Give Up on Bacch?
I have sitting next to me a little suitcase with the Bacch4Mac hardware. Implementation is scheduled for Monday, next week but I may return it before then. I thought I would seek advice before pulling the trigger. Theoretica gives one 14 days from shipping to return for a refund less a $200 restocking fee. The 14 days is up Monday. Why the cold feet? First, I will not have the opportunity to listen to the Bacch system in my home before the return period expires. Second, I was underwhelmed at the Theoretica room demo at Axpona. Third, I have a modded Peachtree Gan1 that requires a coax input. I will have to spend an additional $1000 to get that capability with the Bacch system. Fourth, at Axpona the sweetspot was narrow and impractical (2 seats, one behind the other).
It will cost me a $200 restocking fee and shipping to return the Bacch system. I hate to do that, not because of the cost, but because I won't have the opportunity to hear it in my home. What do you think?
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@cundare2 I thought your post was funny. Seriously, I'll let my ears decide. If the audio experience (not necessarily the SQ) is as reported I will keep it. The narrowness and longitudinal shape of the sweetspot is a nagging problem, but one I was aware of beforehand. I want my wife to have the same experience, although she graciously said not to worry about her. We'll see. |
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@treepmeyer So it sounds like you’ve made your decision, to keep the unit for now & eat the $200 if you have to? I evaluated similar technologies at length back in the 90s, when I was a tech journalist & consultant, and ultimately found those precursors to work best with (and sometimes ONLY with) beamy speakers positioned to optimize nearfield response. Not surprisingly, the quality of the experience varied greatly. The two systems that gave me the best results were ESL-57s and a Sonigistix planar-magnetic desktop system -- for just those reasons. Obviously, I was already living with a narrow sweet spot. This technology is still interesting to me today, and earlier this year, while actually considering a purchase, I researched in depth the B-SP’s underlying design concept and Theoretica’s claims. What I found was that, although details have changed, the fundamental idea remains the same. Back in the day, installation meant at most measuring the filtering characterics of each listener’s pinna and/or optimizing speaker positioning to mitigate unwanted reflections. Straightforward, but sometimes time-consuming. So, not having had a hands-on opportunity myself, I had to ask: how elaborate are these "implementation" procedures you’re talking about? And how hard is it to fine-tune this implmentation to provide satisfactory results? Given that so many people have had such different experiences with Theoretica’s purifiers, I’m eager to learn what you find with your particular speakers. |
