[Aether Audio]

Folks,

Here's a couple of pics of the Presence AV-2 Monitors with real Walnut veneer finish.  Future versions will have the woofers recessed into the front panels and the grills will be approx. 0.125" thick, as opposed to the ones shown here which are 0.5" thick.  Other than that small change, all else remains the same.

Basic specs for each are as follows:

Frequency Response - 48Hz to 20kHz +/- 2dB  -3dB at 43Hz
4pi Sensitivity - 92.5 dB @ 2.83V/1M
Long Term Power Handling - 150 Watts
Impedance - 4-Ohms
Dimensions - 30.75"H X 12.5"W X 16"D

[Carl V]

Those I assume are my recent SP speakers...thanks Bob.
Bob provided me  with a Freq. Response graph with his
Compensation network.  In his words they came out very
flat and very nice....nearly the equal of his upper end  lines.

Well, Iv'e had these speakers for nearly 2 weeks.  They have
well over 100hrs of music & test/burn-in tones on them.  I assume
they are broken in.

First off they arrived in perfect condition in Very Well boxed shipping
containers.  The Walnut Finish is nice.  Satin semi gloss.  Black studio finish front & back.

I bought these speakers thinking they were 96dB sensitive. They are not. As Bob has mentioned on this forum the in room XO is 92.5 dB.
Why the difference?  Laws of Physics i.e.,Baffle Step Loss.  If you mount
these in the wall---on the wall or VERY near the wall the XO can be configured for 96dB sensitivty & a subwoofer should be considered.
Bob by his own admission targeted these to the AV crowd.  In other words some compromise must be accepted.  He was quite pleased & surprised by both the quality of sound & their Potential.  As was Bill at Response Audio, who has based his Bella line on this design potential.

I have played these speakers in 4 different rooms with 4 very different
systems.  They have been driven with AYRE integrated, Audio Note
(a 6550 based integrated) and  dual WE 300B amp Parallelled, cj EL-34
(either one stereo amp or two stereo amps-passive bi-amp)
and lastly a Chord Electronics set-up.  They have been A/B against
AN-E speakers, Adire HE10.1, Northcreek Rhthym, Avatar Living Voice QBX, Hawthorne 15" concentric OB.  They benefit from juice.  But they aren't all that difficult to drive.  I found no magic synergy.

I have always enjoyed the sound of the 95dB sensitive Living Voice speakers either driven with very nice Chord electronics or good tubes.
It was this sound I was aiming for.  Coherent. Dynamic. "Balanced".

Personal tastes factor into likes & dislikes.  And we won't even mention visual Biases or preconceived biases.  We're only human.

When you see these Big Stand Mounted monitors you expect big sound.
And you get it.  You expect some good bass & you get it.  It's sealed so you expect tight & tuneful bass. And you get that too.  A sub woofer is optional for 95% of the music out there. IN rom response has been into the lower 40s easy & the Test discs have useable output into the upper 30s. These speakers have been paired with a DIY Sealed Tumult, a sealed M&K MX200 & a Rell Stentor.  Run full range. Run with a passive  first order inline or an active XO (Bassis, paradigm X-30 AudioControl Richter Scale III, Snell EC-300).  Integration has been fairly
seemless.  It takes time & practice results have been a challenge at times.

They produce very distinct images.  In other words they do what a good 2Ch setup playing stereo recordings should do.  They don't produce the widest soundstage nor the deepest.  But how much emphisis you place on this is subjective.  I have them nealry 10 ft. apart I sit back 12 ft. & they are angled in about 15 degrees. They are well away from side walls and about 3 ft from the wall behind them.  They can be pulled out 1-2 feet more without  problems.  They did well in smaller rooms with less sidewall influences.  A Waveguide benefit....I 'spsose.

There are limits to how loud they can go comfortably. 100dB is harsh.
But this is loud.  Bring it back down to reasonable.  Max it out at 95dB
with 'normal program material hovering in the 75db-80dB region & it's good.  They do well at lower levels.  Say 65dB program with peaks at
75-80dB.  But I'd have to give the nod to the Living Voice for lower & mid-level playback.  Compared to the AN-E it's a question of balance & preference.  Both can boogie...more so than they have right to & on tubes. (cuz tubes can't do bass or sound fast )  Compared to Higher Eff. ~sensitivity, with larger drivers or Horns & you'll notice the differences.  Which you prefer is up to you.  I like the Sound of Coincident Technolgy Eclipses, Bruce Edgar horns, Pi Horns --among others.  In fact a very good competitor is the Edgar Slimnlines.

