Btw, Sound treatments, using balanced cables thruout, and substituting the Brooklyn dac in the main system, all contibuted to improving the sound quality considerably. The “air and sparkle” is there, especially in the near field. Happier me. |
Jond, Good suggestion. Already tried it. Scorpios sound about the same in mids and highs. But in the larger room, the Triton Ones have more solid base lines. So the Tritons seem better for the main system. Btw, preliminary comparison of Cary SLP-05 to Pass XP-10 preamp: Cary is more dimensional and rich on female vocals; Pass is better at most everything else - especially more complex and energetic music. Don’t know which to keep yet. I’m really fortunate to be dealing with such a trivial dilemma in life. Audioholicism is a very strange affectation.
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Since you already own them why not try moving the Scorpio's into the main system? You like their sound already and they look to be pretty full range speakers. If nothing else it will give you another data point on speakers vs electronics.
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Driven by Audio Alchemy electronics?? |
Agree with shredder......they were sounding very fine at RMAF |
I heard the Elacs at RMAF this year. I was very impressed and they stood out among the many speakers I heard that weekend. A real standout especially at the price point. |
Thanks for all the comments on Adantes and suggestions for my system. Followed @djohnson54’s advice for using the Brooklyn as a preamp, and performed several other swaps with second system components separately. Observations and conclusions: 1. The room is the biggest problem, especially reflections off tv. (It’s a home theater, as well as a stereo setup.) Room treatment is in the works. 2. Brooklyn sounds more dynamic than SLP-05, but not as refined in highs and mids. 3. Purchased a Pass Labs XP-10 to compare to the Cary. Will keep the better sounding unit. Need about 1 week to really compare. 4. When done with all of this, will audition Adantes, just for the heck of it. really nice discussion. Thanks. ps: will probably upgrade dac also.
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I think you will be impressed. Soundstage is excellent. Width is extremely solid as well as depth. As I continue to listen to these speakers I am struck by the uncolored sound. I'm used to the B&W signature sound and I have to say the Adantes produce music naturally across the frequencies. B&W was always a tad bright in my opinion. The Adantes are balanced. The soft done tweeter makes a difference in letting these speakers breathe naturally. I have been listening for the last 3 days and I am still amazed when I listen to music I am very familiar with. The Adantes are spectacular. |
@hificrazed
....thanks for the comments! I am thinking in this budget range and also have a small room... What are your feelings about the soundstage, width and depth?
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@hificrazed When you say that the Elacs "bests the B&W 705s2 easily", can you please provide more information? How did you reach that conclusion? Did you perform a side by side comparison or read a review somewhere that you can link to? Thank you. |
2 additional drivers and 2 additional passive radiators. I'm going to say more bass. The 2 speakers are identical except for the additional drivers in the AF. I'm impressed with what AJ has accomplished with these speakers. I have a smaller listening space so I chose the AS-61. If I had a large listening space the AF-61 would be ideal. They would over power a small room.
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The Elac AS-61 is the best value for the money at 2.5k . They sound incredible smooth highs and deep balanced lows. I would recommend these speakers to anyone looking in this price range. Bests the B&W 705 S2 easily.
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Just purchased these AS-61 from Music Direct on Thursday. Still assessing them. First they are extremely large for a bookshelf speaker. Gloss black finish is impeccable.
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I read several show reports, and all but one of them were very positive. It apparently has a very innovative internal bass configuration. And thank goodness it has a soft dome tweeter! Still, as others have said, I have yet to see reports from anyone who has these in their own home. The proof of the pudding, etc. etc. |
I owned the Cary slp-05 a few years ago. To me, it is a very dark sounding piece. I even tried some expensive tube rolling, sold the Cary.
Also once you replace the Cary get Cerious Matrix cabling throughout.
ozzy
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You might want to try the Brooklyn as a preamp into the XA60s. You may or may not like the sound but it also might balance the warmness of the Pass amps - either way, you'll learn something. My other thought is that we're talking about two different rooms here and the room is almost always a huge contributor to the system's sound (nearfield listening also eliminates a lot of this). Dick
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Thanks to these suggestions, I will try moving various eqipment from the less expensive rig to the main system, as an experiment. If the Cronus Magnum improves the sound, then preamp/amp is the culprit, for example. If nothing improves it, then it’s most likely the room itself, the speakers or cabling. All this will take some doing, so I probably won’t get to it for a week or so.
Don’t want to add significant $$ to system at this time.
I still would like to hear from an actual Elac Adante owner, though. |
I’m thinking the "lack some sparkle, air and detail" is due to the mismatch of your preamp and power amp. The Cary and Pass appear to be matched looking at listed specifications, however measurements in the Stereophile reviews tell a different story. Generally the input impedance of the amp should be at least 10 times greater than the output impedance of the preamp, and many say it is safer to have that difference even higher, as in 20 times greater. The measured input impedance of the XA60.5 is 17k ohms. The measured output impedance of SLP-05 rises as frequency increases to 3400 ohms at 20k Hz. So at that frequency, the difference is only a multiple of 5.
A few years ago, I had a tube preamp and tried different amps with it due to this matching issue. Surprisingly, an amp with much less power and excellent matching sounded more dynamic, lively, and had sparkle (to use your term) than a more powerful amp (4 times more) with poor matching. Poor matching will cause the sound to be lifeless and dull.
Before trying different speakers or anything else in your system, I would try a different preamp, one that is properly matched to the Pass. Trying anything else would be like chasing after the end of a rainbow. It’s always best to correct problems first.
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The Elacs are going to be good, I would really recommend moving to that next level, as your components warrant it.
You can get a way better dac, then the Codex, a T plus A DAC 8DSD will make a noticable improvement.
For an experiment try the Brooklyn in place of the Codex. I am willing one of the reasons you like your less expensive rig is the Brooklyn.
I would also replace your speaker cables and interconnects, one cardinal rule is to have the same cables for the amp to preamp and preamp to dac, also which usb cable are you using?
Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ
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Thanks for the comments, Audiotroy. Speaker cables - Acoustic Zen Hologram II Interconnects - mostly Kimber Silverstreak, also Crystal Cable front end - Roon on laptop into Ayre Codex dac. Tube-modified Marantz SA-11. Oracle Delphi Mark V with Sumiko arm, Ortofon Cadenza Blue and EAR phono preamp. Second system has Aurender N100H feeding a Mytek Brooklyn dac. Plays Tidal with MQA. Also has less costly phono and CD. LPs are the best sounding source on both systems but digital is very close.
I heard the Elac briefly at a dealer demo last year, and was impressed.
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What are you using for cables and source?
We haven't heard the Adante's but they are using a soft dome tweeter, I doubt they will have better treble, they also won't go as low.
If you are looking at a similar bass response with more detail look at a Legacy Signature, quite remarkable for the money.
You may also want to increase your budget and move into the $10k price range which will better match the quality of your other components.
My take is warm preamp, warm amp, cables and source no idea and the Triton's do tend to be on the warm side with an over abundance of bass.
So yeah that system should or could be a bit on the boring and recessed side.
Other speakers to look at the new Magico A3 and the Paradigm Persona 3F which are detail and holography monsters.
Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |