Sorry to hit everyone with the bad news on the delays; it really does suck waiting; but, let me tell you, yesterday was like the first Christmas I have had in 15 years. I was like a kid waiting for the FedEX guy.
So, now, first impressions of the Castle. (I'll put up some pics when I have a little more time).
It's... Well... It's kind of hard to describe. If you've never been in a home with a high end (and I mean high end) large subwoofer there's really nothing to compare it to. Actually, that's not true. If you've been in a car that has "bass", then you can get a feel for what this thing does to you house. The room my Castle is in is "huge", about 1000 sq/ft of space (no doors in the first floor of my house), all the rooms adjoining one another. The ceilings are 10FT throughout the first floor. The room itself has terrible acoustics, tile and drywall, nothing to add bass response. I did, however, place the Castle in a corner (which always gives subs a bit more kick).
So, the sound/experience. I have Axiom M80 fronts, and I initially set the system to "Plus", which sends bass to both the fronts and the sub. It was FAR too boomy, the bass was overpowering, but not in a good way. I then set the receiver to "Small", and XOver at 80HZ, the bass was much more manageable; and I'm sure, should I want to, it would allow me to play the M80s at a higher level.
Once I got the sound decent (not because anything was wrong, just didn't feel like configuring it anymore), I then started to queue up the movies (which I have been collecting for the past 6 weeks waiting for the arrival of this thing). The first thing I did was play Master and Commander, "Under Attack" with the cannon blasts.
I kid you not. I was scared as the cannons started to go off. It felt like something unnatural was going on in the house. The glasses (in the cabinet) 20 feet away were "walking". The windows of the house flexed (noticeably). Standing outside the house, (with is concrete block), the bass was not only clearly audible, but the outside wall of the house was passing a significant amount of bass through the concrete. It was so powerful that I really was worried that I was pushing something too hard; examined the EQ and the volume settings; volume ~35%, EQ set to flat. There was no distortion at all (except for all the crap rattling to pieces in the house); and when I removed the grill, I could see the woofer wasn't anywhere near it's limits.
Transformers was next, of course, the "flip" scene in the desert was my first stop.
Unbelievable. It's so low, and so loud, again, it feels like something (this time the walls of the house) is going to let go. The bass just washes over you. By this time, I was convinced that I wasn't going to destroy anything in the house, and I just started to laugh. I couldn't help myself, it was just insanity to have this level of bass in a home. Nightclubs don't even come close to the levels where this thing plays (well, that's not entirely true; MOST nightclubs don't come close). And live performance; again, isn't even close. I'm sure that's because of the volume/size of the arenas, I doubt they have a 15" woofer for every 1000 sq/ft of open space.
My only problem thus far has been the WAF. She's not too happy with the size, or the sound that this thing puts out. She things it's ridiculous (she's right) to have something like this in a house. I think it's ridiculous to spend more then a Conquest of a handbag (I'm right), so hopefully we will come to a reasonable truce soon.
It's not bad looking, but it's a big black box; not exactly the thing that she wanted in the living room.
Seriously, those that have 2XCastle/Towers or Conquests.. What are you guys thinking? I was a serious bass head as a young man, but.. 2 Conquests?
That must seriously come close to ripping a hole in the space/time continuum.
Mike your not helping much
. Enjoy!