There are some cabinet resonances  but less than I've encountered with
Typically offered commericial offereings from Paradigm, JM lab et. al at this price point.  They are made from 3/4" MDF well braced & covered in real wood Veneer.  They use good quality drivers.  Bob makes sure they met his engineering goals not unlike Snell Speakers of old when
Tolerances were tight & Pride in production was foremost.  I have no idea if modern Snell speakers do or don't adhere to such rigorous specs.
But back in the day they did & it's with this in mind that all modern AN-E Speakers trace their lineage.  Not such a bad thing actually.

They are a nice compromise between Pappy Van Winkle & Basil Hayden's.
So think of them as Elijah Craig. If you drink Burbon-you'll catch my drift.
In other words they are warm & mellow at times.  They won't bite unless pushed to do so.  They won't honk. Nor well they Thump & bump.  Sins of ommission not commission.

Bob makes other higher end speakers with the same wave guide principles & with higher spec'ed XO & Cabinetry.  He has nothing to apologize for with these.

I will soon be listening to these with some tweaking.

Cheers

[Karsten]

Well, Iv'e had these speakers for nearly 2 weeks.  They have
well over 100hrs of music & test/burn-in tones on them.  I assume
they are broken in.

I'm not sure 100 hours are enough to reach the full potential, I think you will find they will change further over a period of time.

Karsten

[Carl V]

I'm not sure 100 hours are enough to reach the full potential, I think you will find they will change further over a period of time.

Karsten

Perhaps so.  It's probably closer to 200 hours.
But you just never know.   "Burn-in" " Break in"
is a bit of  controversial subject.  And I don't see
any exceptional Parts in the XO...Oil & Teflon caps,
Exotic coils or what not.  But time will tell.  Trouble is
our Auditory memories are not perfect  & our ears do
acclimatize to things.

[Aether Audio]

Carl V,

Thanks for the review>

And I don't see any exceptional Parts in the XO...Oil & Teflon caps, Exotic coils or what not.

Yep, that's true.  We didn't want to get into all that "tweaky" stuff all over again in another product line.  As I have said in the past, this series wasn't really intended for the AC type crowd - unless they wanted a great AV speaker.  Blame Bill Baker   - he's the one that encvisioned it being a 2-channel product.

But he did get me thinking.  If nothing else it makes a great "ready built kit" speaker for the DIY crowd.  That's why we offered it as an actual kit later on.  Whether someone buys them already built or in the actual kit form, you can easily tweak the design to make it do what you want.  That's why we'll provide anyone that wants it... the schematic diagram of the crossover.  You can swap parts out to your heart's desire or until you break the bank.  As Bill will tell you, they'll sing like a pretty little bird if you nurture them with all the right suppliments.

Out of the box as we build them they're a pretty kick butt speaker, but they'll never be our Millennial Reference Series or our new Aether Series - no matter how much you tweak them.  But for folks that want to massage them a little, they'll get pretty darn close.  Not a bad deal if you ask me, considering the $$$.

Enjoy,
-Bob

[Bill Baker]

Blame Bill Baker  - he's the one that encvisioned it being a 2-channel product.

 Yes blame me. PLEASE!!! As long as you do it publicly.    

The Bella series has found it's way into a few hearts and souls. Those who know me, know that I am not one that looks for "perfect" measurements and voice my products to a signature sound that has been my trademark for over 10 years now.
 I truly believe the Essence/Bella designs can be conceived as special within the right system and to the right ears. I know for sure they would never pass the Stereophile test grounds in regard to measurements but that is not my goal anyway.
 Music that touches the soul and the products that provide this is what I'm after.

 As I always say, "Build your system for yourself, not the critics"

[ooheadsoo]

I don't know if I'll ever write a review of this speaker.  I finally made time to finish the kit of this speaker.  It is slightly modified with vinyl tiles on the walls of the cabinet, some black hole 5, and some spray on damping material designed for rattling car panels I learned about from one of thechairguy's posts.  I have 1lb. of acoustastuff polyfill from partsexpress per speaker, which might not be enough, but that's all I have...However, I'm a firm believer in the inability of my aural memory without quick A/B, and therefore, I have nothing to compare my new speakers with, at least if I want to speak with any amount of precision.  Nevertheless, here are a few brief notes after a day of listening.

