AV NIRVANA Speaker Evaluation Round-Up (Session One) - Suggestion Thread

[Sonnie]

Here we go... it's on!

Our very first speaker evaluation round-up is just around the corner. We hope to have this setup for some time in June or July, if all goes well. As usual it will be held at my home in Cedar Creek Cinema home theater and listening room in Luverne, AL. There will be 4-6 of us evaluating and reviewing speakers. We hope to also have a home theater system to evaluate/review... and perhaps some other item if we can arrange it and it makes sense.

As it stands right now we have in the house:

For reference
MartinLogan Expression 13A (currently my main front channel speakers)


For evaluation and/or reference:
Chane A5rx-c (these replaced the beloved Arx A5's)
MartinLogan Motion 12 (a previous participant and mainly as another reference - we probably won't evaluate again since they are discontinued)
Scansonic M9 (a newbie)
KEF Q900 (a newbie)

We will likely stick with speakers under the $1,500 street price for this first session.

If you have suggestions or would like to donate a pair of speakers for evaluation, please let us know.

 

[theJman]

Scansonic? Never heard of them. I'm looking forward to finding out how those fare.

Seems to be a trend with that list; ribbons, planars and electrostatic panels. I'll throw out a couple of old school style speakers for consideration...

• NHT C4 (not sure if these are big enough to compare with some of the others though)
• Crystal Acoustics TX-T3 (I own a set of their bookshelf speakers and matching center. not sure if that price is per or a pair)

 

[Sonnie]

The stats are mainly there because they are what I have in my main system.

I forgot I also have a pair of KEF Q900's in the house... still in the box. Haven't even heard them yet.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

It will be interesting to hear the Motion 12 next and the new version of the Arx in the same session. Considering that when we heard them last the Arx5 and the Motion 12 was a very close call for most of us, I wonder a couple of things. First, will we still be as impressed with either, 4 years later. Second, will the two be as close a call as before? Since I have those original Arx in my system, and have never grown tired of them in any way, I will be very interested to hear the new comparison.

It will also be an interesting session because, unlike in the past, the range of prices on the speakers is very wide.

 

[Tonto]

Wow, I though I posted in this thread, but it's gone. Anyway, I was going to suggest Jon's L7 which is supposed to be ready soon. I've heard rumors he's dubbed it his statement piece, and from looking at the specs, it should be really good. Hope he can make it into the shootout! Has anybody spoken with him about them? I know we really enjoyed the A5's in the 1st round! It's funny that we all actually wound up with a set of them.

And by the way, you can call this the official notice that if you get a pair for the eval, I'll be happy to take them off your hands! Not saying anything, but...I do know where you live!

 

[Sonnie]

I promise we did not delete it. We need the posts, that is for sure.

I talked to Jon back first of the year... not about the evaluation, but about the L6 or L7. At the time we were talking, we didn't know about the new forum, but he did promise me a pair and I told him we'd get a review posted over at HTS, but of course that has changed. I need to reach out to him again and let him know about the new forum.

 

[Tonto]

I just mentioned it to him in his thread on the L7 so he should be primed to hear from you. I remember he almost didn't make the 1st eval. It would be a shame to miss this one. Sure hope he can come through. But we all know how much of a stickler he is with performance. He wants them just right.

 

[Sonnie]

I spoke with Jon yesterday at length and he still has us on tap for the L7, L6 and surrounds. It is possible he'll have something for us by the time we have our session, especially if it's some time in July, which I am favoring late July myself, maybe even early August, just to give us to time to get settled in here. I am really looking forward to hearing the L7's.

 

[Tonto]

I spoke with Jon as well, I came away thinking he would be ready later than sooner. If you've looked at the specs on these speakers, they could be so impressive. I get a chill thinking about listening to them. So I'm liking the August date better. It would be a shame if he wasn't ready. And we know Jon, they gotta be perfect. He sets the bar so high! When I think of him working on these speakers, I get a mental picture of an artist working on a painting...not in a hurry, just doing his best to make it something special! And who would rush an artist! I think many of us would love to hear what you guys have to say about them. I've been following them for a couple of years...what's a few more months. My vote it to give him a cushion. If I remember right, he almost didn't make the 1st eval. Certainly glad he did.

 

[Sonnie]

The first eval he almost did not make because he wasn't really sure about sending them to us... he just didn't know us and wasn't sure what to expect. He had the A5's in stock then... but hesitate to include them in a round-up, so to speak.

You are right though... he is super brilliant with the patience of Job.

 

[Mark C Flick]

Is round one going to be all floor standers?

 

[Sonnie]

I think Leonard mentioned mixing in some bookshelfs, but we would keep that evaluation separate from the floor standing speakers. I have three different pair here now... B&W 610i, Infinity Primus 163 and Ascend Acoustics CBM-170's. I know Dennis has some really nice pair of Vapor Audio (can't remember the model).

