I sat down and spent some time really listening to the OB-7's for the first time last night. I also have my AV-3's in the room, and was swapping them in and out of the setup to compare, and I noticed a few things.
Keep in mind that the only hi-fi speakers I've had in my house are Danny's kit speakers. Prior to those it was strictly consumer grade stuff. My room is also somewhat large and completely untreated. I only had about 10 hours of play time on the OB-7's prior to last night, so they are not fully broken in yet I imagine.
The OB-7's image effortlessly, in comparison to the AV-3's. This was the most amazing aspect of the new speakers to me. With the AV-3's, getting them to image properly required lots of playing with the speaker location and toe-in. Once I had the AV's positioned to my liking, the soundstage seemed to exist in the space between the speakers. Most of the localization was directly in the center, with some sense of music/instruments somewhat to the right and left.
The ob-7's, by comparison, have a sound stage that is significantly larger and more defined than the av-3's. I played the Simon and Garfunkel Concert in Central Park album, and the audience was clearly much larger than my room. The exact location of both the stage and the miscellaneous whistling and hooting from the audience was very easy to pick out. I was very impressed. All this without messing with the position of the speakers at all, so it can only get better from here.
The Ob-7's also disappear very easily. When I was actively paying attention to the music it was very easy to forget that there was a pair of speakers in the room. With the Av-3's I always knew there was a pair of speakers in the room. On some tracks with the ob-7's I wasn't even sure I was in a room.
Further, the detail resolution of the Ob-7's was clearly much more refined. I played some Astor Pizolla music, an album titled "Oblivion," which includes lots of piano and stringed instruments. I also played some flamenco tracks, with acoustic guitar. The piano sounded more lifelike, and the subtle texture of plucking at guitar strings or running a bow across strings was easily discernible.
The ob-7's are very clearly capable of clean output at higher SPL levels than the av-3's. I think the av-3's began to misbehave in my completely untreated room above a certain point. The ob-7's play very cleanly to the limit of the volume level I'm comfortable with. I don't think I'll every find the upper limit of the OB-7's, as I like my hearing as it is. Some music is meant to be played loud, Metallica being an example, and the OB-7's deliver well.
I know this might not paint the av-3's in the best light, but to be clear until a couple of days ago they were the best speakers I have ever had in my house. They were a huge step up from the consumer grade speakers I had used in the past and whet my appetite for the thing called "hi-fi." I was very pleased with them, but once I realized how much fun I was having with music I wanted to go whole hog and build what I hoped would be the last pair of speakers I would ever own. I wanted to avoid the need to fiddle or upgrade, and instead focus on music. Time will be the ultimate judge, but the OB-7's are off to a very good start for me.
I figured this might be of interest to anyone considering between the ob series or the av series, and wondering if the it was worth the extra cost. When I was asking Danny about the Ob's he told me they would do everything the av-3 did, but take it to the next level. He's an honest and fair salesman for his product.
Rick.
