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Surreal Speakers: Made to order in Virginia, USA

My wife and I have just returned from a listening session at Surreal's auditioning room in White Stone, VA, and we have been super-impressed with these speakers and the marvelous musical experience they create! I'm convinced that the newest version of the Surreal Speakers out-perform speakers at twice their price.

Over the past three years, I've watched Surreal evolve these speakers. Today's listening session convinces me that the designers have really achieved the promise that these speakers have suggested since day one. These speakers integrate seamlessly across the frequency spectrum, deliver exceptional dynamics and resolution, and deliver superb results with tube amplification of as little as 30 watts per channel.

The speakers operate with a single cross-over at 135hz. The sound above this crossover comes from a single driver per side for exceptional coherence and soundstage precision. Crossing over below 135hz are six dynamic 10" woofers per side in a dipole array for incredibly fast, dynamic and highly resolved bass reproduction. This woofer cabinet is fast enough and accurate enough to mate seamlessly with electrostatic speakers. With the dynamic drivers used by Surreal on the top, the sound of the entire speaker is completely coherent.

If you are anywhere near Virginia, scheduling an audition of these speakers will reward your effort in doing so.

Surreal Speakers: http://surrealspeakers.com/
128x128rushton
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
Hey Bif!

We've been coming across these threads a fair amount lately. A good thing! Yes, we exchanged in the sloped baffle and the DEQX threads regarding these same aspects. I've been thinking about it for a while. And will continue doing so for a while too. Before going the DIY speaker route I want to implement DRC through Acourate, then digital crossovers and multiamped system.

These AER drivers are intriguing though, just as the dipole subwoofer section is. Accomplishing crossovers in the digital domain seems to be less of a challenge than with analog XO, from some reading I've been doing.

Cheers!
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Lew ... unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of auditioning the better time coherent speakers on the market. But I gotta tell ya, time coherence aside, room effects can smear the heck out of even the best speakers ... be they time coherent or not.

That's what I meant when I said my room effects made my speakers FR plots look like acoustic pretzels. It was like I was using two different speakers for my fronts. DEQX "tamed" my system. Perfect?? No!! Better?? Yes!!
brwolf
2 posts
 
(I am a principal so please factor my comments accordingly)
Yesterday a small group gathered to listen to the Surreals with the new AER cones which are nearly broken in. All I can say is that this is The Apparition that we all hope to catch a glimpse of one day in our audio systems. I will be sad to see these go....to any serious listener, please accept our invitation to come for a personal listening session. It is unlikely we will be returning to audio shows and we do not advertise in the audio magazines. For now, we are building these one pair at a time and selling direct.
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