Lowthers - Please educate a village idiot...


Hello.

Despite me spending way too much time and effort on audio, and having two systems where one would do most normal people, I will, at some point in the future have a third.

My favorite uncle has a Williamson circuit tube amplifier which he built from a kit. He is a Marine who served our country valiantly during the roughest stretches of WWII(Guadalcanal, Solomons, etc.) and is a proud man. This system would become my remembrance of him.

Everyone thinks his stereo is an antiquated piece of junk, but when he saw my eyes and enthusiasm light up when he told me about it, he was just as happy as I was. He found a taker to pass along his treasured amplifier, as he is now to the point where he sees the end of the road in front of him. To have someone view him passing along this piece of him as an heirloom rather than something which should have instead be left at the curb swells his heart with pride and honor.

In order to do him justice, I want to give this amplifier a system which provide it with its proper level of importance. I have been toying with the idea of building a retro style system around this piece, albeit with a CD player.

The idea I have is to pair the amplifier with a pair of Lowther Medallions. The speakers would be done up in black, with maybe a tan grill at the mouth of the horn. A 1950s look to be sure.

The only issue is that I have no experience whatsoever with the Lowthers. And, more specifically, the Medallion.

Would someone please be so kind to educate me as to the Lowthers. I realize they are not for everyone, and I don't even know if they are for me. But, many have told me that if you fancy them, they are just pure magic. Some have even told me that it is the closest speakers to live even after all these years. Also, as I try to live by the mantra about not buying speakers I haven't auditioned(unless a KILLER deal comes along) are there any outlets for me to go give them a listen? I live in the Philadelphia, PA area.

Thank you all for your help,
Joe
trelja

Showing 7 responses by twl

Joe, I think the Lowthers are great speakers. I have the EX3 models in Voigt Pipes(modified) and I am very happy. The Medallions are more of a true rear-horn style, which is traditional for Lowthers. The Lowthers in Medallions are good down to about 50-55Hz, and very nice from there on up to 20kHz. The older series Lowther problems of "shout" and some "tizz" are cured with the new series, for the most part. There may be a little left, but not much. These speakers are very forward, and efficient. They are not a "laid back" sound. But they are fast, very detailed and very coherent. They will also ruthlessly reveal any shortcomings in the audio chain. There is no place to hide any problems when you have a 100db efficient speaker. It will all show. I personally think that is a good feature, because I want to hear everything. Anything over 8 watts is unnecessary, since you will reach the max SPL of the Lowthers with that or less power. I use a 2 watt 45 SET amp, and that gives me plenty of volume levels.

They may not be for everybody, but I think they are a hell of a good speaker.
I just happen to be "sipping tea" right now. I have Joe Walsh "Rocky Mountain Way" cranking up pretty good. It's loud enough that my cats leave the 24'x14'x(16'ceiling)room because it's too loud. Not too bad for 2 watts and a pair of 8" drivers. Of course, I can't drown out a jet plane during takeoff like Sean can. :^)

Just remember this Joe, the Lowther drivers are used (by themselves) as single drivers in speaker systems that cost from $5k to over $20k. Some of these have been reviewed as some of the best sounding speakers made, and owners also agree. The detail, speed, dynamics, and transparency are as good as anything. With an 8 watt amp you can play at 108db peaks. With a properly designed enclosure, you can achieve reasonable bass response, although it will lack the lowest octave. I never miss it. Imaging and soundstage will stagger you. The "presence" is astounding. I know of another Audiogon member who bought Lowthers, even in a bass-reflex enlosure which is not ideal for them. He said his main problem now is "What to do with his Merlin VSM Milleniums, since the Lowthers beat them out."