I listen between 1m to just over 2m away.  In my 12ft.x14.5ft. room, I hit peaks just exceding 100db.  I may have played it louder at other points, but I wasn't measuring.  At no point did the speaker sound strained.  I am powering it with an Odyssey Stratos and a CIaudio VPC1 (passive preamp.)  Source is the non-oversampling DDDAC1543 with 16 chips in parallel, extra voltage regulator mods, all premium parts blah blah, battery powered, fed by a emu1212m proaudio soundcard.  The Stratos is said to put out somewhere around 150+w@8ohms and approximately doubling into the 4ohm load of the AV-2, so with somewhere around a ballpark of 300w available, this setup is probably quite different from the majority of Carl V's gorgeous systems.  Dynamics in spades, it makes big sounds with a natural ease.  Could be the even power response afforded by the waveguide, I suppose.  I watched Fearless and it was wonderful.  Never sounded strained for a moment, I had confidence these speakers could keep up.  The woofers were barely moving.  Visually, they didn't seem to be moving at all.  Putting on a 50hz test tone at 80db made the woofers move about 2mm peak to peak.  Strong distortion could be heard by my ears starting well before this point, but this is not program material. 

The funny thing is I'm hearing more detail from this speaker than my last monitor, the mbow1 designed by dennis murphy.  Lots more detail.  It must be in my head, except I can't quite convince myself that this is true.  Take it for what it's worth.  I'm hearing lots of things I haven't heard before.  So many, I can't believe my ears, really.  Was I paying such poor attention before?  In any case, I'm getting lots of detail from this speaker, and the imaging is solid. 

Tonality is quite neutral and natural.  String quartets sound like they're in my room, at last.  Between my brothers and I, we play all the instruments in a string quartet (besides a few others) many times over, and I have access to a few dozen of each instrument, so I'm fairly familiar with what they sound like up close and personal - such as in a quartet setting, and this speaker can do it.  Piano is also done decently, thanks to the dynamics.  Upper piano harmonics seem intact, something that was fishy with my past speakers.  Waveguide in action?  I don't know.  Could be.  I still have the same bass problems I have had with all box speakers in my room, in the same frequency ranges, which I deal with via EQ, which works fairly well for a large sweetspot.  I've got a dipole I'm not using, which had different bass problems - not quite as extreme, but still problematic, just the same. 

The tonality of the speaker remains relatively constant along the horizontal plane, which is nice.  Big reduction in the killer early room reflections in the higher frequencies, no nasty rippling combing effect as I lean left and right.  Unfortunately, the imaging is very sensitive to position and shifts far left and right along with your head position.  Still sounds good, but the image is way off, with all the L/R mixed channels sliding in the direction of your position relative to the center.  The one thing the waveguide did not solve for me.  I'm now very confused regarding how you achieve that effect with a speaker.  All in all, I'm a happy camper, although I may never build another speaker cabinet again. 

[Double Ugly]

I don't know if I'll ever write a review of this speaker. 

I don't know, ooheadsoo...what makes you say that?   

Great write-up.  I know I speak for Bob and all the guys working hard to expand the business back in La Porte, IN when I say thank you for your patience, your perseverance, and perhaps most of all, for taking the leap of faith necessary to purchase the AV-2 kit.  It takes a special kind of person to do that, and though I'm not really a part of the SP Tech team, I know they share in your relief and excitement to finally have the speakers completed.

The funny thing is I'm hearing more detail from this speaker than my last monitor, the mbow1 designed by dennis murphy.  Lots more detail.  It must be in my head, except I can't quite convince myself that this is true.  Take it for what it's worth.  I'm hearing lots of things I haven't heard before.  So many, I can't believe my ears, really.  Was I paying such poor attention before?

FWIW, that's one of the big things that has kept me in the SP Tech fold.  I've not heard a speaker as revealing, and I've heard a few.

One has to remember that these speakers are siblings to a product line designed for use in recording studios; their acceptance in the consumer market came as quite a surprise.  Consequently, the detail and accuracy they offer is a cut above what one could normally expect from those designed and built for the consumer market.  It may not be to everyone's liking, but with SP Tech, you definitely know what you're getting.

