Blue Ridge Sound Engineering Speakers ???

HiFiSoundGuy · « **on:** 26 Mar 2007, 11:23 pm »

Has anyone heard these speakers yet? It takes awhile to download..... http://www.blueridgesoundeng.com

SET Man · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Mar 2007, 01:12 am »

Hey!

Hmmm.... skimming through their site. Impressive talks, graphs and etc.

With that tone are they try to make expensive speaker owners feel bad?

Well they sure could do the talk but can they really do the walk?

I'm listening to my system right now.... tubed pre, SET amps and Single Driver speaker. And you know what? These stuffs measure like shit! Compared to new ss/digital amp and of cause BRSES speaker

But to my ears they sound great! And reminded me of the time I was sitting in the Carnegie Hall and listening to a small Jazz band in Central Park on a nice warm day.

If it is all about measurement than I would have not got myself into these stuff for sure.

So, yes, if any of you here have heard these speakers let me and other here know how they sound okay?

Take care,
Buddy

Hogg · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Mar 2007, 01:32 am »

Do a search at audiogon. There has been discussion about the speakers. However, the reviews are suspicious. The designer/owner was to put a few pairs up for auction at audiogon; but I've not seen them.

Jim

macrojack · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Mar 2007, 02:29 am »

I remember a very nasty smartass, arrogant assault from the alleged owner of this company against Audiogon members who pointed out questionable claims. I also seem to recall that Hifisoundguy was an aggressive and insolant proponent of the bullshit clock on a recent AC thread. He seems to be associated with more than one product which makes specious claims. For my part, I will summarily dismiss and gleefully disregard any product he mentions and anything he has to say.

HiFiSoundGuy · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Mar 2007, 04:09 pm »

I found more on these speakers here, it looks like there going to be a review on these speakers soon... http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/f-5-p-114.html

alotaklipsch · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 04:22 am »

Quote from: tvad4 on 27 Mar 2007, 05:14 am

I believe 711Smilin bought a pair and returned them because the level of workmanship was not acceptable.

Tvad, they were frikin amazing sounding, and I talked to the owner about what needed to be addresed. When Markr1 came over t my place, his first comment was they blew away his old Merlin floorstanders.

:drool:Go figure. Carl is a good guy to do biz with, and fr t

ducats, the ducats, they are unfrikinbelievable

I actually owned these, and the druids, at the same time, everyone who heard both, said the BRSE just KILLED the ZU's.

Are they better than my 12/12's, well NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO :duh:but, I bet Carl, is gonna make me a pair, that will!!!!

Blue Ridge Sound Eng. · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 01:50 pm »

Greetings from Blue Ridge Sound Engineering,

Thanks for your interest in our speakers. I'll try to address some of your questions/concerns in the prededing posts:

I've been thinking of re-writing portions of our website with a different tone, I'm used to being aggressive and I think perhaps a little too much of that shows on our site, and certainly in some of my early posts in some of the forums. I'm very passionate about Audiophiledom in general and speakers in particular, to anyone who was offended, my sincere apologies.

My intention was to demonstrate that we've got something unusual here: a speaker that performs like a much larger, much, much more expensive unit. I don't wish to make the owners of expensive speakers feel bad, but only to let them know that the next time they're shopping for a new pair of speakers... there's finally another option to spending an arm and a leg and yet wind up with some highly musical, very accurate and (I believe) squarely high end sound. Not everyone has endless recources and I believe that not only should audiophiles of more modest means be able to purchase truly great-sounding speakers, but I'd imagine even those with deep pockets would like to spend less to get more.

I do agree wholeheartedly that measurements aren't everything, though I think it's safe to say that most speakers (yours may be the exception, SET man) that measure poorly will generally sound poor, and most speakers that measure out well will have a high proclivity tward sounding more like the music they are intended to re-create. Our speakers were created to sound great first. That they measure impressively compared to even extremely expensive speakers is simply assurance that we've done our job well... I hope that doesn't sound arrogant, that's not my intention.

There will be reviews on our speakers by major publications in the near future. At this point we're under the impression that no major reviews has to be better than glowing reviews from a major publication followed by a huge demand for the speakers that we can't keep up with. At present, we're limited to about 10 pair per month max production. This summer (barring any unforseen roadblocks) we're moving production to a quality controlled factory setting where we'll be far more capable of keeping up with the demand that we expect will be generated by reviews we expect to be quite positive. We're barely keeping up now, I'd hate to alienate customers with a month or two long waiting list for our speakers by releasing review pairs before we're ready for more major production numbers.

