I am stuck guys, and need some advice. As you know I have built some Adire KIT81s ported way low . These things are truely amazing. I have taken to stereo music listening only, rather than 7 channel or sub/mains, as the sub is not required. These units stay flat to 40Hz easily in room. Truely stunning. So stunning in fact that they are embarassing my other speakers, which is another reason I run stereo only for music. However, my primary use of the stereo has always been HT. I have a feeling that after the newness wears off I will return to my old habits and stick with HT. At the most extreme levels with music the tweet is a bit bright to me though. I have had a few people over to demo the units and no one has left disapointed, so maybe I am just being picky (in fact, I know I am). So I come across a set of black ash Paradigm Monitor 7s at an unbelieveable deal. They are 6 months old, and aside from a small scratch on the rear or the units they are pristene. The problem with these units is they will lose bottom end overall to the KITs, but they are not as forward in the higher frequencies as the KITs. So I lose some benefit of 1 set, and gain another. I was considering running the KITs off speaker A outs for HT duties, and the Paradigms off speaker B for music. Now all of the sudden I have a CD player that is doing some random weird skipping. I have demagnetized and cleaned the lens. The unit is a 6 year old Onkyo, that was balls to the wall amazing when I bought it. However, it has been greatly surpassed in the last several years. Also, my DVD is getting some strange archival flutter in some films (again, cleaned/de-magged, random). So I go to re-audition some Paradigm Monitor 7s at my local Pioneer Elite dealer, and he is out of stock, floor models just sold last week. He is expecting new units in this weekend, and told me to please bring my KITs by for some head to head with the Monitor7s and some B&Ws he sells as well (we will use the same source as mine essencially, I have the Elite VSX45TX and he will run the VSX55TX, which is this years model). So I asked him about their DVD players. He will sell me a DV45A for under $400, out the door. The unit does any format available, from SACD, DVD-A, CD (R&RW), DVD (R&RW), CD Video and picture, MP3, you name it. It reads at "Triple 192KHz/24-bit (3x2 channel) for Superior Sound Quality (Burr Brown)" audio and "54 MHz/10 bit, for high quality DVD pictures " for video. Simply amazing. So what do I do? Do the speakers, or do the DVD player and get ready to buy 5 more KITs to accomodate the DVD-A and SACD ability I will be attaining? I am confused.
Decisions are a bitch ain't they! lol Them monitor 7's are very nice speakers, but like you said, they don't go very low. At least mine don't anyway. But then again I am only running them off of a vsx811. I have been contemplating for the last year picking up a parasound 855, if I can find one. I couldn't decide whether to get a new 55txi or a bigger parasound amp to go with my 811. Hell, I still haven't decided and haven't bought anything yet. lol It really sucks having 2 hobbies that are both expensive as hell. Can never decide which one to upgrade next. I have decided that my car gets the next upgrade. I have the pioner 656 dvd player, it does everything you mentioned. DVD r/rw, photo, mp3 the whole ball of wax, at about half the price of the elite unit, and I have been more than happy with it. I'm sure the elites that much better.
I wonder if maybe you should try a different tweeter with those 8's. I'm sure Dan could modify the crossover to accomodate a milder tweeter. The nice thing about going that direction is that it will be a lot cheaper for you. But I still find it odd that you had that problem. Looking at the frequency response on our site, it looks very flat up top. I wonder if maybe it could be caused by something else. Could you somehow cover the face of the enclosure around the tweeter to absorb some reflections (just to try and see)? Other things to do is move the speakers forward, backward, away from the TV, etc. just to see if it goes away. If that doesn't help, try wearing one of those beanies with a propeller on top. Adire has XBL^2 and the Arachnid Spider. Next we are releasing the Beanie^2. When spinning it effects the IIM from higher frequencies and sumurizes them to equate pathlength differences thereby acting as a mechanical delay circuit. We have improved speakers as far as possible, so now we are moving on to improve the listener. Next year: Bell Bottom shirts, pocket protectors and head gear. The image of a true audiophile: Steven Kephart Adire Audio
To be frank, I am not in the mood to frig with the crossovers. They are soldered up and bolted in. I love the detail of the tweet, but it is just too forward for music. I have moved them around and found little differance (outside of how broad my stage is right now, truely impressive), unless I am off axis ~30 degrees. But then I lose some detail. My feeling is it is simply due to the horn loading of the tweet. Also, because of the horn loading I don't think covering the cabinet around the tweet would accomplish anything. I think horn loading creates too much directionality. I have considered grilles to accomplish some absorbtion, but at the same time, I am not interested in grilles. I like a clean cabinet face. Don't get me wrong, I love the set. But me and tweeters are just really tough to get along . As I say, I have converted a few people from PE to Adire with this set.
Buying the DV-45A. I just don't want to suffer loss of bottom end, and having to incorporate my sub with the mains for CD listening. As I stated it needs to be quite loud to notice the tweeter being so forward, and I don't typically listen to it that loud. Also, where my DVD player and CD player both are "broken" and my speakers are not, it just makes more sense to do it that way. As little music as I listen to, it makes better sense to build upon the HT aspect. Also, it will be easier to voicematch all the surround cabinets to the 81s. So, anyone want a killer deal on some Paradigm Monitor 7s?
What do you consider killer deal? I would like to replace my mini monitors for some more 7's as the surrounds. Then I could move my minis to rear use.
