Planar speakers

bombaywalla schrieb:

Savyasaachi schrieb: This is what I am worried about too B'walla. I have 4 feet clearance from the rear wall and 2.5 feet on the side for the left speaker and only 14 inches on the right. I have since last taking the pic moved the speakers 6.5-7 feet from each other (measuring from the center) and about 9 ft from tweeter to tweeter. I just got off the phone with RIch Murry and he says a full restoration of drivers alone owuld cost me 3200$ not including shipping which would come out to 600(300+300 each way). Assuming i get the speakers for say 2300, and i do the restoration with Graz ribbons it would come out to 2300 + 3200+ 600+200(driving up to yakima to pick up the speakers in the first place) = 6300-6500$. No way i can make that sort of commitment right now..but if the speakers are truly in plug and play fashion and i am able to haul them from the current owner's place to mine without damaging anything i could possibly use them for a year and then get the restoration done when i have saved up money. Rich also offered me a pair of Calipers fully restored, in cherry trim with new drivers and crossovers and only the back plate being original for 4k plus shiping... This is tempting and is a whole lot less work involved on my end but then i'll always have that itch..yeah the upgraditis one lol more time spent pondering then for me. Yup! Apogee speakers from the time the company was founded were always a speaker for the well-heeled & they still remain so as you have found out for yourself speaking with RM on this matter. Usually when people have new ribbons installed they have the case/wood-work also re-finished as it gets dinged/scratched during ribbon refurbishing. So, your refurbishing cost would go up some more (for the re-painting).

Aye indeed..if i were to get them restored i would go the whole shebang and get the crosovers done as well. and by then we are probably talking about another 2k easy.

Rich also offered me a pair of Calipers fully restored, in cherry trim with new drivers and crossovers and only the back plate being original for 4k plus shiping... wow, he's being really nice! See what he is selling that refurbished Apogee Diva on Audiogon!! Size-wise the Calipers would be better & you already have a brute of an amp to drive them with. ACTUALLY you are an ideal candidate for an Apogee Stage. They'd be just right for your room size. You would need to raise them using Sound Anchor or Mye stands so that their soundstage would not hug the floor.

haha yeah i saw that posting..28k for the divas...lol

I have since last taking the pic moved the speakers 6.5-7 feet from each other (measuring from the center) and about 9 ft from tweeter to tweeter. why are your tweeters on the outside??? They should be on the inside (for much better soundstaging). I.E. if you pan your eyes left --> right, you should see left bass panel, left tweeter, approx 6' gap between speakers, right tweeter, right bass panel.

The speakers come with serial numbers and i think manual stated that the odd serial number goes to the left and the even serial number goes to the right. Setting it up this way the tweeters are to the outside..panning left to right i see
left tweeter-> left bass panel-> right bass panel-> right tweeter.

I have read about the tweeter being on the inside and about 7 feet apart from tweeter to tweeter being the best positioning for the 1.6/1.7s

Just haven't gotten around to trying this..

I think this should also help with bringing some of that recessed notes i was talking about in the high frequencies and you are right i am not pleased with the imagingin as it stands.

Will experiment tonight!!

ANd based on all this, i am going to pass on the duetta..but will definitely pursue these a few years down the line. There is still much enjoyment to be had with the 1.6s

The calipers i have never heard and if i were to consider it i would probably drive down to nevada and listen to them before making a purchase. But as it stands this is unlikely.

well..you know..those calipers sound interesting..going to send RM an email requesting info and pics..B'walla you got PM incoming.

B'walla...don't know what it is, but switching the speakers around seemed to do the trick.. the speakers truly disappear..very good imaging..and boy the vocals..goosebumps listening to margo of cowboy junkies croon

Savyasaachi schrieb:

B'walla...don't know what it is, but switching the speakers around seemed to do the trick.. the speakers truly disappear..very good imaging..and boy the vocals..goosebumps listening to margo of cowboy junkies croon :D

great! all these planar speakers & line array speakers were meant to be placed with the tweeters on the inside. There is a science to it but I cannot recall it off the top of my head.
Playing the speakers with the tweeters on the outside is bad news for imaging, soundstaging & high freq response (as you have solidly found out).
Enjoy! The MG1.6 are very good speakers & it will take you a while to figure out how to coax the very best out of them. That in itself will be a great learning experience.

