The Official Usher Audio Owners Thread - Page 12

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with some advice. I got a great deal on a pair of usher V 602 speakers. I love the speakers. I bought a demo pair and one of the speaker grills is missing. Could anyone e-mail me and give me a lead as to wear I might be able to find a replacement speaker grill? I did not think this would be a hard thing. email Brian bwaarchitecture@att.net

Try the Usher Audio Store, operated by Usher's Dallas-based US distributor. This link has similar accessories.

http://www.usheraudiostore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=UAS&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ACC

Good luck!

wow IS ALL I can say about these speakers, the dancer series is absolulty amazing, I fell in love with these at a recent audio show, they sound better then a lot of brand name speakers cost the same and twice as much.

The diamond tweeters, bass, was great, music sounded fantastic, i was amazed with these speakers I highky recomend veryone to check out the new dancer series, I am a monitor audio and paradigm fan but after hearing the usher dancers i want them lol

For music phenominal I just need to listen to them for movies and see how they do. A lot of the speakers at the show was geared for 2channel audio.

Usher is starting to roll out shipments of the Dancer Mini-X Diamond in Taiwan. Other countries to follow.

IMHO these sound better and look better than the BE-718-DMD! At only a minor extra cost.

http://www.usheraudio.com/Loudspeaker_Dancer%20Mini-X%20diamond.html

I expect USA residents can hear them in a few weeks at CES in Las Vegas. Taiwan residents can find them at the headquarters. Bring your credit card along is my advice.

They come in Usher's 3 standard wood finishes, plus 3 lacquer finishes: white, red, and orange.
Edited by Toe Tag - 12/11/12 at 5:25am

Hi all ,
i'm planning to buy usher md2 with center 616 for my ht set up pair it with my paradigm adp390 surround.

Is it enough if i'm only using onkyo 3009 avr to drive them?If i want to add power amp,emotiva xpa 5 a good choice?Thanks;)

I have the same setup in front for my HT. I haved used Denon and Marantz AVRs and found both lacking in driving the Mini-2's. I would recommend spending your amp money on your mains, they will get the vas tmajority of the signal. The center is mostly for dialogue and the surrounds are effects. Get a solid 2-channel amp, unless you do video only and not music, then I could see a 5-channel amp as justified. But theMini-2's really shine with Monoblock power. I have not heard the emotiva products but Kal Rubinson seems to like them at their price point. If you can try to find an amp that doubles down, eg 100watts at 8 ohms and 200 watts at 4 ohms. Try Audiogon for used gear, my experiences have been good if you do proper vetting.

The mini-2's rock as a home theatre!

Happy watching!

Griller

I'm going with Dancer Mini-X Diamond, three of them, Left, Center, Right.

I reviewed only the XPA-5 but the others have been well-received elsewhere.

Whoops. I meant to say L/R = BE-10. LW/C/FW = Mini X.

I agree that in a 2.0 setup, I'd miss the bass, with just a Mini-X or a Be-718. It depends on the listening room, lotta smaller apartments in Asia.

I also agree that it will be great to see more Usher reviews. Both Mini Dancers got reviewed this year in the UK. Here's one of the reviews.
http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/index.php/loudspeakers/65-reviews/388-usher-dancer-mini-one.html Shouldn't the US distributor be able to arrange US reviews?

But mainly, glad to have your confirmation on the Mini X Dancer. I went over with my other golden ear friend 5627429 and we all agree these new Ushers are kicking ass and taking names.
Edited by Toe Tag - 12/21/12 at 5:55pm

Hello guys, this is my first post on these forums. I will present my setup here and hopefully cooperate with you in order to further improve the acoustics !

Setup :

CD-player > EMM Labs CDSA SE
Pre > Pass Labs XP-10
Amp > Pass Labs X-250.5
Speakers > Usher BE-10 (the old version with beryllium tweeter)
Interconnects & Power cables > Custom made
Speaker cables > Really cheap ones (will have to work on these)
Rig Table > Solid Tech

Room :

