[RichardS]

Having owned a pair of Selah Audio Incredarrays for 3+ months now, I thought I'd share some impressions before all comparative context is lost.

The Incredarray consists of 10 Seas Excel W15 mid-bass drivers, 8 Fountek JP-2 ribbons and 2 Peerless XLS 12” subwoofers per side. It's just under 6' tall and 2' deep. I'm presently bypassing the Peerless subs, and instead use a pair of RBH 1010 subs in the corners, each consisting of two 10" meatal cone woofers (and driven by a Bel Canto Evo amp).

It's probably useful to state where I've come from in my speaker history, before launching into a mostly unqualified rave. Over the last 20 years I've owned at least a dozen speakers, keeping most of them less than two years, before eventually tiring of one 'weakness' or another.

My present dedicated 16'x24'x10' room has harbored five speaker systems over the last 10 years. First, I had ProAc 3.5 which were quite musical, smooth and rich; but I could never get the boom out of the upper bass which clouded the mids, and which began to sound opaque (having come directly from Apogee Duetta Sigs). On to Genesis V which loaded the room much better with that wonderful dipole bass--quick and tight--great depth and detail, but ultimately tired of the diffuse diploe presentation.

On to Dunlavy Alethas, set up the Dunlavy way; did nothing terribly wrong but didn't have the suave presentation of the Genesis--too clinical. On to Talon Khorus, very suave, rich, smooth, emotional, but ultimately too ripe and recessed in the mids and soft on top and I felt I was missing too much in the fine details. Tried lots of amps and cables and got a Tact 2.2x which helped a lot, but....then, after hearing lots more...I heard the Incredarrays.

I may still be in the honeymoon phase, but these seem to do it all...at least for me, at least for now.

First, they provide all the detail I could hope for without etch, glare, or dryness.

Second, leading edge transient response is amazing. Piano chords and especially guitar plucks that start and stop on a dime and sound as real as I've heard.

Third: lifelike height! Compared to these, most speakers I've heard shrink the soundstage and everyone's shortened except the too-big piano in the middle. These get it right.

Fourth, presence. There's a presence to vocals that's uncanny.

Fifth, Soundstage and imaging. These aren't the best in depth (the Genesis were better) or width (think 15' apart Dunlavys) but they're more balanced and natural than either. Imaging and the air and space around the perfomers is top-notch.

Sixth, natural tonal balance. I'm cheating here by using the Tact, but everything sounds natural and very real.

Seventh, dynamics. Having 20 very good drivers per side conveys a lifelike punch and an instant transition from soft to loud and back again. Never compresses.

Eighth, integration. Good crossover. The drivers are reasonably seamless without a hint of breakup at transition points.

I guess I could go on but I think I've made my point. Overall these transport me to the musical venue better and are the most satisfying overall speaker I've ever heard, except maybe for some JM Lab Utopias I heard a couple years back that also blew me away. The value on these (if you have the space) is pretty incridible. God only knows what these would cost through conventional retail channels. At approx $10K I haven't heard anything close.

Nitpicks: Some might want more lush mids. Some may want a less forward presentation and a softer treble perspective. I thought they might be a little harsh in the highs on some material, and that saxes were a touch on the ruthlessly revealing side when I first got them (coming from my experience with the Talons) but now I think they're just right in these regards.

Well done, Rick!

My system:
Transport is either a Micromega T-Drive, Modwrighted/Bybee'd Sony 7700 or a RAM-modded Toshiba 4960 with Superclock 3.
Genesis Digital Lens.
Tact 2.2x w/ Aberdeen PS upgrade.
Camelot Dragon 2/2.
Tact 2150 w/ upgraded diode bridge.
Digital cables include FIM Gold, Concierto Violin, Audioquest Hawk, Sonoran Lambda, Straightwire Infolink, MIT Proline, Verastarr silver w/ silver nextgens, mostly all AES/EBU, and Vongaylord Chinchilla analog used for digital.
Speaker cables are HMS Grand Finale or Concierto Violin.
Power cords include Foundation Reseach LC2, Von Gaylord Chinchilla, Electraglide Ultra Khan Statement Rev, Silent Source, Wolff Source, BMI Shark and an (upgraded) Audiomagic Stealth.
Speakers are 8' from the front wall and 10' apart. These (and every other speaker I've had) really benefit from being pulled way out into the room.

[ekovalsky]

Nice writeup, RichardS.  You've had some excellent speakers and it seems like you finally found a keeper!  I've been down the same road for about the past ten years.
 
Your overall setup has many similarities to mine.  I have the main outputs of the RCS 2.2X, also with Aberdeen PSU upgrade, driving two S2150 that passively biamp the main channels -- one amp for the mids/tweeters and the other for the woofers.  The TacT's internal DAC is used on the sub output to feed a Crown K2 which powers the stereo corner subwoofers.  To work around a troublesome room dip at 54hz, I am using symmetric 8th order high and low pass filters at 60hz.  Proper time alignment requires 17.2msec of added delay to the mains beyond what the TacT calculates.  If you are using the TacT as a DSP crossover and have not manually adjusted the delays, you are probably not time aligned!  See this graph to calculate the extra delay needed based on your crossover.

I am also using Wolff source cords which are superb on my digital front end and RCS.  I've also had Von Gaylord interconnects and BMI power cords which were excellent.

The plans I have for expanding my room call for a 17' x 23' space with 10' ceiling, which will be very similar to what you have.  By adding 8.5' to the length of the room, the current long wall speaker arrangement will morph into a short wall arrangement which will let me pull them even further out into the room and greatly increase the distance between the listening position and the rear wall.

What have your impressions been of the upgraded diode bridge ?  I am thinking about upgrading the S2150s with all the goodies Anthony is now offering.  

