AV123 X-Static

[laxx]

Has anyone heard these before? I remember someone on Head-fi had a pair, but don't remember who.

I'm currently talking to a guy in Maryland about his pair (he's selling a pair of X-Statik's, X-Voce, and a MFW-15 sub) for a pretty good price, but pick up only. I'm trying to work out the details of how large of a car I'll need.

I guess I just need a little nudge to commit as long as I can find a way to bring them back to NYC.

And I guess I'll find out after tomorrow's watch sale if I even have the money to buy them.

[Hopstretch]

There's a fair bit of hype around their stuff from the faithful, but there's also no doubt they turn out solid, innovative products at great prices. I haven't heard the open-baffle x-series speakers myself but would be inclined to take a chance on them if the price is attractive. The MFW-15 is a steal even at full price.

Off topic, but I'm waiting for a pair of these.

Reference Digital Monitor. 250 watts Class D tri-amped, fully-programmable active crossover and EQ, analog and digital inputs, $1600 a pair. ETA unknown.

[laxx]

The price is pretty good. A little over $1000 for the 4 pieces after cashback.

[Hopstretch]

Dew eet.

[clarke68]

I had a pair in for review. I didn't care for them: they were too bright for my taste and I had problems with the metal grills. AV123 told me that some of the issues I found have been fixed in later runs (the pair I received was from the first batch from the factory in Cali, Columbia), so they're going to send out another pair for re-evaluation as soon as I can get to it (which will be early next year).

Apparently Wayne Garcia liked them, and a favorable review will be appearing in the December issue of Absolute Sound.

The MFW-15, on the other hand, was awesome. It's huge (in my living room, anyway), make sure you measure first, but it did everything I'd ever want a subwoofer to do.

[Jon L]

  clarke68 said:

I had a pair in for review. I didn't care for them: they were too bright for my taste

That's very strange. The last thing X-Statiks are is "bright." What's your reference speaker and amp that you don't find bright?

[clarke68]

  Jon L said:

That's very strange. The last thing X-Statiks are is "bright." What's your reference speaker and amp that you don't find bright?

My daily drivers are the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1, and I have a Parasound solid-state rig (the mid-level New Classic series).

But like I alluded to, Mark thought the possibility of there being problems with the pair I received was real enough that he pulled them, and my review is on hold until I can get another set in.

It sounds like you have experience with the x-statiks. Did you have some input for the OP, or just questions for me?

[Jon L]

  clarke68 said:

My daily drivers are the Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1, and I have a Parasound solid-state rig (the mid-level New Classic series).

But like I alluded to, Mark thought the possibility of there being problems with the pair I received was real enough that he pulled them, and my review is on hold until I can get another set in.

It sounds like you have experience with the x-statiks. Did you have some input for the OP, or just questions for me?

I've owned X-Statiks for some time and have run them with various setups ranging from single-ended tube, push-pull tube, triode, pentode, Class AB SS, Class A SS, Class D, hybrid digital, gainclone, and probably a couple I'm forgetting.

If anything, X-Statiks are on the smoothly detailed side, and it's very difficult to make them sound rough, bright, or grainy. They are well-detailed, but my reference speakers with ribbon tweeters and Focal 7K2 midrange are significantly more resolved.

Some people may wish for a more "obvious" ported bass whomp, but I prefer the tight bass from the sealed bass units. The MFW would do nicely here..

[Jon L]

  EdipisReks said:

T, FTFY

*Shrug* So I can make Senn HD650 sound extremely bright with no bass with certain tube/cable choices in certain systems. That doesn't change the fact they are closed-in, bloated cans.

[laxx]

So I went over a guy's house yesterday to listen to his RS850's, and then his LS6's. Regarding the RS850's, I was pretty disappointed with the way they sounded. Soundstage was tiny and they lacked clarity. Also, I felt they were a bit lean on bass. The whole time I was there, I felt it was his room/speaker placement.

The LS6's were a beauty. Very impactful bass, but the sound was very... digital. I chalked it up to his chain (an Acurus power amp with a Denon AVR-2807 as pre, Sony CD-P as source as well as a Sqeezebox). The instrument separation was amazing, as well as the soundstage. But something just didn't sound right. The bass felt very disconnected and the music just didn't flow.

I'm hoping the X-Statik's I'm going to listen to tomorrow night will leave me with a different impression though.

[laxx]

I ended up buying a pair of X-Statik's locally.