L = 690cm
l = 577cm
h = 265cm
Distance between speakers = 360cm
Distance between listening point and each speaker = 410cm
Distance between speaker and back wall = 70cm (a little bit too small but can't do more because the right speaker will block the entrance into the room)
Distance between speaker and side walls = 80cm (side walls are actually a window and the opening to the hall, both covered with curtains)
Rear wall to listener = 190cm (27.5%) > should be more but moving the sofa any further is not too practical
Front wall to listener = 500cm (72.5%)
The ceiling is filled with 10cm of mineral wool
The wall behind the speakers, the large posts and the table are covered with natural stone wich should help with high-mid frequency diffusion
There is one 200x300cm carpet inside the triangle formed by the listener and the speakers
Behind the speakers there are 4 large Gik Acoustics bass traps, followed by 2 acoustic panels and 2 tri-traps. On the side walls there are also 2 acoustic panels and other 2 bass traps on the corners behind the listener



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Sound :

I first started with the speakers almost touching the bass traps behind them and the listening position close to the rear wall (100cm away). The sound was lacking mid-bass and sub-bass almost completely, the focus was mediocre. I played with the speakers by moving them away from the wall behind them and the sound got a little bit better but not much. It was when I started moving the sofa towards the speakers and away from the rear wall when the sound truly styarted to improve. At this point I'm at 190cm from the rear wall and going even further does not improve things anymore. Now the spectral balance and focus are very good (not exceptional). At this point the scene is well defined, the midrange and treble are very delicate and well balanced, the mid-bass and sub-bass is a little bit missing in volume (1-2db, not much). The problem I now find and don't think can be solved by positioning of the speakers or listening point is the mid-bass lacks some of the energy of real life instruments in the 100-500Hz area. As oposed to this, the midrange is very fast. All I can do now to improve things is try some good speaker cables (waiting for your recommendations here) but don't think they will do much about this !

Fuscobal, wonderful looking room and setup. I think others can give you more sound advice, but you could consider getting http://www.audyssey.com/products (the multiEQ-32) into the signal path. It looks like you are going with a straight 2.0 setup though, and if you can manage to get the sound you want without Audyssey, that is what purists do. You may just have to experiment more widely with speaker placement. I would actually try pulling them even closer to you and away from the back wall, but you say you did that. You could also try Usher amps, dual monoblock, pure class A power. I am a bit at a loss. If you don't get enough ideas here you might post to other parts of the forum. I don't see the problem as Usher specific.

Based upon the Cardas golden mean, you should contemplate moving the speakers, couch, rug, etc. about a meter to the left...those resolving speakers are wanting to come out into the room, and require a greater difference between length to rear wall and length to side walls. Also consider moderating toe-in so that the beams cross a meter behind, rather than directly at, the sweet spot.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring

Awesome system; hope this helps!

Hello everyone,

First time poster here. I just got the usher be718's beryllium. Love them. I need to upgrade my amp. Any suggestions? I like warm, natural voices, right blend of attack from guitars. I'm currently considering primaluna dialogue 2.

Thanks guys!

The
Thanks...already knew those ratios but by the formulas the distance to the rear wall should be double as it is now (260cm instead of 130 now) wich I can't do because I will block the entrance in the room. For now I spaced the speakers 10cm more from the rear wall and about the same from the side walls and brought the sofa closer to them by another 10cm wich brought a small improvement !

I know people like tubes, but in my view the Be-718's really do benefit from extra power, more than the 21 or 38 watts the primaluna tube amp generates. I suggest you try the Usher R-1.5. Sounds practically tubelike, while delivering plenty of class A power.

Well, if it was me, I'd consider taking out the bar and moving it to the wall with the stereo, and flipping the arrangement. Move the ottoman to the side of the listening position, and remove the coffee table. It would give you much more space to play with positioning and put the speakers where they need to be. The entrance is a significant constraint in the current arrangement. I hope it's a dry bar!

Your components are impressive, the Pass gear should have no problems, BUT, more than anything else, you really need

A TURNTABLE. :-)
Edited by Griller - 12/24/12 at 9:34pm

If you like warm voicing, I would recommend visiting area hifi dealers and listening to *tube* amplification and see if it's for you. Try both Pre-amps and amps. A quality amp will smooth out the signal and make voicing very sweet. But, I'm warning you, you may fall in love. if you prefer the power and control of SS amplification, a tube Pre-amp will give you many benefits of tubes without many tube hassles.

Let us know what you get, why, and what changes it made sound wise!

Aloha,

Griller

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have listened to the primaluna dialogue two but not any other tube amps. I liked how it is very easily manageable regarding maintenance and tube rolling.

I'd like to check out the usher amp too. Not sure how though. It seems that the usher brand is not that easily accessible. Shame because their stuff is awesome.