I bi-wired my speakers & I cannot believe the upgrade in sound I am hearing esp. in the upgraded bass response. Using my home-made 14AWG solid copper jumpers was robbing me of quite a bit! Didn't realize till now. Now when I pick up any article pertain to my speakers, I always read that they should be bi-wired for better (best?) performance. I had these articles for the past 1-2 years - why, in the world, did I not pay attention to this????

bombaywalla schrieb:

I bi-wired my speakers & I cannot believe the upgrade in sound I am hearing esp. in the upgraded bass response. Using my home-made 14AWG solid copper jumpers was robbing me of quite a bit! Didn't realize till now. Now when I pick up any article pertain to my speakers, I always read that they should be bi-wired for better (best?) performance. I had these articles for the past 1-2 years - why, in the world, did I not pay attention to this???? :.

Same here Bombaywalla, biwiring took the performance to different level altogether on my setup as well. Triwiring took it a notch further.

Now this is Not for the faint hearted or the bigoted Purist ....

I have been 'fooling Around' with taking Bi Wired speakers a step further.

Add a 4 Ohm 20 Watt resistor in series with :

a. The HF path to get more bass and a more 'solid' sound

b. In the LF path to reduce the bass.

If you already have too much bass, simply disconnect the left or Right LF.

I am NOT necessarily advocating these solutions as a long term fix, but I have the results Very educational.

Dare to try ?

Will seriously have to try out biwiring.


Also, as for the preamp situation, looks like i will be getting a Sonic Frontiers SFL-1 preamp for the time being. Its a tube hybrid design using a single 12AT7/12AX7.

Should be interesting as I am very fond of Sonic Frontiers gear regarding their voicing and build quality.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Now this is Not for the faint hearted or the bigoted Purist .... I have been 'fooling Around' with taking Bi Wired speakers a step further. Add a 4 Ohm 20 Watt resistor in series with : a. The HF path to get more bass and a more 'solid' sound b. In the LF path to reduce the bass. If you already have too much bass, simply disconnect the left or Right LF. I am NOT necessarily advocating these solutions as a long term fix, but I have the results Very educational. Dare to try ? ;)

Awesome..you are Pushing boundaries

Without meaning to be provocative, I hurriedly read a review of the Magneplanar 3.6 speakers in the British mag HiFi Plus & to my surprise it was an overall negative review. The reviewer (whose name I forget now) said that the speaker was not up to Jazz, rock & blues. I noted that the overall rating given to that speaker was 75 out of 100, which I thought was quite low.
I see a follow-up review on the Magneplanar 1.7 in the online e-mag Positive-Feedback & that review is, in comparison, more positive. The title of the review (you can read that review here: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue53/magnepan.htm) seems to suggest that the reviewer's positive sentiment is guarded & I read a lot more about the Bryston amp than I cared to in this speaker review (but I guess that enough HAD to be said about this Bryston amp as it was very cunningly provided by the speaker manuf to the reviewer).
What's happening to the magneplanar sound these days?? why so many guarded positive sentiments from the pro reviewers??

Yeha, i have heard the same thing too. A lot f people like the 1.6 better than the 1.7 including me. The 1.7 just sounded like it was losing the last couple of octaves and a bit more tilted towards the top. end.

Then there are others who have heard the 3.6 compared to the 1.6 and like the 1.6 better.

The bryston IMO is just not the right amp to pair with the magnepans..way too dry and dull.

I am very content wher ei am right now even though i was tempted to upgrade to that Kraft 250 amp that turned up on audiogon recently.



Going to be spending the next year at least in fine tuning this system to my liking. The 1.6s do a lot of things right for me.

some more updates to my rig:

Moved to an Assemblage L-1 preamplifier from the SOnic Frontiers SFL-1. The Assemblage is an evolution of the SFL-1.

