So here's an interesting development:
A few months ago, I got a call from John "Fritz" Heiler of Fritz Speakers in L.A. He and I have spoken on the phone from time to time over the years, starting way back when I had Merlin TSM's.
Anyway, he said that he often demo's his new Carbon 7 SE's at shows with a very pricey 300B SET amp, and he wanted to send me a pair of these monitors for review and to see how they performed with my ANK Kit 1. I was skeptical, given that the Carbon 7 SE is rated at a mere 88 dB sensitivity, but Fritz assured me that this was a very conservative rating and reiterated his offer. I agreed and have been living with the Carbon 7 SE's mated to the Kit 1 for about 3 weeks. I'm working on a review and will post it soon on the blog. Should make for some fun reading... ;-) |
Brownsfan,
Thank you so much for the kind thoughts - they mean a lot to me! |
The Carbon 7 SE review is up, see here. |
Map,
Yes, I sold the De Capo's over the summer. I'm currently auditioning and breaking in something new. I'll post again when I find a match I'm happy with! |
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Rob,
When I spoke with Eric Alexander and asked him about my choices and about the De Capo, which he said he was quite familiar with (but did not try to trash, which I respected) he basically said something along the lines of, "The Lore would be an entirely different experience, rough if the music is rough, loud if the music is loud, dynamic like a live performance…"
As Charles said, I really value the fact that you have had the opportunity to hear these two speakers side-by-side. And I think that I probably am suffering somewhat under the "how good can it be for that kind of money" syndrome. But not enough to prevent me from giving it a try if it looks like the best option! I am interested, by the way, in your comment that "in every other parameter [besides bass] the Tekton was as good or better than the De Capo." That's kind of what I was wondering about. You have to understand that I am so consistently thrilled with what I am hearing with the Kit 1 and the De Capo that I'm almost afraid to mess with success. |
Mikirob,
I will be delighted to hear about your wife's experience building the Kit 1. I would certainly go for the best capacitors you can put in the amp – I do think they make a difference. I also recommend seeing if you can get one of these 274 B rectifier tubes from Brian. I did have a chance to compare it with the stock tube during the troubleshooting process and it is a better sounding tube in the amp.
As for me, I'm not rushing to replace the stock 300 B's that came with the kit. I understand that the Black Treasure tubes take quite a while to break in and I'm very happy with the sound I'm getting right now. I do think I'm going to get one of those relatively inexpensive Pangaea power cords from Audio Advisor one of these days.
I hope to build another Audio Note Kits one of these days. I'd like to do one of their phono preamp's or perhaps one of their DAC's. |
Earlier on in the thread, someone had mentioned Spatial. If you don't know, Clayton Shaw founded Spatial to continue to develop open baffle, controlled directivity speakers after leaving Emerald Physics. His latest, which debuted at THE Show in Newport, is the Spatial M3. It is rated at 94 dB efficient, goes down to 32 Hz, and has been getting (like the rest of the Spatial lineup) rave reviews from the press. The price is $1499 plus shipping (which, at 75 lb. per side, isn't cheap). See here. He has links to the reviews, too. Interesting! Clayton says they sound great with a 300B SET but you'd want to use the 4 Ohm taps on an amp, which, in the case of the Kit 1, would require some trivial rewiring. |
Roxy,
Great to hear from you.
I did pick up a Magic Power Cord by Signal Cable (Almarg had recommended these) for my Kit 1, used, from a local audiophile. I like it a lot, but I'm intrigued by your impressions of the Nano Reference. I'll check it out.
As for Klipsch, sure, I’m intrigued. I find their current line confusing - there are so many models and I have heard online (which is worth the paper it's printed on, admittedly) that their newer, mass market stuff isn't as good as the vintage, Made In USA stuff.
Davidpritchard:
Thank you so much for chiming in!! The KLF-20 looks like a winner - a slimmer tower would fit in my room much better than a massive, squat floor-stander. And I've seen KLF-20's for sale on the 'net. The challenge is as I posted above: these things are heavy, few sellers have the original boxes, and thus the sellers aren't willing to ship them. But I'll definitely keep my eye out! |
Hi, folks,
I'm sorry for my absence. I haven't even visited this forum in a few weeks – it's been a very busy time. (I kind of wish that Audiogon had the feature that a lot of other bulletin boards have, allowing you to request email notification whenever someone posts to a particular thread.)
Anyway, yes, I have had the opportunity to live with a couple of other speakers over the past few months. As some of you may have seen on my blog, Fritz Heiler of Fritz Speakers asked me to audition a pair of his Carbon 7 SE monitors. Actually still have them at home, waiting until the next reviewer is ready for them so Fritz can ship them along to him/her. They are really quite wonderful.
I purchased and am currently using a pair of Omega Super Alnico monitors. This is Louis' top-of-the-line monitor, featuring his 6.5 inch hemp cone full range driver with an alnico magnet. Louis of Omega is quite the artisan – the zebra wood veneer is about the most beautiful finish I have ever seen on any speaker.
Omega is a favorite choice of the Decware amplifier crowd and it is easy to see why. I have never heard any speaker that images and throws out a soundstage like these do. [Mapman: You should hear these things play Lindsey Buckingham's "Under the Skin!"] It's quite remarkable: with the right material, you get spaciousness similar to an omni speaker like Ohm, with the pinpoint imaging of a mini monitor. Midrange and coherence are also top notch.
Up until now I've been listening to them on a pair of cheap, wobbly MDF stands that just happened to be the right height but that I know aren't bringing out the best in these speakers. I took the plunge on a pair of Skylan custom-made stands for these and I hope to have the chance to assemble them next week. At that point, I'll be ready to post some more useful impressions.
Hope everyone's been well! |
