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Sonics of Soundlabs

Hello all,

I am contemplating the purchase of a pair of Soundlab M3's, and wonder if some of you guy's (and gals) could help me out a little. They have the newer upgraded transfomers etc. but were manufactured in the late 90's. I am currently using an ARC VT-200 into Martin Logan Prodigy's and love the sound but have always heard great things about the big Soundlabs stats.

For curiousity sake I auditioned a pair of Maggie 3.6's a few weeks ago and they didn't do it for me; there was no bottom end and the dynamics just were not there.......... I thought they did some things well but much preferred the Prodigy's in the end.

I would be buying these speakers used and will not be able to audition fully before purchase. Can anyone tell me how thier sonics compare to my two other "panel" references (the Maggie's and ML's)? Are there any issues (aside from the size) that I should consider when buying a pair of these speakers used? How do the M-3's stack up to the A1's and M1's? Do they match well with the rest of my system..... If I had to find a more powerful amp for instance it would probably be a deal breaker.

Thanks all in advance.

Chris
cmo

Showing 2 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,640 posts
 
Keep in mind that the room dimension issues above apply to all speakers, not just Sound Labs. I have found that having the capability is more convincing regardless of the size of the room.

Also keep in mind that to drive Sound Labs you must use a tube amplifier for best results. If you use the VT 200, play with the taps on the transformer as you may be surprised by which taps to what to the sound. Generally Sound Labs, like most other ESLs, prefer a low feedback amplifier to get the most out them. This can get tricky as low feedback amplifiers generally will behave very differently depending on their output power and output impedance, but the speakers make it quite evident that taking this care is clearly worthwhile!
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,640 posts
 
Time for my 2 cents again:

Never attempt to audition a Sound Lab with transistor amps! You will come away with the mistaken impression that the speaker is harsh and has no bass. This is not the fault of the amplifier so much as it is bad physics to put a transistor amp on ESLs. Here is why:

Most transistor amps (like a Crown or Krell for example) will double power when going from an 8 ohm load down to four, and double again from 4 to 2 ohms. Conversely, the power is cut in half going the other way.

Now the maximum impedance of most of the newer Sound Labs is about 16 ohms in the bass region. Guess what? You have no power to make bass and about *8* times more power to make the highs. Yes, the feedback in the amp helps reduce some of this (adding to loudness cues along the way due to the nature of negative feedback), but: in a nutshell, harsh sound. ESLs in general require the amplifier to maintain constant power regardless of load, not constant voltage which is how most transistor amplifiers work.

Tube amplifiers, especially those with little or no feedback, provide this constant power characteristic. Insist on it if you want to hear the speaker perform properly. Otherwise it is a good idea to refrain from making an opinion of the speaker!
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