Speaker Preferences?

Nice attempt at a slant rhyme using assonance Jsadurni! The meter is off though, add a syllable to the first part, or take one out of the second part in order to really bring that slant rhyme to life... ;P

Meagan02,

I would go listen to all of them. People can tell you what they prefer, but no one but you knows what you will end up prefering. Save yourself from possibly making a big mistake and go demo them personally.

Out of the three I've listened to, I would go with the Sophias, but that's my personal preference. I know a lot of people that would go with the Revels, but I also know a lot of people that would go with the Sophias too...

Funny enough, I was in that higher-end section of Best Buy (Magnolias?) the day before yesterday and I got to hear those Vantage speakers... I didn't like them much, but that is just my preference.

BTW, most of the MLs I've heard at dealers sound nothing like their potential... in fact, I wont hide the fact that I find dealers' ML setups sound like crap. Meaning - don't judge them based on hearing them at a dealer.... especially Magnolia/Best Buy. Imagine if you heard the Wilsons at a BestBuy running on an $800 receiver.

So basically you are saying, we shouldn't ever trust hearing them set up by any dealer if we don't like how they sound? So what do we have to do to hear them correctly, buy a pair and have a ML representative come to our homes and set them up for us (we can't have the dealer do it, since you are telling us that most of them don't know how to set them up either and if they can't do it correctly as people that do it for a living, where does that leave us customers...)? Aren't dealers ML trained representatives? Those seem like even greater reasons to stay away from that speaker line to me...

BTW, Magnolia doesn't use the same gear as BestBuy proper, and my Wilsons wouldn't sound bad on a low value receiver (unless it was malfunctioning or too underpowered), I just wouldn't get that extra 3-5% that an all high quality product system would give (assuming the products are high quality and not just overpriced junk)..

If a speaker's finicky positioning scares you, then don't get it. There's a lot of other brands out there.

You bet it does, and that is why I said "Those seem like even greater reasons to stay away from that speaker line to me...."

Why do I want to waste years hoping I've finally got it right, yet never knowing if I did? That kind of situation just bothers me, and I WILL obsess over it. For me it is very simple... Rives Audio designed my room and gave a central location that would work best for the speakers, then my Wilson dealer came out and found the voicing did actually fall within those areas suggested by Rives Audio. I've even measured the speakers in and around those positions and I'm happy to say that the dealer and Rives Audio nailed it!

I have no idea who sets them up better. The point is, if it takes that much work to set them up, and no one is qualified until they've spent a year with it (like you have), why would I care to torture myself?!?

The Wilsons are not hard to set up, I learned the voicing technique partially before the dealer arrived, and the rest after he got there. I needed help with learning to hear the "swimming voice" sound once you get too far from the closer wall boundary and start getting feedback from the opposite wall. My friend and I found the same relative area as the dealer on our own using the WASP technique. The dealer was actually pretty surprised that we managed to locate the general area on our own. There are actually acoustical correspondances between the areas where the ceiling soffits end and the tray ceiling begins (basically where the greater room volume begins and the smaller part of the room opens up) that correspond with the zone of neutrality. It was a cool experience, because it taught me something about how acoustical space anomalies can correspond to "localization" and "focus."

If you're the type of guy who just leaves well enough alone, not only is ML not ideal for you, but perhaps hi-end audio in general.

I'm not the kind of guy who leaves well enough alone, that is exactly the problem... The last thing I need is a speaker that creates even more problems with the setup process. This is the same reason I bought an SME TT. I'm not looking to spend all of my time tweaking, because given the opportunity I will spend ALL of my time tweaking.

I'm moving treatments around the room at this very time funny enough. I took Rives' recommendation to replace the absorption panels with BAD ARCs and I'm moving the extra panels around the room to see if I like the extra absorption. I spent a week locating all of the impulse response reflection spikes with ETF 5 and pieces of fiber board (I found all of them except one, that I believe is on the bookshelf in the back of my room - I'll be working on that as soon as I take care of the others permanently). I'm waiting on regular BAD panels for the ceiling 1st order reflection points.

Worst of all, my obsessiveness with all of this has lead me into studying acoustics and electrical engineering full time, because I end up wanting to tweak my own understanding of all the concepts involved in things I enjoy. I don't do anything half-arsed... I General Contracted my room construction and drove everyone crazy trying to do things perfectly.

So please, dont start with the ?!?... I've been on your side on a lot of things, J.

"Take nothing personally."

That is a good motto to remember when posting online. Perhaps you are misinterpriting the "?!?." All it means to me is emphatic confusion. It doesn't equate with a personal attack on you, it is meant to equate my question with strong confusion (as those speakers would be more work than they would be worth to me).

By and by, they wouldn't work in my room anyway. My room is not designed for electrostatics because their placement is so unconventional compared to many other types of speakers.

I do want to say (or type) though, I hope you are never on my side if you don't think what I am saying/typing is true. That wouldn't be good for anyone.

panels rule, don't be a cone fool !

You mean a "cone head?"

The meter/rhythm is too off to make that rhyme work. Take it from someone who studied poetry and poetic form.

"Because Panels Rule, and Cones are for fools," works better.

Or, "Panels Rule, Cones drool..."