Look awesome!

 

Dont be surprised if you wake up tomorrow to this....

 

Funnily enough the first song played was theme from 2001, just happened to be playing on classical FM when I hooked em up


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Then "Black Monoliths" is now their name !!!

58 minutes ago, blybo said:

They are a lot tougher. 85-90db and just getting started. Would hate to think what@Joz would do if he got hold of the remote


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Yeah, he left some of big fat greasy finger prints all over me tablet. Looking schmick.

Then "Black Monoliths" is now their name !!! [emoji3]

I wanted Red but domestic harmony comes first


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Nice to see another owner of Spatials, expect a very long run in time.
As you know, Neil, Clayton says 100hrs but I've spoken to owners in America on AG and they are with me on this; 500+ and also as you know, I think a 1000 is much better. I'm very happy with mine and I think they are a different speaker than when Clive heard them.

 

The talk of them being finicky in placement is well justified and is of course an individual thing.

When clive was here he had them in one position for his ears and after he left I had them in a different one for my ears. One bonus of the OB's is that even if your not in the sweet spot  and your off to one side your not  as challenged as with box speakers.

 

Very very easy speakers to drive I've found and you'll never need to wind your amp past 11 on the dial if you value your hearing.

 

Shame they're black but domestic bliss is important isn't it.

So what's best, Spatial, Maggies or Focals?

@Luc did Clayton send you a manual or was there one in the box? Mine only had accessories, I'm using the rubber feet for now too. That said, Mine got here tear free despite no change in packaging.

These are a lot better out of the box than my Focals were. They had virtually no bass for first 10 hours or so.

Only impressions so far is that imaging isn't as good as Focals but haven't played much with placement, just more or less where I had the Maggies. Pointing sort of at my outside edge of shoulders. I guess that might be a long process of trial and error as they burn in.


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So what's best, Spatial, Maggies or Focals?

Too early to make judgements. But thinking Maggies are 3rd.

I'm getting the feeling the Elektra pre & power combo might be too much juice for these, and being a tube pre (brand new tubes yesterday) may be a little noisy for such an efficient compression driver.

Noisy isn't probably fair on the Elektra, background listening level is 1 click from silent and I guess tunes will usually have a higher noise floor than SS.

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Nice. What distance are the baffles from the front wall?

4 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Nice. What distance are the baffles from the front wall?

 

Probably just under 1m. Of course my wife would like them further back... and for some reason my dog likes to walk behind them, did the same thing when I had the Maggies.

 

I've asked my wife to leave them running at what for her would be insane levels whilst she's out a nd about with the kids today

 

@Luc don't worry about the user manual, I found it online. Manual states to start with 30" off back wall and play around, I'm probably 34-36" out and bass is excellent and starting to notice sound soundstage depth after running them for 8 hours last night.

14 hours ago, blybo said:

Too early to make judgements. But thinking Maggies are 3rd.

I'm getting the feeling the Elektra pre & power combo might be too much juice for these, and being a tube pre (brand new tubes yesterday) may be a little noisy for such an efficient compression driver.

Noisy isn't probably fair on the Elektra, background listening level is 1 click from silent and I guess tunes will usually have a higher noise floor than SS.

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Congrats on the speakers, I am trying to imagine them in red -  that would certainly be a statement.

Being pro drivers they are designed to be beaten senseless by hundreds of watts in a PA situation so I wouldn't think your Electra would present any problems at all, in fact it should be a great match.  And IMO there's no reason a well designed tube pre-amp should present noise problems.  If it is, I would suspect the new tubes.  Are they NOS, which can be a lottery quality-wise?

Tubes were new as far as I know, they were fitted by the manufacturer, and he gave my pre and power amp a bit of a going over just to check all up to scratch.

 

Like many amps, when they are barely above 0 volume, 1 channel kicks in before the other, which for sake of the argument I'll call volume 1 (out of 30) as there is no scale on the pre-amp. I think I was listening at 3-4 last night but my wife would prefer 2, she was probably just being nice letting me play with new toys. 

 

I've always heard a little background buzz with this combo with my Focal floorstanders, (not with inefficient Maggie's) but it has never bothered me and is quite normal. With a 94db efficient speaker I just think I have too much gain going on. I know @Sir Sanders Zingmore Is facing a similar dilemma with his Avant-garde which I assume are even more efficient. I know my compression driver is about 104db efficient so "wakes up" very early on.

 

I think at one point I even heard the remote volume "motor" last night, never heard that before.

 

I know the bass drivers can handle a $h1t load of power but the compression driver was a custom job specifically for this application so may not have the same power handling, spec's say max 200w @ 8ohm which is of course immense and I'm sure beyond what I could put up with. 

Edited September 28, 20169 yr by blybo

Gain is the issue, isn't it?  If your pre-amp is high-gain then it probably isn't the best match. You want to have a reasonable range of usable volume available eg 8-12 or 9-3 "o'clock".

Interesting , on my system the pre (blybo now has my previous pre) was dead silent. Well unless I put my ear within a bees bit of the tweeter.

could be something else going on?

