[JDUBS]

Guys

These things are pretty dang intriguing for the price (like $1,950 for a pair):

http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?cat=38&type=29&id=254

Pretty cool (and unique) technology targeted for big pro installations.  Only go down to ~50hz so would need a sub or two.

Curious if anyone's ever heard a pair in a home setting.

-Jim

[dwk]

As far as I know, I am the only person that has ever posted to any of the 'normal' audio forums that is using the U15's. I searched long and hard for feedback/experience with them as audio speakers rather than PA cabinets before purchasing, and came up empty. $2k isn't exactly expensive for high-end speakers, but it was a real leap of faith to plunk down that much on what was essentially a blind flyer.  Considering the original Unity kits offered by Lambda ran something like $1500 without woofers or cabinets, the purchase price of the U15's is very reasonable in comparison.

This is an edited/excerpted version of a reply I sent to another person that was asking about the Yorkvilles. I'm very hesitant to put too much stock in my own subjective impressions, since I stopped listening to convential hi-fi gear long ago and so my basis for comparision is questionable.  I do have ACI Sapphire XL's which I quite like, but they are set up in a very unoptimized video system and so don't really offer an opportunity for a fair comparison.

------
First, I'm driving them with very pedestrian gear by conventional standards. My amp is an Alesis RA-150, and it's fed from an Emu 1820M soundcard. I've tried a couple other budget amps (Nad, Tripath, Panasonic Equibit) and the Alesis is a clear winner. I suspect the fact that it's fully balanced helps greatly given that the source is a soundcard - helps to mitigate common-mode PSU noise and EMI from the PC.

Given all that, my summary is that the U15's are everything I hoped for when I bought them. Given that they are aimed at the pro crowd, I was expecting to have to do some work on them to get them suitable for home use, but really it hasn't been that bad.  Straight out of the box they were a bit disappointing, but removing the grilles solved most of that problem - they absolutely must be removed for 'hi-fi' results (even if doing so drops the already questionable aesthetics down another notch or two). 
 They do benefit from some judicious EQ - there is a resonance around 190 or so (I think) that needs to be notched out, and I think some upper freq shaping was beneficial. I don't really remember the 'stock' settings as I added a Summa-style foam 'phase plug' to the horn which of course needed it's own correction. I originally filled virtually the entire horn with the foam, but eventually backed off to using (I think) 6" starting an inch or two from the throat.  This required a managable amount of eq to handle.

After all this, I simply find that the speakers play music. I don't conciously find them lacking in any way, and they are the easiest to 'listen through' that I've ever personally owned. I find the dynamics exemplary, although I don't have much experience with conventional horns so I can't compare too well. Still, even on folk-ish material at moderate volumes it seems like there is more of a sense of ease and freedom from strain than I would have expected. Detail is good without seeming artifically etched as I've experienced with many audiophile systems. Tonal balance is obviously set largely by the eq used, but I have managed to get what I think is a very neutral presentation without undue effort. My only complaint is that ewven for a music-only system they don't get quite low enough to be completely satisfying without a sub. In my room they start to head south a bit below 60Hz. I'm still trying to integrate a sub - the efficiency mismatch causes some problems on that front..

I should mention something about room/placement as this is most of the reason I chose the U15's.   My room is very small - 7.5' wide by 16' long. I have the U15's placed directly in the corners - a placement that I believe is only possible due to the narrow 60-degree dispersion (well, plus the fact that they have no baffle-step correction build in). With fiberglass panels placed between the speakers and on the side walls handling first reflection points, the overall setup is somewhat overdamped and reduces lateral reflections probably more than would be ideal. Imaging is very good in this arrangement - no localization to the speakers occurs, but overall soundstage size is limited and that elusive sense of space isn't up there with good systems I've heard in larger rooms. I'm hoping to play around with some diffusor and/or hybrid panels on the side walls to try to mitigate this.

