[Mad Dog]

For those who might be interested...recap and impressions from this past Sat listening session in the link below...

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=7562


happy listening...

 

[Pin]

Mad Dog,


Thank you and your sweet wife for hosting the session from which I had HEAPS of fun with all the great folks who also attended the session.

 

[Mad Dog]

It was quite a pleasure having you over! Glad you made it! I'll be writing up your speakers as well...I wanted to do that separately since it wasn't part of the session w/ everyone else...


Please feel free to chime in on the thread w/ your thoughts, impressions and opinions!


You'll have to bring your wife next time and this time we'll treat you for dinner!

 

[Pin]

Great! I look forward to reading your write-up on the Bronze B2.


Sure I am pretty sure Linda will enjoy hanging out with Julia and you. Curtis, will ya get out of the house and join us for dinner next time?

 

[cschang]

Hey...I was in the SF Bay area all weekend!! I had a great Mexican dinner, a great afghan dinner, and a great italian dinner!


There's more to life than audio!

 

[Pin]

Hey Curtis,


Didn't I just ask you to join us for dinner next time?

 

[cschang]



 

[Bill-99]

MadDog,


Can you field a couple of questions for me? I'm not an ACI or Onix owner, but I'm very interested in both speakers. In your test, I think that you said that one observer found the Sapphires to soundstage and image well but not always disappear. Did you find that to be the case as well?


On the Onix side, I get the impression that there's quite a bit more detail, making less than pristinely recorded material no fun to hear. While I'd expect bad source material to sound bad on just about all decent equipment, how would you characterize the sound of the vast quantity of above average but non-audiophile redbook CDs?


At the moment, I'm in the painful evaluation phase with ACI speakers on order. My current mains are Snell E-IVs, which tend to sound awful with poor material, but overall a bit brighter than I'd like. Would you characterize the Onix Ref 1s as leaning to brightness rather than smoothness?


Ultimately, it seems likely that I'll simply have to listen to some Ref 1s to form an opinion. That said, I'd appreciate your thoughts since you've had time for a direct comparison.


And thanks for posting your opinions. It was a good read!


-Bill

 

[Bill-99]

MadDog,


Sorry -- forgot to ask this one.


Any idea whether these speakers were broken in? ACI makes a point of putting 60-70 hours of play time on their speakers before doing any serious listening, so as a sanity check, thought it'd be worth asking.


Thanks,

-Bill

 

[cschang]

Bill,


I was the one that handed over the ACI Sapphires to Mad Dog, and they had just about 70 hours when he got them.

 

[Bill-99]

Curtis,


Good to know. Thanks!


-Bill

 

[thedeskE]

Bill

I'd be happy to trade thoughts with you on the Sapphires.

Mine should arrive soon.

I've owned Rocket 750s, but not the Ref.

E

 

[Bill-99]

E,


That would be very welcome indeed! My order should arrive close to the end of this month, but I have no Ref 1s or Rockets for comparison. I suspect that there are some lurkers here who would also be interested in your listening comparison. I'm planning to post my notes comparing to my Snells, though that's likely to be of less interest to a wider audience, IMO.


Anyhow, I look forward to your thoughts!


-Bill

 

[Harry P]

E,


Congrats on your Sapphires purchase. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy mine. I've owned or have many hours on many fine speakers including B&W805N, several different Revels, Wilson Watt-Puppies, Maggies, Thiels and more. I've now had Sapphires for the better part of a year, and I just love the way they give me music! I thought I was buying an interim audio fix, I was wrong. These speakers can really sing. They might be the most fatigue free speakers I've ever spent serious time with. Pretty amazing package for the price.

 

[Bill-99]

Harry,


If you don't mind sharing, could you also tell us what equipment you're using with your Sapphires? I didn't see anything under your profile, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on how the equipment you use compliments or detracts from the Sapphires.


Thanks,

-Bill

 

[danbry39]

First off, Harry you've had some amazingly good speakers. For you to compliment Sapphires says a lot.


Secondly, Bill, I know you didn't ask me the question, but I use my Sapphires, Essence center, and on-wall Emeralds with a Denon 1600 DVD, Arcam 72T CD player, Parasound 1205A amp, and an Integra 9.4 preamp/processor. For one or two days, due to the sale of my Rotel 1066 pre/pro, I did have them hooked up to a Sherwood Newcastle receiver. You'd expect my Integra/Parasound combo to outdo the Sherwood Newcastle and they readily did. Nonetheless, with the Sherwood, they still sounded wonderful to my ears. These are extremely musical speakers and I agree with Harry that they're very non-fatiguing. I also agree with Mike's communication that they were designed to be forgiving. Most everything sounds good with them, whereas with my headphone set up of the Sennheiser HD 650's paired with a Perreaux headphone amp, some things are just unpleasant to listen to. On those, you hear every ugly bit of information there is due to their extremely revealing nature.


Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Mad Dog]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill-99 MadDog, Can you field a couple of questions for me? I'm not an ACI or Onix owner, but I'm very interested in both speakers. In your test, I think that you said that one observer found the Sapphires to soundstage and image well but not always disappear. Did you find that to be the case as well?

that was gary...i recall msteindler agreeing w/ gary on this point. i did as well.

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill-99 On the Onix side, I get the impression that there's quite a bit more detail, making less than pristinely recorded material no fun to hear. While I'd expect bad source material to sound bad on just about all decent equipment, how would you characterize the sound of the vast quantity of above average but non-audiophile redbook CDs?

you are correct in your impression...there is more detail, air and transparency with the Refs. IMO mediocre recordings sound fine w/ the Refs. it's the really poor recordings that are no fun to listen to...

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill-99 At the moment, I'm in the painful evaluation phase with ACI speakers on order. My current mains are Snell E-IVs, which tend to sound awful with poor material, but overall a bit brighter than I'd like. Would you characterize the Onix Ref 1s as leaning to brightness rather than smoothness?

what components are you currently using for your front end? IMHO the Refs in my setup are far from bright as i love a silky smooth, yet detailed sound...from my discussion w/ msteindler and gary, neither of them like bright sounding components, but rather components that suck you into the music and take you on a journey...bright speakers don't do this for me because they never let me forget about all the high frequency "detail".

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill-99 Ultimately, it seems likely that I'll simply have to listen to some Ref 1s to form an opinion. That said, I'd appreciate your thoughts since you've had time for a direct comparison. And thanks for posting your opinions. It was a good read! -Bill

yes, only you will know if the Refs work for your listening preferences, your room and your gear...good luck! happy listening!

 

[Mad Dog]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill-99 MadDog, Sorry -- forgot to ask this one. Any idea whether these speakers were broken in? ACI makes a point of putting 60-70 hours of play time on their speakers before doing any serious listening, so as a sanity check, thought it'd be worth asking. Thanks, -Bill

cschang told me they had about 70 hrs on them at the point of hand off...i put maybe another 10 hrs on them over the 3 days prior to the session...

 

[Mad Dog]

Quote:

Originally posted by danbry39 ...and I agree with Harry that they're very non-fatiguing. I also agree with Mike's communication that they were designed to be forgiving. Most everything sounds good with them...

i'd definitely agree w/ this...the ACI Sapphire is a VERY GOOD do it all speaker! i really like their sound...IMHO the only thing missing from them in my system is the impact from the leading edge transient...i like forgiving as it makes for wonderful non-fatiguing music! but i also like the right amount of attack to gives music its realism...

 

[46minaudio]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mad Dog IMHO the only thing missing from them in my system is the impact from the leading edge transient...

Could you explain this one to me as Im not quite up all the audiophile terms.