[Stephen Scharf]

I buitl up two AmpCamp amps to run as bridged mono blocks back in the July/August time-frame.

Part of that project was to build up a pair of GR-Research X-LS Encores as speakers.

Well, I had a total hip replacement August 10th  and have been recovering from that the last six weeks.

As I got clearance to resume normal duties from my orthopedic surgeon with an A+ post-op exam on Tuesday, I decided to finish up the X-LS Encore project.

Here's a shot of one of the cabinets made by Killian Smith. Killian veneered and stained these to resemble the Dynaudio Special 40s.


Here's a pic of the crossover. The resistors, SoniCaps and MiFlex copper caps and Mills resistors were part of the upgraded "parts" kit. You guys know the drill on these.


And...here they are!


I have say, listening to them immediately after hooking them up, I am REALLY impressed.

After 300 hours on them for run-in, they should be "on the cam" as we say in motor racing...so, stay tuned, listening impressions to come over the next few days as they run in. The woofers certainly need running in and crossover needs to be burned in.

But so far.....

[Speaker Challenged]

I buitl up two AmpCamp amps to run as bridged mono blocks back in the July/August time-frame.

Part of that project was to build up a pair of GR-Research X-LS Encores as speakers.

Well, I had a total hip replacement August 10th  and have been recovering from that the last six weeks.

As I got clearance to resume normal duties from my orthopedic surgeon with an A+ post-op exam on Tuesday, I decided to finish up the X-LS Encore project.

Here's a shot of one of the cabinets made by Killian Smith. Killian veneered and stained these to resemble the Dynaudio Special 40s.


Here's a pic of the crossover. The resistors, SoniCaps and MiFlex copper caps and Mills resistors were part of the upgraded "parts" kit. You guys know the drill on these.


And...here they are!


I have say, listening to them immediately after hooking them up, I am REALLY impressed.

After 300 hours on them for run-in, they should be "on the cam" as we say in motor racing...so, stay tuned, listening impressions to come over the next few days as they run in. The woofers certainly need running in and crossover needs to be burned in.

But so far.....

Hey Stephen,

Very nice build and the cabinets look amazing.

Sydney amp camp is the next suburb over from me here in the mountains. Was it a great experience?

I just finished a pair of encores and I built the cabinets myself. 


I have the basic kit but after approx. 25 hours they are sounding great as the bass is coming in as the drivers loosen up. I've spun a few LP's, streamed Spotify premium, 4k netflixs etc etc and am just amazed how well they sound and are getting better.
Danny bangs on about how important vertical off axis is as important as horizontal and I must say that until you have a set with great vertical off axis you don't know what you are missing. 

Is that a set of Lintons behind your encores?

SC

[Rusty Tac]

Great job on the speakers!!  Mine are about 2 months old and fully broken in and sound great.  I noticed the off axis at first when I first stood between the front speakers at my rack, they still sounded perfectly clear WAY off axis.  The fast bass and the bass tone are great as one YouTuber mentioned, I think his description was right on.

[Speaker Challenged]

Great job on the speakers!!  Mine are about 2 months old and fully broken in and sound great.  I noticed the off axis at first when I first stood between the front speakers at my rack, they still sounded perfectly clear WAY off axis.  The fast bass and the bass tone are great as one YouTuber mentioned, I think his description was right on.

Thanks Rusty.

Your speakers and the whole setup looks great!

Sc

[cody69]

Hi Stephen

Congratulations on hip recovery and on the new speakers.

I like the looks... would you mind posting the veneer and finish that was used?

I've built a few pairs of the X-LS and am always impressed with sound quality.

[twitch54]

And...here they are!

Nicely done and like the die cast model of the '63 SWC as well !! .....

[Stephen Scharf]

Hey Stephen,

Very nice build and the cabinets look amazing.

Sydney amp camp is the next suburb over from me here in the mountains. Was it a great experience?

I just finished a pair of encores and I built the cabinets myself. 


I have the basic kit but after approx. 25 hours they are sounding great as the bass is coming in as the drivers loosen up. I've spun a few LP's, streamed Spotify premium, 4k netflixs etc etc and am just amazed how well they sound and are getting better.
Danny bangs on about how important vertical off axis is as important as horizontal and I must say that until you have a set with great vertical off axis you don't know what you are missing. 

Is that a set of Lintons behind your encores?

SC

Hi SC,
The AmpCamp amps are  a DIY Class A Amplifier designed by Nelson Pass of Pass Labs; they were part of the Amp Camp that was first held at the 2016 Burning Amp DIY Audio get-together in San Francisco. They sell at DIYAudio for $327/each, including the chassis. I built up two of them in August.



I am running a pair of them as bridged mono blocks; they put out 15 Wpc in this configuration.


You can see my "stacked AmpCamp amps" on the right middle shelf of my rack:


They're pretty dang sweet and are quite impressive, especially when running them as bridged monos. Cost all in for both amps? $654.

Your X-LS look terrific in white. What type of finish or paint did you use?