I still have vague ideas about doing more tweaks/upgrades to the speakers - rip out the components and place them in new cabinets, or pull the crossovers and either upgrade the components or go all-out with a full DSP phase-coherent xover etc. However, the truth is that they are sounding so good right now that it all strikes me as a lot of work for relatively minimal return. (Oh, I should point out that I'm using them in single-amped mode. The U15 is directly bi-ampable, but in this mode the woofer is unfiltered - you have to include a woofer xover in your signal chain. I will experiment with this at some point, but don't have the volume control problem solved yet)

So, I guess my conclusion is that if you can live with the look and have a way of including transparent EQ of some sort in your system, the U15's may be worth looking into. In many respects their value proposition is off the scale for normal high-end audio, but they certainly aren't for everyone.

[JDUBS]

dwk, thank you very much!!  This is really great info!

The more I think about it, the more I'm intrigued by this speaker.  I'm thinking that when paired with a Behringer dcx-2496, you could get a really affordable combination that (it sounds like) is right up my ally in terms of plenty of dynamics that I miss and high efficiency in a reasonably small package with plenty of adjustability at a good price. 

dwk, do you have any pics of your setup? 

Thanks again,
Jim

[JDUBS]

How cool is this?:

[JDUBS]

Bump! 

[ferenc_k]

As an ex-Avantgarde Trio horn speaker user for some 8 years, I can say I am converted too, using PA speakers at home. Thomas Danley was the guy behind the Yorkville Unity series originally, and I am using Danley speakers now. You can not be wrong woth any of the present Danley speakers. I tried the SH100, SH100b and the SH50 with and without the TH112 sub. All of them just amazing. If you value coherency and lively dynamics and natural, uncolored but fun speakers and if you have the "right" wife, then go for it. They are purely about music, and not about hifi and high-end audio. You can feed them with anykind of music on any volume. At the moment I live with the SH100B very happily, the SH50s were bought by one of my friend, but I like the SH100 a lot as well.

[Jaimo]

I have been tinkering with Yorkville Unity's in a hi-fi system for just over 12 months to date.

The Unity Horns are amazing - low fatigue, clean and effortless - the soundstage is wide and has great height and depth. Stereo imaging is better than my Magneplaner's and is in the league of Quad ESL's (that is truly a great achievement). The horn's dynamics are better that anything I have heard in over 20 years of Hi-Fi system building and tweaking. (Yes, better than the big Wilson's and B&W's) 

Both the U15 and U215 do however have a PA tonal balance and careful speaker placement as well as room correction is a must. The 15 inch bass driver doesn't do the horn justice and some experimentation with other LF systems is warranted. I am currently using a Behringer DEQ to correct the in room response and compensate for the poor LF performance with good results.

Still, you will do well to use a Unity U15 in a mid sized room.

Out the box, this speaker sounds better than many mid to high end speakers. (I auditioned them against several box speakers (Athena's, Paradigms, Polks, Revels) and for the money the Yorkville's are outstanding.

The Unity 215's don't work in a domestic setting but show great promise in a large space. For most domestic applications, U15's are the way to go.

My forthcoming projects include rebuilding the U15 enclosure, and bi-amping these puppies. I will then swop the Behringer with a better quality DEQ. From there, I plan to design & build a LF unit and integrate this with a basshorn. Next, I will investigate using different horn drivers...

So many projects...so little time!

Rent a pair of U15's for a week or so and listen for yourself - you won't be disappointed!

DWK is on the money with his comments.

[Russell Dawkins]

This is an interesting topic - whether a pro PA speaker can be domesticated. I was wondering the same just recently after doing a little research into the field.

A client of mine, a flamenco oriented family with some real talent, but who sorely need a more appropriate PA system of their own, engaged me to look for them and make some recommendations. I really knew nothing much about what is currently available, so started looking and asking on likely forums.

Since they are on a really tight budget it looked like the way for them to go would be a pair of RCF ART 310-As (powered 10s) with a small Mackie board with dsp. Since they are putting only flamenco guitar and vocals through the PA, they don't even need a sub with these.