String quartets sound like they're in my room, at last.  Between my brothers and I, we play all the instruments in a string quartet (besides a few others) many times over, and I have access to a few dozen of each instrument, so I'm fairly familiar with what they sound like up close and personal - such as in a quartet setting, and this speaker can do it. 

Strings are my favorite, too.  I love the way my Timepieces do piano, but there's something about the seemingly instant transient response and the way they capture the subtle tonal shadings and intonations of strings that tugs at my heart. 

Good stuff! 

Unfortunately, the imaging is very sensitive to position and shifts far left and right along with your head position.  Still sounds good, but the image is way off, with all the L/R mixed channels sliding in the direction of your position relative to the center.  The one thing the waveguide did not solve for me.  I'm now very confused regarding how you achieve that effect with a speaker.   

Hmmm...that one's above my pay grade.  Maybe Bob can offer some assistance when he has a few minutes.

All in all, I'm a happy camper, although I may never build another speaker cabinet again.

That you now have an aversion to cabinet building isn't surprising...I've never built one, and I suffer from the same aversion! 

Great job!  The speakers look great and your'e happy with them...I'm not sure what else Bob could've hoped for. 

Best regards,

Jim

[ooheadsoo]

Thanks, DU.  I'm quite happy with the speakers.  I don't know if it's because I'm so happy to turn them up louder that I'm hearing all this detail that I never noticed before, but whatever it is, it makes me happy.  Despite these paper drivers and ordinary tweeter, the speaker's got tons of detail.  I ran them hard for about 15 hours yesterday, about 4 hours of it was a 50hz test tone, and felt that I was ready to integrate my subwoofer (GR Research sw12/pr12 per Danny's design powered with a 250w amp from rhythmic audio, you know, that generic one that every place carries, now.)  Crossed at 40hz, dialed it right in, no outstanding issues. 

[Carl V]

Glad to hear that you've got your SP AV2 up & running.

I have modded the interior of my cabinets slightly.
Intially I placed lotsa Modelling clay on the side walls
of one of the cabinets while in the other I used no clay
but relied upon the application of Wool Felt. The felt
was placed on the cross braces & the side walls top
and bottom.  The Interiors were/are well stuffed with
the polyester accusta-stuff. I actually ended up taking
a small amount of the original Loose stuffing out &
I packed in tightly more towards the back & not so
tightly near the drivers.
I ordered the Wool Felt from an online company. 
1/2" & 1". McCaster Carr (?)

I somewhat preferred the sound with Wool & spiking to
the Heavy Stand....which in turn is spiked to the floor.
But I wouldn't want to bet the farm on this difference.
((( Most of all these A/B evaluations were done while
listening to MONO sources playing in one speaker at
a time....& simply turning the balance L---R.  Doing
so takes the many audiophile issues of soundstage,
imaging etc. off the table.  In other words we are
listening to tone & timbre only...dynamics..presence)))

I have also compared & contrasted two differing XOs.
One is constructed with adequate parts...while the other
is stuffed with Premium parts.  I have been told that the
Bella XO has a slightly different design topology as compared
to the latest SP design in my cabinets.

Back in the beginning of June I "burned in' one new XO
on 24-7 pink noise for 2 weeks while I was out of town.
While the other new XO remained untouched.  The new
XO 'sound' does change over time.  Sibilance was more
pronounced (with the fresh-n-raw XO)
and apparently mellowed with time.  I also felt
that I could localize notes coming from the center of the
MTM or from the ends...in other words...I could hear the XO
point.  With Brass  & woodwinds the integration of the
drivers were not as 'seemless" with the fresh XO.  The burned
in Bella had the coherency you'd expect & which was present
in the SP version....good job Bob, I can see why you were
quite pleased with these speakers.

I have also experimented with Bybee adapters in line
with the binding posts...on the upper only or on both
upper & lower.  I honestly couldn't tell a difference.
2 other guys seemed to feel the effect on the tweeter
was an improvement.  But they spent the $$ for Bybees.

SO, here it is the middle of July.  ALL XOs are well burned in.
All drivers are apparently well 'seasoned'.  I have now brought
these Speakers over to a few other homes.  Comments have
been " nice dynamics"  "Big Stand mounts", "Pretty Wood"
"Good Detail"  " Big Sound"  " Warm...not fatiguing"  " Bigger
than I thought they'd be".  They've been driven by Big Yamaha
Class A mono blocs (these are older amps which apparently
have quite a cult following) & Halo amps as well as Big cj SS amps.

