@roxy ---Yes, relatively new in the last 6 months. The Aries Cerat needs some major updating. WBF has an Aries Cerat Thread showing pictures and talking about the Aurora. I believe there is only one pair in the USA right now. I was able to listen to them.
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A new update as of this week. I am changing all of my equipment. Gone will be Canary Audio Grand Reference 300 B Monoblocks, Canary Audio C1800 PRe Amp, Viking Acoustic Grande Voix Speakers, and my Lampizator Horizon DAC. I have to say this was an outstanding system for me and my wife loved the speakers. In will be an all Aries Cerat Line-up with the exception of my Lucas Audio LDMS Music server. Aries Cerat Essentia Monoblocks Aries Cerat Ageto Preamp Aries Cerat Kassandra 2 Reference DAC Aries Cerat Aurora Horn speakers. I started this thread a couple of years ago and my journey has been fun and great but this system is my LAST system period. |
Pro Studio relates to the paint treatment I requested and a larger resonator than the original design. My speakers were voiced to accommodate my cavernous room. It is 20'w x 35'L with ceiling starting at 12' going to 16' at peak. Horns can have a tendency to be extremely bright and forward. In my case, the sound will be slight less forward which is perfect for my room. I will be able to maximize my low level listening when combined with my Canary Audio Grand Reference 125wpc 300B tube amps. By the way, the Amps have a combined 16 300B tubes. Having a massive 18" subwoofer will provide me a perfect complement of bass. As soon as I receive and hook up all of the new equipment I will be providing a detailed analysis. |
It has been awhile but I thought I would update everyone on my speaker purchase. After going through an exhaustive period of research and listening I have decided on Viking Acoustic Grande Voix. I am custom ordering them in a black main cabinet with the horn being a natural wood. They take around 4 months to build. They have just picked out the timbers for the horns. Now my next steps will be to try and sell the Mola Mola Amplifiers I purchased and never used for a different speaker and match a tube amplifier with the Grande Voix. |
The Cornwall (can be used in a CORNer or against a WALL) is essentially a big Heresy and a great sounding loudspeaker. I desperately wanted a pair when I was 17 but could only afford the Heresys. It has less of a phase problem than the K horn and I think images better. Today I would plug the port and use a subwoofer. |
Great thread so far... Ive had numerous Klipsch models and the Forte II driven by low class A power Pass ACA DIY monos sound great in my second system after installing Crites crossovers. These look really interesting and may be in my future for my main system https://www.audioxpress.com/news/klipsch-refreshes-iconic-cornwall-speaker-at-rocky-mountain-audio-f... |
@willgolf - I was looking at hifishark.com and it showed a listing date of Aug. 31, 2019. Don’t know how accurate those dates are. (Do a search from the hifishark main page - and listing dates are shown on the right of results) Maybe worth sending an email - establish a dialogue - to check on validity of seller too.. Another thing besides any shipping concerns - are the powered subs fed by 220v vs 110v. Good luck and keep us posted. |
Modern decor.... Acapella, Cessaro, or from left field - Geddes https://www.partsconnexion.com/ACAPELLA-85817.html May be a pain to get ship them from Europe, but the USD and Euro are getting pretty close to par, putting these within range? https://www.audiophile.org/Ilan/Hoparlorler/kule-tipi-hoparlor/Avantgarde-duo-omega/39111 Pretty drool-worthy IMO.. |
The Volti Vittoria looks nicely made and would be a fun speaker to work with. I would get two bass cabinets though. There remains a phase/time issue between the drivers. It seems only Avantgarde addresses this by staggering the drivers but the Trios make a staggering presentation that would own any room. If you've ever seen them in person they are big! It would take a really slick guy to get these by the wife. I showed a picture to my wife and her response pretty much killed any inclination I had toward trying a set. |
That's a tough place to be in for audio quality and you have my sympathy. Hope you find something she likes and produces great audio too. I never told my wife this but this ordeal of building a new house and having to deal with the spouse during the process is why we will never have a new house. I get some say in what happens too or it does not happen. Finding showrooms or willing owners to audition can be hard to do. Forums are a great place to find owners and I would rather go to someones house where they have dealt with setup and rooms and do not have magic salesman snake oil going on. |
Dromme....I wish it were that easy. The hardest part of my journey is hearing a speaker today that sounds good and then in three weeks you go listen to another speaker. It is hard to remember the differences in sound from the different speakers over time. In answer to your question, as I have said many times in this thread that looks are important. Whatever speakers I choose will not be in a dedicated listening room but will be a focal point in my great room. If all of my choices were in the same room and I was blindfolded and Klipsch sounded the best, I think my spouse would acquiesce to my desires but she would not be happy. So, yes I would buy them and save a ton of money. But a happy wife is a happy life....so I am told LOL. |
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@willgolf -- The biggest question I have now as I am about to embark on building my new house is, should I add to in wall subwoofers. Even if I don’t use them at least I have them ready. With Horns being so fast, I would need a very good subwoofer. My wife has laid the law down and said they have to be be in wall subs like I have in my current house. If what you’re about to embark on, at least as an outset, is a horn hybrid solution like the Avantgarde Uno Fino’s, then you’ve already "welcomed" the switch from horn mids/top to direct radiator in the band below in the main speaker, with all that entails sonically. To mitigate any discontinuity that would invariably exist in such a pairing within the mains - you and your wife’s appreciation of them notwithstanding - adding a pair of subs in a proper fashion could improve overall coherency; "proper" being high-passing the mains somewhere between 80-100Hz with a quality digital cross-over to the subs augmenting below, in which way you’d free the direct radiators of the Duo Fino’s from low frequency content - with significant gains to be had in the range above (to better meet with the horns here). With