TheSloth Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 No, it's great! It's a good indicator of the listening position. Oh, and if I may ask: what software did you use that provides slippers with a button-click? Ridiculously, I can't remember. It was a java applet on a website that sold furniture, and I went to it from a link on another site that I found through google! So it's a long way to try to trace it, and stupidly I didn't bookmark it.
aerius Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 Current or original Adagio (flat or slanted mid-woofer baffles?)? Because on top of the angled drivers, they worked on the crossover for even flatter response (and interestingly the HF specs now state 25k instead of the original 30k). Both versions. The frequency response (new version) is a bit flatter in that the bass is a bit fuller, but the other problems still remain. The midrange hardness was especially annoying on piano since certain notes and chords containing those notes have a distinctly different tone and jump out in a bad way. The closest description I can think of is this; imagine a piano piece that's played on a Steinway grand, everything's cool until you suddenly hear a couple notes and chords that sound like a generic Yamaha piano, it just doesn't go with the rest. That's what the Adagios do to piano. It's a very narrow range of wonkiness though, you might spend quite some time listening to piano pieces before the magic notes & chords get hit, I got lucky and heard them on my first session.
Dusty Chalk Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 Dang, those Acoustic Zen Adagios are gorgeous.
TheSloth Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 Dang, those Acoustic Zen Adagios are gorgeous. Well yes but Aerius has got me all worried/confused now. What's odd is that his impressions seem to be pretty much the reverse of all of the reviews, all of which have agreed with one another.
Dusty Chalk Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 Yes, but all those reviews aren't worth anything if they disagree with your impressions.
aerius Posted April 12, 2007 Report Posted April 12, 2007 Well yes but Aerius has got me all worried/confused now. What's odd is that his impressions seem to be pretty much the reverse of all of the reviews, all of which have agreed with one another. Well, given that I haven't found any reviewers in magazines and on the web who I share opinions with, it's not surprising that I'm disagreeing with pretty much all of them. And of course a lot of people disagree with my opinions. The mags all say the Dynaudio Audience 72SE is a great speaker, I think it's among the worst sounding pieces of shit I've ever heard, go figure. With that said the Adagio is undoubtedly a good speaker for its price, I'd take it over a B&W, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber or any other mainstream speaker anywhere close to its price range. However, it's nowhere close to the perfection which reviewers claim, it's not the 2nd coming of Christ or the be all end all of $4-8k speakers. I don't have to nit-pick it to find issues (ie. it could use another 2Hz of bass extension) like I have to with the Living Voice Avatar or OBX-R. Still, having heard both the Quad 57 & 63, I feel the Adagio is going to be a letdown, then again, almost everything is.
TheSloth Posted April 16, 2007 Report Posted April 16, 2007 Still, having heard both the Quad 57 & 63, I feel the Adagio is going to be a letdown, then again, almost everything is. Well that's the point really. QUAD stats are particularly special speakers, but in the end they are only that way if you can fit them into your room, with the rear space requirements. I had 988's years ago, and those developed my 'hi-fi ears'. But those were in a room where they worked just perfectly in the space. Since then I've had 63's in my little apartment, and they just don't work. You can hear that they are QUAD's, and that they are great speakers, but at the same time they just sound out of whack. So, I'm going to give the Zen's a shot (in the Walnut finish). I agree with your comment about reviewers though. I just saw that stereophile added a review of some Aperion speakers that I was trying as a holdover (hey, it's free if you send them back...) and frankly I can't work out how he was able to recommend them the way he did. Interestingly, though I disagreed with most of the text, they sounded to my ears in my room exactly the way the measurements showed them, at least in terms of overall tonality. I suspect that the fact that I listen nearfield with the speakers in relatively free space is also a factor in the differences in my impressions and others' - they usually sound to me the way they look in their nearfield measurements, however they wouldn't really sound like that once you increase the listening distance and room interactions in the sound.
aerius Posted April 16, 2007 Report Posted April 16, 2007 I'd still urge you to try the Living Voice Avatar, to me anyway they're a lot closer to Quads than anything else. Though they have a warmer tonal balance, the one thing they both share is an incredible clariity and freedom from colouration, especially in the midrange. Going from the Avatars to most other speakers and you notice all the colourations & distortions which you never really noticed before, I was pretty shocked at how unclear most speakers sound.
deepak Posted May 17, 2007 Author Report Posted May 17, 2007 I might have an opportunity to audition some Maggies, what do you guys think of them? I'd probably be shooting for the 1.6QR since they're in my price range.
