Installing Aries Cerat Symphonia horn speakers

spiritofmusic

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Stavros, my only experience w Basshorns is Cessaro Liszts in London in a room of similar dims to Michel's, and Gammas at Munich in a much bigger space
The Liszts demo ticked all my boxes, except one, despite being pwrd by Bakoon Class A 15W/ch
However the illusion of loveliness was ruined by brutal bass nodes I believe at 27Hz and 70Hz
The dealer has ameliorated these to a great degree w Illusonic DSP and Modex room treatments, but whether it's these or the Mola Mola Class Ds he's using, the tamed nodes are accompanied by a totally neutered, inert and uninvolving sound
The Gammas at Munich again nearly ticked all my boxes, but the lack of any real in room bass from a $350-400k system was startling by its omission
So, I'm wary of reports of horns described as full range that may not display full range of bass ability re extension, articulation, fullness, whether it's the room or the spkr
Otoh, I'm absolutely loving ten yr old AG Duo Omegas off home made 45 tube amps in a 5.7 X 3.7 X 3m space w minimal room treatments, absolutely no shortfall in bass whatever the program
Now, I'm sure the Liszts in my space would sound stellar, doing what they do so well w less room compromises
Unfortunately, other than budget constraints, my descending eaves roofline would force these 2.2m high behemoths to be spaced a max of 1.5m apart, so no go
No doubt Symphonias and even Trios would be a better ergonomic match
 

flyer

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I think what people might not realize looking at Michel’s pic is that the SMT wings themselves are 18 inches deep – distance to the wall. IIRC the ones on the side are 18 inches and the ones behind are 24 inches. So while the speakers look closer to the wall the soundwaves are travelling more

+1:)
 

Believe High Fidelity

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Joshua, I get yr point about a high eff box spkr w full range driver having not much in common w high eff horn compression driver
My Zus fit the former category
They really thrive on my NATs 211s
Just how would I really know how good the synergy of NATs and Symphonias would be?
Somehow I can't imagine there will be any chance of sale or return

This makes a lot of sense as the sensitivity of the speaker can often be very misleading. A good example of this was a demo that was held at a nice hotel in San Diego for the Gothenburg Odin Loudspeakers. They started off powering them with a low powered <25w SET amp and the speakers are rated at 102db.

The consensus of the demo was the sound was dry and lifeless with a ton of bloat. Later in the demo the presenters switched to an integrated amplifier with 150W and the sound opened up considerably with body and weight to the instruments. A significant improvement.

So was the culprit just a poor amplifier design in the SET vs the integrated? I think not. When using a woofer paired to a compression driver I often find a lack of continuity with the drivers matching. The sensitivity ends up as a result of major tweaking of the woofer to match to the compression driver. This overrated sensitivity rating leads to underpowered speakers and a lack of control and grip on the drivers from the amplifier powering them

The Symphonia is a true bass horn matched to equally sensitive and fast mid and tweeter. Add to that the zero diffraction horn design and you start to get the picture.

You NAT will be more than enough power so SQ is not a function of the matching of speaker. It is whether the amplifier exposed to the milliwatt will sound sound as you like it now or if its flaws become known through the magnifying glass that is the horn speaker design. A Diana or Concero 25 runs similar in price to your NAT if it ends not not fitting the bill
 
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spiritofmusic

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Sure Joshua
Rest assured the Zus are a true 101dB eff design
The full range driver/zero crossover design has been perfected over the 15 years of Zus existence, so that they sound full blooded w a 1W LTA MicroZOTL amp, my old 25W/ch Audion Black Shadow 845 SETs, my current 70W/ch NATs SE2SEs 211 SETs, and my old Class A/AB Hovland Radia SS
I've also heard the Zus w First Watt SIT-1 and F7 SIT amps Class A 10-20W, Atmasphere OTLs and big Pass Labs Class A SS
The character has been a bit different amongst all of them, w the least favourable presentations bring the brutish Pass Labs, clarity but some shortfall in warmth from the OTLs, starting to get fleshed out Audion SETs, and full fat toneful and soulful NAT SETs, w special mention to the lower pwrd SITs and ZOTLs being suprisingly synergistic
I realise good horns will take these attributes on and up a stage or two, esp as 853 says, in the time/amplitude/dynamics realm
Certainly my exposure to the Denman Exponential Horn woke me up to the: in the moment/at one w the cosmos feeling I've never heard before or since, the Cessaro Liszts being a distant second for communication in lock step w soul and intent, my Zus and AG Duos somewhere being lapped in this audio equivalent of the 10000m
 

morricab

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Apr 25, 2014
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Sure Joshua
Rest assured the Zus are a true 101dB eff design
The full range driver/zero crossover design has been perfected over the 15 years of Zus existence, so that they sound full blooded w a 1W LTA MicroZOTL amp, my old 25W/ch Audion Black Shadow 845 SETs, my current 70W/ch NATs SE2SEs 211 SETs, and my old Class A/AB Hovland Radia SS
I've also heard the Zus w First Watt SIT-1 and F7 SIT amps Class A 10-20W, Atmasphere OTLs and big Pass Labs Class A SS
The character has been a bit different amongst all of them, w the least favourable presentations bring the brutish Pass Labs, clarity but some shortfall in warmth from the OTLs, starting to get fleshed out Audion SETs, and full fat toneful and soulful NAT SETs, w special mention to the lower pwrd SITs and ZOTLs being suprisingly synergistic
I realise good horns will take these attributes on and up a stage or two, esp as 853 says, in the time/amplitude/dynamics realm
Certainly my exposure to the Denman Exponential Horn woke me up to the: in the moment/at one w the cosmos feeling I've never heard before or since, the Cessaro Liszts being a distant second for communication in lock step w soul and intent, my Zus and AG Duos somewhere being lapped in this audio equivalent of the 10000m

The one time I heard lizts I was not impressed, no bass and not very coherent sounding.
 

spiritofmusic

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Brad, I thought there was a lot of bass, but w the room nodes ******* things up, indeed it was difficult to call it on coherency
Then again, the LV Olympians aren't the last word in bass or coherency either IMHO
 

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