The bar was made out of solid brick during the construction so cannot be moved that easily without destroying it and the parquet. My options are quite limited in this room. I will try some speaker cables and maybe bringing the speakers a little bit closer to each other !

If your room is constrained, as is mine and many people's, you might find Audyssey to be the lesser of two evils. Onkyo and Denon make pre-amps with it. It would iron out your frequency issues. You might lose a bit of je ne sais quoi in the sound. But I'd bet you come out further ahead overall.

If that's basically an EQ it can help with flattening the response a little bit (it is quite good to my ear now, just some small boost on midbass area needed) but it can't do anything about the speed. Don't get me wrong, the speakers are not very slow on mid-bass but this it is the biggest flaw at the moment and this diminishes the listening pleasure. I'm used to my Sennheiser HD-800 headphones wich are really fast and that's why I'm feeling the need for greater speed. I know it's possible because I had it in my (don't laugh) car audio setup from 2 x 16cm mid-bass drivers / side. Those were Micro-Precision drivers with very low moving mass and they were faster even than my headphones in the 100-250Hz area. They had the energy/impact of real musical instruments. In that system, there was also a Brax 10"sub (almost the size of the Eton found in Be-10) but in a sealed enclosure It was fast only if you kept it crossed at 50-60Hz. If trying to cross it higher, it was also becoming slower/muddier. That was the case with just about all car audio subs I've heard and I've heard some of the best in the world (my car took 3rd place 2 times at SQ European Championships). In the BE10s, the ETON is practically doing the job of my car Sub + the 2 midbasses so maybe it's a little dificult for it to keep the speed on such a wide frequency spectrum !

+1 on the Audyssey multi EQ. I recently upgraded my AVR and it had this. I was really impressed with the evening out of frequencies, enough so that it is my Number 1 feature requirement for friends upgrading their AVRs. That and Pre-amp outs for an outboard amp if they are mildly serious about audio. I'd recommend trying out an outboard frequency management solution. You seem more sensitive to this issue so it may be something you can live with. I'm sure there are specific frequency management solutions with fewer sonic impacts available. AVRs typically impart some etch so with Pass gear it wouldn't be my first choice but I'm sure there are other options. Audyssey is pretty much the industry leader although Meridian has some options, or used to, that you may like.

My first choice remains taking out the bar. I've never been a fan of parquet anyway!

Aloha,

Griller

Please take a look. The designers, and I agree, would not call it just an EQ. http://www.audyssey.com/audio-technology/multeq

Its room correction. You take microphone samples at 8 locations in the room. And it figures out the distance to each speaker and then improves the time alignment. Personally I don't mind it messing with my music, provided the music is from a digital source and then the Audyssey applies digital processing, and then its converted only once into analog. Its a no-brainer for home theater, at least.

Ok, now I get it. Time alignment is what I have been using in my car where the speakers MUST be aligned if you want to have soundstage and focus. Should be pretty interesting. I see the Audyssey "algorithm" is implemented in some receivers/preamps but I wouldn't want to replace my Pass preamp so I should have a DSP unit that can go along with my Pass !

I own a pair of BE-718 Beryllium speakers. I have them powered by a Parasound A21 - 250 watt into 8 ohms, up to 80 Hz where they are crossed to a JL-Audio Sub, I'm utilizing a Velodyne SMS unit for bass management. I have a new Prima Luna DiaLogue Premium Integrated Amplifier on order for a secondary system I am assembling. I will try the Ushers with the new tube integrated amp once the amp arrives, stay tuned.



Edited by K Shep - 12/28/12 at 12:23pm

Looking forward to your thoughts on the prologue with the ushers.

Me too. Look I like tube amps as much as the next guy. But that Primaluna puts out 35Wpc. Most reviews of the Be-718 say it benefits from lots of power. http://www.usheraudio.com/reviews-and-awards.html An alternative Griller suggests is to use a tube pre and a solid state amp. Anyway we await the comparison.

REVIEW:

Usher Be-718 vs Dynaudio Focus 160

Well I must confess that I have been thinking about another. I have the usher be-718 and have been thinking about my previous love (before I first heard the ushers), the dynaudio focus 160's. But you know how this hobby is, I just kept thinking about the "other ones" and how I wonder if I made the right choice. I had to take another rendezvous with the dynaudio's to set the record straight so to speak.

I have really enjoyed the ushers but couldn't forget the focus 160's. it was the natural tweeter that I kept thinking about.

