Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
Speakers are such a personal thing, I just can’t imagine an audiophile world where everyone is in total agreeance on anything... especially speakers. It’s important you follow your instincts with these choices.
Marc you keep saying how much you are loving your sound at the mo so I say stick with what you love... and be like a true audiophile and only look at every pretty thing that walks past but stay with the ones you love.
PS Agree that Harby 40.2s are great but they aren’t really a SET speaker and are at their best with biggish SS and really love a good bit of headroom and power... 120 watts and above to properly control those Radian drivers so they spring to life... I’d have thought maybe not so much a good match for the lovely NATs.
Marc you keep saying how much you are loving your sound at the mo so I say stick with what you love... and be like a true audiophile and only look at every pretty thing that walks past but stay with the ones you love.
PS Agree that Harby 40.2s are great but they aren’t really a SET speaker and are at their best with biggish SS and really love a good bit of headroom and power... 120 watts and above to properly control those Radian drivers so they spring to life... I’d have thought maybe not so much a good match for the lovely NATs.
Yesterday, my friend who owns the 40.2’s was driving them easily with a low powered tube amp in a room that probably wasn’t much smaller than yours. Marc, like so many a’philes, you assume that low powered amps won’t work with mid efficiency speakers under all circumstances. That is, IMO, not always the case, because a lot depends on the quality of the transformers. If you have transformers that are decent quality, you would be surprised at how powerful some of these tube amps can sound. For example, many people don’t know that a 200watt/ch ss amp isn’t going to drive a load like the Harbeths better than a 30-40 watt/ch tube amp with a decent transformer.
You should attempt to place these Harbeths (or any speaker under consideration for that matter) into your system, before coming to a conclusion. I thought that went without saying, but I guess it is worth repeating.
You should attempt to place these Harbeths (or any speaker under consideration for that matter) into your system, before coming to a conclusion. I thought that went without saying, but I guess it is worth repeating.
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DaveyF,Marc, maybe I’m missing something here, but I don’t get why you — as they say in the UK ...keep flogging a dead horse! If the sound isn’t working for you in some way with the Zu’s..
Dump the Zu’s.
There are so many great speakers on the market that will work great in your surroundings, that to have to keep on fighting with your existing speakers makes no sense...at least to me.
For example, yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening once again to the excellent Harbeths. The model 30.1 and the current 40.2. I was surprised how the smaller 30.1 could really portray accurate and deep bass. The 40.2’s even more so, and here’s the thing, we had them in a room that benefited a near field
Listening experience...and they were great.
The room probably had acoustic issues, maybe like yours, but the synergy with the Harbeths was excellent...and not at all hard to accomplish.
Harbeth’s are just a few of the many excellent speakers out there...
we're going to drag that dead horse past the finishing post to prove a point for Marc before sending them to the knacker's yard. Only then will he consider new speakers.
On the point of Mid-range density that Marc is enamoured with in the Zus, well, I just don't hear it and you are right in that there are many speakers that would be superior to Zu.
In fact a less efficient speaker would reveal less of the tube amp noise currently heard, albeit close up, with the Zu.
To add to Marc's woes is the constant buzz in the room from the 'giant' balanced transformer that I hear but Marc doesn't. I think my brain just notices these issues, I used to go crazy listening to CRT whine.
Cheers
Blue58
Marc also has his drum kit in the back of the room. Surely this may be acting as a passive bass radiator and potentially producing unheard very low frequencies.
I must take the prize for "most suggested to" member on this forum.
Barry, all I hear from many on this forum, incl people I personally know, is how poor the AG Duos are.
Bass discontinuous w the main horns, horn honk, they're not real horns just compromises compared to Trios etc.
Now I don't subscribe to those criticisms, but I know people who'd do anything to pass on Duos.
Other horns I've been recommended to truly set my nerves on edge.
And so these things are all personal choice.
Otoh, I'm not so egotistical that I'm not aware Zus are limited in some (many, it seems) respects, and I'm more open than ever to considering a final major upgrade to them.
But in the meantime, I'll remain content to enjoy them for what I value in music reproduction.
PS fully concur re the transformer hum, I'm considering running the Westwick outside the listening room.
Barry, all I hear from many on this forum, incl people I personally know, is how poor the AG Duos are.
Bass discontinuous w the main horns, horn honk, they're not real horns just compromises compared to Trios etc.
Now I don't subscribe to those criticisms, but I know people who'd do anything to pass on Duos.
Other horns I've been recommended to truly set my nerves on edge.
And so these things are all personal choice.
Otoh, I'm not so egotistical that I'm not aware Zus are limited in some (many, it seems) respects, and I'm more open than ever to considering a final major upgrade to them.
But in the meantime, I'll remain content to enjoy them for what I value in music reproduction.
PS fully concur re the transformer hum, I'm considering running the Westwick outside the listening room.
Nanos are good. I remember hearing a pair in a huge room at Scalford years ago. Longer than your attic. They were excellent in there driving all that space with 40 Watt battery powered amps/
Whilst you can't see how huge (long) that room was, trust me, it was long.
Whilst you can't see how huge (long) that room was, trust me, it was long.
Justin, it's Trios w BHs or no AGs in my room. Haven't you heard? Ked says anything less, and they're not horns.
I thought everyone got my memo
Along with your gloriously dense midrange, low noise, seamless subterranean bass posts?
That's right Ked, haven't you heard, we're all in a post-truth world now.
Some of us have more self belief aka self delusion than others.
Some of us have more self belief aka self delusion than others.
Justin, I've had the honour of hearing Barry evolve his Duos based system to a fantastic level, now w Aqua Forumula XHD dac.
I've been over dozens of times in the few years I've known him, and never been less than highly impressed.
I've been over dozens of times in the few years I've known him, and never been less than highly impressed.
Hopefully next time, with Bocchino plugs installed, you may be impressed enough to swap the Zu ????
Gotta say again I was impressed with the Previn - Planets the most but those clicks and pops just annoy the hell out of me. I really do struggle with any unwanted noise in my listening environment, even birds tweeting outside or those damn builders next door.
I’m just a grumpy old man.
Actually, a very interesting future direction could be AG Duos XD Mezzos or XD Trios/Basshorns, pwrd by a Pass Labs XA25 amp.
The amp costs c£5k, s/h Trios w BHs could be had for £30-40k.
I would want as low noise as poss, and the XA25 reviews praise this amp as Nelson's best yet, with a real fluid, liquid tube sensibility.
Having heard the Cessaro Liszts horns by far sound their best w Bakoon Class AB 15W SS, I'd be open to horns on the right SS.
The amp costs c£5k, s/h Trios w BHs could be had for £30-40k.
I would want as low noise as poss, and the XA25 reviews praise this amp as Nelson's best yet, with a real fluid, liquid tube sensibility.
Having heard the Cessaro Liszts horns by far sound their best w Bakoon Class AB 15W SS, I'd be open to horns on the right SS.
Barry, grumpy old man? Standard definition of a dyed in the wool audiophile.
As John Peel commented on, people around you make noise at a classical concert, there's traffic noise outside, birdsong, you can hear yourself think, your pulse, sneezing, coughing, swallowing.
Just where is this noise free environment that so shows up surface noise on vinyl?
As John Peel commented on, people around you make noise at a classical concert, there's traffic noise outside, birdsong, you can hear yourself think, your pulse, sneezing, coughing, swallowing.
Just where is this noise free environment that so shows up surface noise on vinyl?
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