I bought a pair around a year ago and just love them. Very detailed, great soundstage, refined etc... As far as deep bass goes, there is none. If you look at Stereophile's measurements, they are flat down to 50hz, down 5db @ 40hz and down 10db @ 30hz. https://www.stereophile.com/content/yg-acoustics-carmel-2-loudspeaker-measurements Around 5 months ago I purchased a REL Carbon Limited sub and liked what it did so much I just bought another one. With the 2 REL's paired with the YG C 2's the sound is unbelievably good. I run the subs in stereo via the 'Speakon' connection system and cross them over @ 45hz and use very little volume. For me in my room I found it works better to have speakers that are not quite full range and use subs to dial in the deep bass. With speakers that play deeper I found it more difficult to get the right mix of deep bass with the rest of the frequency (in my room). The Carmel 2's are very sensitive to everything upstream....Don't try to use cheap electronics with these speakers. If you have a small room and listen to small scale music you might be ok with no sub but if you like larger scale material a high quality sub would be a must.....Hope this helps. |
Well, I just saw the Stereophile measurements. The impedance chart was particularly curious. Is there a high pass filter there on the woofer? The rising impedance at 20 Hz, plus the phase angle would suggest so. Perhaps YG is worried about the driver displacement?
It also does look like an ideal candidate for a sub.
Would be interesting to hear it, especially side by side with the Magico S1, which is not perfect. It is incredibly inefficient, and to my ears, sounds a little chesty in the lower piano, lower female voices, but it did have a natural sounding bass roll off for a 2 way.
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Surprisingly, JA seems to have picked up on this as well: "Note the increasingly capacitive phase angle below the sealed-box woofer-tuning frequency of 60Hz, which suggests there is a high-value series capacitor in the woofer feed. " He usually misses or omits issues like this in the past. This cap is helping maintain a rather consistent slope, with none of the usual lower bass bump speakers often had for toe-tapping. Looks like YG’s choice of driver had some limitations, and he has designed the woofer crossover like a midrange, with filters above and below. Why? I don’t know, of course, but it could be two things. 1, there was a bass bump he wanted to tame, 2 he’s genuinely worried about the excursion and distortion lower frequencies will cause that driver. Interesting set of compromises, lots of 7" ish over the shelf drivers wouldn’t need this. Definitely a speaker begging to pair with subs. |
What about vs the magico a3 and talis s300 Eric? |
Hi @smodtactical
I have always felt the A3 has the potential to be a much better value than the S1 Mk II and far easier to own, but I have not actually heard it, and I was using the S1 Mk II as a foil for the YG Carmel because both are floor standing 2 way speakers.
With all things, use your own ears. :)
Best,
E
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I have only head them a few times. Typically they were setup as described by Stereophile in that instead of having a bloated bass facsimile like so many 2-ways, the bass is shelved off and is very dry. In a very small room a Dallas dealer had placed them against a wall to get some bass out of them room. It was fine for a demo, but I wouldn’t live with it. It is great Ron17 invested in them; I passed on them not sure I could match them with a sub and play at a decent scale in my room.
I have also heard the A3s, same day as the Carmel 2. The A3 is the more complete as a full range, and they are really good. That day, though, they did not have the refined transparent, electrostatic-like-but-better, hypnotic and well integrated sound like the YGs. The S series is a lot closer. In my limited experience.
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hi @smodtactical,
I owned the Carmel 2s for about 3 years and absolutely loved them. My prior room was about 13 x 15.5 x 9 and they were a perfect fit, for me. I did pair them quite easily with a REL sub and then later with a JL Fathom 112v2. As mentioned above, they have significant headroom based on components and cabling - you will hear the differences and the benefits. I have run them with plenty of power, so that is always a consideration. We only parted ways as I moved to a larger room ~15x25x9 where I found the Hailey 2.2s fill out my new space that much better... |
Zprr sweet man. Haileys must be awesone.
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@erik_squires Sorry Erik did you say you like the S1 mk2 more than the carmel 2 ?
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I've never heard the Carmel, but I do think the Magico S1 Mk II is a very very curious speaker. :)
Little chesty, needs gobs of power, and space. A small but very demanding speaker with great imaging and a very very wide sweet spot, and a little chesty.
I think the A3 is significantly cheaper, no? If so, totally worth considering instead.
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A3 vs s1 mk2 would be a nice fight indeed. Id like to see yg carmel 2 in the mix.
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I replaced the Carmel 2 with the Magico A5, which are close in price. I liked the Carmel, but the A5 are in a whole different category (no sub needed), more appropriate to compete with the Hailey, at almost twice the money.
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A5 vs Vantage would be more comparable
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Maybe price wise, but not performance. The A5 is in another realm, and as time goes by, I only realize it more. Typically I start to hear the issues and get restless, didn't happen yet. YMMV.
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I am a Carmel 1 user who currently have the Carmel 2 on loan from the dealer in Singapore. The 2s are way above the 1s. The first thing I noticed was the clarity and details. I thought the 1s were excellent in imaging and separation but the 2s brought this strength to a new high. Background darkness is even darker and there is more bite and attack. Unfortunately for me, I listen to a lot of black and thrash metal and the 2s being more unforgiving, can't do it for me. Really heartbreaking for me but for most audiophiles, this would not be an issue
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No surprise - the Carmel 2 is bright compared to the rest of the line. It wasn’t voiced right.
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It all depends on the amplifiers used. We have heard them with Mola-Mola amps and our Class A tube amps. The tube amps had deeper bass. They are not bright sounding with the correct components.
Happy Listening.
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You are right. With the right components and may I add, the right cables, they will not sound bright
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