[powerbench]

I received the delievery notice this am,I took it upon myself to arrange to pick up at the UPS agent's shop at 500pm.Geez its a big box (70 lbs +) Louis sent  and well very packed!!!Needless to say the contents survived the long trip from Louis' to my house in just  3 days!!!Im 3.5 hrs north of Toronto, Ontario  (for any one familair to Canada).
The website pics dont do these speakers  justice. Louis pieces look very good,and are bigger and heavier than what I expected. You'll need real good beefy stands for these babies. Room placement is critical as far as imaging goes.
 Im running them with a modded ClariT -Auricaps,black gates,upgraded pot I think its a DACT if im not mistaken and 2 different  sources to start.I also  started with the  lower end  cables and IC I have to establish  a  comparison baseline.
These puppies are sensitive and very efficient !! The ClariT makes them sing. I am actually overpowering the room at one third volume. Everything  Louis and Vinnie has said  is true in their reviews about them so no need to repeat.
Speed,accurracy,dynamics, all that and more.They like to fed well with good diet of source material.They will catch you with your pants down  with either bad  material or a poor source.
I have to agree with Dmason the b200 is very effective in not only  relaying sound but music.Sound can be  measured but music has body and soul which are both purely subjective.
The soundstage is deep, at least 5 ft high from 20 inch stands and extends 3 feet to either side of the speaker in my room .Right now I have the  bare minimum placement 6ft apart,1 ft from back walls,2-3 feet from side wall. I think they would fill large room very well.
The Clari T mates well with  the Aperiodics and the union is love at first sight. Tubes I think would be very good. Poor electronics and the Aperiodics will  kick the crap out of them. I kinda like the ' in your face no nonsense' musical quality. Not to say that theyre not sensitive and sweet if needed but you don't want to betray them again with bad  source or poor recordings
I am trying not to sound too excited here I would say they are reference quality,almost too good in clarity.I may have to find another source,maybe a SB2 soon and step up to the 'Minimalist' path again ala Vinnie.
Most commercial speakers  compensate for  poor electronics and recordings.I have owned a few good speakers, ie.Totem and   Kef 104.2s, but nothing too extravagant.There is always an inherent familair sound. I think what Louis has accomplished is more  purity with this design. The B200s are truly fullrange-read BASS .The B200 OBs have that  freaky 3D affect but Louis' box  gives the B200 driver appropiate imaging,weight and  body.
I probably can  ramble more about  them and what I have been listening to for the  last few hours,but I really want to get  back and listen. These are one of the best ,maybe the best speakers I owned or ever heard.I'be switching wires with some recordings which have a little brightness again the drivers  are not yet broken in.
Louis you need to send these for a review ie. 6 moons.Get these out to your distributors or something.
I really think for the price they a steal.Some recordings are soo sweet its silly.
My advice is take a listen..

[JiffyBoob]

Powerbench,

Power lift? Bench press? Any traction there?

This is getting interesting. First, glad you like your new speakers, at least this is the impression your post gives I could be wrong.  Please share more as we go.

Dmason recently explained what a 1.5 system will be like, the why and how,  and now that I have my head wrapped around the concept I really REALLY like it. I am thinking 1.5 Aperiodics in the back room and DarkStar in the front room.  He said that from a technical standpoint the B200 is potentially happier in the aperiodic cabinet or a larger sealed one. I guess this means that perhaps the APeriodic design might sound even better than the DarkStar, but hoo knows, and they aint going anywhere.

 I can tell everyone that the B200 indeed sounds wonderful with tubes. I am using the Art Audio PX-25 with my DarkStars, and the two are just out of this world, pardon the pun. I also heard the Clari-T with them and it was equally stunning. I like the fact the Clari-t doesnt need 450 Volts to do its thing, and require an outlay of over $300 for meshplate tubes.

[powerbench]

Man I am getting more and more  blown away by these puppies...as for 'powerbench' yeah I did some powerlifting (won the Canadian Masters in 04) not a meathead just like the discipline and stay in shape especially as i am aging.Now 41 and going to have rotator cuff surgury soon and hopefully get back to competing.

I am really impressed with the Aperiodics.I think after the next audioshow Louis (and Vinnie)are going to be putting alot of OT.The modular thing with the  Aperiodic would just be awesome.I spoke to Louis tonight to give him my gratitude,always nice to chat with him.I really think he needs to make a base model in flat black like  other manufacturers doso to fit in any decor or duty ie home theatre.I think a flat matte black would look bitching with the Aperiodics.
 

