I also love low watts and high DB. So desire the Voxativ but alas its too pricey :)
Finally after 7 years of search... Full Range: Voxativ.
I’ve found almost ecstasy with Full Range speakers.
First of all, sorry for my english, not native.
Been a Tube and High DB sucker since I tried 7 years ago. Since then I’ve had tones of amps and speakers naming few ones: Lavardin ISx Reference (love this one), Acoustic Plan Mantra, ARC i/50, INT-25, Mastersound Compact 300B, Dueundici, Dueventi, Octave V70 Class A, Jeff Rowland Concentra, MA252, MA8900, Leben CS300Xs, CS600, Naim Atom, vintage Yamaha, Denon... and lot of speakers: Audio Physics Avantera, ProAc T10 Signature, Harbeth P3esr (magical), M30.2XD (amazing with tubes or lavardin), JBL 4349, L100 Classic, 4305p, 4329p, Buchardt A10, Zu Omen, Druid, Klipsch Heresy, Forte, Cornwall, Devore Oranguntan’s (Until today my fav ones), Sonus Faber EA3, Concertino, Concerto, Cessaro Wagner Mini, Boenicke W11, Meyer Tonapparate Ylva, Yonna (amazing ones, second favs) to mention few...
But then I started to read bout Full Range speakers, can just a single small cone or driver delivers all I was looking at? floating music in the room, realism in voices, wind, strings, delicacy, intimacy, refined, touchable...
So I phoned Inés Adler and started to explain my feelings bout a system, what music I Love (Jazz, Bossa, Soul, Folk, Flamenco, Blues, and some Reggae, classic rock and classical maybe...) and She was convinced I’d love her Zeth absolut system, so done, I received them and hooked them with the matching Box, a kind of AB amp with 50 or 70wpc with DSP, Streamer, DAC, so less boxes, more happy wife and life.
Holy crap: live concert and in the stage with musician feeling is second to almost none of my old systems, the clarity, pure tone and voices... I almost can touch them. Special mention to female voices but not fall behind men ones. Piano is superbly reproduced, seriously, also acoustic guitars and trumpets (imagine Chet Baker or Joao Gilberto).
How can an 8" driver be so full and engaging? Imaging pretty good also.
I only can imagine what the Ampeggio’s or the 9.88 or the other expensive options can do, with their 211 or 805 electronics.
Is the first time I really don’t have the need to be trying systems, sort of feeling I had with Mastersound/Octave and Devore, but much less fussy. My last system was Boenicke and Holborne Passion (gonna list for sale this superb amp, possibly best I’ve tried alongside Mastersound), and was a meaty sound but those superb swiss speakers really need to breath and I just don’t have the space right now for them. Full range sound much more balanced and engaging.
Seriously such clarity and realism, immediacy... I’m still freaking out everyday I listen to them (I work from home and spend like 8 hours listening to music). Even they are so coherent, don’t have the word to express the feeling, is like the FQ don’t eat each others but at the same time they’re like a whole...is like look thru an open windows instead behind the glass if You understand me, I don’t like laid back sound or too warm (never understood why people tells tube amps are so warm or whatever, always found a good one to be super realistic, open and clear and with bloom at the same time). Pretty natural sound.
Special mention to the bass department, again, cannot believe with such small driver this kind of bass, is just perfect, if I’d need for more, would get the Z-Bass, for now I’m more than satisfied.
BTW I have the new driver in them: 1.9 AC instead of 1.8, been told it reaches 33-35hz,
I’d like to thank Voxativ team, forum members who helped me and those who have talked bout full range or Voxativ options during the years here.
Thanks for reading.
