagara]

Over the years I have had 5 primary listening rooms. The room plays a huge role in how any speaker will sound or can be set up. Without going into specifics, bigger rooms are usually better. And it has been my experience, the more space you can put between any speaker and the walls, the better.

3' isn't what I would call optimal for an OB, to my ears that is the absolute minimum requirement. If you can pull them out 4 - 6 feet away from the front wall, it's worth experimenting. Optimal/precise speaker placement takes a lot of patience and experimentation.

Post of the year candidate!