LS-6 Perspective from my week with them

brj · « **Reply #20 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 05:54 am »

Quote from: zybar on 12 Dec 2006, 08:12 pm

Thanks for the posts Art and Brian.

I really, really, wish you guys were local so I could hear them.

You're welcome, George. I wish I could hear your rig as well, especially with the computer front end and active room correction!

By the way, I heard the OB-7s quite a while ago at Danny's place during the amp comparison. I remember being quite impressed, but I feel that a direct comparison would be unreasonable... too much time, and a different room, treatments and gear chain. I still feel the LS-6s have the best dynamics I've ever heard, however.

I'm not Danny, but I think you can make the LS-6s work in somewhat smaller rooms and/or closer to the back wall... it will just take more and/or different bass trapping to tame the room modes. It would be interesting to measure Art's room both before and after bass traps...

S Clark · « **Reply #21 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 06:19 am »

Rocket-
Tough question. My listening sessions were several months apart, and audio memory is a tricky thing. Also, my opinions may be skewed a bit as I have fairly severe upper range hearing loss. Having spelled out the limitations of my sessions.....

7 or 8 months ago I took a high school physics class to Danny's and listened to the OB-7's in his living room listening to his favorites- Vienna Tang, Patty Larkin, Blue Man Group. Everything was as it should be, but nothing (except for better bass) really stood out as a big step up from my AV-3's. They were fast, accurate, detailed, good imaging- all things that you expect from most anything that Danny designs. But these qualities are also why I chose my AV-3's. I came away thinking that the OB-7's were a step up, but not an incredible difference.

A couple of months ago I was back in the same living room listening to the newly tweaked LS-6's. It was the same type of revelation that occurred the very first time I heard his stuff a couple of years ago. I was floored. The crystalline detail and sharpness of any type of percussive note from drums to the pluck of guitar was riveting. All dynamics were totally effortless. Imaging was dumbfounding. I am used to hearing instruments placed outside the speakers with Danny's stuff (the AV-1's do a great job), but this time it was eerie. There was a piece Danny played that had something like a TV in the background. I literally looked behind me to see if his wife had turned it on in the kitchen from a room behind me

. We listened again- I hadn't misinterpreted, the sound came from a space that was outside of the room behind the listener. I have never heard anything like it.

I don't have the listening experience of most of the other posters in this forum. However, I do get to Danny's house usually 2-3 times per year and get to listen in on what he has hooked up for my classes to listen to. My electronics are not bad at this time with a restored old Knight KB-85(that met with Gary Dodd's approval- can't be too bad), Gary's Battery Preamp (wow, you got to hear one of these!) and a mid-line Marantz CD-5400. My AV-3's are the main speaker system for music, and sometimes I switch out a variation on the AV-1 that some of my students built with 1st order xovers. My point is that I am used to listening to a good, but definitely not world class system - with the exception of the pre-amp. I no longer have anything close to a golden ear, but do have a background in classical piano. I am very critical of piano recordings.
The LS-6 does a great job of suspending the listener in the music, creating the illusion of a performance of any speaker that I have heard. Negotiations are ongoing with my wife about the very real need that I have for these rather imposing monsters.
That's my 2 cents. Hope this helps.
Scott

PS- I didn't address loudness. Danny usually cranks it a bit louder than I do, but just normal levels. You have no problem carrying on a conversation with the music playing -- 80dB? maybe a bit more

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #22 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 04:18 pm »

Do you guys think it would be silly or a waste of speaker to use these in my HT? My 2 channel room is too small at 14 x 20. The HT is 15 x 24 and would allow me to be 11' per equilateral triangle side. The 2 channel would be 8' vs 11' which I guess is too near field.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #23 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 04:31 pm »

Just a couple of notes to add...

You can place them closer to the rear walls, but like any good speaker they are only as good as the room that they are placed in.

The closer you place them to the rear wall the heavier it needs to be covered with room treatments to make it more transparent. If you kill those early reflections from the rear wall then it will sound like it is further away.

Another option for smaller rooms is to run them in sealed boxes. This will pull some output out of the bottom end that might mirror image the room gain effects a little better.

Another note to make here is that Art and Brian only heard the earlier version of the OB-7. It has been taken up a notch since then. If you search the threads here in my forum you will see a comparison that I made with them in a back to back comparison.

Hey Big Red. I have heard Alpha LS's and 20/21's in smaller rooms than that. It can be made to work and dialed right in, but does take some extra attention towards the room treatment.

srclose · « **Reply #24 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 05:12 pm »

Danny,

I'm asking for a friend that has an interest in the LS6 or 9. He has a large room that is both living and kitchen/dining. The room is 45ft long (20 ft wide), with a half wall (about 9 ft wide) that is 24 ft back from the front of the room. This front wall has a flat screen TV and would have speakers on either side, but the area in front of the TV also serves as a walkway. It would help if the speakers didn't block that area, so keeping them a little closer to the wall would help.

TomS · « **Reply #25 on:** 13 Dec 2006, 10:09 pm »

Danny,

My room is 13 x 24 x 92"h with four of Ethan Winer's 4" thick ~2x5' Mondo Realtraps in the corners and another eight 2x4' MiniTraps spread around the other room seams and first reflection points. The existing speakers are 4' from the front wall and 9-10' to the listening position. The tuned room handles the bass from my current speakers (and optionally an ACI Titan II sub) really well right now and handled the Reimer Teton GS's without much problem. It took a lot of work to get there but turned out pretty good.

I just wouldn't want to give anything up by choosing the 9 over the 6.

Would the LS-9 be too much to tame in this room?

Are there any other likely negative affects on choosing the 9 besides the bass?