As ooheadsoo has stated they image well, but the central image
shifts as you move off of the sweet spot.  This is less obvious
with Orchestral or Rock-n-Roll..... but only solo or small group
material it's obvious. Spaced about 8' apart & sitting 8' helps.
Toeing them in helps with the equilateral triangle set-up.  If
you set them up as an isosceles triangle i.e., 8' a part 15 degree toe in
and sit back 10' you get a broader sweet spot. We moved Mini
traps & abbfussors into the 1st reflection points...but this didn't
remarkably change its imaging or soundstage characteristics.

These are not mini-monitors. Sitting in the sweet spot they
do wjhat you expect good 'stereo' speakers should do...solid
images, good soundstage reproduciton.  You can play all the geeky
test discs for mapping soundstages, Clickers, Chesky LEDR tests
and they pass with flying colors. And they will point out the
differences in various source material such as Mercury or Living
stereo styles or London.  If you play modern audiophile labels
they shine....such as Chesky or Mapleshade (wow!)
They don't disappear sonically or visually. 
But neither do the AN-E or  10.1.... or many others.
The Living Voices are a bit better in this regard.  And to be honest
the Living voices seem to have a tad more resolution & detail.
But then they cost more...& the Chord gear is darned good.

All in all very nice speakers.  You get a great deal of audio
performance for your money spent.  It ultimately comes
down to auditory tastes & interior decor aesthetics.

[ooheadsoo]

Glad to hear the xovers settle down a bit with burn in.  I did notice some vertical smearing of the sound seeming to spread itself out between the two woofers and the tweeter, but I do tend to sit extremely nearfield for the majority of my listening, backing up only if I perceive a problem or if I'm tired and taking a break.  I thought that might account for the reason why this was happening.  I don't think this is too much of a concern from beyond 2-3 meters, where if you could pinpoint a sound with that much precision in the middle of music playing, surely you must deserve an award.  Good to hear that this might settle down some more as the speakers get worked in.

The Living Voice Avatar seems to use better drivers, with at least the tweeter in line with what SP Tech uses in its millenial reference series, if I'm not more expensive (ss revelator.)  It's also a nominally easier load at 6ohms and slightly higher sensitivity.  I'm sure the chord gear handles both speakers just fine, though.  With the timepiece starting around $3000, I think those may be a better match.  Are the Living Voice Avatars approximately $6-8k in the US?  I couldn't fine much information on their imported value.  Quite complimentary to be compared to such "lofty" company, if so.  The only thing is that Bob suggests a 500w+ amp for the timepieces.

This speaker has the ability to simulate a live experience as loudly as I care for (not as loud as a lot of young and perhaps older folk, but it's definitely good enough for me.)  If I were at a live event and it was louder than this, I'd either cover my ears, leave, or wear my earplugs if I remembered to bring them.  I must hear the MR series, one day.

To be clear about a point I made earlier, I've only heard one speaker in my limited experience that didn't have the imaging shift much when moving left and right, to the point of even being able to stand within 1-2 feet of the right speaker directly in front of it and still being able to tell that the vocalist was singing in the center of the soundstage, and it was the mackie hr624.  Doesn't do anything else anywhere close to as well as the av-2, but it did do that imaging trick.  I didn't get this from the other mackie monitor models that also used shallow waveguides.

[Double Ugly]

The only thing is that Bob suggests a 500w+ amp for the timepieces.

Not quite.

Way back when, Bob recommended 300W or more to get the best from the Timepieces under all conditions (i.e., concert level volumes, dynamics, etc.), but that's since changed.

From the SP Tech website: 
               

• MINIMUM RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER:     50 WATTS RMS / Channel (200 - 750 WRMS / Ch. preferred)

The 50W RMS comes from a customer who is extremely satisfied driving his Timepieces with a 50W/ch amp.  And even though the recommended (or "preferred") minimum is 200W/ch RMS, Bob is thrilled with the performance he's getting from a pair of 160W/ch RMS monoblocks.  I'm using a pair of 110W/ch monoblocks with my Timepiece 2.1s, and I have no complaints w/ transient response or dynamics.  I've used much more powerful amps in the past (from 250 to as much as 800W/ch), and prefer what I have now.

In the final analysis, it all depends on individual preferences and the amp(s) design.

-Jim

[ooheadsoo]

Well, good to know I'm ready to take on a Timepiece whenever my room will allow for it.