So for now, this leaves us with customer feedbackwhich with the exception of a few veneer finishing issues on a few of the very first samples, has been 100% positive. These issues were corrected early on, and as for the sound quality... our customers are in 100% agreement that these speakers sound great and most are replacing far more expensive speakers with ours and still just as positive many months after initial impressions.

I apologize for the delay in starting another auction on Audiogon, as mentioned, we're struggling to keep up with demand and I simply didn't have a pair to auction. However, we did start an auction there this past monday, so please visit and check out our auction. Oh, and feel free to bid too!

If I've missed any issues or any of you have any questions/comments, please either post here or you may write me directly at President@BlueRidgeSoundEng.Com.

Thank You,
Hope you have a good one,
Carl

alotaklipsch · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 04:49 pm »

Carl,

Nice to see you posting around the circles, have you begun using the upgraded binding post's as well? aa

gooberdude · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 05:29 pm »

HifiSoundguy also posted on audioasylum...i just ran across this.

check out the interesting repsonse from Kloss. its about 1/2 page down.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/bbs.html

alotaklipsch · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 05:49 pm »

Quote from: gooberdude on 28 Mar 2007, 05:29 pm

HifiSoundguy also posted on audioasylum...i just ran across this.

check out the interesting repsonse from Kloss. its about 1/2 page down.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/bbs.html

Yeah, I thought the same thing too, Bizzy bee sells those Tad speakers which have that driver, for a couple hundred, they sound way different, Carl says he mods all drivers, all I know, is what I hear, in MY system, with MY ears........YMMV :duh:yaknow, all I can go b y is the MUSIC

HiFiSoundGuy · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 06:26 pm »

Quote from: gooberdude on 28 Mar 2007, 05:29 pm

HifiSoundguy also posted on audioasylum...i just ran across this.

check out the interesting repsonse from Kloss. its about 1/2 page down.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/bbs.html

I also posted over at www.audiogon.com and www.avsforum.com too

Blue Ridge Sound Eng. · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Mar 2007, 10:04 pm »

Quote from: alotaklipsch on 28 Mar 2007, 04:49 pm

Carl,

Nice to see you posting around the circles, have you begun using the upgraded binding post's as well? aa

Hello Alotaklipsch,

Good to hear from you again.

Yes, in addition to correcting the veneer/finish issues that were seen on a few of our earliest units (like yours) we've upgraded the binding posts so that the entire post is all gold plated metal rather than having plastic knobs on gold plated metal posts. This allows a firmer mechanical connection without risk of stripping/breaking the plastic knobs.

Some of the other recent upgrades include an even higher grade (1% tolerance) of capacitors in the crossover networks, heavier guage coils in the crossover, and heavier guage internal wiring. As always, only solder connections are utilized internally rather than the slip-on terminals most speakers use to ensure excellent performance for years to come.

Never content to leave things just "good enough", we're always on the prowl for ways to make an already great speaker even better!

Thanks,
Carl

Brian Walsh · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 03:34 am »

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1174966051&openfrom&14&4#14

How would anyone other than the manufacturer and perhaps their dealers (but BRSE only sells direct, eliminating that possibility) know of a review yet to be published? http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/247003.html

I agree with Duke.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 05:15 am »

Maybe Mr. HiFiSoundGuy will start talking about the Clever Little Clock again....

Tweaker · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 05:42 am »

Quote from: lonewolfny42 on 31 Mar 2007, 05:15 am

Maybe Mr. HiFiSoundGuy will start talking about the Clever Little Clock again....

He's a strange one. He posts at several forums under various names. All a variation of the same theme:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=profile;u=40582;sa=showPosts

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 05:43 am »

Quote from: Tweaker on 31 Mar 2007, 05:42 am

Quote from: lonewolfny42 on 31 Mar 2007, 05:15 am
Maybe Mr. HiFiSoundGuy will start talking about the Clever Little Clock again....
He's a strange one. He posts at several forums under various names. All a variation of the same theme:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=profile;u=40582;sa=showPosts

I know....pays to read the profile of past posts....

alotaklipsch · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 07:35 am »

I post under alotaklipsch, 711smilin, and smilin. I have owned these, and tell it like it is. I DO NOT own these now, my current speakers are better IMHO to me, BUT, in a smaller room, these FRIKIN rock, especially for the auction prices

:drool:If you want af :drool:ordable great sound, check em out. :drool:IMHO

Schmuck says 400 in cost, nt including crossover, so, for about a grand, you get speakers that better zu's, merlins, et. I say suffer while you smile all the way t the bank......Carl is truely on to something here :thumb:great AFFORDABLE sound.

ehider · « **Reply #17 on:** 31 Mar 2007, 04:08 pm »

I've been a bit curious about this company as the designer says he uses Allison IC-20 speakers as his reference and states that those were "Widely considered to be one of the finest, if not the finest sounding loudspeakers ever produced". I'm not in agreement with his statement about the Allisons. Has he heard any of the great speakers by other companies that were designed in more recent decades? Perhaps he could shed some insight here to why he thinks Allison should be his absolute reference.

samplesj · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Apr 2007, 04:18 pm »

So anyone else hear these?

