[Brian Cheney]

An ebony pair of V60's with all the upgrades, and a single ebony VSS with outboard amp, have been dispatched to Wayne at Bolder Cable for exhibit at RMAF (rm 1009) this year.

The same pair will serve as our demo at CES Jan 7-10 at the St Tropez rm 1801, which does not discriminate against audiophiles just wanting a listen, so if in Vegas that week, you're welcome to drop by.

With any luck the RMAF demo should be as fabulous as the 60's sound in my own room.  And that was pretty terrific!

[John Casler]

An ebony pair of V60's with all the upgrades, and a single ebony VSS with outboard amp, have been dispatched to Wayne at Bolder Cable for exhibit at RMAF (rm 1009) this year.

The same pair will serve as our demo at CES Jan 7-10 at the St Tropez rm 1801, which does not discriminate against audiophiles just wanting a listen, so if in Vegas that week, you're welcome to drop by.

With any luck the RMAF demo should be as fabulous as the 60's sound in my own room.  And that was pretty terrific!

Man I wish I could make it out to Colo

If Wayne reads this, maybe he can post what will be in the system.

My assumption is a LARGER sub or two, and I think he said Bill O'connels tube amps will be providing the power.

I would also guess one of his superb Squeeze Box or Transporter Modded units for a source?

That should be a very special sound out there.

I have heard the RM v60 driven with the Atmaspheres, the JC-1's, the Son of Ampzilla, and the Anthem amps and all sounded fantastic.

[Housteau]

My guess is that his room will see a lot of traffic from potential reviewers.  It could be that this show will see the breakout of the V60 into more audio publications.

[Wayne1]

An ebony pair of V60's with all the upgrades, and a single ebony VSS with outboard amp, have been dispatched to Wayne at Bolder Cable for exhibit at RMAF (rm 1009) this year.

The same pair will serve as our demo at CES Jan 7-10 at the St Tropez rm 1801, which does not discriminate against audiophiles just wanting a listen, so if in Vegas that week, you're welcome to drop by.

With any luck the RMAF demo should be as fabulous as the 60's sound in my own room.  And that was pretty terrific!

Man I wish I could make it out to Colo

If Wayne reads this, maybe he can post what will be in the system.

My assumption is a LARGER sub or two, and I think he said Bill O'connels tube amps will be providing the power.

I would also guess one of his superb Squeeze Box or Transporter Modded units for a source?

That should be a very special sound out there.

I have heard the RM v60 driven with the Atmaspheres, the JC-1's, the Son of Ampzilla, and the Anthem amps and all sounded fantastic.

John et al,

Brian is sending out an Ebony VSS for the low end.

The amps are the big Eastern Electric tube mono-blocks. Bill just sent me some pictures.







The amps just arrived in Chicago today from Hong Kong. They were run in for a bit at the factory, but I sent Bill my FryKleaner Pro and a couple of 8 ohm 250 watt resistors to do some more burn-in before he leaves to bring them out to CO.

They use 4 of the EL156 tubes per amp to put out roughly 160 watts.

All of the signal cables will be BOLDER, including the internal wire in the V-60s  This pair of V-60s have Sonicaps in the crossover.

The source will be a BOLDER modded, Statement level SqueezeBox 3. I have a 500 gig HD full of tunes and Bill is bringing out another 500 gig drive.

The SB3 will be running into either a prototype BOLDER buffer or one of John Chapman (of BENT Audio) prototype "pre-amps" They have a central switching unit and separate level control units. They are connected with fiber optic cables. The level controls units are placed next to the amps. The switch unit can be placed next to the source components. One of the source units has a zero gain Burson Buffer built in. A pair of the control units are resistor based. The other pair use autoformers. They were just shipped out to me. When they arrive here, I will try to post some pictures of these prototypes.

Mike Garner from TweekGeek.com will be loaning us some Bybee Golden Goddess "Super Effect" power cables and speaker bullets. Tube dampers and isolation tweaks will be from Herbie's Audio Lab. Main rack is from Adona. Amp racks from Timbernation. Room treatments are six mini-traps courtesy of Ethan at RealTraps. I will also be using a modded Equi-Tech balanced power conditioner and I have a Quantum Symphony Pro that will be plugged into the AC.

