AVS Forum banner

Vancouver Summertime GTG Results

26K views 309 replies 43 participants last post by  randyc1 
#1 ·
So I've started a new thread for guys to post pictures and impressions from the Vancouver GTG. Hopefully everyone one has a good time and enjoys meeting some fellow local AVSer's :grin:
 
#2 · (Edited)
Okay, so after some time to reflect on things and not too mention cool down I wanted to post a few comments. Thought I'd first post about the Funk Audio stuff and then all of the compression driver style speakers. Also take into account that I wasn't really taking notes as a few of the guys were doing and I was kind of in and out of the room and didn't always have a "money seat" too hear some of the speakers. All impression are purely subjective based on my own tastes and untrained ears!....lol


First things first, I can see why the Funk speakers are a premium. Nathan's attention to detail and craftsmanship is top notch, they are definitely a speakers that I'd want everyone to see if I owned them. The first up was the 8.2P towers, right away I could tell that they were very laid back and mellow speaker. But still sounded great, but this is where I have to be honest as I didn't spend a lot of time listening to them. Overall I felt a little let down because they looked better then this sounded, I was expecting a little more from them. And I don't mean that in a bad way either, I still felt that they sounded better then some of the other speakers that I've heard from companies like Paradigm, Monitor Audio and a few Focal speakers that I've heard in the past. I don't really think it's fair for me to be critical of them because I didn't really have a chance to sit down and really focus on them.


Next up was the 6.1P's and I actually tried to sit down and listen to much as I could with them. I have to say that for music this was one of my favorite speakers. I thought that they sounded awesome, still laid back but sounded a little more edgier then the 8.2P's. At first I was thinking to myself "Am I crazy or do these sound better then the 8.2P's" after a quick chat with Nathan he also mentioned that it's not the first time people have thought the 6.1P's sounded better then the 8.2P's. And the one common factor with people that thought the same thing I was saying was the room. Nathan felt that the smaller 6.1's seemed to sound better in smaller rooms compared to the 8.2's and the 8.2's sounded better then the 6.1's in big rooms. This is the first time that I've heard a planar style tweeter speaker and I have to say for music I really enjoyed them. They imaged well and just did everything from male to female vocals very well along with instrumentals. But for movies I still felt they lacked a little of what I'm use too compared to my JTR's.


Now the bad part, I'm trying to figure out how to afford a pair to put up in my living room to use as a nice little 2.1 setup for music......lol :grin:


Oh and the pictures of the Funk speakers and subs do NOT do them justice, in person I was blown away with how they look.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Okay, so now that I've written down my thoughts on the Funk planar style speakers and wanted to give some thoughts on the more pro style speakers like the 1099`s, 228HT`s, Tempest and Tux`s TWW speakers.


So after the Funk`s it was time for the 1099`s to show everyone what they were capable of. I already had about a day and a half head start hearing the 1099`s because tyee was kind enough to bring the pair of 1099`s over from the island for Tux and wanted to drop them off at my place early. I hooked them up and I ran my REW sweep and also wanted to check their sensitivity compared to my 228`s. So far these speakers are the closets that`s come to matching the sensitivity of the 228HT`s, they are basically identical but the nice thing about the 1099`s is that they are an 8ohm load where my 228HT`s are a 4ohm. So the 1099`s are a little kinder to anyone who has a receiver that isn't 4ohm rated. So after having spent about 4hrs listening to the 1099`s before the GTG I knew somewhat to expect from them and let me just say that they didn't disappoint. I thought they imaged really well and were very dynamic for both music and movies, they lacked a little mid bass but it still didn't really stand out as something that was a problem. They just seemed to have a little less then what I was use too with my 228HT`s. And there was a few moments that I thought they sounded a little bright, but it isn`t something that I would consider to be a problem. They just had a little more snap to them on the top end. If you were considering placing them behind an AT screen it wouldn`t even be an after thought because the screen would knock them down a decibel. They were excellent with both instrumentals and again great with male and female vocals. Overall I just have to say that these are awesome speakers, and anyone considering DIY should have them right at the top of their list.


