Did anything surprise you at RMAF?

capwkidd · « **on:** 16 Oct 2010, 12:35 am »

I was surprised by the speakers called "The Clue", what did everyone else think of those speakers?

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 05:43 am »

"The Clue"....from Sjofn HiFi. They had their "Guru" speakers there last year.

See this.... Stereophile blog...2010

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 07:37 am »

Googled and couldn't find anything.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 07:47 am »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 17 Oct 2010, 07:37 am

Googled and couldn't find anything.

"The Clue" is not on their site yet.... LINK...

TomS · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 12:21 pm »

Sorry, no pics, but the Silverline Sonatina IV was probably the most fun speaker I had never heard before in past trips. Huge bass for such a small 3 way floorstander with an 8" custom woofer. Very coherent and easy to listen to but had plenty of gusto when pushed. I think they were about $6k per pair. Nicely done.

opnly bafld · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 01:19 pm »

Quote from: TomS on 17 Oct 2010, 12:21 pm

Sorry, no pics, but the Silverline Sonatina IV was probably the most fun speaker I had never heard before in past trips. Huge bass for such a small 3 way floorstander with an 8" custom woofer. Very coherent and easy to listen to but had plenty of gusto when pushed. I think they were about $6k per pair. Nicely done.

http://silverlineaudio.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=116

sunnydaze · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 01:31 pm »

I previously owned Silverline Sonatina mk2 -- excellent speaker. The list was $4500. Some friends had the Sonata mk2, also excellent. Both are steals on the used market.

sumadoggie · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 01:52 pm »

Hey folks. I'm a "hanger-on" with Sjofn HiFi at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest. "The Clue" has been in production for just two weeks and we're having a blast showing it to everyone who comes by the Room 427. Yesterday - I kid you not - we had more than a dozen people come by multiple times and just hang out to listen for hours. While the show closed up for the day at 6pm last night, we were still playing discs for folks until about 7pm. Thanks to Natasha from down the hall for bringing by some ABBA (c'mon, admit that you love ABBA) for a bit of a dance-fest.

Anyway, I own a pair of the Guru QM10s that Sjofn (Lars Erickson and crew) had been repping for a few years, and The Clue (in my humble opinion) is a quantum leap beyond that monitor which has had great reviews the past couple years. The first comment out of my mouth when I heard The Clue for the first time a couple days ago was simply... "CRAZY".

Some basic info on The Clue is that it is essentially a single driver design with proprietary Scanspeak woofer and tweeter. The monitor is room coupled to get bass extension flat down to between 28-32HZ depending on the "stiffness" of the wall to which it's coupled and some basic room treatment. I believe that the driver takes care of frequency response up to about 4kHZ and then there is a kind of "passive crossover" (I might be flubbing that description) which lets the tweeter take over the higher frequencies and fill in off-axis response. The mids and highs are as good as anything at the show. And all this is from a speaker that Sjofn is selling for $999 for the duration of the show.

If I tried to remember much more about the speaker I'd end up getting some info wrong. Sjofn plans on getting up info about The Clue at their website in the near future.

So, whomever is RMAF, come on by to Sjofn HiFi in room 427, hang out with some tasty beverages and take a listen to this quite stunning monitor.

Cheers!

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 02:05 pm »

Quote from: sumadoggie on 17 Oct 2010, 01:52 pm

Hey folks. I'm a "hanger-on" with Sjofn HiFi at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest. "The Clue" has been in production for just two weeks ...

How sensitive is the Clue and how low will they play pulled out away from the walls? Also, do you have any North American dealers / distributor; or is that in the works?

TIA - John.

sumadoggie · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 02:32 pm »

I'm chatting with the designer - James Croft - right now and this is what he says to modify my last post and answer your questions: "In terms of the crossover, the transition begins at 4kHZ, but is not a crossover in the traditional sense in that the tweeter acts more like a dispersion driver enhancing the off-axis energy of the full range driver, with the full range driver continuing to deliver the on-axis energy as frequencies rise and the tweeter provides off-axis support until it takes over the on-axis energy also above 10kHZ continuing to maintain consistent power response beyond 30kHZ. The domes of the tweeter and the full range driver are made from the same silk material, further supporting the seamless transition."

