Best Speaker for 100k

[Folsom]

so start your own thread. thank you.

Rude. I don't think that's a good attitude for the forum.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thank you Steve. Blame Lavigne for taking the Led Zeppelin I tape with him.

and you ought to hear it in my room. holy guacamole!!!

Joe Pittman, my dealer for the Furutech outlets/plugs, was here doing the outlets for the tape decks on Tuesday night and I played him that tape. maybe he is around and can comment.

 

[rbbert]

I would suggest the loudspeaker we brought to The Show in Newport this year... the Evolution Acoustics MMThree EXACT.

Aren't these considerably more thna $100k? IIRC the Two's are between $90k and $100k?

 

[Joe Pittman]

and you ought to hear it in my room. holy guacamole!!!

Joe Pittman, my dealer for the Furutech outlets/plugs, was here doing the outlets for the tape decks on Tuesday night and I played him that tape. maybe he is around and can comment.

Yes, Mike's copy of Led Zep I was drop dead incredible. I'm considering selling a kidney to buy a copy.

BTW, Mike's Evolution speakers are great.

 

[rbbert]

Rude. I don't think that's a good attitude for the forum.

Perhaps rude, perhaps not, but I can certainly support the idea that the thread not be derailed.

 

[Folsom]

Perhaps rude, perhaps not, but I can certainly support the idea that the thread not be derailed.

Certainly not. But my vote for what I'd choose includes things at other prices, for the reasons stated. It would be nice if it were black and white, but sadly that's not the experience I've had.

 

[pweg]

Id like to vote for Marten Coltrane 3's . Haven't heard them but i have a pair being delivered next week woohoo

 

[asiufy]

Aren't these considerably more thna $100k? IIRC the Two's are between $90k and $100k?

Nope, US$ 104500 for the MM3 EXACT, and US$ 89500 for MM2 EXACT.

BTW they're singing beautifully in our store here in La Jolla, for those who're interested in checking them out!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Nope, US$ 104500 for the MM3 EXACT, and US$ 89500 for MM2 EXACT.

. . .

$104,500 for the MM3 Exact seems relatively pretty reasonable.

 

[SCAudiophile]

I'd listen to cheaper things too. $100K doesn't guarantee better performance. There's a lot of $50K speakers that are in the same league, they just aren't sold by dealers.

In fact unless the manufacture makes their own drivers, it's almost impossible to receive a very high "value" over others. You're really choosing preference.

I wish I could vote for overly custom drivers like field coils, but sadly he only ones I heard were immensely awful.

+1 support for this statement..price does not guarantee superior quality in stereo equipment, speakers, automobiles or anything else. There are as many <$100K speakers that sound great and compete/best >$100K offerings. To be fair, there are many $100K speakers that sound amazing as well....

On a related note (to the OP's topic and the latest reply regarding the MMThree Exacts, can anyone summarize beyond the marketing verbiage on the Evolution website (which has its share of hyperbole, etc....) exactly what do the Exact modules provide and how do they work? Also, what is the price of the MMSeven's and does an MMSeven speaker pair outperform the MMThrees with Exact modules?

 

[bonzo75]

http://www.audio-markt.de/_markt/item.php?id=4296427638&

 

[rbbert]

$104,500 for the MM3 Exact seems relatively pretty reasonable.

+1

 

[Mike Lavigne]

+1 support for this statement..price does not guarantee superior quality in stereo equipment, speakers, automobiles or anything else. There are as many <$100K speakers that sound great and compete/best >$100K offerings. To be fair, there are many $100K speakers that sound amazing as well....

On a related note (to the OP's topic and the latest reply regarding the MMThree Exacts, can anyone summarize beyond the marketing verbiage on the Evolution website (which has its share of hyperbole, etc....) exactly what do the Exact modules provide and how do they work? Also, what is the price of the MMSeven's and does an MMSeven speaker pair outperform the MMThrees with Exact modules?

I own MM7's. I 'think' they still list for $200k but I've not really checked on that for awhile......so they could be more. I had owned MM3's for 6 years prior to getting the MM7's in 2012. and I've not only listened to the MM3 Exact's at shows but a local friend has MM3 Exacts that I hear frequently.

the Exact crossover towers house the almost the identical crossover used in the MM7's; so they do take the performance of the MM3's quite a ways toward the MM7's from the standard MM3's. the refinement and subtlety is better. the top end is more extended and sweet. you hear deeper into the music. it's a significant step up from the already excellent MM3's.