Thanks for sharing your excellent system.  Enjoy it!

[JoshK]

I heard another of the arrays at my house, which is an acoustic nightmare, however they do sound fantastic and Rick does a great job with integration.

I think the idea about forward/depth with line arrays may be a whole new ball game.  Line Arrays project their image in front of the speaker plane rather than between.  This causes the image to be more "forward" than one is used to in a more traditional speaker setup.  Some like to sit further back as a result, which is neither right nor wrong.  I would make the distinctly that the speakers themselves aren't forward but rather the image is more forward relative to the speaker plane.  For those who haven't heard a line array before, that might be an important distinction.

[ekovalsky]

I think the idea about forward/depth with line arrays may be a whole new ball game.  Line Arrays project their image in front of the speaker plane rather than between.  This causes the image to be more "forward" than one is used to in a more traditional speaker setup.  Some like to sit further back as a result, which is neither right nor wrong.  I would ma ...

To some degree I think this depends on distance between speakers and front wall, even more importantly the speakers' in-room response around the 2.5khz band, which is of course near the crossover of most 2-way line array designs.  If there is rising output in this region (look at the VMPS measurements in my gallery for an example) the image will likely project forward of the speakers.  An audiophile who heard the RM/X in my house a few months ago noted this immediately, saying the effect was much like listening to headphones.  As I had to keep these speakers close to the wall for bass reinforcement, the net effect was a foward presentation with no soundstage depth.  Flattening the midrange response with the TacT produced a much less 'in your face' presentation that was preferable to me on everything except some rock music.

Speakers with a slight dip in this band (see the Alon measurements) tend to have a more laid back presentation.  In my current setup, with the speakers about 5' out into the room, the soundstage begins just in front of the speakers and extends back to the wall.  It seems neither forward nor recessed, and the sense of depth quite amazing on some recordings.  

If anyone has used or is using a TacT or DEQX with the Selah speakers I'd be interested in seeing their measurements.  I know Rick was going to experiment with the DEQX at some point.  One of these days I hope to hear a Selah system myself.  Unfortunately I don't think there are any in the Phoenix area and I don't travel much.

[JoshK]

Eric, as usual I am in agreeance with you, my point however is with regards to the image placement rather than tonal balance due to the dispersion pattern of the line arrays.  The psychoacoustics of hearing indeed does act like you suggest with tonal balance affecting perceived placement but I think the dispersion of the line arrays adds another variable and I was trying ineffectually to distinguish this point.

[jholtz]

I've owned a pair of Rick's Omegarrays for over a year now so I thought I'd chime in with a couple thoughts. First of all, I'm still in love with them. They do everything just about  perfect to my ears  and fit my tastes exactly. Incredible detail and dynamics with a smooth airy top end.

Some things  I've found out over the last year. They are so revealing they are a window to your equipment. I would have agreed with the slightly forward statement of another poster, until I tried some other electronics. Now they are extremely nuetral with a soundstage that follows what is on the recording as near as I can tell. I was listening to my electronics and thinking it was the speaker. Try some other electronics in your system before you make up your mind. You might be surprised.

Jim



(RichardS) Nitpicks: Some might want more lush mids. Some may want a less forward presentation and a softer treble perspective. I thought they might be a little harsh in the highs on some material, and that saxes were a touch on the ruthlessly revealing side when I first got them (coming from my experience with the Talons) but now I think they're just right in these regards.

[Rick Craig]

To some degree I think this depends on distance between speakers and front wall, even more importantly the speakers' in-room response around the 2.5khz band, which is of course near the crossover of most 2-way line array designs.  If there is rising output in this region (look at the VMPS measurements in my gallery for an example) the image will likely project forward of the speakers.  An audiophile who heard the RM/X in my house a few months ago noted this immediately, saying the effect was much like liste ...

Actually I have a customer with the Linus2 arrays in the Phoenix area and he's now building the Linus3 arrays from a kit  

My DEQX is on order and I hope to have it by the end of the month. I have one customer who briefly used an older version of the TacT with the Excelarray and also just shipped a set of arrays to a customer with a Behringer unit. Other than that, all of the other owners are using the passive crossover supplied with their arrays.

[gme109]

I've owned a pair of Rick's Omegarrays for over a year now so I thought I'd chime in with a couple thoughts. First of all, I'm still in love with them. They do everything just about  perfect to my ears  and fit my tastes exactly. Incredible detail and dynamics with a smooth airy top end.

Some things  I've found out over the last year. They are so revealing they are a window to your equipment. I would have agreed with the slightly forward statement of another poster, until I tried some other electronics. ...

After owning a pair of  Excelarray's  for two years, I'd have to say that my experience mirrors yours. These speakers are chameleons that change their sound depending on upstream equipment and the recorded material. If there's something you don't like, don't blame the messenger. Here's the problem though, so is the amp I own, a Spectron Musician II. Now this is all fine and dandy on decent and well recorded material. But pop a crapy rock c.d. in the player, and you're going to fine out just how poorly it was recorded. On the other hand, play some Patricia Barber, and your jaw will hit the floor in awe! I'm thinking of adding  tubes in the chain somewhere to inject some pleasent destortion to the sound for those less then perfectly recorded c.d.'s.

[ekovalsky]

Actually I have a customer with the Linus2 arrays in the Phoenix area and he's now building the Linus3 arrays from a kit  

If he's willing I'd love to hear them when he's finished.  Of course he would be welcome to hear my rig if he wishes.

[Rick Craig]

Actually I have a customer with the Linus2 arrays in the Phoenix area and he's now building the Linus3 arrays from a kit  

If he's willing I'd love to hear them when he's finished.  Of course he would be welcome to hear my rig if he wishes.

I'll contact him and let you know.

Rick