"We're very adamant about the use-model of boundary coupling in that both the bass and the midrange are optimized for positioning within two inches of the back wall."

"Sensitivity is about 86.5dB."

Lars Erickson says "We're introducing the product at the show and talking with dealers about putting them in showrooms, and will probably be a couple months before they show up in any showrooms. Their retail price is $1500 a pair, but Sjofn is offering a show-special at RMAF for $999."

That's it for now. Please post anymore questions you have and we'll answer them for you.

Cheers!

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #10 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 03:04 pm »

That's cool, hopefully you'll pick up a few Canadian dealers.

JakeJ · « **Reply #11 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 04:34 pm »

Quote from: sumadoggie on 17 Oct 2010, 02:32 pm

"...optimized for positioning within two inches of the back wall."

This and the price make for very high WAF. I bet these fly out of dealer's doors once word gets around.

Tyson · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 05:03 pm »

Actually, quite a few surprises for me this year, I'll try to get a comprehensive post in this evening.

JakeJ · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 05:29 pm »

Thanks, Tyson, and to all the other contributors as well.

sumadoggie · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 05:31 pm »

Yah, the WAF was absolutely taken into consideration when designing these speakers. "the clue" clearly has an aesthetic which will appeal to a large cross section of audiophiles and their spouses (whom are also audiophiles, I hope, or will be soon!).

This morning, we're getting tons of traffic with the great Stereophile blog review (and everyone should get up to the fifth floor to check out HEGEL's stuff too. We don't go anywhere without it.)

And there was one interesting fellow in particular whose eye was caught by the write-up. I had a lengthy conversation with a dyed-in-the-wool-tube-driven-horn-loaded-DIY-audiophile who described his system to me and I was staggered to the lengths he went to isolate his system. While he was skeptical about our set-up, I've pretty much convinced him (with a promise of an adult beverage as well) to come for an audition later today. So, while he might not abandon his system I've cracked open his mind enough to give our stuff a shot! Maybe a convert in the making???

Cheers!

genjamon · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 06:26 pm »

Quote from: capwkidd on 16 Oct 2010, 12:35 am

I was surprised by the speakers called "The Clue", what did everyone else think of those speakers?

The Clue were definitely a surprise. I'm using dual 15" powered subs at home to do what they were doing in that show room. Very impressive. It was a long-wall setup at the show, and the seating was pretty close to the other long wall. As I walked through the middle of the room to the chairs, I remember the bass wasn't truncated that much. Still, I wonder what they'd sound like from my fairly central listening position in my own room while placed on the short wall. I definitely fight the bass suck in that listening position. Still, I enjoyed my audition a couple years ago with the Guru, and these are a huge step forward from that. If only I wasn't wedded to a higher efficiency system philosophy...

Ben

Pez · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 11:29 pm »

What surprised me was how every AC member I met was a pompous asshole with a poor sense of what good sound was. Among the worst- thechairdude, nuance, Woodsyi, Klaus, Fritz, big red machine, TomS, K Shep, vinyl lady, and many many more. I have to say it really made it hard for me to be the biggest jerk in the room with all these people vying for first place.

TomS · « **Reply #17 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 11:37 pm »

Quote from: Pez on 17 Oct 2010, 11:29 pm

What surprised me was how every AC member I met was a pompous asshole with a poor sense of what good sound was. Among the worst- thechairdude, nuance, Woodsyi, Klaus, Fritz, big red machine, TomS, K Shep, vinyl lady, and many many more. I have to say it really made it hard for me to be the biggest jerk in the room with all these people vying for first place.

Dude, you were up way too late last night

That's the nicest thing anyone has said about me in a long time and I do resemble that remark.

drphoto · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 11:41 pm »

I was shocked.....shocked I say that Stereophile immediately declared the Magico speakers the best of show while our pompous members largely found it to be another way over priced 'hi-fi' sounding product.

Tyson · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 Oct 2010, 11:47 pm »

Magico was almost embarrassingly anonymous in it's overall "competent" presentation. Certainly not bad speakers, but also hardly worth more than maybe $5k from a pure sound quality standpoint.