A bit less than a year ago I was beguiled by DMason's adventures into the world of
Open Baffles using the Visaton B200's. The experience of living with OB's has
fundamentally changed my listening habits. For example I now hear "the box"
in almost every box speaker I have the occasion to listen to...no matter how well
implemented the design strategy is. The cabinet performs, to a certain measure,
in the shaping of the sound. And that has a distinctive sonic signature.
I am aware that every sound reproducing strategy is a compromise of sorts.
And I have no bone to pick here. Rather, I just want to share with everyone
the results of an unexpected accident of sorts that has me quite amazed
and is once again changing my perspective on what is possible in reproduced
sound.
I ordered a pair of Super 3 Bipoles from Louis Chochos of Omega Speakers
a few months ago and waited patiently for them to arrive. In the meantime I worked
with Darrel Hawthorne's Silver Iris Coaxial's in OB which taught me several interesting
things about how large drivers operate in the OB environment.
The Bipoles arrived a week or so ago and I have begun to burn them in. A frustrating
business working with the Fostex drivers...they are stiff and require a lengthy burn-in
in order to loosen up and relax...in the meantime, unless one favors the leave-it-on-and-
forget-it-for-a-week business of burn-in, which is impossible in my mobile home, one
must tolerate the distortions of the burn-in ordeal. In the case of the Bipoles which have
one 4.5 inch driver on the front and one on the back, one must endure a lack of
mid-range presence which very slowly begins to fill.
I admit that it got on my nerves. So I positioned the B200 OB's behind the Bipole
monitors and let them fill in the mid-range sound. And this experience is what
I want to share with everyone.
I used Roger Modjeski's new 245.1 45 tube SET amp to drive both pairs of speakers
in parallel...the sound was both fascinating and a bit over-ripe, depending on what
kind of music I played.
I recently auditioned the relatively inexpensive AV123 Rocket ULW-10 subwoofer
which has an interesting strategy for correcting the worst peak that occurs in
room interactions. It has a built-in EQ that is self-correcting...based on tones that
it emits that is interpreted by a microphone one set's in the listening position...
it works flawlessly and the change was very noticeable after the digital correction.
In order to use one sub both channels need to be summed. That required 3 "Y"
split cables and a single subwoofer cable which I purchased for the audition.
After listening to the sub with the B200's for a few days it was clear that it was
not entirely musical. It filled in the sound alright to perhaps 29 Hz...but so what?
the sound I heard added nothing to the performance except sound.
As an experiment I decided to use 2 of the split "Y" cables in order to dedicate each
pair of speakers, the Bipoles and the B200's, with their own amplifiers in order
to fine tune the gain of each pair of speakers...to hear if that might not create
a more favorable synergy...
I used my integrated Single Ended Pentod tube amp which has tone controls
for the B200's and let the Bipoles continue to be driven by the RM245.1...
The Bipole's have noticeable bass that seems to extend to the 40 Hz region
using large ports that "tune" the lower frequencies...the B200's actually produce
their own potential lower frequencies into the 40 Hz region when I apply the
bass tone control of my SEP...even Roger Modjeski was startled to hear how
resolving the bass tone control was on the B200's...which without this addition
begins to veer south dramatically after perhaps 200 Hz...
I turned on both amps and tuned them until both speakers merged imperceptibly...
and that is when the magic happened...
It is difficult to describe the effect that these 2 speakers have on each other...but
the synergy is incredible...I now hear a layering of instruments that I never knew
existed on my CD's...and voices have a new level of intimacy...the important thing
here is the TONE...it is all about the tone...THERE IS A SATURATION OF TONE
THAT IS UNPRECEDENTED IN MY EXPERIENCE...the musical portrait is both
transparent and dense at the same time...every instrument is distinct and yet
woven into the musical warp and weave with extraordinary coherency...
Each speaker seems to do things that the other does not...and they meet on that
ground of what seems like mutual interdependency...for example the somewhat
diffused presentation of the B200's is firmed up by the Bipoles, which produce
upper frequency information as if you are listening to diamond tweeters that cost
$10,000. This combination has given me an entirely new look at what is possible
in the way of music reproduction...the combination of both speakers transcends
what each of them can do alone...
What I wanted to share with everyone is to continue to experiment with what you
have...in the spirit of exploration...in a very real sense it means taking matters
into your own hands...and putting things together that may break a few rules here
and there...an iconoclastic approach in audio can pay huge dividends
in sonic pleasure...as I am finding out...to be continued...
Warm Regards -Richard-