[Louis O]

Hi Powerbench,

Many thanks for the great review and it was a pleasure speaking with you today. I’m really surprised that you got the speakers so fast. UPS wasted no time on this.

It’s great to hear how happy you are with the A8s and many thanks for pointing out that the plots don’t show what the B200s can do. Dan’s right about the driver and relaying sound and music is what they do very well. They re surprisingly good out of the box, but get better and better with break in.

I really like the synergy with the Lotus/Clari t and used it mostly during the development. It’s really a great match.

I will offer the speakers in Matte black and this is a really good idea. Pionite makes a great product and is no trouble at all.

Can’t wait to post more about the 1.5 way and I will have them for the RMAF.

Hi JiffyBoob,

Great to hear Dan explained the 1.5 way concept and I was really thinking about it myself for the B200s and the HempTones. I made a set over a year ago based on the super 3s and really liked design. I wish I posted more about the concept and as a modular system it makes so much sense and very versatile. The best part is that it has the best synergy, as the drivers are the same. The added driver gives more output down low and makes it a lot easier to handle complex music, although the both new speakers really excel at it. A darkstar OB1.5 would really rip.

Thanks again,
Louis

[JiffyBoob]

Actually, Dmason was explaining what he knew about your 1.5 design, and the philosophy behind it. What I can say is that I heard two B200 on open baffles, with the lower one only playing below something like 150 cycles, and the meat it added to the sonic was pretty hard to ignore, in fact it added far more than I would have thought. It became high calorie magic. My laymans guess is that in cabinets this effect might only be multiplied. At any rate he was far more enthused about the idea of doing that using aperiodic cabinets, than open baffles, seeing it as a reference quality crossover-less speaker system.  I bet the Clarit and new speakers are going to slacken some jaws at the audio show.

Powerbench,  Crank those babies. They LOVE some volume!!!

[JeffB]

I was looking at the frequency response of the Visaton B-200, posted here:
http://www.visaton.de/english/bildgross/771_afrequenzgang.html

This shows the frequency response rising with frequency.
I was wondering how, or if, this is compensated for.
Is there a compensation network or is it cabinet design?
I am not looking for trade secret type answers, I am just a little curious.

[mcgsxr]

Arghh double post, see below please...

[mcgsxr]

If you want the short answer, listen to a set of these drivers in any format (I run them in DIY open baffles) - they just do not exhibit this sound, although they do appear to measure that way.

I am sure there are scientific answers, but my ears tell me that this rising response graph on paper, is not relevant.

I have not heard the A8's, but since the ingredients are closely related to my OB speakers, I am confident that they sound similar.

Take a look at the multipage thread on Darkstar Open Baffles in Red Wine Audio's Circle, if you are looking for feedback on how some others have heard this phenom too.

[konut]

I've had the A8s for about 6 weeks now. I power them with Kenwood KMX1000 THX rated monoblocks rated at 270 watts. At first I was noticing some shrillness on dynamic passages but that was mainly due to overload of the opamps on the Pioneer DV 578 DVD universal I was using. I sold that and picked up a Toshiba SD 6980 DVD universal. Less shrill. Today I picked up some Owens Corning 703 insulation to tame my live room and that has helped as well. Overall the sound is very well balanced with that 'oh so coherant' single driver touch. I'm planning on a subwoofer soon to supply 'the foundation'. Its my opinion that Louis' cabinet has bought about a balance that leaves my looking at that frequency plot and thinking ' that must be a measurement without a baffle, anechoic'. Just a guess though.

[Vinnie R.]

Is there a compensation network or is it cabinet design?

Hi JeffB,

Louis tweaks everything by the cabinet design.  You should give him a call to talk about this.   I saw those plots before and they just don't make any sense when you actually hear these speakers.  

Regards,

[JiffyBoob]

Those plots are based on measurement using an open baffle in free space. Anyone who has heard the B200 on an open baffle will agree what is heard bears zero resemblance to that plot.

[Louis O]

Hi,

I don't use any electronic compensation at all and the box alignment came about due to the high QTS. Venting it would result in way to boom. Jiffyboob is right about the plot and in the box the bass goes up and the balance evens out. There are mechanical tweaks that flatten the midrange.

Midrange balance has everything to do about cabinet construction and damping.

Thanks again,
Louis

[polishpowerlifter]

I defintely heard  a difference between the B200 OBs and the A8s two different beasts of charachter but same gene pool.Louis's the Man.

[Louis O]

Hi Polishpowerlifter,

Thanks and the OB project will have best of both worlds. OB on top and Aperiodic on the bottom. Looks like it will work great this way and no doubt about the synergy.

Thanks again,
Louis