Hi,
How many times do you look back and say, “I wish they heard my system now”?
When I first got my Excelarray’s, I just plopped them down 1 foot from the wall and they sounded so neutral, accurate, seamless, etc…
The room modes weren’t there, like they are with regular Monitors or Floorstanders, so basically the room wasn’t an issue. Since this was the case, I didn’t mess with positioning my speakers, like I have in the past with other speakers.
I was so elated with the sound and it was the best I have heard. The detail was right there with Sennheiser HD600s and I was in heaven or so I thought. I had several people over to hear them and basically the reports were glowing, albeit a few negative comments about that they weren’t musical. Well, I just let that lie and go about my business.
A friend of mine has been after me to try the Spectron Musician II amp. He came up Denver and heard the Excelarray’s and just took delivery of his about a month ago (I know Tyson is awaiting to hear them in Denver). Well, I started thinking towards a new amp and I also started thinking about the Tact RCS 2.2X (Room Correction System) that I had. It made a huge improvement with my past speakers, however not as big with my Excelarrays. I thought, if I could only get the improvement without the Tact. Basically the major improvement it made with my other speakers, was taking out the bass mode problem in the room. It did make soundstaging better and better vocals. So, I took a vacation day and worked on positioning and measuring with the Tact. I ended up with the speakers, 3 feet from the wall instead of 1. I also now have them toed in, where they weren’t toed in at all before. After I did this, the measurements basically measured flat. What did this do for the sound? It made the soundstage wider and deeper. The imaging improved tremendously. The midrange had also improved so much.
So, I took the Tact out and went directly thru my tube preamp from my DAC, to my Odyssey Stratos Monos. Having just the tube preamp in the pictures sweetened up the mids. Now they weren’t dead neutral sound, however more enjoyable to listen to.
Here’s when it really gets good.
Enter Hantra into the picture. He recently got married and offered to let me borrow his 18 Watt Audio Note Soro Integrated amp, while he was on his honeymoon. I thought, what the heck, the Excelarray builder and designer said that they were tube friend at a 10 ohm impedance to 1,000hz. So, I got it. The first night I just used the preamp section to go to my Odyssey Stratos Monos. I wasn’t very impressed and wasn’t expecting much the next day, when I went directly from the 18 Watt SET to my speakers. Saturday came and I hooked it up. I turned on the first song and I sat there in utter amazement. How could something like this, make so much of a difference. What did it do? The Soundstage layers became unreal. I felt like I could walk out and stand in a performer’s space. Also the midrange was to die for. Hantra came over a few days after he got back from his honeymoon and I believe he was totally amazed. The last time he was over, I had the speakers pushed 1 foot from the wall and firing straight ahead. I sat and watched the disbelief on his face. I don’t think he could have imagined such a change.
That started my quest to look at other SETs and other amps. I have listened to different PP tube gear before and heard the better soundstaging. Some people told me to look at some SS amps, like the Pass Aleph line, Gamut D200 and others, as they reported SET like attributes. All I can say is that those people can believe what they want. I did listen to them, as well as some 300B and 845 SET amps. I ended up getting my new/used Bel Canto SET40 2 days ago. I have to tell you that this is a match made in heaven. It has close to 40 Watts a channel, however I haven’t been able to get it to clip and I have played music thru it, louder than anyone has ever heard music played at my house. Of course I played things louder with my SS amp, however never with anyone else over.
Now I see what all the fuss is about with SETs. I would love to compare these with the Halcros in my room. I wouldn’t be surprised if I like the SETs better. The midrange is so intimate and liquid, that you just bask in its glory. The soundstage has to be experienced. At first I thought I was hearing more detail with this. I then switched back to the SS Monos and I heard the instrument, however it didn’t stand out like on the SET. What is happening, is each macro detail is defined and heard in its own space, which enables you to hear it more clearly.
Now, I feel almost embarrased, that people heard it the other way. That’s how much of an improvement there is, with the way it is now. It is now extremely more musical, image out the ying yang and a soundstage to die for.
So, now I’ve finally done, what I have told other people for a long time. That is that the room and getting your speakers positioned correctly is the most important thing. It’s just that the Excelarrays lulled me into a trap, of being so room agreeable.
I guess I’ve rambled on for long enough.
Have a great day,
Brad