22 responses Add your response
I've heard several systems with their drivers, including their Ampeggio system, and I like their sound. I have also heard a few other systems based on full and wide range drivers that I like a lot. One of the best sounding, and not crazy expensive systems is the Charney Companion single driver system with an AER driver in a quarter wave back loaded horn cabinet. It delivers a very clear, coherent, warm and full sound with reasonable bass. Songer Audio also has a great sounding single driver system that employs a field coil driver. They also offer a two-way system employing that field coil driver and it sounds great too. My favorite full range speaker is the Jensen ERPI M-10 field coil that was built in the 1930's and there are working models that sound fantastic, particularly if they are supplemented on top with a tweeter (i.e., run full range but with a tweeter supplementing the output way on top to counter the narrow dispersion that would result from a 13" driver operating full range). The big downside is that a matched pair of M-10s is not easy to come by and they are expensive. This past weekend, I heard a stereo pair of Western Electric 728 drivers (also ancient) in Karlson cabinets. This was thrown together just to see how it sounds, and with no further tuning (e.g., adding cabinet damping), the combination sounded quite good--very dynamic and coherent sounding. I like systems employing full/wide range drivers used in multi-way system, like the M-10 with tweeter mentioned above. The Cube Audio Nenuphar Basis system, employing their proprietary full range driver and a powered woofer is a great sounding example too. I am a fan of Pure Audio Project open baffle speakers that employ wide range drivers and woofers for the low end (they even have models with Voxativ field coil wide range drivers). |
YES, by all means look at tube amps. I really like lower powered tube amps of all topologies--single ended, pushpull and output transformerless. I would take advantage of the higher efficiency of the Voxativ speaker to explore low-powered tube amps. Most higher powered tube amps employing a lot of tubes to increase output don't thrill me as much. |
One of the great problems for loudspeaker performance is the analog crossover. Ideally you would never put anything between the speaker and the amp. Full range drivers are an attempt at avoiding this problem. The problem for all of them is bass below 100 Hz. They will try to do it distorting everything else the speaker is doing. I have the same problem using full range ESLs, the bass kills them. Using digital bass management to cross to balanced subwoofers like the KEF KC92 will make an extraordinary improvement in your experience. I can not recommend this strongly enough. |
Yeah, always wanted to like big power and speakers like TAD with luxman, accu or spec, Boenicke with matching swiss amps, etc etc, based on aesthetics, but I came back again and again to low powered Class A 300B, EL34... or Class A SS and 93/97db speakers (horn or not), and ended with the most simple setup that sounds absolutely great and engaging, real and musical. Still cannot believe everything is come from a single point, always returned to low tube and high efficiency speakers. Now I’ve found a nice balanced. |
superelmar -- good to read your findings. +1 for KEF subwoofer, if not KC92 mentioned above, for larger spaces, I found KC62 perfect match for my full range single driver horns in a smaller room. Enjoy |
Very cool. I totally agree that there can be something special about a well-executed full-range model, a sense of intimacy and immediacy that’s hard to describe. I regretted missing the Voxativ room at last year’s Capital Audio Fest, but was surprised by another room I wandered into right before the show closed featuring a similar approach: Rethm. Also agree with your desire to experiment with tubes; would be magical. |
I’m really pleased, seriously, musician are just there with me, I kind ok like this presentation with naturalness, and palpable voices, wind and strings.
Again, for our European taste, bass is remarkable.
Need to try a 211, 300b or 845… never tried 211 or 845, wondering what kind of strength they have compared to 300B, maybe 211 is a compromise between the others? Trekton and Mastersound , appeal to me. |
I’ve had Ampeggio’s with upgraded Vox drivers for 8 years. They’re powered by restored Western Electric monoblocks with vintage WE 300B tubes in SET configuration. My experience is that they blossom with a pair of Rythmik subs and placed deep in the listening area. Vox’s like space to breathe and can create a very deep and detailed sound stage. Congratulations on your acquisition. Vox and Ines there are special. |
I’m very excited for you! Back in the olden days, I had some single driver speakers and I always had trouble with details, like being able to pick out individual instruments or voices. Again, I haven’t heard a single driver speaker since the late eighties, so I am really interested in hearing your reviews and thoughts. |