Speaker Porn

[Knuckledragger]

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This hobby eventually becomes completely engrossing if you let it. None of my friends have the same affliction, and think I'm completely mad spending money on fancy Brit speakers. But to those who understand, it is all part of the journey. Happy with the current state of my setup, until I feel that urge once again. This is a great space to take in the full sound of the Spendors. Its a big room with high ceilings and I'm sure it would benefit from some treatment but for now it'll do.

2.1 HiFi Gear List:

Speakers: Spendor D7s, AS 22 Canton Sub

Amp: Parasound HINT (original)

AVR: Yamaha RXA-1030

Turntable: Pro-Ject Xpression lll, Ortofon 2M blue cart

NUC i5- Roon Core streaming local FLAC library, Qobuz & Tidal

AV(5.1):

AVR: Yamaha RXA-1030

Speakers: Cheap Polk Audio center channel CS 10, Canton rear speakers Plus S

Projector: Benq W2700

Screen: Elite Screen Aeon 135"

Nvidia Shield

Impressions:

The Spendors are the newest upgrade and they are quite a powerhouse. Laid back sound with full thick bass. Crisp and resolving but not as critical sounding as the Monitor Audio Silver 6s they are replacing. The MA's did seem to have a more holographic sound stage but the Spendors have grunt and bass in spades.

The Parasound is the heart of the system and it is a true pleasure to listen to. Before this the Yamaha RXA 1030 was the main amp. I went back and forth trying to decide if a dedicated 2ch amp was really needed. Would it really change the sound quality? Spoiler, the answer is yes. The MAs came alive like never before. Having the ability to tweak high and low pass filters and adjust subwoofer output is essential for dialing in the overall sound. Hands down one of the best upgrades I've ever made and can't see needing to upgrade from this for a long time.

The trusty Project turntable sounds great. Only upgrade I made was bumping up to the 2M blue. Didn't expect much of a difference but it was definitely much cleaner sounding right out of the box and seems to cut through the surface noise. It's a simple deck but gets the job done.

Most music is consumed via Roon running on the NUC. Mostly streaming from Qobuz and Tidal now, but I have a decent library of good quality FLAC as well. Being able to stream hirez music has almost made owning local files redundant but I do like having copies of my favorites. Still evolving the streaming setup and currently have the NUC plugged in USB straight to the Parasound. Tinkering with upscaling in ROON and thinking about playing with REW room correction soon. Next upgrade might be an external DAC but the jury is still out on whether its worth it.

 

 

 

 

[swt61]

On 5/22/2020 at 4:34 PM, Knuckledragger said:

"The cat's name is Frida."

 

I knew there was something going on!

Waiting to see who gets that reference.

[Dusty Chalk]

Hate to disappoint you, but (Phil Collins on drums):

 

[swt61]

Phil produced the entire album.

That's the song they used when I auditioned my first decent pair of headphones (Yamaha YH-1000).

[Knuckledragger]

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So after reading some interesting buzz about Tekton, I decided to give their speakers a try (have a 60 day return policy, but do have to pay shipping. They are known to be a company that can compete with expensive speakers, for a fraction of the cost.

There isn’t a ton of information on these speakers, so I’m hoping to add something for anyone who may be interested. You see a lot about their larger speakers, such as double impact or pendragon, not as much about the lore reference.

For comparison, my normal speakers are B&W 705s2 stand-mount speakers. I also compared to KEF LS50 monitors. Amp is Hegel H160, and also paired with the budget all tube Reisong A10. Sub is the T-zero by REL.

This my first review so I’ll be as specific as I can with descriptions. After break in, these things really sing. Very wide soundstage, good vocal and instrument separation, I’m even finding myself hearing some details on recordings I’ve never noticed. With the Hegel, everything sounds perfect. Nice spectrum, highs never pierce, good bass and low end and not boomy. Front ported and I didn’t see material difference with them close to the wall. Now with the A10, the sound was hugely different, not in a good way. Overly bright, and the mid range disappeared. Went back to the Hegel, and everything was right with the world again. A note, these are rated to be really efficient speakers, and not as power hungry as the KEF’s. I noticed this especially with the tube amp.

