Hey Warren - I hope Harmonic Precision pays you for all the good press you give them! ;)
I will put them on my "buy and try" list, thanks to you. Arthur |
Warren, you have been enjoying these speakers for awhile now, and are one of the few that has actually experienced the greatness of the Caravelles.
Many are skeptical, but few have heard.
These speakers are going to rock some people's worlds.
It is very difficult to make a big "splash" at an audio show where all the world's best products can be heard and seen. When the reviewers leave the show saying, "I've gotta get a set of those Caravelles to review", after they've heard all the megabuck stuff, you know it is something special.
But, the big "secret" is that it wasn't just the Caravelles playing in that room. The Sistrum platforms, Audiopoints, Sonoran Cables, and the Harmonic Precision monoblock amps were all in that combination that "wowed" the experts. When they were fed a quality signal from that superb DCS digital player, the entire system showed it's stuff in spades. You just can't ignore a sound like that.
We took alot of orders at the show. There are going to be alot of happy people with this stuff.
Warren, you were there first, and reaped the rewards earlier than everybody else. Enjoy your "tympanic" experiences! |
Warrenh, you've had my attention for awhile now on this product. I didn't see a price for the speakers on the Star Sound website, and would appreciate info about the cost, inclusive of the recommended stand/platform/spike/protective disk package, if TWL cares to advise.
Warrenh, pardon me if you covered this before; what about optimal room size, listening distance? I'm more or less confined to listening in an 8'foot triangle from head to speakers. Will this be too close? I know you are keen on the bass relative to a comparator like the Micro Utopia Be.
Will the bass in the Caravelle be too much for a small room application? Does it open up well at low volume levels, or do you need to crank it up to get all the music out?
Generally I've swung back and forth between various mini-monitors and slender towers, never quite satisfied that I had all the advantages of the precise imaging of the former with the richer mids and bass of the latter. Care to comment further on the Caravelles in that context? I'm hoping my questions might be of interest to others as well. |
I listen to my Caravelle in a seven foot equilateral triangle. No toe in. How's that for you? Of course they are also 2 feet from the side walls and 3.5 from the front walls. With monitors (just about any speaker) distance from the walls is critical. The Caravelles sound wonderful at low volume, but let's face it, they sing (again like most speakers) when you give them some juice. I'm not talking ear bleed levels. I'm a big jazzman, and I usually listen at comfortable easy listening levels, and the speakers deliver. If you're listening to the Gladiator soundtrack, however, you might want to play them a tad louder. You won't believe what the Gladiator sounds like. NO SUBWOOFER! The bass was superior to the Micros. The whole darn speaker was superior. This Series crossover that Brent has developed (being patented I'm told) is one of the fundemental reasons for the drop dead phase coherency, like no other speaker I've ever heard. You can read my review. I don't have a clue what the speakers are now going for. I believe they are, with dedicated stands, around $4.5K. Call Robert at Starsound as you put in your order. peace, warren |
The Caravelle's with the dedicated stands will be 5k. Tom |
Panderso, you will love the warmth and musicality of these speakers. They are NOT THIN sounding by ANY stretch. In fact they are extremely musical. I have them in a near field listening set up and they image and dissapear. The bass will surprise you for sure. I have an audiophile friend who comes over and can't believe the bass quantity and quality. He has the larger Wilson's. |
After Srajan of 6moons.com mentioned that these speakers were sounding mighty fine in the Sistrum room at RMAF 2004, I went over and had a listen. One piece they played was a tough classical piece. The separation, stability, accuracy and coherency were very good, missing only just a little involvement (but it was not unmusical) and, what would you call it... charm? ...character? like, say, the Sonus Faber Extrema - which itself happens to sound the slightest bit boxey (which the Caravelles absolutely does not) and ... top-to-bottom even handedness? Well, that is part of the Extrema's charm, its brahzos, its raison d'etra if you will :-)
Similar to another granite enclosed monitor speaker design, that of Intuitive Designs, this sounded like a damn good small speaker to me for those who want high-dollar top-to-bottom accuracy and even handedness; a box-free, musical, and appropriately dynamic sound at a very reasonable price.
Enjoy!
Mike (who doesn't sell or plan on selling any of these fine speakers, but does own the Extremas :-) |
Thanks all. I got price and shipping partics, plus a very enlightening and generous short course on sound engineering from Robert at Star Sound. Now I just have to gather the means, having over-extended a bit on the last round of upgrades... |
Does anyone know what kind of drivers they use. I remember someone on audiogon saying that they used $50 Peerless drivers. Also are there multiple options for stands? I saw different dedicated stands on their website and at the show that 6moons reviewed. |
don't have a clue as to the drivers. Call Robert over at Starsound for the scoop. The 6Moons pictures of the stands are going to be the deal. The speaker stands on their website (the dunce cap looking cones) will be available as well. Those are the ones I have. Coolest thing I've ever seen, in the way of speaker stands. A real visual attention getter. Sound? In this case, you get what you pay for. I'm told the ones at the show are superior to the original three cylinder stands. You can always bend Robert's ear, over at Starsound or Tom, the audiotweak, as well. They'll set you free. peace, warren |
