Jump to content

New Aurum Cantus Grand Supreme's.


Recommended Posts

  It is time for a update on the Grand Supreme's , I bought these speakers from Stereophonics in Melbourne, I did a rough set up and after reading the manual it states that they require at least 80 hours of run in time, I know a lot of people on this site think that is rubbish but nothing could be further from the truth with these speakers, out of the box they are undynamic, compressed and lack focus, I started by playing music all day when no one was home for the required 80 hours as the manual states as there run in period. In my opinion there is no way of auditioning these speakers in a store or at home unless they have had the required run in period hence the comments that have been made on this forum about there performance in store.

A listen session was arranged with a friend that is a music buff that just happens to own a very good play back system, my system consists of a Pink Triangle Anniversary/SME V/Benz Micro Gull wing SLR, Icon Audio PS3, Musical Fidelity A3.2CR pre amp used as a line stage, Musical Fidelity A3.2CR power amp and a Cambridge Audio 640C. I am very lucky as I have converted our double garage into my listening room/man cave, it is 6 MTRs x 6 MTRs, set up of the speakers are as follows, 800MM from the wall with a centre of 2.4 MTRs and toed in towards the listening position with the line of the tweeter passing your ears by about 200MM's each side.

Usual recordings were used during the test with a mix of standard pressings, mobile fidelity and Sheffield lab, I will take brothers in Arms a standard reference on vinyl, on track 7, The mans no good, leading edge of mark Knopfler's guitar has very good attack but has exceptional detail without any brightness, Midrange has power and clarity and blends very well with the tweeter which was one of my concerns, vocals project very well and the image is stable and precise with exceptional height width and depth, image extends past the speakers between 300mm and 600mm. the speaker has no issues showing the difference between Mark Knoflers voice as he ages from the early recordings through to his latest offerings. I love Handel, I have several pressing that have been recorded using period instruments, Water Music conducted by Christopher Hogwood is a very good recording and comes across delicacy and openness, good depth with no harshness on strings.

The speakers ability to go loud and handle the quite passages again is still amazing me, at 89 DB efficiency I thought that this would be a issue, bass on them is also outstanding and has made my sub woofer redundant, I was in the hifi industry for years and have heard many fine loud speakers but I have to say in my system these are brilliant, they have the transparency of a panel without the problems along with good dynamics, one issue is the imaging out side the sweet spot, it drops away and you could probably position a two seater in the middle, this is a down side of the tweeter being so directional but has other attributes that make it a star. To date I cannot see any issues with the transition between drivers which has always been a problem for any kind of ribbon and cone driver, the two 100MM midrange drivers have the speed and subtlety, I nearly forgot to mention the rear firing ribbon , I can only suggest that it helps make the image so open, I have ordered a Icon Audio LA4 MK 3 Line stage to replace the musical fidelity pre amp from Peter at Grooveworks for a trial to see if a complete valve front end will make any difference, so this is my impression of these speakers and is my opinion in the context of my system, it proves to me that you are probably wasting your time listening to speakers in a shop environment when you get to this level, also the running in is critical contrary to popular opinion. The Chinese are coming to the top end of HiFi and they eventually will do it very well.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Yes I did post it in speakers and subwoofers but no one read it, photos are on the link above, thanks for your comments.

 

No problem at all.

 

it's great to hear stories about people just grooving on their new purchases. I went through the same thing last year and just getting them home and settled into the room/system is fantastic.

 

I would be interested in hearing more about them as they open up and really start to sing.

 

in the meantime enjoy! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites



Thanks for the interesting article. How do the Aurum Cantus handle cd playback, in your opinion? Did you listen to any female vocals?

 

Also, just as a reference point, what speakers did you use just prior to getting the new ones? I feel that sometimes we just get used to a certain sound and adopt it as our benchmark; anything different then sounds better or worse depending on our mood at the time, or our expectations etc. Of course, some speakers (as you've suggested) are better suited to certain environments and this can be a lesson learnt the hard way if you're not careful.

 

Cheers,

G

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is interesting about the CD playback, I also have a set of Shahanaina Arcs which i have upgraded to the latest version, the CD sound conciderably better on the Aurum cantus speakers than the Shahanians, They do not have any destortion in the midrange or treble that the titanium domes have,  It could be the tweeter in the Aurum Cantus, it is very good, I play a lot of female vocals like Emmylou Harris, Enya, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstat, I now have enough time with these to get to grips with there strengths and weeknesses,  I basicly bought these because a friend of mine build a system using Heil tweeters, it was a open baffel speaker system running three amp in a active set up, he built all the components, this is to date the best sounding system i have ever heard, the tweeter in them is basicly a heil,  i have a few other speakers available to me including a pair of dynaudio's, i worked in the hifi indutry for quite a few years and have heard many good speakers but as i said in my system the Aurum Cantus's sound excellent. If you bought a new set of Shahanians it would cost conciderably more that the Grand Supreme's, it certainly make these good value.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Thanks for sharing your experiences here VWO. The only little doubt I had in my mind when I settled on the Focals as should I have given the Aurum Vulcan VIII R an audition. Their active versions also tempt me.

Congratulation man, glad you are loving your hard earned purchase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more i live with them the better they get, i also bought a halcro MC20, excellent amp also, suits the speakers in my system at least. the tweeter is absolutly brilliant.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • 3 weeks later...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...
To Top