LS3/5A & Pass Labs

I finally got the 50lb Foundation Designer II 24" speaker stands yesterday. I was listening until 2am last night. I have tried three main speker positions.

1. 4'from back wall/toed in/1'from side walls
2. 1'from back wall/toed in/1'from side walls
3. 4'from back wall/no toe in/3' from side walls

Option three sounds the best by farrrrr. The stands that I got come with pretty serious spikes and because I have hardwood floors, I have not put them in yet. I think I am going to drill some dents into some coins so that I can put them under the spikes.

The performance so far: The vocals are the syrup on my pancakes. I know that there is no perfect speaker, but man does this combo fill you up if you are hungry for great vocals.

I really want to get a Rel Strata III to pick up where the bass leaves off on this system. I know that there are entire bass lines that I am missing.

Things are good though, and they are getting better and better.

Allen

Glad you are enjoying the "liquid midrange", these speakers are very hard to beat in this particular category, unless you spend $,$$$'s.

"No toe in" will surely give you a very wide soundstage, I always thought these speakers should be set up only this way.

REL Strata does wonders to this little gem, I hope you do decide to go that route.

What vocal music are you listening to now?

You should listen to Diana Krall album "The look of love" on this as it sounds wonderful, especially S'Wonderful (Track 1). Let me recall from memory what sounds really good on them:

The Girl from Ipanema - Getz/Gilbarto
Most of Ella Fitzgerald
Making Music-Zakir Hussain
Most of Solo Piano Music

I am forgetting many but will come back and let you know

Well, I got a REL strata III sub about a week ago. I set it up exactly as the manual states, but I am still playing with the volume and crossover positions. At first I set it up where I couldn't really hear the difference with or without the sub. Then I set it up so loud that it could really rock. Now I am just toning it down a notch every other day. I usually have it crossed over just under 56hz, but I still feel as if there is unnatural aumentation sometimes, so I cross it over lower 56-38hz. I am guessing that the REL has a very slow roll off because there is so much to be heard even when you cross it off at 22 hz.

I also find the bass to be a little mushy in comparison to what proac 2.5 gave me and what ety headphones give me. I know that thoes are not exactly what some might consider reference equipment for bass, but that doesn't stop me from thinking that I occasionally have mushy bass.

I think if I get a real CD player one of these days, that might just clear itself up because the sub is probably just reacting to the signal that I am giving it.

Allen

Allen,

Good to know you got the REL, I can assure you it will gel with the speakers one day, you just have to be a bit patient. As for crossover I suggest you set is lower than 30 Hz, I have set it up at 25 (A3) and it just sounds fine. You need to make sure that your sub it properly set as far as it max bass is concerned. The sound from the sub will depend on the quality of signal fed to it, if you have any weak links you should change the very component.