I went to the shop where I heard the 160's and listened to them first with a simaudio 60watt amp, then a 275 Mcintosh tube amp followed by a Unico Primo hybrid (75watt). I spent 2 hrs at the shop listening. (If you'd like my impressions on the amps let me know. For the sake of this review I won't get into the differences of the amps)

Right away I heard the sweetness in the focus 160's tweeter that I remembered from my first listen. I got excited about that special quality of 160's. I could sense myself wanting to come to the conclusion that I preferred the dynaudio's. But as you know, without comparing everything side by side it can be difficult. So I decided to invest more listening time.

There is definitely a magical element to the 160's. I believe it lies in the midrange. A natural quality to the voices and instruments. Everything else about the speakers seemed well enough but nothing was coming out at me as an improvement over the ushers.

When I got home I immediately started listening to my Ushers. Now, I must confess they are being powered by a harmon kardon avr120. I know, I know. But that's what I'm dealing with. My source is lossless>appletv>rega dac.

Ive been listening for a couple of hours. I was pleasantly surprised. I found the sweetness or natural quality that I attributed the 160's with wasn't quite there on the ushers, but it was pretty close. Much closer then I thought at least.

But it's the ushers ability to separate the instruments that first got my attention. The detail without harshness is another quality. I'm very sensitive to harshness, I'm definitely not someone who's a fan of "bright" speakers. In fact I get a bit of fatigue from my ushers but not any less with the dynaudio's.

The bass of the ushers are much better. They are a bigger speaker so it makes sense. I find I hear frequencies that I did not on the 160's. The "airiness" was better on the ushers. More dynamic in my opinion as well. It reminded me of the sound I heard from the dynaudios when paired with the 275 Mcintosh ($4200) and Mcintosh preamp and cd player (approximately $16000 of equipment). Of course my ushers and Hk avr120 was no match for the focus 160's and the $16000 Mcintosh rig. But i got "knowing" feeling that the ushers in that rig would tear apart the 160's.

The soundstage is also better on the ushers (at least when the 160s were paired to the unico and simaudio). Im reaching these conclusions with my harmon kardon! So that's got to say something too.

The ushers have their own "magical" quality as well. The 160's win in the natural midrange but not as much as I thought. Then from there it's all usher. O and I haven't even mentioned the look of the speakers. I really love the design of the Usher be-718's. Gorgeous.

I'm going to pair the ushers with a tube amp to get even more warmth and airiness which complements my taste. El 34 based in triode mode. Most likely the primaluna dialogue two.

Of course this is all my personal opinion and at the end of the day you got to go with what you hear and try your best to listen to equipment for an extended period. One thing I think is unanimous is that both speakers have an unexplainable magical quality about them.

But im being nice right now like you might to an ex lover who you still have respect for. The reality (my reality at least!) is that the Usher be-718's are in another league then the fochs 160's. I've read reviews comparing the ushers with dynaudio C1's and now I finally understand.

I can't be more thrilled to put this one to bed, finally. I'm in even more love with these speakers. For the price, they just cant be. These ushers are truly hitting out of its price range.

POWER MYTH

I've read everywhere, on forums and professional reviews, that the be-718's need lots of power. At least 150 watts of solid state juice.

First off, when I heard them initially from Allen at Audio Space in Toronto they were powered by the primaluna dialogue two. The room was pretty big, triple the size of my living room in my condo, and to my estimation it powered the speakers wonderfully.

When I was testing out the dynaudio focus 160's, which are talked about everywhere online as being VERY power hungry, more so then the ushers, they did very well with all the "lower" powered amps mentioned. I mentioned this to the dealer and he said that its basically not true that they need tons of power. I don't know what's going on with that. All I do know is that for me I will be just awesome with a dialogue two. I mention this because I wouldn't want people thinking that they have to get a huge expensive amp to get the most from these ushers. I don't believe it's true. Just my belief.

It's been a lot of fun finding the right speaker for me and I'm very happy to know that I've found them! And the extra bonus is that they are so unique (not in an ugly, trying to stand out way) and beautiful to look at!! I can't say that about most speakers.

im undecided about whether i should get the wharfedale 10.1 or usher s520, which is better ? its for HT, and i would like to know what reciever does usher like to play on? Ive read they arent good with certain recievers... since im not getting a subwoofer to go with these how is their bass?

edit: will something like Onkyo TX-NR579 be okay?
Edited by dioxholster - 1/19/13 at 5:11pm