Here is the feedback from Andy McIntyre from a demo session we had at my house back on April 29-30th.
For point of reference, Andy has among his systems:
* Eton 11.2 3-way kit that is very close clone of Avalon Ascent. He has two pairs of these. One of the best 3-ways, I've heard
* Ellis Audio 1801b
* JonMarsh M8a 2-way
* MurphyBlaster SPCA 2-way
* In process of building SL Orion (which may become his new 2-channel reference)
This is what he said about the LCR speakers.
// Start of Andy McIntyre's (awm) feedback from April 29th and 30th sessions
I listened to the new Adire LCR's last night and this morning at Al Garay's
place. Last night, we watched and listened to DVD's through Al's Oppo DVD
player. We also had the smaller kit (the something 61's?) as the rear
surrounds in the 5.1 set-up. The Adire Sadhara was doing sub duties -- more
on that later.
We watched Independence Day and the overall impression for HT was quite
impressive. The bass was incredible without the sub on -- much more than
I'd have ever expected had Al not forewarned me. The LCR's were excellent
as the front three. I was most impressed with the LCR as the center
channel. Dialog was very clear and well separated from the rest of the
sound. I was also pleased to hear so much bass coming from a center
channel. The inroom response of the LCR is in the 20's and this is valuable
due to the large, often overlooked amount of bass coming through the center
channel. Speaking of bass, the sub was almost unnecessary. There was the
pronounced visceral impact of deep bass in spades without it. But, being
the audionuts we are, we of course couldn't leave well enough alone and
turned on the Sadhara and let it rip. During one scene -- maybe when the
two heroes nuke the mother ship -- the whole room sounded close to coming
apart. Thunderous. The overall effect was pretty overwhelming.
This morning, three of us listened to the LCR's in two channel mode, with
the sound going through a modded ART DI/O. For comparison, we listened to
my Ellis 1801b's, a speaker we were all quite familiar with. I was somewhat
skeptical of the two channel performance of the LCR's going in. I'll say
now that I was pleasantly surprised. As mentioned above, they do the bass
thing very well and for just about all 2-channel listening, the mid-20's
that they extend to is more than adequate. They also sounded "bigger," as a
three way should, than the Ellis. But, the imaging was where I was the most
surprised. I was not expecting them to be able to pull off what they did.
Al has a behemoth of an entertainment center right between the speakers ( he
knows, he knows... talk to his loving wife! ), which understandably
interferes with imaging and soundstaging. Still, the LCR's imaged very
effectively and I was easily able to make out a distinct center image and
soundstage.
So, where did they fall short? They lacked the level of focus and
transparency of the Ellis'. And, they are voiced a little bit hot for me.
Al and others like this more than I, and I've discovered that I'm apparently
a high frequency weenie, being sensitive to anything too bright for my
tastes. Overall, though, they could easily serve as a nice two channel
set-up and at the price, they really are a bargain.
Bottom line -- after hearing this set-up, I plan on replacing my current CC
with an LCR in my own 6.1 HT. I will likely have to increase the tweeter
resistance by an ohm or so. I'll probably get a second LCR to serve as my
rear center speaker, as well. (I think one of Adire's vendor's offers a
kit for low $400's, which is quite a bargain.)
See ya,
Andy