I recall when I first heard the prototype MM7's right next to the MM3 (which I owned at that time) and I saw the prototype MM7 crossover laying on the floor at the designers home in San Diego in early 2012. it was a monster and beautiful. later he shared with me pictures of the completed crossover and how he had to install it in the main towers of the MM7. it was quite the packaging trick and I can see how the MM3 Exact needs those towers. and when he played a familiar cut on the MM3's and then the MM7 prototype you could stick a fork in me. I was done. and I hear in the MM3 Exacts much of that same MM7's sound.

however; fundamentally the MM7's are a whole different thing in some ways. first off; instead of -2- 15" active adjustable drivers that cover from 10hz to 200hz in the MM3/MM3 Exacts, the MM7's have the combination of the separate bass towers with -4- 15" active subwoofers covering 3hz-50hz, and then -4- 11" ceramic passive mid-bass drivers covering mid-20hz - 250hz range in the main towers. in the MM7's the mid-range drivers don't go as deep. and the MM7's are 96db 6 ohm, the MM3/MM3 Exact is 93db, 4 ohm. and in the MM7 each bass tower has -2- 1000 watt amplifiers with analog EQ adjustments (MM3's have one), one for the top two drivers and the other for the bottom 2 drivers. so the driver surface is multiplied by more than 3 and the room adjustability is also increased. the driver excursion in the deep and mid bass is minimal and so is distortion. and you hear that in lots of ways. the music lives in the mid-bass and lower mids.....and the MM7's are so astonishingly capable in those always critical frequencies.

to be fair to the MM3/MM3 Exact......the MM7's have many of these same advantages over almost any speaker out there at any price, let alone only those at $100k. headroom in the lower frequencies does translate (when done right) to more ease and naturalness and more 'suspension of disbelief' and realism.....more cohesion and less a sense of a reproduction chain.

anyone in neighborhood is welcome to come over Tuesday night as the local audio club will be meeting here to hear for themselves how the MM7's do in a fully tweaked system.

I don't know of another $100k speaker system that I like as well as the MM3 Exact. it's easily room adjustable. my local friend has his in a 13' wide, 8' high room and they sound magnificent. the room at RMAF was likely 35' x 35' x 11' or maybe larger......and they were great there too. it's an easy load which allows for a wide range of amplification. and it just makes great music and is worthy of the best supporting gear. and it can be purchased in steps as it's modular. you can start with an MM2 step up to MM3, and then to the Exact. buyers who bought the MM2 or MM3 10 years ago can still have a current product. not a small thing compared to some product lines that change/update every 24-36 months and resale thus is affected.

 

[es347]

VSA VR9se MkIIs

 

[microstrip]

Mike,

The only difference between the MM3 Exact and the old MM3 is just the external crossover?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike,

The only difference between the MM3 Exact and the old MM3 is just the external crossover?

Micro,

my understanding is that the Exact module is plug and play with MM2's or MM3's. so it's only inserting the module between your speaker cables and the existing MM2/3.

 

[asiufy]

Micro,

my understanding is that the Exact module is plug and play with MM2's or MM3's. so it's only inserting the module between your speaker cables and the existing MM2/3.

Yup! And the internal crossover in the MM3 towers are *not* disabled, so they work in tandem! The results are startling, the instruments have much more bite and and you can hear and *feel* their texture a lot better... It was actually asked during the event we did whether the new modules are actually increasing efficiency, since the system played with less effort, with a lot more ease (btw they're not).


cheers,
alex

 

[Steve Williams]

How do the external and internal crossovers work in tandem

 

[DaveC]

I don't think the Exact modules are crossovers but rather frequency and time/phase correction networks, hence the "Exact" name...

 

[SCAudiophile]

To all...thank you for all the thoughts and data on the MM3 Exact and MM7. I need to make hearing these a priority in the months ahead....does anyone know what the roll-off specs are on those bass range numbers? Don't know if I'm looking at -2db, -3db or something less in the -10db qualifier....