Grand Enigma Posted May 17, 2007 Report Posted May 17, 2007 I might have an opportunity to audition some Maggies, what do you guys think of them? I'd probably be shooting for the 1.6QR since they're in my price range. I have auditioned all of the Maggie line rather extensively the past month or so before I ultimately ended up picking up a pair of Eminent LFT-8s The Maggies have soundstage and depth like I have never heard before... each step up in the line all the much more so. starting with the 1.6 and up they have fantastic bass for which I really see no need for a subwoofer. The main reason I did not end up with the maggies was that while the soundstage was huge and vast is almost seemed overly so to me and some pieces didn't sound quite right. Also, you will not get that nice dynamic sound as with traditional speakers... and that is why I went with the Eminents as they have planar tweeters and midwoofer with a cone woofer... best of both worlds in my book.
Wolfbait Posted August 21, 2007 Report Posted August 21, 2007 Revel Performa F52 ! Dr Floyd Toole's current suggestion for all the speaker you should ever buy, unless you "have money burning a hoe in your pocket. $7,000 new. $4,250 used.
laxx Posted August 21, 2007 Report Posted August 21, 2007 I recently spent a few hours listening to B&W 802 Matrix's and found them to be rather enjoyable. They were much bigger than I expected with a very satisfying sound. But then again, I've only heard 2 speaker setups so far, not including my own (a very budget setup).
deepak Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Posted October 8, 2007 I've been reading about the Living Voice OBX-R2 that aerius mentioned on the first page. I'm trying to setup an audition for them now. Will update with impressions when I do. Hopefully the dealer listed in NYC still carries them. edit: external crossovers seems so logical... you assume that they have to be sensitive to vibrations, and most speakers house them internally where there's tons of vibration (surprised more speaker makers don't do this)
aerius Posted October 8, 2007 Report Posted October 8, 2007 I've been reading about the Living Voice OBX-R2 that aerius mentioned on the first page. I'm trying to setup an audition for them now. Will update with impressions when I do. Hopefully the dealer listed in NYC still carries them. If they don't have the Avatar OBX-R2, see if they have the standard Avatar. Same family sound and still definitely worth a listen. edit: external crossovers seems so logical... you assume that they have to be sensitive to vibrations, and most speakers house them internally where there's tons of vibration (surprised more speaker makers don't do this) Go figure, I can't figure that one out either. Of course the problem is once you move past 2-ways, running wires from the x-over box to the speakers starts to become a major pain in the ass and the cable costs can start running up real fast.
grawk Posted October 8, 2007 Report Posted October 8, 2007 you know what happens when you assume, right? You get jacob stuck in your ass
deepak Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Posted October 9, 2007 you know what happens when you assume, right? You're right I should have replaced assume with "I know"
deepak Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Posted October 9, 2007 you know what happens when i cut the top of your head off, right? You need more Hug and Dance Audio in your life ? - ?
aerius Posted October 9, 2007 Report Posted October 9, 2007 What do you think "hug and dance" audio is?
JBLoudG20 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Posted October 9, 2007 It's all about the kirby's baby. Uh huh. Yeah.
deepak Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Posted January 8, 2008 Well it seems like my audio path is leading me straight into speakers. Any other recommendations for speakers I have to hear would be appreciated.
JBLoudG20 Posted January 8, 2008 Report Posted January 8, 2008 Kef Reference 207/2 http://www.kef.com/products/reference06/GLOBAL/productRange_207/default.aspx
JBLoudG20 Posted January 8, 2008 Report Posted January 8, 2008 KEFs YET?? No Kef USA is being a bitch. I got the Lady's phone number, so now I have get ahold of her, get the shiping price, and send a money order
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