[lonewolfny42]

Maybe it seemed like halfway out into the room....
(compared to other rooms...)

Here's a small photo of their room...

[cryotweaks]

Thanks everyone for attending, and the kind words.  A special thanks to Wayne, for manning the Downstairs system (Tip: Get his ultimate nirvana power supply), as well as the amazing (and fun) after gtg brewing talk.  A big thanks goes out to Clayton for flying out, and the hands on demonstration on placement of the CS2's.  I don't know of too many other manufacturers this committed to their dealers and their product.  Simply amazing.

I really cannot emphasize enough that reading the manual is key when it comes to setting up the CS2's.  Naturally, I didn't do that initially.   Instead I set them up the way I would set up a typical speaker, then spent hours tweaking the parametric EQ, achieving only mediocre results.  Clayton had the system dialed in in less than 10 minutes with the prescribed placement and the stock setting.  If only I had read the manual FIRST.

The CS2's are definitely not a typical speaker in any fashion.  They do need at least 3 feet between the rear wall and the speakers.  They can be placed relatively close to the side walls.  Clayton had the left speaker 2 feet from one side wall, and the right speaker about 18 inches from the right side wall.  Distance between speakers is fairly important, as they need close to 8 feet between them.  However, one can actually sit closer to them than the prescribed optimum, you will just need to adjust the toe-in accordingly.

I stayed up until 1am last night just enjoying the open, boxless, effortless sound of the CS2's.  If you've never heard open baffle bass, it is the tightest, fastest most natural sounding low end you may ever hear.  The dynamics of the CS2's from top to bottom are something to appreciate as well.

I had to move the speakers to the downstairs showroom today.  With the lessons learned from Saturday, I had the system set up and sounding great in minutes.  I have them 5 feet from the back wall, 8 feet apart, and the listening seat is 7 feet away, just toe'd in a bit more than for an 8 foot listening position.  I am using the standard 5-8 preset on the stock behringer. 

I am now using the Mystery amp on the top end, with a pair of Nuforce ref 9 V2's on the bottom end.

Happy, happy, joy joy!

[brj]

I was out enjoying the nice weather today and thus away from a computer, so my thanks to Mike are a bit belated, but every bit as sincere - thanks to you and your wife for your incredible hospitality, Mike!  It was a great afternoon with two great sounding systems, great food (too many tempting morsels for our own good!) and lots of friendly, enthusiastic audiophiles.

Thanks also to Wayne for hauling his latest toys over, and to Clayton, for making the flight out to visit with us all - especially since he turned around and flew back that night!

Wayne's new Ultimate Nirvana power supply with Hugh Dean's feed-forward regulator is most definitely a step up from the Ultimate Mark IV, with the biggest difference involving noticeably better leading edge transients.  Congrats to both gentlemen on what looks to be a great partnership!  Unfortunately, I missed hearing the Usher Be-718s at RMAF, so I was glad to hear them with the rest of Wayne's rig in Mike's basement - they are an incredible little 2-way.  I think they'll have a lot of competition at their price-point, but they are absolutely worth auditioning if you want a stand-mounted speaker, or even a compact floor-stander.

Clayton's CS2s sounded fantastic once they were repositioned.  I wasn't familiar with Mike's room or most of his gear, so it is a bit difficult to nail down what each component contributed to the final sound, but the result was such that I'd welcome the chance to play with the CS2s in my own rig someday.  Most of Clayton's concepts are very much in-line with where I've always wanted to take my own system eventually, so it is great to see it getting such a warm reception.  (I hope that his speakers and some of the other active systems out there provide the electronics industry the additional impetus they need to produce more and varied digital crossover products.)  The reduced sidewall reflections due to the combination of recommended toe-in and the directional nature of the waveguide mounted tweeter would seem to significantly reduce first reflection point concerns in narrow rooms.  The CS2s definitely seem to benefit from the additional space behind them, however, although I'm not sure how much of the previously mentioned improvement was due to the increased toe-in (aimed maybe 18 in front of the listener's head) vs. the increased space behind the speakers (3 ft vs. 5 ft).