Actually, he was going to ship them to me for $425 (that is with $70 shipping and insurance). He has the matching center (is it the C3?) and 4 mini monitors for sale as well. For the whole 9 yards he wanted a grand plus shipping. Obviously, he is willing to break them up. Let me know if you are interested.
Seth - I'd try taking something simple and cheap - like felt - and cut a piece with a tweeter-sized hole in it. At least temporarily attach that to the face of your KIT's, so the tweeter pokes out the hole, and see if some of the harshness is due to reflections off the face of the cabinet. Also, are the tweeters surface mounted on the cabinet, or did you router a bit of a recess for them so their face is flush with the cabinet? Both of these things can cause some subtle issues up high... maybe something to look into. B) Lastly - I don't remember what tweeters those were, or what they look like... or maybe more importantly, what they cost - but if the dome is exposed, you could try taking a can of silicone waterproofing spray (like what you'd use to spray a leather jacket or shoes with), and spraying the dome of the tweeter. The silicone will add a bit of mass, and even some additional damping to the dome... particularly if the dome is porous enough to allow the silicone to permeate the material (soft domes?). Of course, if something goes horrifically wrong, you wouldn't want to be out a $200 pair of tweeters.. but if they are more like $20 tweeters it might not be a big risk to take. Just some ideas for taming tweeter harshness...
Dan suggested a 1 ohm resitstor added to the crossover to bring the load up, and power down just a couple Db. I may try that, but I want to hear the new DVD/CD player through them before I decide (it is sitting on my bench as we speak... boy is it pretty ). Also, someone mentioned the quality of the recording, and I replied as such (it gets all my thought in order, so I will quote it ) From there we shall see. I expect significant gains in dynamics and accuracy from the player itself (lets face it, I am going from an OLD CD player to a new high end unit), and compound that with the bi-wire and I think I am in for significant advance in sound.
There is a vast differance in picture quality. Sound also seems better seperated, and more open as well. Multi-channel playback is stunning and true, very well blended rather than abrupt with the old unit. I only spent 10 minutes listening to music as of yet. We are watching a movie now (needed to get a break and a beer ), so I will comment more tomorrow. I am hoping to get some quality time in with the CD player tomorrow... For now, back to the film!!!
It looks cool - it looks pretty compact too, actually! It does MP3's and SACD's and DVDA's and all that too, huh? For $400 you said? That doesn't sound half bad at all!
I talked to Dan after talking to you on the phone, and I found out he was suggesting a 2 ohm resistor instead. He says the 1 ohm will work as well, but the 2 ohm would be better. Sorry for recomending the wrong one. BTW, I got my Harman Kardon reciever today. It is an AVR 320. It will be about a week before the speakers for my front speakers will come in, so Dan said I could borrow a pair of our demo Kosala speakers for the time being. For sub, I'm borrowing this: Man I love working at Adire. That sub is VERY impressive for being so small. It uses an XBL^2 driver, so you know it sounds awesome.
That is a very nice unit. I'm planning on getting a cheaper version found here. I know that it isn't near the qualit of Seths, but the price is right for me.
Yep, all them and photo CDs, DVD-R and RW, every format available today. Retail is $700, so I got a great deal. I got some feedback on the 36 I was looking at (5 disc Elite) and alot of it was not too good. So I went with this. For DVD-A and SACD it allows independant controll of the speakers, and crossover settings (processing beyond the unit is unavailable). The other cool thing is, even though I am using the 5.1 analog outs for DVD-A and SACD, the unit automaticly recognizes a standard CD format and delivers a pur stereo output (if desired, and I do desire it). The unit also has it's own video settings (similar to a TV, color, tone, black level, sharpness, etc.). I found this really cool, because I was able to sharpen the video a bit and bring down the contrast. This allowed for more detail in the shadowed, and dark areas. Really cool!!! I bought my first DVD-A today (Three Doors Down, Away From the Sun. It is pretty cool. I'm not sure I could really justify buying a Disc a second time just so I could use the feature though. I'm willing to bet the live discs will provide a better demonstration of the what the DVD-A has to offer. It's a shame, because I had a Steely Dan Live DVD-A disc in my hand too. I was going to buy Pink Floyd Dark Side of tthe Moon today as well, but it was an SACD. I wanted to listen to the DVD-A first and see if it was worth it. I'm not sure what the real differance is between the 2, but I tthink I will pick up the DSOTM disc next weekend. We'll see. But Flawlesskid just walked in the door and I'm gonna show off some
That is a very nice unit. I'm planning on getting a cheaper version found here. I know that it isn't near the qualit of Seths, but the price is right for me. [/b][/quote] Not a bad lookin unit Steven. While they don't list DVD-A at Worst Buy, the rear outputs are indicative of it. Also, look here. You will see this is the unit indicated in the ad, and it does play DVD-A. Also, it indicates SACD. If that is your goal, that is a great deal!!!
A couple quickys... My camera is turning out some blurry pics for some reason, but here are a couple of my "Wall"
Not a bad lookin unit Steven. While they don't list DVD-A at Worst Buy, the rear outputs are indicative of it. Also, look here. You will see this is the unit indicated in the ad, and it does play DVD-A. Also, it indicates SACD. If that is your goal, that is a great deal!!! [/b][/quote] Bonus! I was actually planning on getting the $80 Toshiba DVD player till Dan told me about the Pioneer unit that plays SACD's as well (He's a big fan of that format). The extra cost is well worth it for that feature. But DVD-A is even better. Thanks for checking up on that Seth. If I had the money, I would go with the one you got.