I'll admit that I was surfing ebay a week or so ago and found an auction for them. It was still under reserve and sometimes I like to play "guess that reserve". So I put in a test bid at well under what I'd been seeing them go for, but surprisingly it met reserve at $700 (+50 shipping). I just knew someone would snipe me, but somehow it ended with me wining (although the pair over on Audiogon ending just a few minutes before went for over 1k). I wasn't really planning on buy these specific speakers, but I do need another pair for the gameroom (I was leaning toward high eff though).

The owner was on a trip so it took a while before they shipped, but I'm not that far so I had them the next day. They were actually packed pretty well (no fancy molded form fitting stuff, but the Styrofoam board was cut very nicely to size). I was actually surprised with the size. These are NOT mini-monitors regardless of what they are claiming on their site. It is easily the biggest stand mount speaker I've had. The light oak finish actually contrasts nicely to the bronze coloring of the mids and tweeter's accents. It may be gaudy to some people, but I don't think it'd cause WAF issues for most people.

I first tested them on top of the den's GR Research A/V-3 pair. Before everyone screams that is too high, the den system isn't about perfect acoustics in the sweet spot, but rather filling the common area (open to the kitchen and most of the ground floor) with music. It doesn't have any room treatment and there is a very large acrylic tank on the right side, but realize that is common to both speakers. It was funny seeing them on top A/V-3. While nowhere near as high they are actually bigger in width and depth. If it wasn't for an extra wide base I have on the A/V-3 this "monitor" would actually chew more floorspace than the current towers. They were connected to the ASL MG15 integrated fed with a sb3 (using an elpac ps). Because we were standing in the kitchen area the tweeters were about the right height (even though on top of the other speakers). They sounded good, but didn't really blow us away. Later I hooked up one of each speaker and played the Rives Test CD left and right only tracks. I did use a RS meter to balance the volume when switching back and forth. While they do sound good and had good detail, they are very thin compared to the A/V-3. Apart from the "body" both speakers were pretty much on par. The A/V-3 claim +/-1.5 dB vs BRSE claim of +/-1 dB. The BRSE have a metal cone mid so maybe the "softer" cone of the A/V-3 helped out with the body. If you were a metal cone fan (like Paradigms) then maybe you'd switch their placing.

I did later listen to them up in our bedroom with a SB2 and driven by both a 300b (using sb volume control) and a TVC/UCD400 amp. The 300b gave them some much needed meat on the bones, but just didn't have enough juice. The TVC/UCD400 was VERY clean and ultra crisp. If you were a detail freak and wanted razor sharp note delineation then these BRSE with UCD and a TVC would be amazing. Others would say it was extremely sterile. For a short listening session of rock they were great (very punch and very clean/clear), you just would have to stop before listener fatigue sets in. My son loved them and asked to crank them up again the next night and both of our kids danced around our bedroom. Of course I won't let them dance and be wild around my Maggies and there isn't room in the den so I'm sure it was as much the "differentness" as liking the speakers.

I've still not put them down in the main system, but since I liked the A/V-3 better its pointless to compare them to my Maggies. I'll drag them down there later though and run a measurement sweep. I've got a professionally calibrated IBF-EMM8 measurement mic and ETF (now called R+D). I know the published measurements have caused a bit of controversy because of the small size for 8" woofers so I'm curious what they will look like.

Overall they aren't a bad speaker if you aren't willing to DIY. They are most certainly NOT giant killers. I'd not even consider them at 2k, but the ~1k price on ebay isn't that bad. I though my A/V-3 were better and they only have ~500 in parts in them so for me the 750 for the BRSE isn't a good call, but if I couldn't build the cabinets myself then it'd have been closer to 1k so that does balance it out some. If you like a brighter sound then these are worth checking out. I'm probably going to flip mine, but if I end up keeping them I wouldn't be unhappy with these as the gameroom speakers (brighter sound might work well there).

miklorsmith · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Apr 2007, 04:23 pm »

Nice breakdown!