I purchased these speakers a few months back. They are lovely. Excellent imaging with the lateral imaging being much better than average. They also have sort of a dual personality. The mid-range is beautiful and extremely transparent and works well with tubes at low levels. However, they are also dynamic and capable of producing bass down to 20hz at high db provided you have a high-powered amp. The most exceptional qualities are the pitch accuracy and stellar bass. While the mid-range is great, that is not so hard to find with the quality of today's speakers. The negatives of the speaker are that while they excel at low levels and at high levels, the in-between volumes are not as exceptional as the two extremes. I have not had the time to really break them in. I doubt they have 50 hours on them so things should improve. They seem like a perfect speaker for someone who does home theater but also enjoys moderate levels with tube gear, like myself.
Mcintosh XR200
- Thread starter Bulldogger
- Start date
I've spent some time in their sweetspot, also when they were not yet broken in and found them to be a bit fatiguing with SS gear. After broken in an driven via tube electronics, they should be very good.
I just saw/heard these at the AK-fest 2010
http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/gadget/mcintosh-xr200.html
Good 3D imaging, not quite the transparency of a panel speaker.
It did not have the typical phase shift issues of cones used in dipole speakers.
I wanted to spend more time listening to it so I went back to it more than once. At least that says something good about it.
$10,000 for one speaker? Too rich for my taste, just wish I could afford stuff like that.
Almost 40 photos, but less than fair quality.
http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/AK-FEST 2010/
http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/gadget/mcintosh-xr200.html
Good 3D imaging, not quite the transparency of a panel speaker.
It did not have the typical phase shift issues of cones used in dipole speakers.
I wanted to spend more time listening to it so I went back to it more than once. At least that says something good about it.
$10,000 for one speaker? Too rich for my taste, just wish I could afford stuff like that.
Almost 40 photos, but less than fair quality.
http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/AK-FEST 2010/
It is almost impossible to beat a panel speaker for transparency. What I find however is that the multiple driver approach can give close to that kind of transparency but with more precise imaging. Some panels throw big images but those images are sometimes larger than life. They are indeed expensive as well. However you do get true full range down to 20hz performance which most expensive speakers really do not give you. That is the most surprising and almost baffling part, how a speaker so small can have that kind of bass output. What is even more baffling is how you can get that kind of output and have it remain tight and pitch accurate from a ported speaker, and the port is very large. The matching prototype center was also at Audiokarma Fest.
Yes thanks. That a good picture because it give me perspective as to the size of the speaker. Can you tell me if the bass drivers were 8 inch like in the XR200 or 6 inch and then I will have an extremely accurate idea of size. They look like 8 inchers?
I think they were about 6-1/2" if I recall correctly.
In a different room from the XR200, so it's hard to tell.
Who answered the question for you? They have older models using twin 8" drivers so it would not be out of the norm.
http://www.akfest.com/index.html
Click link for better photos than what I took:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=296761
I am Kevin M. and audioclassics was kind enough to send me those photos from the picture they took at the show. Ron answered the question.
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