I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of these speakers, especially for the cost to performance ratio. These retail for about $700, and I haven’t heard any speaker better for the money. Given, I have them powered by a 3k amp which is changes things a bit. But what’s more, when compared with the bowers they compete! Bowers have a more elegant and refined sound, better mid range, but these Tekton remind me more of Klipsch, live sounding speakers. I want to keep listening, these are foot tapping engaging speakers. The myth is true, Tekton can beat speakers that are 3-4x more expensive!

 

[Knuckledragger]

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About a week ago I purchased my first turntable, a Rega P1. I was told to get this turntable by someone on reddit. So far I am very happy with the sound and the built quality of the Rega. I have played it about 15 hours since I got it, so I think after some more time the sound will become even better. I'm waiting some isolation pads to add below the turntable stand I made too. Turntable made that classic silent motor sound when you first plug it in but I left it spinning for some hours as recommended and the sound disappeared completely. Also I was very worried about changing records since Rega P1 has only an On/Off button which is better to not to use every time you want to change records. It's very easy to swap vinyls though while the turntable is spinning. I slightly spin the platter with my hand, every time I turn it on to help a bit with the pressure applied on the belt. There's a bit of wow flutter but it's acceptable for a turntable at this price. Actually sound quality was far better than I expected it to be. I run my turntable through a Cambridge Audio C100 pre amp and one Cambridge Audio A100 power amp. My speakers are a pair of Missions 753 in rosewood finish. They all sound magnificent to my ears. Sound is very warm and crystal clear... bass fells as sweet as the vibration from sea waves on the beach. (The hybrid tube amplifier is a Taga Harmony HTA-500B Amplifier but I don't use it anymore and it's for decor purposes only)

 

[Craig Sawyers]

Ah - the good old battleship grey Cambridge Audio livery. It was panned by the reviewers, as were the buttons on the CD player (they described them as reminiscent of poking dead flesh). Very unfair, because the product performance and sonics were good.  However the reviews killed that iteration of Cambridge Audio (~1990). We acquired the wreckage when I worked at Wharfedale, including a massive inventory of product, for almost pocket change (at least in a corporate sense). We sold the inventory at knock down prices, and then did nothing more than change the appearance to a dark gold colour, and the dimple in the knobs became a light gold colour pin instead. After that they sold very well.

I turned the Cambridge Audio technical team to the re-launch of the Leak brand, that Wharfedale owned. Among those was a very young Steve Sells, fresh from University, who I let off the leash and told him to design the best power amp he could - a Krell-beater. I got a design consultancy to do the appearance design, and Steve designed FET output monoblocks of truly heroic performance. When we set up to show that at Heathrow, I wired up the speakers and only got a very quiet sound like a tinny transistor radio. I'd left the shorting links across the back of the speakers, and Steve's design was playing the speaker cables into a short circuit without breaking sweat.

Fast forward several decades, and Steve is now director of engineering at Naim. They likewise let him off the leash, and the astonishing and ridiculously expensive Statement was the result (google it).

Cambridge Audio, from its foundations in 1966, has been bust umpteen times over the decades. But astonishingly it is still very much alive and still British, and owned by Richer Sounds.

It was orignally founded by my good friend and mentor Gordon Edge (RIP). To celebrate 50 years from the foundation of the company, Cambridge Audio introduced the high end Edge series of products in 2016. They even incorporated Gordon's always barely legible signature on the circuit board silk screen.

[Knuckledragger]

[mikeymad]

23 hours ago, Knuckledragger said:

 

Matches their ride.... 

 

[Craig Sawyers]

Love it or hate it you can sure see that pickup coming. Actually looks like something out of Close Encounters...

[Knuckledragger]

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Dusty want corner loaded speakers...

[Knuckledragger]

[Dusty Chalk]

*kef*kef*kef*kef*

Sorry, scratchy throat.

[Knuckledragger]

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My setup is a Rouge Audio Cronus, lampizator amber dac 2, and Zu audio dirty weekend 2's. Just upgraded to the Zu's about a month ago and love them. Went up from a pair of Def tech D7's. The bass and the clarity are the most noticable, and man these speakers can sceam! And as you can tell I love tubes as well. Upgraded from a Peachtree DAC itx and that was a major difference. The music is so much more warm and A LOT less harsh. Overall love this setup, just need to get a nice streamer to finish.