Upgraded to Crimson RM Music Link speaker cables. Very happy with the results savge for the loss in weight on the bottom end.

Will be receiving Crimson RM Music LInk Interconnects today and will post impressions in a few days.

Assemblage is an evolution of the SFL-1.

Some more details on this (the evolution) & sound ?

Thanks

Hi amp nut:

The assemblage is just more extended all around. Its quieter and more detailed as a result.

But boy oh boy, the Crimson RM Music LInk interconnects, i've had them in for the last couple of hours and what a game changer. This is a huge change and ALL for the better. I am floored. I learned a while ago that cables make a difference, but this sort of difference is quite amazing.

Thnaks Abhi for the recommendation.

Yes Sachi, fortunately I came across this brand while I was just casually reading up some UK audio forum. This has become my reference interconnects as well. For $360 they beat every interconnect I have ever tried under $3k, that too probably because I have never heard an IC costing more than 3k in my system. The latest victim was a pair of Harmonix Reference interconnects HS-101 GP costing $2k, it took less than a minute for the Crimson to establish its superiority over the Harmonix .

Had resigned myself to not purchase any more audio gear , but when an opportunity came to pick up one of these..Well couldn't pass it up..an Assemblage DAC 3.1 Platinum edition.



Its going to be compared to my Assemblage DAC 2.7 Platinum edition that is further modded slightly by me.


GOnna be interesting to see how they stack up in Single ended mode.

The 3.1 is a fully balanced version of the DAC 2.7 supposedly with a slightly better PSU design,dual pll based reclocking jitter reduction stage, buffers on the output.

The DAC 2.7 was on par with the Reimyo DAP-777 that Abhi has at a fraction of the price. And still at half the cost of what a Reimyo DAP-777 goes for on the used market this DAC is going to hopefully be my mainstay source for my speaker rig.

Any specific aspects in your comparismion with the Dap 777. ?

It had no problem taking over the Reimyo's function in Abhi's system.

The differences between the two being:

1>Assemblage more prat, much more dynamic
2> Bigger and better defined bass

Reimyo edged out the DAC 2.7 in midrange quality. Was more organic sounding.

Since this comparison, I have made one major change, installed CDIP versions of THS4031 in the I/V section. I can't be more happy with the DAC especially considering it only cost me 500$.

Upgraded my preamp to the Cavalli Liquid Fire about a month ago. HUGE improvement all around.

Loving my audio rig.

Savyasaachi schrieb:

Upgraded my preamp to the Cavalli Liquid Fire about a month ago. HUGE improvement all around. Loving my audio rig.

Savya, doesn't the top-plate of that Plinius get rather hot to put another piece of electronic gear on top of it? Over time heat destroys electrolytic capacitors - just FYI.

oh yes it does get hot. Only placed the electrostat headphone amp on it for the picture

Any thoughts on the Modwright KSA 150 amplifier?

Wondering if it will be a suitable amp to replace the Plinius SA-100 mk2??

Hi guys,

One the options that you should consider if you are a DIY gent is the BG Corp planar drivers. You can find them at parts express. 200Hz xover for the 4' ribbon mated to some good woofers is real cool. Those of you who are not DIY can buy the
Genesis speakers.

Deaf

Interesting pointer, deaf. Would be great to have Specific links to the products that you are referring to.

Appears that BG Corp has an Indian dealer ! (or have I mixed up the company ?)

For the BRAVE DIY with time on their hands, a friend has Martin Logan Spealers who's ribbons are damaged.

Maybe you could buy at a throw away price ?

If interested PM me and I will send you the owner's details.

deaf schrieb:

Hi guys, One the options that you should consider if you are a DIY gent is the BG Corp planar drivers. You can find them at parts express. 200Hz xover for the 4' ribbon mated to some good woofers is real cool. Those of you who are not DIY can buy the Genesis speakers. Deaf

I can't comment on the Genesis speakers but with cone driver woofers mated to ribbons, don't you come full circle & have the same issues that Martin Logan has (& cannot fix even till today) of the ribbons & woofers not mating well & the listener easily hearing the x-over??
The Cadence speakers have the same issue....