Another question is how much time will we have. It may depend on how many speakers we have. However, we learned a lot from our first couple of evaluations, so it should be more streamlined.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

I'd like to see the bookshelf speakers in a different event. Maybe even a virtual event where we ship them around to multiple reviewers.

 

[Craig Chase]

Here we go... it's on!

Our very first speaker evaluation round-up is just around the corner. We hope to have this setup for some time in June or July, if all goes well. As usual it will be held at my home in Cedar Creek Cinema home theater and listening room in Luverne, AL. There will be 4-6 of us evaluating and reviewing speakers. We hope to also have a home theater system to evaluate/review... and perhaps some other item if we can arrange it and it makes sense.

As it stands right now we have in the house:

For reference
MartinLogan Expression 13A (currently my main front channel speakers)


For evaluation and/or reference:
Chane A5rx-c (these replaced the beloved Arx A5's)
MartinLogan Motion 12 (a previous participant and mainly as another reference - we probably won't evaluate again since they are discontinued)
MartinLogan ESL (another previous participant that had a hiccup and we did not get to evaluate them - this pair is currently used as the surround speakers in my system)
Scansonic M9 (a newbie)
KEF Q900 (a newbie)

We will likely stick with speakers under the $2,500 MSRP mark for this first session.

If you have suggestions or would like to donate a pair of speakers for evaluation, please let us know.

Sonnie - The Home Theater Direct Level 3 towers look pretty compelling.

If you are interested in doing some blind listening tests, I have a line level passive pre-amp style line level switch box. It's supremely simple, and allows for instant "A/B" switching between 2 pairs of speakers.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

Why switch at line level for speaker A/B? I am not sure I understand.

 

[Craig Chase]

Leonard - By switching at line level, you avoid issues prevalent with speaker level L pad style switchers that will have an effect on the response curve.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

But you have to have identical amplifiers.

 

[Craig Chase]

Leonard ... I had "brainfart" syndrome on this ... yes, you need two Amps. I have a 4 channel Axiom ADA-1500-4 amp. It's a single Left/Right input with dual Left/Right outputs, each with its own master volume.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

OK, so it is not doing the speaker switching, just balancing the level.

 

[Craig Chase]

Leonard - I had this backwards, and fixed my post. Yes, it requires two amps, or 4 channels of a 4 to 8 channel amp.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

OK, that makes sense. I have thought about doing exactly this with my 5 channel Rotel RB-985 amp.

 

[Sonnie]

Sonnie - The Home Theater Direct Level 3 towers look pretty compelling.

We've included them in one of our previous evaluations, but they did have an issue I believe... with the tweeter if I recall correctly. They even pulled the sale of them until they got it fixed. I think Wayne may have eventually done a review on them and it was favorable. My memory is escaping me though.

If you are interested in doing some blind listening tests, I have a line level passive pre-amp style line level switch box. It's supremely simple, and allows for instant "A/B" switching between 2 pairs of speakers.

You know we have a superb machine called the ABX Box... the latest revised version from Frank Van Alstine. It was expensive, but it's been in the house now for about 3-4 years. Of course it's harder to AB speakers because they need their space for the best sound. As long as they have different locations that are not blocking each other, it might work. Amps on the other hand... well we did a round of amps a while back too... worked out pretty well. Your kid Dennis... well he has the ears to die for, that is for sure.

 

[Leonard Caillouet]

We could use a multi-channel amp with the speakers hooked up and mark the positions that we find to be optimal and do A/B comparisons, but with speakers, I am not sure what is to be gained. We aren't choosing a winner, but trying to get the most out of each and reporting on what we find on each speaker. A/B comparisons could conclude if there is an audible difference or make it easier to choose the one that is preferred, but that is not the goal. The goal is to learn more about each speaker, and an assumption going in is that they differ and some people might like each one for various reasons.

Now if two speakers are very close in sound and we want to determine if the differences are significant, it might be useful. For instance, comparing two versions of the same speaker.

 

[Craig Chase]

Sonnie - I was not aware you had the ABX box. The "best" way to do the speakers is to have one person set them up in an AB ... AB ... setting in the room. Then that person leaves without any contact with the others. After a predetermined time period, the listening panel leaves the room, the person switches them to BA ... BA ... and the test is repeated.

The NRC has been using this for about 30 years. It's not perfect, but it's as close as we can reasonably get.

 

[Sonnie]

Craig... I think Leonard makes some good points... we are not really ranking the speakers per se... we are simply evaluating each one to report on what we believe to be their qualities (good or bad), from several individual perspectives (and ears), since we each have different likes and look for different qualities in a speaker. Some of us hear things differently and we want to give the reader a viewpoint from several listeners.