As for the speakers in back, those are Harbeth 40th Anniversary 30.2s on Resonant Woods stands, made in figured maple by Brooks Tanner.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Stephen Scharf]

Great job on the speakers!!  Mine are about 2 months old and fully broken in and sound great.  I noticed the off axis at first when I first stood between the front speakers at my rack, they still sounded perfectly clear WAY off axis.  The fast bass and the bass tone are great as one YouTuber mentioned, I think his description was right on.

Your Encores look great, Rusty. I like that veneer and finish. Do you have an estimate of the number of hours you have on them so that they are fully broken in?

I listened to mine for  a few hours last night and they were pretty much changing the whole time.

[Stephen Scharf]

Hi Stephen

Congratulations on hip recovery and on the new speakers.

I like the looks... would you mind posting the veneer and finish that was used?

I've built a few pairs of the X-LS and am always impressed with sound quality.

Hey Cody,
Check with Killian Smith here, he made up the cabinets, veneered and stained them for me as I don't have any shop faciilities/functionality.

[Stephen Scharf]

Nicely done and like the die cast model of the '63 SWC as well !! .....

Ha! Hi Twitch,

Yeah, that's an AutoArt SWC model; its pretty sweet and and quite affordable. AutoArt does great models. I think the SWC was $139.

I buy these AutoArt models as I've been a motor racing fan since I was a kid. I also do professional photography, including motorsports photojournalism. I use these models to practice my lighting technique as they are very detailed and accurate and look like the real cars.

(Sorry, gang, going off-topic briefly to show sports racer car model pics for Twitch...)
You'll note a 1970 Porsche 908/3 Spyder model in Wyer Racing Gulf colors on the right on top of the Harbeth at the rear.








Okay...back on topic...

[hawkeyejw]

Oh man those are cool, I'm now googling to see what models they have...

[Stephen Scharf]

Oh man those are cool, I'm now googling to see what models they have...

Check out Replicarz...

Okay, let's get back on topic...

[Rusty Tac]

Stephen, I would say it took about 30 hours for the break in, tough to say as I was also changing speaker position a bunch at the start.  After about 30 hours of use they leveled out.  I found the further away from the front wall the deeper the sound stage, my drivers are 38" from the wall and that's as far forward my space will allow.  Great photos of the models!!

[DonJoe]

Congrats!  Looks good and sure you are delighted.

[ctviggen]

I buitl up two AmpCamp amps to run as bridged mono blocks back in the July/August time-frame.

Those are cool amps.  Do they have remote turn on, or do you have to turn them on yourself?  I'm trying to think of how to add these into a HT setup. 

[Stephen Scharf]

Stephen, I would say it took about 30 hours for the break in, tough to say as I was also changing speaker position a bunch at the start.  After about 30 hours of use they leveled out.  I found the further away from the front wall the deeper the sound stage, my drivers are 38" from the wall and that's as far forward my space will allow.  Great photos of the models!!

Hey thanks, Rusty! I have the centers of my front baffles 36" from my front wall measured with a laser "tape" measure, but my front wall is actually a 3 ft high half-wall that demarks my front entryway stairwell, so I have actually quite a bit of "room volume" behind the speakers. You can see that if you look carefully at my last photo with the speakers in position.

At some point this weekend, I'm going to listen to them near-field.

I have some Pangea 28" stands on order from Audio Advisor that will be just the ticket.

[Stephen Scharf]

Those are cool amps.  Do they have remote turn on, or do you have to turn them on yourself?  I'm trying to think of how to add these into a HT setup.

No, the round black button on the front panel is the on-off switch. These amps sell for all of $327, including the chassis, so you're not going to get remote turn-on at that price point. H*ll, my main amp, my Conrad-Johnson LP70S tube amp, originally sold 15 years ago for ~$8000, and it also requires you to push the ON swtich. 

Its not a problem. 

[ctviggen]

No, the round black button on the front panel is the on-off switch. These amps sell for all of $327, including the chassis, so you're not going to get remote turn-on at that price point. H*ll, my main amp, my Conrad-Johnson LP70S tube amp, originally sold 15 years ago for ~$8000, and it also requires you to push the ON swtich. 

Its not a problem. 

I know, that's a great price.  I also have a Monster Power center, which I believe allows me to switch outlets on in response to a signal from a preamp. So, I could turn on my preamp, it outputs a signal to my Monster, then that turns on the amps. At that price, I'd build two and run them in bridged mode, one on each speaker. 

[Skilly]

I am curious about the amp camp amp. Have you tried them at all in stereo mode without mono block? Have you tried the Speakers with other amps? Thanks for sharing.

Scott

[Stephen Scharf]

I am curious about the amp camp amp. Have you tried them at all in stereo mode without mono block? Have you tried the Speakers with other amps? Thanks for sharing.

Scott

Yes, I've tried the ACA as a stereo only amp. It's nice, pleasant to listen to. Its considerably better as a bridged mono-block.

I have not listened to the X-LS Encores with my ACAs yet, however, I'm presently using this bad boy...my Conrad-Johnson LP70S. This was C-J's only stereo amp in the Linear Pentode line of amps; the others were all monoblocks.


The Linear Pentode series of amps were C-J's TOTL amplifiers prior to their releasing their current ART line of amps.