We will try to fit all of this into room 1009. Please stop by and say hello.

[Wayne1]

Here is a photo of the pair of mono-blocks in Bill's rack.

[John Casler]

SWEEEEEEEEET!!!

You're killing me Wayne.

Man I can't wait to hear the reports

[Brian Cheney]

In a 13x19' room I would start with the sub centered flat against the short wall, and the wings pulled out as far into the room as practical.  I would set the level controls on the OXO's to noon for the mids and 1 o'clock for the trebles, then adjust one clickstop at a time, one side at a time (1/10dB steps) for maximum clarity.  There is considerable difference to be heard between 1 o'clock and 12:50, for example, the smallest setting increment below it.

I'd also start with the foam damper well back, flush with the tips of the wings.  I'd probably take one of the CDWG's off for a nice combination of smoothness and dispersion.  As the room fills (absorbing first highs, then mids with increasing body count) I might remove the other CDWG until things clear a little.

I'd set the parametric EQ frequency control at the floor-to-ceiling vertical room mode (71Hz for 8ft ceiling, 63Hz for 9ft, 56Hz for 10ft) and carefully adjust the amount of cut and its bandwidth.  In my 13x31' LEDE environment I use .25 bandwidth and 5dB of cut.
Then I'd adjust the woofer amp gain to match the sensitivity of the power amp, in this case rather high sensitivity tubes.  So I'd probably end up with the gain near 12 o'clock instead of the 10 o'clock I use with the Son of Ampzillas in my system.  I would adjust the gain in the smallest possible increments, going for maximum clarity with plenty of bass impact and extension.

I probably would not adjust the xover frequency to the midwoofs (70Hz) or the sub phase.  I'd experiment a little with toe in, using some but not a lot.

When I did all this in my room the sound (after the obligatory xover trim to 1/100% tolerances, including the coils dewound one winding at a time--hey, it's what a designer does to compensate for small differences in driver impedance and FR), the results were good enough to make me think back to the best systems I have heard, none of which (after 30 years) quite measure up to what the V60's with a single VSS can do.

Just my opinion of course.  People think a designer is always in love with his own stuff, but this is not true in my case.  I am usually dissatisfied in one area or another with my  handiwork.

But not with this system.  I hope RMAF visitors find it equally satisfying.

[Housteau]

I would set the level controls on the OXO's to noon for the mids and 1 o'clock for the trebles, then adjust one clickstop at a time, one side at a time (1/10dB steps) for maximum clarity.  There is considerable difference to be heard between 1 o'clock and 12:50, for example, the smallest setting increment below it.

A single clickstop really can make the difference.  I have a new addition to my front end.  It is a Monarchy NM24 DAC/preamp that I have been having a lot of enjoyment with.  The clarity, focus and just plain musicality within the soundstage with this Monarchy can be very good.  But, just this evening I had noticed that the image sharpness and ultimate sense of being there was a bit off.  All it took was one small click to decrease the right channel mids and treble to allow everything to snap right back into place.

I probably would not adjust the xover frequency to the midwoofs (70Hz) or the sub phase.

In my room the V60s you made for me don't start to roll off until below 60Hz, and for a smooth transition the subwoofers needed to be set to roll in right about 55-57Hz.  It is a bit hard to judge by those hash marks .  If I set the transition to 70Hz there was a hump caused by the frequency overlap.  However, I did not go by my ears and ran test tones to see what my less educated ears could not tell me.  Our rooms do have identical interior cubic footage down to one cubic foot, but the dimensions and sound treatments are quite different.

[seadogs1]

Brian, how do you adjust the OXO's one clickstop at a time? The level controls on my V60's are continuously variable. Has there been an update? Another question, you state to pull the wings out are far as practical, what is that 4 feet, 5 ? What effect does toe in produce ie too little causes what too much what effect? Sure wish I could make it to the show this year but no such luck. Everyone have a ball, it should be a great show.

[Brian Cheney]

The pots are indeed continuously variable.  If you took one apart you'd see how they're constructed. Basically there is a winding of about 100 turns and a wiper riding on them.  There are about 10 windings per dB of level adjustment from 12 o'clock to 5 o'clock on the control.  Below 12 o'clock its logarithmic characteristic comes more into play and each winding represents a larger level increment in boost or cut.

