Does anyone own or have you heard the Newform Research LineSource Reference speakers? Please post comments.

http://www.newformresearch.com/

http://www.newformresearch.com/linesource.htm

No one has heard the Newform Research LineSource Reference speakers? They seem like an interesting design and are modular, so they can be expanded.

I own NFRs and are well familiar with the new design...

-MIP

Ahh the brand that made me stopped looking for the holy grail. I only own the R630 so I don't know how the line source sounds. However, I've been following its development and it seems to be a limited release model only with numerous changes throughout the years. Some times delayed releases etc... even though they are listed in the pricelist, the models' page still says under development. So the line source really sounds like a truly customized model made per order.

Hi gentlemen.
It has been my pleasure to purchase the 4 woofer (7" revelator) version of the Linesource Reference off of Mr. Meyer. I'm using them with the Behringer DCX2496 crossover and two amplifiers. The cabinets are extremely dead and an infinite baffle. I think he is using 1 "MDF and a heavy bracing pattern? They don't have a square edge or corner and they are heavy. I just checked his web page because he didn't have a lot of detail on them before, however he has a lot more now and has a new newsletter posted (Oct 2008). The picture he has shows the 6 woofer version with a 30" ribbon. Mine are without the bottom two woofers and the oak on the ribbons along with the complete alignment with the woofers ties in really nice for the eye. I've used PMC's, B&W's and Magnepan's as well as lot's of others. The largest Magnepans that I had were the Tympani 4A's with the 60" ribbon and midrange panel on the same frame and two bass frames on each side for a total of 6' x 7' of speaker panels on each side. I spent hours and hours trying to tweak their position (same with every other speaker) to balance bass, imaging and depth. The Linesource design gives me the plus'es of the big Magnepan's without any of the minuses. The speaker is incredibly independant of the room. No bass port, no di-polar (back waves), no ceiling or floor reflection (linesource and ribbon), no source time and phase problems (co-axial and linesource). I mix and master recordings and the bass had always been the "wild card" while mixing and mastering. The Linesource have an extremely flat response while not having the constructive and destructive peaks and valleys from ported designs. It's like taking a picture of charcoal on in front of a black door which is in a dark room. I can still see the charcoal, door and room, along with great detail of each. Well I can hear the Bass guitar versus the bass kick drum, versus the bass piano keys and balance them with confidence. The time alignment with the co-axial and Linesource design gives me great imaging and depth so it is much easier to place instruments and vocals in the mix as well. I use an old Ela and Louis, mono recording (it sounds better than pink noise :-) ) to check that I am getting a solid center image while still getting depth. I set these up in less time than it normally takes to select a CD and track to listen to. I set them in the classic triangle (without listening once), about 2.5 feet out from the walls, diagonally in a corner, put on Ela and Louis, moved the tweeters in about 1.5 degrees (yes you can independently of the cabinet aim them), listened to a recording made with only two ORTF, stereo microphones (like your own ears) and heard incredible depth and imaging from them. That was it. No big bass nodes to try and get rid of, no holes in the imaging, lot's depth, no narrow sweet spot. And yes I did say diagonally across a corner of the room, usually just about the worst place to out them. I had room treatment panels set up in between the speakers and against the wall to stop reflections to help imaging while I was using PMC, FB1's (about 6' x 4' high). I had my daughter remove them while I listened and there was no difference. I jumped up and walk over to half of the way between the two speakers, then moved slowly from about a foot in front of them to just past the face of the speakers and everything went dead. My daughter thought that I had lost it as I rocked back and forth in amazement listen to full volume in front to nothing behind. I don't use room treatment at all now. It's not required. With the PMC's and Magnepan's I needed it to get the imaging. Now I get better imaging without any required.

Anyway, I hope this helps?

Cheers,

Tom eh

I owned a pair of the R645 several years ago and liked, but did not love them. I could hear a slight, but noticeable disparity between the ribbon and woofers. I could also detect a change in tonal balance seated versus standing (which mattered to me at the time because I regularly listened to music in the room both ways).

I would still recommend the R645 for evaluation-I'm sure many would like it.

I can't speak to the new reference product though. On paper it should eliminate the few complaints I had with the R645.

Eric