What is the best speaker you have ever owned ?????
- Thread starter MrAcoustat
- Start date
The Goldmunds stand out for instrumental timbre and fast bass without overhang which nevertheless goes deep. I have had them a long time! The current Epilog 1 is the same as mine AFAIK but the Epilog 2 now has 2 10" units rather than 4 8" units.
I originally intended to buy Wilson Audio WAMMs from the French Wilson importer (I was living in France at the time) but heard the Goldmund Apologue at the same time which I much preferred. Since it was about to be replaced by the Epilog I waited a while for a demo where I compared the Epilog 1 to the B&W Nautilus, the final 2 on my short list, and chose the Epilog.
It was a tough decision since I really wanted to prefer the Nautilus which looked more impressive and has much better styling, but the sound of the Goldmunds won me over. Mind you, since then the prices of higher end hifi have gone ballistic, I guess that is the only place anybody is making any money these days.
The Tune Audio Animas were a horn itch I wanted to scratch. I had seen good reviews (and some enthusiasts loathing) about horns so decided to listen. A friend has Avante Gardes and I had a super demo of the Cessaros by the UK importer. The Tune Audios had been much praised on forums and at Munich and when a UK distributor was appointed and he got Animas I could demo I went for a listen.
After a second listen I ordered some. They are made to order and to customers chosen finish (mine are burl Myrtle) so I had to wait a while.
When I told Sheenagh, my wife, I had ordered them she said she was profoundly depressed but who loves the styling now they are installed.
Fantastic stuff. Thanks F1Eng. I will have to go hear the Epilogues when I get a chance. Meanwhile, on your very opening thread...I had a couple questions for you (given your professional expertise) regarding mass damping/isolation for my Wilson X1s. If you get a chance, would love to get the benefit of your thoughts. Feel free to PM if you prefer. Thank you!!!
Your speaker looks to be very nicely constructed with fine attention fo details.
You have very small gauge and what appears unshielded and widely separated hot and common leads (red and white wires) going to the speaker.
Can you elaborate on your cable requirements.
I heard both the Goldmund and the Tune Audio Animas at Frank's place, and have heard the Animas at Jack's (distributor) as well. I personally prefer the Animas for all types of music, love them. And they seem to sound good irrespective of whether you use a powerful Modwright amp on them, a Devialet, or a valve. Getting to compare an Epilog and an Anima next to each other in the same room is still one of my audition highlights.
Very very true DIY Spectra 8800s made with 1+1s & 6600s all spectra panels 41x102x12 inches just under 800 pounds bass output 24 hz without subs & 14 hz with two JL's F-112 subwoofers the best i have heard yet i am 69 years old and audio as been my only passion for more than 45 years.
hello gary just saw your post, yes it is a very precise cnc machined construction as is the material itself extremely " high end " more on that in my systempage http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?6926-H-J-s-system-!/page10
regarding the wire, air is a insulator by itself so having the wires far apart doesnt hurt , the reason they stand up is that they are quite stiff they are 2,5 mm in diameter (without the teflon insulation ) and build out of multiple strands of copper silver coated .
The internal wire is the same but thinner in diam. , and while the total wire(incl internal ) costs are about 170 euros i dare to put it up against anything in terms of resolution , incl thousands of $$$ worth of wire and diamond membranes
ive used the very expensive ultralight stiff 20 mm diamond cone from thiel - accuton myself with very expensive high quality caps .
some companies go through extreme effort to build stuff without having to use circuitboards , ken stevens of CAT uses teflon boards in his high priced models or in parts of the boards
regarding the wire, air is a insulator by itself so having the wires far apart doesnt hurt , the reason they stand up is that they are quite stiff they are 2,5 mm in diameter (without the teflon insulation ) and build out of multiple strands of copper silver coated .
The internal wire is the same but thinner in diam. , and while the total wire(incl internal ) costs are about 170 euros i dare to put it up against anything in terms of resolution , incl thousands of $$$ worth of wire and diamond membranes
ive used the very expensive ultralight stiff 20 mm diamond cone from thiel - accuton myself with very expensive high quality caps . some companies go through extreme effort to build stuff without having to use circuitboards , ken stevens of CAT uses teflon boards in his high priced models or in parts of the boards
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DSC_0180 by andromeda61, on FlickrNeodymium magnet drivesystem which consists of circulair individual neodymium magnets which are part of the soft dome /ringradiatorsoft dome tweeter motor(illuminator series ) , the beryliumtweeter from scanspeak has the SD -2 motor
Not the most expensive tweeter on the market but extremely well constructed and incredibly natural / high res .....imo
and they can take a beating (soundwise ) not fragile at all
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you are to generous but i have to admit you re panels are BIG Any ( full range ) panel
No mine are small my friends are big.
Acoustat 1+1s =
Acoustat Spectra 8800s =
Hi Garth, you should hear the Analysis Audio Omega panels and the Dali Megaline, and please let me know how you compare them to your set. I am a Logan fan, and though I haven't heard the CLX set up, I prefer the Analysis Audio to Logans (I love Logans too). Will try to listen to a Megaline. I am due to go to Paris sometime to listen to a Soundlab, none in the UK that I know of the newer models
Stereo amp. Speakers are DIY using 3-wire 9" Acoustat panels that I bought from Roger Modjeski.
- r.
Nice to see the amp in its new home. I read all the discussion from the quoted post to date. No one has mentioned the greatest fault of the Acoustat transformer interfaces is in the design itself. While the internal crossover components separate the highs and lows going into their respective transformers they cannot do a great job on the output end where they have to re-combine. Basically the low frequencies cause saturation in the treble transformer. I have measured this distortion, it is not small. It is the major component of distortion in the system as the panels are very good.
I have studied the transformers and found there is no way to prevent this saturation other than have a single transformer that does the full range, which is rather difficult. We did that at Beveridge from 200 Hz up and it was difficult even over that range. Going down to 40 Hz is just impossible. That is why the interface has two transformers, one for the lows and one for the highs. Furthermore the speaker needs about 2000 watts to get to full level. Because my direct drive amp works at 5000 volts and produces close to 1/2 amp (2500 VA) there is no problem with power. These levels are only needed on transients but if not available the speaker will not sound dynamic. There is no inherent reason for a ESL to be any less dynamic than a cone speaker. The original servo amp produced about 1/10 amp so was rather stressed when asked to play things like symbol crashes and trumpets. Those have a lot of energy in the region where the speaker draws a great deal of current.
For those using the step up transformers keep in mind that you need an amp that provides about 30 amps of current into a capacitive load. This means no limiters as they will current clip because a capacitive load looks like a short to a load line limiter (max current at zero voltage=short) You also need about 60 volts, so we are back to a few thousand VA which ever way you go.
In my opinion Acoustat had to abandon the Servo amps due to reliability problems. They designed the transformers not because they were better but because they were necessary.
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