7-12 was my operating range with12 being really loud. 9 o'clock was my usual position unless I was wanting to shift cobwebs.

 

47 minutes ago, joz said:

Interesting , on my system the pre (blybo now has my previous pre) was dead silent. Well unless I put my ear within a bees bit of the tweeter.

could be something else going on?

7-12 was my operating range with12 being really loud. 9 o'clock was my usual position unless I was wanting to shift cobwebs.

 

 

It's your old power amp too remember.

 

9 o'clock was my usual position with the Focals, at least 10 with the Maggies but 9 o'clock with these puppies easily sees 80+db, so just all about efficiency of the speakers. My wife prefers closer to 55db . I had to have my ear pretty close to the tweeter of my Focals but now audible from listening position thru quiet passages when at 9-10 position with Spatials, so nothing wrong, just not great synergy.

 

I'm sure Arthur could do some modifications to reduce gain but I'd rather not meddle with a known great combo... And I love to try other things. Think I may have a buyer already...

They sound like they are a lot more efficient than what the spec sheet says @blybo.

I'm also thinking of modifying my preamp to suit my system for the same reasons.

Even 2 on the volume control (0-10 scale) will give me well over 80db which is pretty crazy considering the Monoblocks are only 24 watts each.

I'm thinking it may be a good thing though as in the process I'll upgrade to a stepped attenuator. (Even though I'll lose the remote will just have to be not lazy)

 

That said nothing wrong with trying something new matched to the new speakers. 

Sansui AU-7900(Grand Poobah'ed) is driving my Spatials at this moment and it's streamed FLACgarbage and it's quiet in between the tracks and it's the same when the Topaz 120 is in the mix...quiet. But I've not got my ear next to the big round things either.

 

A little bit of fiddling Blybo and you'll be good to go. Don't get  too...obsessed

Shame you don't have a door you can close when it gets above 55db, the one here makes my Handbrake happy.

1 hour ago, blybo said:

 

It's your old power amp too remember.

 

9 o'clock was my usual position with the Focals, at least 10 with the Maggies but 9 o'clock with these puppies easily sees 80+db, so just all about efficiency of the speakers. My wife prefers closer to 55db . I had to have my ear pretty close to the tweeter of my Focals but now audible from listening position thru quiet passages when at 9-10 position with Spatials, so nothing wrong, just not great synergy.

 

I'm sure Arthur could do some modifications to reduce gain but I'd rather not meddle with a known great combo... And I love to try other things. Think I may have a buyer already...

 

from what I understand the newer HD pre amp and HD reference power amp are lower distortion designs again. but pricey ! and you probably dont need the power the amp has. 

 

but then looks like you've already moving on... wiht the lust of new things. I'd definitely with high efficiency speakers be trialling something if can rather than go lucky dip as could end up costly hopping from one to next till find something with the synergy after  

Thinking Luxman class A


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They sound like they are a lot more efficient than what the spec sheet says @blybo.

I'm also thinking of modifying my preamp to suit my system for the same reasons.

Even 2 on the volume control (0-10 scale) will give me well over 80db which is pretty crazy considering the Monoblocks are only 24 watts each.

I'm thinking it may be a good thing though as in the process I'll upgrade to a stepped attenuator. (Even though I'll lose the remote will just have to be not lazy)

 

That said nothing wrong with trying something new matched to the new speakers. [emoji4]

Yeah the compression driver is something like 105db.


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34 minutes ago, blybo said:

Thinking Luxman class A


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Yeah have to agree with Al on this one, synergy is important, will be worth trying a few things. (preferably once they've run in to judge properly) 

Some people love the Luxmans but personally I found them a bit light sound wise.

Your right about trying out some Class A though, my personal preference would be Accuphase or Sugden amps with their wonderful richness they have.

Pass Class A's are very good too if you prefer a more neutral type of sound.

Just now, blybo said:

Yeah the compression driver is something like 105db.


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Do they give an overall figure?

Sansui AU-7900(Grand Poobah'ed) is driving my Spatials at this moment and it's streamed FLACgarbage and it's quiet in between the tracks and it's the same when the Topaz 120 is in the mix...quiet. But I've not got my ear next to the big round things either.

 

A little bit of fiddling Blybo and you'll be good to go. Don't get  too...obsessed:cool:

Shame you don't have a door you can close when it gets above 55db, the one here makes my Handbrake happy.

It's not the noise bothering me, it's the lack of fine volume control, 1 remote tap results in significant change.

And I have a dedicated room, just hate the isolation for music, awesome for HT use


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4 minutes ago, Martykt said:

 

 

Yeah have to agree with Al on this one, synergy is important, will be worth trying a few things. (preferably once they've run in to judge properly) 

Some people love the Luxmans but personally I found them a bit light sound wise.

Your right about trying out some Class A though, my personal preference would be Accuphase or Sugden amps with their wonderful richness they have.

Pass Class A's are very good too if you prefer a more neutral type of sound.

 

yeah I love my luxman disc player, but not sure at all on their amps. not exactly cheap either why suggested worth trying before buying ...