However, the previous comment about long break-in time is true. They are stiff when new, and have a very tight tolerance in the voice coils. They should be played at conversation levels for the first 30 hours, and then gradually increased in volume level after that. After about 50 hours, you can play them normally, but the bass will be weak until at least 100 hours. Then the speakers get gradually better and better until about 500 hours. This is a long time, and it is true that they take this long, I've been through it. Mine are sounding really killer right now with about 600 hours on them. They really do get better as you go, and it is not just your ear acclimating to them. They only have a 1mm total stroke, and have a stiff suspension when they are new. Also the voice coils only have a .001" clearance, and need to "bed in" during the first 30 hours. The magnets are 23000 gauss, and are the most powerful magnets in any speaker that I've ever heard of. Combined with the very light thin paper cone, they are frighteningly quick and dynamic. The lack of any passive crossover components adds to the single-point source radiation pattern, in terms of overall coherence. With the right cabinet, they can have very nice bass. The main objection to Lowthers is that they are a little bit forward in the upper midrange, and can accent some notes in the female vocal range, but this has been improved alot in the new series Lowthers. Also, some cannot live without the lowest octave from 20Hz-40Hz. Other than that, these speakers are alot like electrostatics, but are not laid back, and can be driven with low power. I guarantee you will hear alot of detail you never heard coming out of your speakers before. I've also done the Fostex, and they don't hold a candle to the Lowthers. But they are cheaper to buy than Lowthers.
Joe, I've got a mod up my sleeve for taking the last bit of "shout" out of the Lowthers, if you feel you need to do that. It's quick and easy, but you have to be careful doing it. After you play them for awhile, then you can decide if you need to do that or not. The new drivers have improved quite alot over the older series, so you might be quite happy just the way they are.
Sean, I know that I'm lacking in the bottom octave. I don't take any offense at being reminded of that. That's just a plain fact of life with my speakers. It's okay with me. I can live with that to get the rest of the sound I want. I'm the first to admit that my speaker system has flaws, and it doesn't bother me at all to admit that. They do what I need them to do, and as long as that is the case, I'm happy with them. I also know that you were kidding me about it, and I don't mind that at all. I kind of like it. I'm not arrogant about my system, and have a good sense of humor. In fact I joke about my 2 watts and single drivers all the time.
Joe, you'll like the Beauhorns. They're nice. You just have to remember that nothing is perfect, and it's a matter of whether you like the strengths of Lowthers, more than you dislike their shortcomings. Their strengths are very good, and they will really do some things that no other speaker can do. As long as you stay away from the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony and things that are very demanding in the real deep bass, you'll find them to be a very high-performance speaker system. They are somewhat forward sounding and immediate, which may be a little different that what many are accustomed to. And there still is a slight amount of the upper midrange peak left. This can be dealt with, by an easy mod. If you like the detail and speed of an electrostatic speaker, with the dynamics of a fast cone driver system, then you'll love the Lowthers. That's about as good a description of them as I can give. They have some colorations, but so does everything else.
With the Lowthers, you won't have any treble rolloff, unless it's happening at the amp. They are good to over 20kHz on the top end. They are more directional than some other speakers, though, on the top end, and the sweet spot is smaller than most. The bottom end, while not covering the deepest octave, is very good tonally, and it is very satisfying to hear a deeper insight into the bass player on most recordings. In some cases, it sounds better than many speakers which can play deeper, but with less finesse.

Regarding the amp issue, you can use higher power amps without worry, but you won't need to turn them up very high.
One of the main reasons that Lowthers are so popular with the SET crowd, is not just the efficiency alone, but the fact that the efficiency allows the use of these low power SET amps that are so crystal-clear, coherent, and delicately detailed sounding. It is definitely true that in a good design, a low power SET amp can be noticeably better than the push-pull amps of higher power. A SET is inherently always Class A, and never goes out of Class A. The very short signal path, few tubes, single output triode(triodes being the most linear amplifying devices known), and certain other aspects can produce an incredibly transparent, detailed, and "magic" sound, and this is why the SET users so commonly use Lowthers. Combined with the simple no-crossover "active" speaker, this makes for a beautiful combination for all but the lowest octave. But push-pull amps can sound excellent on Lowthers too, and may even have more extension on both ends, due to the configuration of the push-pull output transformer compared to the SET output transformer. Sometimes SETs can sound rolled-off on the top because of a less-than-stellar output transformer. And the push-pull may sound better in the bass as well, than some SETs. I say "some" because some SETs can really kick ass from top to bottom too.

I'm sure that the Williamson circuit amp will do really nicely with these speakers. But if you get addicted to the Lowther sound, I predict a SET amp in your future. I think you'll really be surprised at how much sound comes out of these speakers with very little power, and how lightning quick they are. They can be polite, or they can rock. They are equally at home with Mozart or Madonna. Soundstage on my system(with appropriate recordings) is about 18 feet wide, and about 10 feet deep. Imaging is pinpoint beyond what most people think of as pinpoint. I can hear the positions of every cymbal around the drum kit, are not forward of the drum kit,which is so common on many speakers. The vocalist is center-forward, and the height of the vocals is consistent with a standing singer. On certain recordings such as Madonna's "Vogue", I can hear precise imaging behind my listening position and far out to the direct sides of my ears, repeatable and pinpoint, like a surround system. In that particular recording my soundstage is about 16 feet deep, but is not confined to in front of me. It is very phase accurate. If you like to hear the miniscule details like the mouth movements and stuff, you will really like these. They are like electrostatics in the minute detail areas.

By the way, my speaker cabinets are Voigt Pipes, and are very similar to the Cain and Cain Abbeys that Philefreak talked about above, but his have Fostex and mine are Lowthers. They are both nice. I like the Lowther better, and Lowther is more efficient, and I need that with a 2 watt amp. But to each his own. The concept is virtually the same, but different manufacturers. And there are some other good single driver brands as well.

I hope that I've got your mouth watering over this description. Lowthers are kind of "love 'em or hate 'em", but I love 'em. We'll have to see where you come out. The Beauhorns are a good showcase for them. I hope he has an analog system, because that is really needed to show them in the best light. They will reveal the "digital nasties" in a major way, and it's not the fault of the speaker.
Zaikesman, I'm sure that it was recorded in that way. But my point was that if the system isn't very phase coherent, then it wouldn't reproduce it so well. When phase-tricks cause the images to be behind you, I think that it won't work well if the system can't properly reproduce the phase-tricks accurately. That's where I was going with that comment. It is a very uncommon occurrence to have that on a record, so that is why I mentioned it and why I use it for reference. If the system isn't doing this, the phase coherence is not good. It's not that I love that song or anything, but it is a useful tool. The sound comes from all around the room. I've often wondered that if they can do this with 2 channel, why do they need surround systems? The two answers that I can come up with, are they want more money, or many systems can't capture this properly. Could be that both are true.