an in-wall subs solution you’re facing some interesting options that should include horns variants or other hidden-driver approach, so that only the mouth area is visible. Now, even though what I’m about to quote and link to is only meant as an inspiration, I wouldn’t recommend your wife read and see the following.. ;) Taken from the opening post of a build thread over at Avsforum: I figured I’d start a new thread instead of mooching off of the other threads with my questions... I have started my build for the two Gjallarhorns designed by Ricci - thanks for sharing the plans Josh! I’m building these for my 2700 cu ft living room that we use for watching movies, listening to music, entertaining, etc. Not really a "true" HT because it’s the main room of our house and there are several different openings to the room, two windows, sliding glass door, vaulted ceiling, fireplace. The goal is to have this room +10 on WAF by looking like a "normal room," but with ninja-stealth, bone crushing sound coming from the shadows. https://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/1495785-doug-s-dual-gjallarhorn-build.html |
"So, if I can find great sound and good looking speaker, then I am a happy camper. " Absolutely and if you can do this you can't ask for more. If you find something that meets these standards in your eyes that is what matters. In my search for my audio standards to be met I could not find what I wanted and ended up building what has turned out to be in most eyes a visual klunker no doubt, but the sound is amazing and it is produced by the laws of physics in which best functional form can't be evaded. Properly done pure horns systems are unbeatable by any direct radiator systems and they do this by correct audio producing shape which can be done no other way. Side benefit to horns is also super efficiency and you don't need lots of power to run things. It is a shame this forum does not allow for pictures. It was mentioned to me that a build thread would be interesting and there were not enough of them here but I can see why. Can't post build in progress pictures nor finished results nor can you post actual measured audio results for people to see so it ends up being talk and no evidence. Can't post REW or TrueRTA graphs showing the benefit of doing things certain ways nor can anyone share screen captures of active digital settings that would work with Xilicas to balance and time align systems. |
Mahlman....trust me, I will not sacrifice sound for looks. How I got on this horn search to begin with was hearing the Avantgarde Uno Fino. That was the first horn I heard and in the same room I heard, Meridian, Eggleston, Vivid, Stenheim Alumine, Vandersteen. My wife and I both loved the sound of the Avantgarde better than any of the other speakers. I was shocked that my spouse would accept the look of the horn. I am going to listen to the Avantgarde Duo in October. IMO they are overpriced but we will see. I still like the hORNS Universum and the Symphonies. I just had an opportunity to buy a used pair of Cessaro Liszt for an unbelievable price but at 980 pounds a piece, I just thought that would not work in my room. The biggest question I have now as I am about to embark on building my new house is, should I add to in wall subwoofers. Even if I don't use them at least I have them ready. With Horns being so fast, I would need a very good subwoofer. My wife has laid the law down and said they have to be be in wall subs like I have in my current house. Also, beauty is a matter of opinion. What might be a great looking speaker to me may be ugly to others. So, if I can find great sound and good looking speaker, then I am a happy camper. |
"I understand the considerations in regards to interior decoration, but
if you’re really into sound reproduction let your speakers be a main
priority in the allotted space they’re given - with the adherence to
form-follows-function as far as it goes, and not vice versa. As it often
happens, to my eyes at least, the really interesting physical shape of
speakers comes via an uninhibited accordance with their function as
dictated by physics. Even a much smaller, typical slender square box
speaker can be seen as an outright nuisance in a home setting because
it’s just that: a tall, rectangular square box oftentimes finished in a
rather sterile manner, and one that’s placed well into the room, at
that." Precisely right and much of the speaker world, no let me restate this to 95% of the "high end" speaker world is form before function and then trying to make them to work well within the physical parameters of the pretty, avant-garde or techno-artisto box. OP wants pretty and decent sound which I can understand is the choice of most but when I close my eyes I want to pretend I am truly in one of the best seats in the live performance. I want spectacular sound and looks just don't matter. |
+1 for Volti. I was pretty impressed with those when I heard them, and I really enjoyed talking with the designer and builder (Greg Roberts) at Lone Star Audio Fest. He managed to make those speakers sound very good in a small hotel room, and they are clearly meant to shine in a larger space. I would reach out to them and you'll likely get to speak with Greg directly. If you're into high efficiency horns in that price range, I think just hearing his input directly would be worth your time, even if you go a different way. |
I think you would be doing yourself a favor if you purchased a moderate size horn and accompanied it with a pair of the Wilson Beseech Torus infrasonic generators. They are breath taking, fast and very deep and extremely musical as well as accurate. To get a horn to go that low and be that fast is really difficult. In addition and it is no small mater with the Torus you will be happy using them with any main speaker you ever buy. http://wilson-benesch.com/torus-infrasonic-generator/ |
Curious, then why don’t speaker manufacturers do this? Wouldn’t they want their gear to sound the best possible?@rockadanny Honestly, I think they are pushing to go 4 ohms and lower to give the appearance of the speaker being easy to drive because generally speaking, as impedance goes down, sensitivity (as a measurement) goes up. The problem is sensitivity isn’t the same thing as efficiency, and with tube amps in particular efficiency is a much more usable specification/measurement! Beyond that, my opinion is they often haven’t made the connection between distortion on the spec sheet vs. what they hear. That increased distortion is audible as increased brightness and harshness. |
but will they fit the budget at no more than $40k (question aimed at @atmasphere )Sure! That is why I mentioned the T-3. Optioned quite nicely, its well under that price. |