Deerfield Beach 08/17/09 Meet Impressions

[crappyjones123]

not really a meet. went to carls awesome house for a few hours and listened to some tunes via speakers. in the line up were super small fonkens (forget if they were micro or mini fonkens) but the damn things were tiny and metronomes. some uber apogee speakers i hadnt known about were added to the mix towards the end for a song. amp of choice was some unknown 10 watt tube concoction which sounded quite nice feeding the metronomes. the fostex fe 127e drivers were enabled and the midrange was everything that it was hyped up to be if not better. the top end was lot a little but it was just the right amount of loss for a really nice listening session. even at louder volumes the music wasnt fatiguing. the metronomes by themselves put out a reasonable amount of bass but throwing in a subwoofer tended to balance out the sound. we kept throwing in the sub randomly and the metronomes sounded excellent both with and without them. without, the midrange and the highs were better expressed. the bottom end suffered a tad though. the sound also seemed to be coming from these two general blobs in the air. with the sub, the bottom end got better but the highs took a back seat but only to a point where they werent piercing or distracting. the blobs had increased in radius and instrument placement in front of me was bettered. sound was no longer as beamy. sara k's voice sounded every bit as raspy as i had previously heard. for near field listening i cant imagine a better speaker for its size/cost/ease to power. there is certainly a sweet spot (speakers were toed in heavily imo, forgot to play with their angles of placement) however off axis listening wasnt bad at all. metronomes werent very warm, midrange was superb, a small sub would help a lot (cant expect too much from a 4.5" driver), no shrieks or hot treble. very musical speaker with absolutely no ear fatigue. i like.

next came the tiny fonkens which were every bit as detailed as the metronomes but had a very funky top end. very bright and cold sound signature even with a tube amp. with a sub they sounded remarkable in the dynamic range dept, far better than i was expecting out of them but they were removed from the party after a 3 song stint given their super analytic nature and hot treble. i didnt like it all that much. buddy guy sounded very thin and boring.

went back to the metronomes and immediately the head ache from the fonkens was gone. played a few songs from my own cd's. last time i had heard godspeed you black emperor sound this good was at the sarasota meet (hi gene ) from a woo 6 se + 650. but this was better. better drum kicks. much nicer rise to the crescendo. every single note was distinct but only in the crescendo which was odd because as it was getting there, the driver was having difficulty reproducing all the different sounds which gave the impression it was trying to do too much leading to the sound being a little blurry. single driver speakers arent supposed to do very well with complex pieces but after hearing beethoven's 7th and some godspeed, im a little confused because at the height of all the action the driver performed flawlessly but while getting there, it wasnt as impressive. the speakers werent as warm as the 650s but they were much faster which i enjoyed. everything seemed to be in the right proportion. if my bibs dont materialize i will certainly be looking at the metronomes as the next option.

lastly i was introduced to some planar/ribbon apogee speaker, the name of which i forget already. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY nicer than the metronomes. given their placement in the house and the accompanying gear i have a feeling they were quite expensive but man they sounded mighty nice. just heard one song by sara k on them. her voice was as smooth as silk. the music was very polite but it sounded realistic. even at a higher volume it wasnt even close to being as fatiguing as the metronomes which were very comfortable to my ears but after hearing the apogee speakers i could catch where the 127e drivers were lacking (but for $50 drivers i dont expect much from them). the apogee's reminded me of gary's he90 rig at the plantation meet. very polite but authoritative. everything from top to bottom in perfect proportions with a very delicate sound. i would imagine it would sound great with classical and acoustic music. rock perhaps not so much - might be a little thin on the bottom end. but from what i heard it was certainly one of the better speaker rigs ive heard. hope to spend some more time with it in the future.

thanks again to carl for letting me hang out at his place and listen to some good tunes. a great time was had.

ps. the metronomes are a work of art. i dont like veneers but the speakers looked amazing. very cleanly put together. i really do hope carl posts some pictures of his den. awesome man cave.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Wee need pics!

Sounds like you guys had fun.

[CarlSeibert]

I've owed the guys on DIYAudio.com pictures of those mets for something like a year. I've come up with dozens of excuses for not shooting them. Photographing speakers is just so freakin' difficult.

So, OK, I'm been shamed into it. I'll see if I can drag them out to the garage and get them shot this weekend.

-Carl

[mypasswordis]

I've owed the guys on DIYAudio.com pictures of those mets for something like a year. I've come up with dozens of excuses for not shooting them. Photographing speakers is just so freakin' difficult.

So, OK, I'm been shamed into it. I'll see if I can drag them out to the garage and get them shot this weekend.

-Carl

For shame.

[CarlSeibert]

Ah. Er. Mia culpa.