I`ve had a few guys pm me asking how I thought the 1099`s compared to my 228HT`s and I have to say that after hearing them for two and a half days I have to say that I`m EXTREMELY impressed with Tux`s 1099`s. They do a few things different then my 228`s and I do still slightly prefer my 228`s but that could be from me being use to how they sound. I personally was able to buy my 228HT`s back when they were at the pre-order sale price of $999ea, they have since then gone up to $1299ea. Honestly after having heard the 1099`s if I was starting over again I can honestly say that I think I`d have to buy the 1099 kits. They are basically the same performance for half the price, so how on god`s green earth could you say no to that......lol


So after the 1099`s it was time for a speaker that I`m very familiar with, my 228HT`s. And I was looking forward to having everyone else hear them too. As it was with all of the other speakers we started with 12 music tracks and then 5 movies clips. As I`ve always thought the 228HT`s were great with vocals, both male and female vocals. One of the biggest things that I love about the 228HT`s is their ability to bring voices to life while watching movies. Even when I watch a movie with my volume at -40 I never have to strain to hear what people are saying while watching movies. They image extremely well and excellent with instrumentals, I`m not a huge Eagles fan but I absolutely love listening to the Eagles Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over live album. Every time I hear that song on the 228HT`s it just puts a huge smile on my face.


So after hearing the 228HT's the Tempest were up and I have to admit that I was starting to have a little listening fatigue.....lol
Warren had dropped the Tempest off to we the week before so I was able to watch a few movies that I had seen a few times and again listen to music that I knew fairly well. And again they sounded pretty good even though much has been made lately that something must be "off" with the set of them that we had because of a measurement that I had posted. I don't really know what else can be said about that. The speaker was built with a pre-assembled crossover, everything was wired the way they were suppose to be and Warren swares that he's double checked them. And the cabinets weren't over stuffed with insulation. I felt that they did everything that the 1099's and 228HT's did just not quite as well, and at times I even thought they sounded a little bright. Not harsh at all but bright at times. Anyone reading this that owns Tempests should take it as a negative, they aren't a bad speaker and don't think you need to sell them and build yourself some 1099's. They are a great speaker but I think they just get a little left behind when comparing them to the 1099's and 228HT's. Before even hearing the 1099's I felt that the 228HT's had better highs and were more detailed. At first I thought that the Tempest had more mid bass and it was probably me just think "well heck it has a 12" driver, it must have more mid bass" but the more listening that I did I started to realize that the 228HT's still had better mid bass. And I'm not the only one saying that now, with a few that have heard the Tempest and 228HT's saying the same thing. I still think the Tempest is a great speaker, I just don't think it really did anything that stood out as better at one thing over any of the other speakers.


And finally last up was Tuxedocivic (aka Ryan) the man, the myth, and legend's new TWW design that he decided to build just for fun. I have to admit I was really excited to hear this speaker. I know that he has been a little critical in how the finish on them turned out, but I have to tell you that they looked awesome! The molded in waveguide was awesome and looked really sharp, I wish I had the skills to do something like that....lol
And I really liked how he's made them modular, just another really cool thinking out of the box design. By now I had heard the music & movie playlist 5 times so I was more then familiar with how things should sound in my mind. I was also thinking in my head that I knew that the crossovers were still a work in progress and Ryan was saying that he's still not 100% happy with them and was going to try a few things. But I have to say that I thought they sounded good. The voices and vocals where a little strained but I thought that they imaged nicely and instrumentals were good, they had great mid bass and I actually wish we could have really cranked them up to hear what they could have really done. I would say that they were a tad bright at times but again I think it's just something that Ryan will dial in. Overall a very nice speaker with tons of potential once fully dialed in to Ryan's liking.


So probably no big surprise to anyone I would still have ranked my 228HT's as my favorite speaker with the 1099's right behind them. I can easily say that the 1099's are 95-97% of what the 228HT's are but at almost 50% of the cost. How can you argue with that? I know some guys would still rather buy a speaker then build a speaker, and to that guy I say take a serious look at the JTR 228HT's. I still have yet to hear a speaker for movie use that I think sounds better within its price range and that the 228HT's can actually punch severely notches about its weight class. But to the guy ready to safe some money, have a little fun and take a little pride in enjoying a speaker that they built. Do yourself a HUGE favor and take a real close look at the 1099's to see if they'd work for you. :)


After the 228's and 1099's I would have ranked Tux's TWW next followed closely by the Tempests. I say that based on what I heard and knowing that Ryan still has some refining to do on them being a little bright.