 

[Knuckledragger]

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Well a month and a half during quarantine working on them about 2-4 hours a day (during kids nap time and after my wife and kids go to sleep) and I'm finally done. I'm very happy with the final result. The wife isn't impressed with the speakers being about 65" tall, they share my kids playroom...lol. Here's the specs;

Bottom Sub has 1x 10" Dayton RSS265HF-8 Subwoofer, 1x 10" Dayton RSS265-PR Passive Radiator.

2x 4" Dayton RS100-8 Midranges wired in parallel for 4 ohms

1x Raal 70-10 Ribbon Tweeter running at 8 ohms. 15uF capacitor wired in series to avoid any accidental low end thumps which would destroy the tweeter instantly. (Thanks kind Reddit stranger for the advice)

Top Sub has 1x 10" Dayton RSS265HF-8 Subwoofer wired in parallel with the bottom sub creating a 4 ohm load total for the subwoofers.

I'm running a 3-way active crossover (DBX 234XS) which gives me so much control over my speakers. I can really fine tune the sound I want in the room.

The subwoofers are powered by an ART SLA-2 with 280 watts a side RMS

The midranges and tweeters are powered by an ART SLA-4 with 140 watts RMS going to the midranges and approximately 100 watts RMS going to the tweeters.

Overall I am extremely happy with the sound, definitely blow my old Dynaudio BM15A's out of the water. The Raal tweeters are the crown jewel of my build. They sound literally, REAL. They're extremely smooth and have such a nice "air" to them. Everything is so silky and I'm amazed at the dispersion, much wider than I anticipated. The midranges sound great and the subs are very tight and controlled. No "woofy" sounds going on but I can get the thump in my chest if I want.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

"What speakers?  They're building blocks."

[Jon L]

1 hour ago, Knuckledragger said:

 

"I'm running a 3-way active crossover (DBX 234XS) which gives me so much control over my speakers. I can really fine tune the sound I want in the room"

Seeking opinions on DBX 234XS 3-way stereo analogue active crossover.  I'm trying to avoid digital crossovers that necessitate A->D->A conversion, but $260 for 3-way stereo analogue crossover seems too good be true in terms of loss of signal fidelity and introduction of noise/artifacts? 

[Knuckledragger]

^ You'd want to ask the original poster on reddit's /r/audiophile: 

Meow.

 

[Knuckledragger]

[Craig Sawyers]

They look like Quad ESL57, but they are the wonderful and obsolete Dahlquist DM10. They need more room behind them though.

In the way that only Germans can, they have remanufactured the ESL57 https://www.quad-musik.de/index.php/en/products/electrostatics/esl57-qa .

[guzziguy]

When I first got into serious audio in the late 70s', I eventually narrowed my speaker choice to DQ-10s, Magneplanar (can't remember the model) and DCM Time Windows.  After lots of auditioning, I finally settled on the Time Windows.  Never regretted that decision.

Edited May 31, 2020 by guzziguy
Correct DH-10 to DQ-10.

[Knuckledragger]

Legacy Audio Whisper XDs.

[Knuckledragger]

Cutaway view of a Bang & Olufsen Beolab 5.

Edited May 31, 2020 by Knuckledragger

[Knuckledragger]

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Had a speaker upgrade to my system, from Dynaudio Emit M10’s to Rauna Vale’s. This is one of the additions in building towards my system to have for many more years to come. The upgrades remaining is the record player and RIIA-stage.

The Rauna Vale structure is concrete, it stands very solid at about 30 kg per speaker. Moving from my small Dynaudio Emit M10’s the most noticeable difference is the low end, because I feel these speakers dig really low for their size. Otherwise I can hear the difference in clarity of the mids and highs as well.

Keep On Trippin’ by Manu Katché has a whole new life to it. I’ll find more!

Rauna Vale.
Marantz HD-AMP1.
Marantz HD-CD1.
Pro-Ject RPM 5.1 Carbon.
Pro-Ject Phono Box.