Actually, I would love to hear Wayne's SB3 and BBB pre-amp in front of the CS2s while we're at it, especially with a modded DCX.  (mgalusha is going to be busy!)  I suspect the impressive dynamic capabilities of the CS2 would have highlighted some of the differences between Wayne's power supplies even more.

Thanks for a great afternoon, everyone!

[sunshinedawg]

 

I am now using the Mystery amp on the top end, with a pair of Nuforce ref 9 V2's on the bottom end.

Happy, happy, joy joy!

I was thinking the same thing, I would have like to have heard the mystery amp on the top end. It will be cool if you get a second one in and use two of the same amp to bi-amp. 

[PeteG]

I’m a little late but I too would like to thank Mike Garner and his wife, a wonderful spread of food and
delicious desserts. I have to said Mike and Wayne put together one of the best “Get Togethers” I been to.

I also have to agree what everyone has said with Wayne’s power supplies and the CS2 speakers.
I was a little worried about the sound coming from the CS2’s but Clayton took care of that as soon as he walked in, what I’ve heard so far the CS2/DCX can be very flexible in a rooms set up it would be nice to get a little more info on the DCX as far as what it can do and cannot.

I also enjoyed the Tiny Dancers Ushers Be-718 (at RMAF too) they are great little monitors; I think Mike’s mystery amp matched up very well with them.

[PeteG]

 

I am now using the Mystery amp on the top end, with a pair of Nuforce ref 9 V2's on the bottom end.

Happy, happy, joy joy!

I was thinking the same thing, I would have like to have heard the mystery amp on the top end. It will be cool if you get a second one in and use two of the same amp to bi-amp. 

I think a OTL amp would be killer on top.

[zybar]

I’m a little late but I too would like to thank Mike Garner and his wife, a wonderful spread of food and
delicious desserts. I have to said Mike and Wayne put together one of the best “Get Togethers” I been to.

I also have to agree what everyone has said with Wayne’s power supplies and the CS2 speakers.
I was a little worried about the sound coming from the CS2’s but Clayton took care of that as soon as he walked in, what I’ve heard so far the CS2/DCX can be very flexible in a rooms set up it would be nice to get a little more info on the DCX as far as what it can do and cannot.

I also enjoyed the Tiny Dancers Ushers Be-718 (at RMAF too) they are great little monitors; I think Mike’s mystery amp matched up very well with them.

Pete,

What do you want to know about the DCX?

Ask away... 

George

[PeteG]

Just a general idea of what the DCX does besides digital xover like phase/time and amplitude correction.
If you move the speakers around within a room what is changed do to phase/time and how.
I think some people thought you’d have to be a rocket scientist to get this to work in their rooms.   

[zybar]

Just a general idea of what the DCX does besides digital xover like phase/time and amplitude correction.
If you move the speakers around within a room what is changed do to phase/time and how.
I think some people thought you’d have to be a rocket scientist to get this to work in their rooms.   

Pete,

The DCX2496 can do limited digital correction as well as perform its crossover duties.

Clayton is applying some EQ based on the driver's properties and room boundaries.  You can also adjust gain, phase, add in delays, etc...but the beauty of this package is that you don't have to figure all this out for yourself! 

You simply look at a chart that is provided in the user manual (you need to take some simple measurements - distance to the wall behind the speakers, distance between the speakers, distance from the speakers to your listening position) and select the appropriate pre-configured file for the DCX-2496...that's it!  No mic or in room acoustic measurements are required. 

It is actually pretty easy to setup and get sounding good. 

For the CS2's to really shine, you need to work on speaker placement and toe-in (just like any speaker), but these speakers are definitely more room friendly and ultimately easier to position than most other speakers.

Hope this helps...if not, let me know where you would like more info.

George

[PeteG]

You simply look at a chart that is provided in the user manual (you need to take measurements some simple measurements - distance to the wall behind the speakers, distance between the speakers, distance from the speakers to your listening position) and select the appropriate pre-configured file for the DCX-2496...that's it!  No mic or in room measurements are required. 

Thanks, I bet alot of folks would be glad to hear that.