SE WI Tower speaker GTG - Page 58

You guys are on a roll! Awesome.
...but you really gotta learn how to spell SWEET.

Sitting in the "sweat" spot in the center of the couch does not sound like a good place to be! Somebody else spelled it the same way in their impressions from the last GTG as well... sorry to correct spelling, but that just creates an image in my head that I could do without.

Then again, maybe you guys are cranking it so loud that your amplifiers are putting off enough heat to create an actual sweat spot where you sit?!?

haha - you're right about the spelling of sweet.

What does mine say? Sweet. What does mine say? Dude. No, what does mine say? Sweet. What does mine say? Dude. No really, what does mine say? Sweeeeeeet!

There's something about those SS M7s that gets me going. I don't suppose Rick brought any of his Selah monitors with him, I'd love to hear a comparo between the Tempestra and the M7. The other monitor I'd like to compare would be the Vapor Cirrus.
Any opinions on 2 vs 3-way in a stand-mount?

Funny that I had never heard the SoundScapes before purchasing them. I heard Nuances SongTowers, and TJHUB's HT2's on more then one occasion, so I was very familiar with the sonic signature of Salks, with those speakers being more similar then different. With all the discussion of the RAAL tweets being the cats patooty... when TJHUB emailed me that the original owner was bailing on the M7's - I snatched them up for a STEAL.... (props to Terry) I was out of town when this was all going down and the effort involved to make that happen was more then most people would want to deal with... The Seller was VERY, VERY ODD. But when they finally arrived - It was all worth it....

After now owning them for a while, I wouldn't go with another speaker that didn't have the RAAL and the Accuton mid... that combo is a match made in heaven IMO. The accuton was just the icing on the cake.

I have tried a few different combinations of gear, straight receiver, pioneer which left them sounding thin, good but not nearly as full. Added in a Parasound with HT bypass(still for sale btw) with Eastern Electric DAC plus (Sold) - sounded great, but a pain in my situation..... and then I just recently picked up a second Integra 80.3 to replace all that stuff and simplify my setup. I got comments from all that were familiar with the M7's that they were the best they have ever sounded.... I would whole heartedly agree... Could I get better 2 channel performance with a higher quality 2 ch pre.... perhaps, but I need a balance of HT and 2 ch, with Sub... To me its just not worth all the hassle of integration - especially when all my gear for that rig is in the basement. I am thrilled with the finished product, and it seems to get pretty high praise, which makes me smile all the more....


Thanks again to all the attendees for coming and posting your thoughts. Twas great to meet you all.

Trying to recoup now from 2,000+ miles of driving! Thanks to Patrick for hosting and everyone who attended. I'll try to answer specific questions in this thread when I have a little more time.

That is quite a drive Rick! It was cool to hear the speakers on the steps.


Did you get my PM Warpdrv? I thought that it might be good news

We have taken calibrated measurements with the passive crossover version and I hope to have those posted soon. Keep in mind that the output of the CBT doesn't trail off the same as a conventional speaker. Both could be the same at the typical 1M spec but at 3-4M the CBT will play much louder.

I did, sorry I forgot to respond.... been busy...


Appreciate the heads up.... Still deciding if I really want to make the switch for more efficient speakers such as the Skinny Cats over the Sigs...

Things still get plenty loud in there, and sound very clean.... I'd really have to do and A/B with them in my room...

That's cool Patrick. Your living room sounded excellent with your current set-up. I was just glad to hear that you also shared an interest in the Seaton Catalysts. I have always had the impression that people go for sealed rooms for dedicated home theater sound. I found that I liked how the speakers and subs sounded in your large living room with the vaulted ceiling. You might be on to something about setting up the system in the room that you are most likely to spend time in.

The Catalysts are great, no question - obviously with trade offs - as with my own speakers...

Well that was a huge choice of mine, I see so many people that build out this full dedicated HT room and its awesome for a while, then it becomes a destination that one has to commit to going to... and becomes less and less used... I'll be honest - I find myself spending more time in my bedroom system, after a long day at work I just sit back and relax... I tend to have a good amount of parties at my place so that main rig setup gets used quite a bit, and add into that the cold winters & Packer Games the fireplace is very inviting to many.... I have a rather large place - but don't forget that most parties end up in the Kitchen just like they did that evening.... I do find it nice that when I like to chill out on the 4 seasons room by the pond, I can open my dining room windows and have music in the background....