When you tuirn the knob slowly you can feel the wiper move from one winding to the next, or rather from the space between windings to the next.  The wiper will not rest on a winding and tends to nestle inbetween them.  The distance from one resting place to the next is a clickstop, and is a very short distance.  You can feel the move but not necessary see a change in knob position. 

I adjust the controls one clickstop at a time, one speaker at a time.  This gives me approx. 1/20dB of level change for each adjustment, which to me is clearly audible.
It is such subtle change that makes all the difference in the clarity and soundstaging of the system. Too much treble can manifest itself as a general fuzziness to the image, and one clickstop down, say from 1 o'clock to 12:50, can easily cure this, done on just one speaker.  I check by doing the same to the other side, and if another reduction by one clickstop there improves focus or clarity, I know I'm on the right track.  I repeat the process until I've gone too far and the sound becomes too dull.  On the mids the effect is similar, with too much cut making voices sound recessed, and too much boost making voices too prominent, or fuzzy.

It takes patience and experience, but can be fun.Such adjustments are key to getting the most out of your speakers.  Speakers which lack such adjustments invariably fail to perform to optimum effect, sending audiophiles on endless quests for compatible equipment, room placement, wiring/cabling, and acoustic treatments when all that is really needed is flexibility in speaker adjustment and setup.

[audiochef]

In my opinion,
 the introduction of the V-60 without VLA  was imature. Too hasty.

No excuses now. Knock em dead at RMAF and CES .CES I plan to  attend . Take no prisoners Brian. Good luck.

Stan

By the way my 40s sound great in my new home with larger room 

[Wayne1]

UPS Freight just delivered this.

A pair of V-60s, a VerySolidSub, external sub amp, and V-60 bases.

John,

You sure you won't be able to come out and help move these to the 10th floor of the hotel?

[John Casler]

UPS Freight just delivered this.

A pair of V-60s, a VerySolidSub, external sub amp, and V-60 bases.

John,

You sure you won't be able to come out and help move these to the 10th floor of the hotel?

Hi Wayne,

Man, I wish I could.  As it is, it looks like I will only make CES (and even that is on a limited schedule)

Looks like you will have lots of "junk in da trunk".

The ebony RMv60 are very attractive, and in that sized room the VSS should be adequate.

I'm not sure if you could "fit" a pair of VLA's in one of those rooms???

Should be a fun, fun, time.

Looking forward to the pics and reports.

[dubravko]

A frightening freight...

How much total weight is there?

Wayne please don't forget to take nice photos of these. V60s in ebony, they should look and sound wonderfull...

[Wayne1]

A frightening freight...

How much total weight is there?

Wayne please don't forget to take nice photos of these. V60s in ebony, they should look and sound wonderfull...

The freight bill lists a total weight of 1,000 lbs.

I just moved the Sub and bases off the pile. I will post some pictures of the V 60 "coffins" next.

I will do my best to take some photos after they are set up in the hotel.

[Wayne1]

One RM 60 speaker crate

[Brian Cheney]

The shipment was reweighed at the dock and came in 1195#.

Wayne, I am sending you some spare panels and a tweeter diaphragm just in case.  The most common failure mode is when magnets dislodge during shipping from the panels (there are 58 magnets per panel, epoxied in place).  You should listen to each panel and driver before doing any tuning.  You can check the panels by applying a music signal to the screw terminals in the front of each.  Two panels will play every time you do this, simply listen for buzzes or other problems.  Replacing a panel is easy.

[Wayne1]

Here are some poor shots I took of the speakers set up in the hotel room.

[Early B.]

In looking at those pics, I imagine that it would be very, very difficult to make any full range speaker system sound decent in those rooms. The V60s appear to overwhelm the room even if no sound is coming out of them. Kinda tough to draw any conclusions at all about how they sound.

 

[warnerwh]

Those were my first thoughts too.  I'd not want to listen to my RM 40's in that room. It appears though Wayne, Zybar and Mgladusha did an excellent job of fine tuning with what they have to work with.  I'd grab a mattress and hang it over that window.  That's the kind of thing that women love to see.