Although they are not common, they are really unusual in how much smaller they are than other speakers of similar performance. They are described by one owner as being a 10 the size of an 8 with the performance of a 12. The price for this performance is amazingly little by home stereo standards, and they weigh just over 1/2 what the competition does. On top of this, a couple of owners I communicated with are delighted with the performance, saying they excel on vocals. These are DJ's forums, the DJs typically doing weddings and dances.

Along the way, though, I looked into Yorkville - in fact I started with the NX55P - and came across this PA speaker shootout which you might find interesting, since it includes the Yorkville U15P:

http://cobrasound.com/shootout06

[planet10]

This info is all very encouraging. I have been wondering about the U15 ever since i specified a set for this installation http://www.yorkville.com/default.asp?p_id=127

From the get go i assummed they would need a new box, and should be bi-amped. Talks with the fellow at Yorkville who did the development found him very receptive to helping out as he could with refurbing them for home use.

BTW: my experience with the DCX2496 is that has an excellent set of settings for dialing in an XO but is very bad sounding stock.

dave

[Russell Dawkins]

In the course of some looking into the U15P, I came across this thread with responses by Tom Danley, the designer of the mid high horn used in the U15P.
I don't know the history of the relationship between Tom and Yorkville, but it seems he is very respected in the industry, as witness this review of another of his speakers:

http://www.proaudioreview.com/pages/s.0037/t.8805.html

Here's the Danley Sound Labs home page - it's pretty mind boggling. It's amazing to me that this configuration works at all - multiple midrange drivers near the throat of a conical horn!

http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/index.html

[JDUBS]

Good stuff, guys!  I had decided a little while back to go ahead and buy a pair of U15s to try out.  I'll be using a Slim Devices Transporter to EVS 500 monoblocks (ICE amps with 1,000 watts / 4 ohms) to the Yorkville's.  I'm really excited about the dynamics these speakers offer as this is exactly what I've been craving!!

-Jim

[Russell Dawkins]

Good luck finding a amp/subwoofer combo to keep up with that!!

As for 50 Hz and up, I think your craving will be satiated. 

[doug s.]

scroll down to the soundfiles downloads section on danley's tech download page - seems the fireworks may be interesting, among other things...   

http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/technical%20downloads.html

tom danley mentioned it in an a/a thread about his speakers...

doug s.

[JDUBS]

Good luck finding a amp/subwoofer combo to keep up with that!!

As for 50 Hz and up, I think your craving will be satiated. 

Ha!  Yeah, bass won't be particularly easy.  Thinking a trio of subs a la Geddes.

-Jim

[Russell Dawkins]

That sounds like great idea. Better make each one of the trio (or quartet?) an 18" with a 1000 watt plate amp!

[JDUBS]

Seriously.  Actually, while on that topic.  Any recommendations on a good downfiring sub with solid output that's not too terribly expensive?

-Jim

[Jaimo]

Hey Jdubs...

On the subject of dynamics, I cued up Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" and cranked up the volume into my Bryston 4B-ST's driving a pair of U15's -  The dynamics were like nothing I have ever heard. Try "The Wall" on either a pair of Danley's or U15's to quench your craving for Dynamics.

Also, if you are a big band fan, and crave the raw power of Benny Goodman or Duke, etc these speakers are the way to go!

[JDUBS]

Jaimo, I will certainly give The Wall a shot!! 

Do you have a bass system worked out for your Yorkville's?

-JIm

[TONEPUB]

I've been having pretty good luck with the new Aperion 8" sub.  It has a pair
of 8's and a remote control!  $499 and they offer 30days shipping in both
directions if you don't like it.

I'm using it with a pair of Sterling LS3/5a's and am very happy with the results.

Another good small sub I've enjoyed has been the Tannoy TS8.  You can pick those
up new for about $379 I believe.  That one's downward firing and super compact!

Good luck on the search!

[Russell Dawkins]

JDUBS,

maybe the newly announced Danley SH-96 will be of interest to you! (4-15s, 6 mids and one HF compression driver, all in one enclosure!)

http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/synergy_horn.asp?model=SH%2096

You could use your U15s as surrounds... 

(edited Nov 29 to replace link)