Be careful with this thought process and think it out properly.... That large room comes at a cost - yes the vaulted ceilings and corner placement of the front 3 lend itself well to less reflective issues, its also a bit more lively in there which I prefer over a totally dead room, a good balance is nice IMO, but lets not kid ourselves here it was expensive to get enough bass to pressurize the place... Even now, with as much bass as I have and don't come close to using all of their potential, the room itself is not "pressurized" IMO.... Yes there is a ton of awesome clean full bass, but a sealed room is a whole different presentation with the proper amount of bass...

I made a conscious decision to go with sealed over ported subs, and for large rooms such as that one - its likely a very poor choice.... LOL, unless your willing to open your wallet, and my wallet only stretched so far, which is why I went the DIY route... The cost for me to get those 3 subs up and running wasn't as bad as you'd think.... Put it this way, it was a little over the cost of a Paradigm Sub 2. And each of mine have close to 3x more output then a Sub2.

So chew on that when you approach a similar design

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations about sealed versus open rooms. Some good stuff there and I will continue to research. Thanks again for hosting the GTG. Hopefully I didn't keep you up too late with my home theater demo requests

Ha you guys bailed early LOL.

Im off on Tuesday!!

Sounds like Patrick is hosting next Monday again - woot!

lol - I was wondering why the GTG took place on Monday instead of on the weekend. It makes sense now!

Actually Rick set the date, which was going to have to be after AKfest in Michigan, and it fit right into the slot of "lets have a party" for me

The 3-way has better dispersion-matching in the midrange-tweeter region, which creates that "open" sound of the Soundscapes. 6.5" driver... then you may as well just get an HT1 bookshelf. There's a reason Salk charges twice as much for the SS M7 - it costs more - but to some it's definitely worth the price of admission.

Of course you can't discount the crossover itself, which is both personal preference and technical skill.

Personally once I can afford it I would commission Jim for a sealed SS8 Monitor with open back

8 inch woofers on booksheves.. are just awesome like that

^^^^
Love that speaker! TAD!

Ya know, its funny - Nuance and I were talking about the very same thing on the SS8's with open back.... Floor standing M7's

We are both mixers of Stereo and HT, so external subs are a must for us, which is easier to taylor bass response if you have a hazardous room - A nice SS tower with 2-3 x 8" drivers, open back and no PR would be awesome in my book...

I think this is something that has potential for those that aren't 2 channel only...

Agreed.

I also prefer the tall WTMW form factor over the TMWW of the SS8 - purely from an aesthetics standpoint of course. Big and imposing

You just described what I'll likely order when the time is right. I just can't see affording the full blown SS8's (as much as I want to), so perhaps a custom jobby is in my future.

Anyone heard the Vapor Aurora? 8" woofer with a waveguide tweeter that goes down to 1k. Got some rave reviews at AK Fest. People were amazed at the low end for a stand mount.

I'd be in for that sealed open back monitor though.
I'm also trying to do everything in one system. I like having the good stuff where I spend most of my time.

http://meniscusaudio.com/seas-w22ny001-p-555.html

We invited Ryan from Vapor Audio to attend our Wisconsin GTG, but he was unable to make it. I'm bummed about that, but he had AKFest to prepare for and what not.

Now there we go. I imagine two of those in parallel would be more sensitive than what's in the SS M7?

Two of those in parallel might just be more sensitive than the 88.5db accuton - for a passive speaker it's a real balancing act. whatever woofer Jim and Dennis are already using for the current SS8 is probably your best bet for :two:

And yes. The SS M7 woofer is i believe around 85db sensitive (a pair would be about 91db sensitive into half space, and operating into full space closer to 85db sensitive.. hence the ~85db sensitive M7)

Was that the MTM open baffle with wave-guide ribbon tweet? If so, I heard it, but just couldn't take the program material. My designs may well have sounded that forward and aggressive. That was the main problem at AKFest. Really awful program material.

No, I think that sounds line the Hawthorne. The Aurora is a 2-way stand mount.

This is correct. The SS8's, as designed, almost didn't happen. Had the woofers been even 1/8db more sensitive, the Accuton would not have been able to keep up. As it is, it just made it.

If you went with the Seas driver mentioned above, you would have to do a WMTMW or something similar. It would likely be very nice, but very expensive.

- Jim

Sorry for my late reply. The sensitivity will depend on whether the passive or active crossover version is used. We are working to put together all of the specs but I can say that the passive is about 1db less sensitive due to the normal insertion loss you have with an inductor.

That is a nice looking speaker! I bet it sounds as good as it looks.