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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 nealhood

nealhood
199 posts
 
A good place to ask questions about SL speakers as well as carry on dialog is the Soundlab owners group and they have a forum:

http://www.soundlabowners.com/forum/index.html

Soundlab speakers are large, a bit delicate, and sensitive to handling (shipping) and set-up issues, such as bias adjustment. You might say they can be a little idiosynchric. But, to answer your question directly about SL reliability, in my opinion their reliability is fine when set up properly with care (bias set properly) and, they have the latest updates including the high efficiency cores. There have been isolated reports from time to time in the past on tears or rips in the membrane for one reason or another but, the company always worked to resolve these issues promptly. I don't think you will find many, if any, reported quality issues on the newest iteration coming out of the factory.

Again, be sure to post your question on the SLOG forum and you should get some responses.

And as a side note, "Mcreyn" is correct about standing waves, room gain and such.
nealhood
199 posts
 
I will agree that the Innersound Eros III's are outstanding speakers. The integration of the woofer and panels is remarkable. And, their transparency and speed are as good as any speaker that I have ever heard. However, I just could not live with it's beaming characteristic and associated small sweet spot. It's too bad the designer didn't go ahead and curve the panels similar to the SL approach. Maybe in their next iteration....
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