Downsizing - Speaker recommendations

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
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I heard Vapor Audio at RMAF a few years back. IMO, meh... At the same show were the TAD E1s which were just much more coherant, accurate and musical. Just another opinion...

I have had the E1 in my exhibit room. This comparison is apples to oranges. Try the Vapor Nimbus if you want a large 3-way.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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I heard Vapor Audio at RMAF a few years back. IMO, meh... At the same show were the TAD E1s which were just much more coherant, accurate and musical. Just another opinion...

+1 Sb06--
I posted previous pic of the off site demo of the Vapour setup at RMAF-my friend went to hear the speaker specifically--sonically we felt it rather bland
my associate conversed with another gentleman in the room--a Mr. Jenkins (?)-he was also slightly nonplussed with the sound.

I feel the poster should look at alternatives as suggested above

Bruce D
 

Pb Blimp

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Oct 30, 2017
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USA
I heard Vapor Audio at RMAF a few years back. IMO, meh... At the same show were the TAD E1s which were just much more coherant, accurate and musical. Just another opinion...

Do you recall what the electronics were? I had a very similar experience at Axpona.
 
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thedudeabides

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Jan 16, 2011
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I recently went from the MBL 116's to the Joseph Audio Pulsar with a single REL T7i sub. Cost $9K MSRP. Previous to MBL's had four different Martin Logan models over 25 years.

Very small footprint. Very big, full range sound. For another $1K or so, you can always add another sub
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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Thanks for all the input guys. Some clarification. If I downsize, I will probably lose the dedicated audio room, but will have space for a decent size floorstander (in the living room). If I had to get one speaker based on what I heard at shows, I would get the Giya G3, but a former owner told me they have reliability issues.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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+1 on the new Avalon PM4

TAD R1

The last decent Magico demo I heard was S7 w/ Rowland at a CAS event, seems like they'd fit in well too.

Revel Salon
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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+1 on the new Avalon PM4

TAD R1

The last decent Magico demo I heard was S7 w/ Rowland at a CAS event, seems like they'd fit in well too.

Revel Salon

If bitcoin hits $100K I'd consider it. The move has to be cashflow neutral....
 

twitch

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Jun 17, 2010
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I recently went from the MBL 116's to the Joseph Audio Pulsar with a single REL T7i sub. Cost $9K MSRP. Previous to MBL's had four different Martin Logan models over 25 years.

Very small footprint. Very big, full range sound. For another $1K or so, you can always add another sub

I second Gordon's praise for Joesph Audio, Having heard the bookshelf Pulsar's myself I know of no speaker it's size that produces the level of bass they do. If you have the $$ and the space the floor standing Pearl 3's are superb.
 

edorr

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May 10, 2010
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I second Gordon's praise for Joesph Audio, Having heard the bookshelf Pulsar's myself I know of no speaker it's size that produces the level of bass they do. If you have the $$ and the space the floor standing Pearl 3's are superb.

I have heard Joseph Audio floorstanders in the past and absolutely loved them. I may put them on the shortlist.
 

DSkip

Industry Expert
Aug 26, 2013
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www.audiothesis.com
I debated heavily since the inception of this thread, but I feel I would regret not mentioning it. Yeah, its tooting my own horn, but the clients I have had coming in the past few weeks are falling in love with the Rosso Fiorentino Volterra. Their biggest draw from them is the expansive soundstage in all three dimensions with realistic weight and size to the images with the tone to match. The more speakers I hear, the more I fall in love with Rosso Fiorentino.

https://www.audiothesis.com/volterra

If you make it to Axpona, I will have a room directly across from Joseph Audio. I won't have the Volterra there, but I will have the tower below it, the Certaldo.

Tom heard the still-breaking-in stand-mount version of the Volterra (Fiesole) at LSAF last year and was impressed.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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If you remove the top bass units of an MM3, won't you now have very reasonably sized MM2s? ;)
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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what didn't you like about the JBLs in regard to your small scale instrumental music? also, what attributes about a speaker do you care about - dynamics, efficiency, tone, etc.

i say this as your EAs to me sound different from Vivids and considerably different from Magicos.
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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I have had TAD, YG Acoustic, Salk and other speakers in my exhibit rooms at shows for 12 years. I finally found a small speaker that beats them all:

Vapor Audio Cirrus Black:

http://www.vaporsound.com/speakers/cirrus-black/

Even though these are 2-way stand-mounted, they beat the bass on most 3-ways. Very fast too. Vocals sound very live. They are around $8K depending on finish. Lots of custom finishes available. Vapors are the flattest response speakers I have encountered, and they only use the very best drivers and crossover parts.

Another good speaker is certain models of Focal.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Let's be honest- Vapor isn't really in business. Ryan isn't even taking new orders.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
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what didn't you like about the JBLs in regard to your small scale instrumental music? also, what attributes about a speaker do you care about - dynamics, efficiency, tone, etc.

i say this as your EAs to me sound different from Vivids and considerably different from Magicos.

The JBLs bested the MM3s in some aspects (dynamics and imaging), but vocals and acoustic instruments just did not sound natural to me (maybe the aduiophile attribute lacking is "timbre"). I'm hopeful the Giya will have excellent timbre based on what I heard at Axpona.
 

asiufy

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Jul 8, 2011
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almaaudio.com
What amps are you running, BTW? That could be important...

And for the record, I second the YGs :)

cheers,
alex
 

KeithR

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May 7, 2010
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The JBLs bested the MM3s in some aspects (dynamics and imaging), but vocals and acoustic instruments just did not sound natural to me (maybe the aduiophile attribute lacking is "timbre"). I'm hopeful the Giya will have excellent timbre based on what I heard at Axpona.

Sounds like horn transparency wasn't for you.
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
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Let's be honest- Vapor isn't really in business. Ryan isn't even taking new orders.

Thank you for exposing this. He indicated to me, via PM, that he was some sort of speaker manufacturer and was therefore unwilling to publicly "criticize" another speaker manufacturer.

With all due respect, I would question the legitimacy of anything he (Steve N.) posts.

PS: And if he is a manufacturer and / or dealer, shouldn't this be part of his "signature" for disclosure purposes? And absent disclosure, isn't this contrary to WBF rules. Perhaps the Mods can look into this.

Also please read the beginning and end of the review of the Vapor Aurora speaker published in "6 Moons" written by Srayan Ebaen dated November 2014. It concluded with the words "caveat emptor". This seems to shed more light regarding his credibility and why he is recommending a Vapor speaker.
 
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