Lastly I'd like to say that all of my comments are simply that, my own opinion and just how I felt about the speakers. I feel that a few might think that we`ve beat up a little on the Tempest and that simply isn`t that case. I think they are a great speaker and its hard to say anything bad about them at their price point, I just think that on the DIY side of things Ryan has stepped up the game a notch and raised the bar with the 1099's and that IMHO the 228HT's always sounded better then the Tempest in my mind.


Now I just need to hear more details about these "high end" designs that Erich keeps talking about and teasing us with!...lol :grin:


Then I might have to consider selling the 228HT's to make way for one of those builds, or possibly some of the designs that I've been talking to Ryan about building. :grin:
 
#5 ·
Hi Guys. Did the playlist for this event ever get published? I checked the other thread, but things seemed to focus more on the Tempest measurements. I'm showing my Philharmonic speakers at the Capital Audio Fest next weekend, and would be very interested to get some feedback after yours ears stop ringing on which tracks you thought were the most helpful in judging the relative merits of the speakers. Thanks!
 
#15 ·
You should line up all the speakers for a photo shoot.
(and you should line up all the subs for a photo shoot.)

Measurements and Videos, or it didn't happen!!! LOL ;) :D
0 degrees & 45 degrees, if you have time...
 
#22 · (Edited)
I'm surprised you guys haven't popped jbrown's 15 amp breakers yet.
A 15amp breaker only supports ~1600watts continuous of actual power and up to 6000watts sustained for 1 second, which is actually quite a lot of power in practice...

The LG clone amp for example can bottom out two of my LMS-18's at 20hz while only drawing 1000watts of actual power from the wall.
The waveform of the Funk amp or inuke amp drawing from the wall would also look very much similar to this, and would explain why breakers aren't popping yet.


Here is a small microwave I have in my theater, it's drawing 50% more power than my subwoofer amp, nearly a full 15 amps continuous.

Microwaves and vacuum cleaners are just: that inefficient by comparison to subwoofer-amps.

I didn't believe it either until I measured it myself... (I love my power analyzer, very handy). But enough talk about power for now, back to the speakers! :D
 

Attachments

#29 ·
Finished up with tempests. They were very good at most things but not outstanding in any category. Will give more info later.

Remember these are my impressions, that cover my preferences. I will outline how we listened, volume, etc later. Its a 100 degrees in here and I think I lost 5 pounds.... Which is a good thing.
 
#30 ·
Its a 100 degrees in here and I think I lost 5 pounds.... Which is a good thing.
I was sweating there too and that was only 4 dudes, I could only imagine it in there with like 10 or something...
I think jbrown needs to invest in a split-AC as his next audio upgrade, no more AV stuff until then! ;)
 
#32 ·
Had a great time. Thanks Joe. Got to meet great people. Nice to meet ST, Warren, and many more. Was great to meet Donny. You weren't anything like I imagined. Very chill guy. Your posts made me expect a guy who's amped up and over the top. :p Very nice chatting with you.

I'll leave speaker impressions later. I gotta spend some time with my family.
 
#33 ·
I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Thanks to Nathan and Mark from Funk Audio for bringing out there 8.2P & 6.1P speakers and monster 18.2 sub! As I'm a big Red Sox fan so in my fake Boston accent it was "wicked awesome"!!....lol
Thanks to David for making the trek down from Kelowna and bringing some snacks, and Raf that's for the donuts although you probably should have left them with me!...lol
Big thanks to ST for bring sandwiches from his Subway store!!!! Ryan really nice to finally meet the man, the myth, the legend!..lol and your 1099's! although I really liked your TWW design. Donny thanks for putting together the playlist, that really helped things run smoothly.


I know I had a great time and I'll try to post some comments later, right now I have to spend some time with the wife and kids!...lol
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top