What speakers have you heard that have most Gorgeous, Lifelike Tonality?
- Thread starter caesar
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We all have our fetishes. Some of us just realize what they are and are comfortable talking about them.
Hello Caesar,
If you are going to be north of Seattle, contact me in advance for "Gorgeous, Lifelike, Tonality".
The session would be the first 15 minutes blindfolded & please NO posting of the components on the net.
The speakers & crossovers are my "build" from components that I have researched & assembled. Some parts I totally built [e.g. crossovers, mid-range] & some heavily modified.
zz.
If you are going to be north of Seattle, contact me in advance for "Gorgeous, Lifelike, Tonality".
The session would be the first 15 minutes blindfolded & please NO posting of the components on the net.
The speakers & crossovers are my "build" from components that I have researched & assembled. Some parts I totally built [e.g. crossovers, mid-range] & some heavily modified.
zz.
It is one of the things I admire in the Wilson XLF when properly positioned - the human voice has an excellent tonality, on par with best panels such as the Quad ESL63 or ML CLS.
It was an amazing experience. Some people were moving the speakers towards the speaker wall in 2" intervals and suddenly at a specific position the tonality of the voice was perfect, very natural. Unfortunately I never got the same perfection with the Alexia's. They have very good tonality, but IMHO not comparable to the XLF.
I would vote the Apogee ribbon speakers of yore. Still my tonality favorites, especially those that can be driven with tubes. I still have my re-ribboned Stage speakers in Santa Cruz, can drive them with 50 watt Wavac, sound great.
Zu Audio Definitions 4. Full range drivers 40Hz-11kHz, w/no x'over in the middle to suck the life out of this critical frequency spectrum of the human voice, w/Radian supertweeter incorp'g Duelund caps to 20kHz, and downfiring Lundahl transformer-based Hypex sub amps to 16Hz in-room, 101dB/1W eff.
This combination of no crossover (just a Duelund cap and resistor in the high-pass and low-pass filter networks) and SET-friendly efficiency, means that partnering w/appropriate SETs results in the best tonal integrity and density I've yet heard (listened in detail to AG Duos horns, ProAcs Futures 1's, Rockport Hyperions, Wilson Maxx's, Martin Logan SL3's), the music just drips w/tone and emotion, total listener involvement.
I listen to a lot of live jazz, usually piano/vocals, and some small combos, in small venues, and a little live classical too, and on returning to the Zus, I feel they get a lot of that live jazz vibe, mainly thru saturated tonal colours.
Zu's in the past, and within my system, have fallen down a little on s'staging and imaging, and bass integration had occas been an issue, but the Lundahls and Duelunds have supercharged them on these fronts, and the spooky synergy w/my Nat SETs is to die for.
This combination of no crossover (just a Duelund cap and resistor in the high-pass and low-pass filter networks) and SET-friendly efficiency, means that partnering w/appropriate SETs results in the best tonal integrity and density I've yet heard (listened in detail to AG Duos horns, ProAcs Futures 1's, Rockport Hyperions, Wilson Maxx's, Martin Logan SL3's), the music just drips w/tone and emotion, total listener involvement.
I listen to a lot of live jazz, usually piano/vocals, and some small combos, in small venues, and a little live classical too, and on returning to the Zus, I feel they get a lot of that live jazz vibe, mainly thru saturated tonal colours.
Zu's in the past, and within my system, have fallen down a little on s'staging and imaging, and bass integration had occas been an issue, but the Lundahls and Duelunds have supercharged them on these fronts, and the spooky synergy w/my Nat SETs is to die for.
Good call...and interesting that you own Analysis Audio speakers which i understand are the current day interpretation of the Apogee design concept. How are they different from the Apogee Stages or equivalent Apogees of old? Most curious as you own both!!!
If by gorgeous, lifelike tonality it means that kind of bold midrange sound that you can literally feel on your skin because it vibrates the hairs on your arms then I would say speakers with large paper woofers like the bigger Tannoys. When next in Japan, I intend to see what the boys at Kenrick sound are up to.
It's certainly an enjoyable experience when tone and texture is so over the top good as to make you not care about stuff like soundstages and image specificity because your brain gets pushed to focus on the tactile and not the now more usual visual translations. In fact this is precisely my goal for our planned vacation place' system. I still haven't figured out what I'll put in there but the plan is to shoot for "big tone" as opposed to "holographic". I want the polar opposite. Trends being what they are, with the majority of manufacturers skewed towards imaging and transparency, looks like I'll be looking for the pieces in vintage or vintage inspired product niches.
It's certainly an enjoyable experience when tone and texture is so over the top good as to make you not care about stuff like soundstages and image specificity because your brain gets pushed to focus on the tactile and not the now more usual visual translations. In fact this is precisely my goal for our planned vacation place' system. I still haven't figured out what I'll put in there but the plan is to shoot for "big tone" as opposed to "holographic". I want the polar opposite. Trends being what they are, with the majority of manufacturers skewed towards imaging and transparency, looks like I'll be looking for the pieces in vintage or vintage inspired product niches.
I looked for years you're not going to get that type of sound from any modern speaker, the ingredients just don't exist anymore. No one is making those beautiful large, light, efficient woofers and the lovely resonant cabinets of yesterday are a lost art. Contrary to popular belief the best vintage speakers are more holographic with solid images that no modern speaker I heard can touch. Your ML2s will bring them to life!
Happy hunting,
david
You should spend with some of these luscious girls in the right surrounding to see how natural they are.
david
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Jack, I know! I just sent you a private message.
David, Thank you! I am looking forward to hearing the speakers at Kenrick.
David, Thank you! I am looking forward to hearing the speakers at Kenrick.
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