Tom

Danny Richie · « **Reply #26 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 03:57 am »

Stephen,

It sounds like your buddy has a great sized room for these. He'll just have to decide which is more important, the deepest he can make his sound stage or walling freedom in the walk way.

Tom,

Your room sounds ideal as well. It is good sized and well treated. If you didn't have any problem with the Teton's then you shouldn't have any with these. The bass management system will give you some adjustability to the bottom end.

arthurs · « **Reply #27 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 04:14 am »

I just had to add this....after listening with a few guys today something clicked in that I've noticed, these speakers cause more hand gestures than anything I've ever been around. People can't help but point at where notes or sounds are coming from, or waving their arms as something will move around the room....pretty funny, and amazing.

If I give everyone orange batons before they sit down it would look like they were directing traffic....

mlschifter · « **Reply #28 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 06:12 pm »

Yesterday I had the GREAT PLEASURE of visiting Art's beautiful home and hearing the LS-6's in his room...

In a few words... OFF THE HOOK - Wonderful

I'm laid up in a hotel room near to Danny's place trying to recover from whatever it is I've manged to get (it's BAD

)... I must (and will) re-visit this thread to share my own feelings about what I heard...

Just wanted to say Thank You to Art and his lovely wife for allowing us all in...

All the best...

mls

arthurs · « **Reply #29 on:** 14 Dec 2006, 11:58 pm »

No sweat at all Mark, glad to have all of you by, it was fun. Sorry to hear the crud you have got worse, hope it improves soon.

For anyone within driving (or I guess flying if you'd like) distance of Fort Worth, who'd like to hear the LS-6's, please drop me a note (e-mail is preferred) and we can set something up. I have a group coming by this Sunday and could maybe fit one or two more in, but can arrange for other days or evenings as well.

mnapuran · « **Reply #30 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 01:15 am »

What time Sunday are you planning something? I'd like to hear these if I can make it

brj · « **Reply #31 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 01:37 am »

Time to install that turnstile at the front door, Art! Or maybe a service person taking tickets at the entrance to the listening room and calling out "now serving number X"!

Hope you get well quickly, Mark. It was a pleasure to finally meet you!

arthurs · « **Reply #32 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 02:15 am »

Sunday is a wrap for headcount. There's already a couple people shooting for a later date (TBD) so be sure and ping me if you'd like to make it by some other time.

arthurs · « **Reply #33 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 02:15 am »

you have PM Mike

Cacophonix · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 02:22 am »

Art,

You got mail!

arthurs · « **Reply #35 on:** 15 Dec 2006, 03:27 am »

Quote from: Cacophonix on 15 Dec 2006, 02:22 am

Art,

You got mail!

Rajiv - you've got mail back!!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #36 on:** 18 Dec 2006, 07:02 am »

Wow, I can't believe it never occurred to me to check Danny's forum for info on the LS-6's/9's!

Thanks for all the info in your great reviews, Art & Brian! I'm pretty stoked for the feedback to start coming in once they begin to ship. The LS-6 is moving up my "short list" of speakers when I upgrade.

brj · « **Reply #37 on:** 18 Dec 2006, 08:19 am »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

Thanks for all the info in your great reviews, Art & Brian!

You're welcome! I've had a lot of people offer me their time, systems and thoughtful comments in the 3 years that I've been pursuing an "audiophile" system, so I like to return the favor when I feel familiar enough with the subject matter. I don't have the space for a line array, and remain completely impressed with the sound of my own speakers, but I've probably spent over 12 hours listening to the LS-6s in Art's rig and felt comfortable offering some comments. Of course, Art, Danny and Mark did most of the work in this case - I've just been able to stop by and enjoy the result a few times!

By the way, a quote from MLS on the AV123 forum for any that might be considering the LS-6 or LS-9:

Quote from: mlschifter

I am definitely going to raise the price of LS-6 and LS-9 after January 1st. We just poured too much secret sauce on these to make them economically feasible for our sales model at their current prices

Ettepet · « **Reply #38 on:** 19 Dec 2006, 11:10 am »

Art, thanks for your impressions sofar. I have a couple of questions, perhaps not all within your area of expertise. I registered here partly because they went unanswered sofar, in all the LS6/9 topics. Maybe you could give them a go..

Could you give us an idea how the LS6 sounds when you are at different places in your room. Just to get an impression for those who have these speakers in a regular room, where one is not always near the sweetspot. If you walk around close(r) to the speaker will you hear all kinds of anomalies in the (upper) frequency range? (not that that would necessarily be a problem)

Someone posted the highs of the LS6 diminish when standing up, caused by the listening height being near the upper part of the array. Do you think the LS9 you have ordered will appear significantly different in this regard for say a 6' tall person? (speaker being 1 foot taller)

Would it make more sense to get LS6's or 9's for a general purpose room where people walk around close(r) to the speaker or do you think it won't matter all that much?

These questions might seem a bit silly, but I've never heard a line array outside of churches or stadiums.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #39 on:** 19 Dec 2006, 02:15 pm »

Moving to the left or right of the sweet spot still gives you good sound stage and has less of the effect of sitting in front of a speaker with the sound coming right out of the speaker. Still the best three dimensional sound stage will be heard from the center seat.

Increasing your vertical listening height has little to no effect until your ear level reaches the top or bottom tweeter. Then the highs will begin to drop out. It's a physical limitation of all line sources. The effect is slightly less the further back that you are, but you still want to stay closer to the middle sections of the array if possible.

With the LS-6 (and being right up on them) you'll get highs starting to drop off at a height of about 62 inches.

With the LS-9 that height moves up to about 74 inches (right up on them).

LS-6 Perspective from my week with them

S Clark