Seaton Sound No Cal GTG (as posted on Seaton Sound Forum)

[rmk]

Hello and thank you for the nice review.
How would you think that these babies would compare to other heavily powered passive speakers like Viennas klimt series, MBL:s and such? Obviousely another price tag på those mentioned but what are the downsides of catalysts and sparks in your opinion? I'm somewhat puzzled to what might have been sacrificed in Mark's design in terms of sound attributes compared to more stabilished counterparts like Nola, Vienna, MBL, sona faber, acoustic audios, ESA:s and such.
In all honesty I have not heard all of those speakers mentioned earlier, but it would be nice to get some kind of understanding to what other speakers might be doing better than catalysts and sparks to be able to make a fair comparison!

Sincerely,
/B.

I have not heard many of the brands you mention but to save myself some typing, here is an exchange from another Forum on the reasons for my move from my Revel Ultima's to my JTR's. If anything, the Catalysts provide a more refined sound than my JTR's without giving up anything in terms of dynamics.

There was a lengthy Thread in the Speaker section of the forum where speaker dynamics and SLP levels were discussed ad nauseum. My system is calibrated to 75db (calibration tones from my Integra SSP) and I will generally listen at an MV of anywhere -5 to -12).

In a movie (bluray version, DTS MA) like The Dark Knight, I listen at -6 MV and the normal dialog SPL runs in the 80’s (Digital SPL meter C weighted-fast) with the absolute peaks extending to the 120 range. There is very little of the sound track(s) that produce these levels so the exposure is limited.

What I enjoy about these performance/high efficiency loudspeakers is their ability to reach the peak levels without sounding compressed or strained. In my experience, commercial Hifi/Audiophile speakers cannot handle these large dynamic peaks found in modern sound tracks nearly as well.

and the response:

I thoroughly agree that dynamics is an area where audiophile speakers tend to fall short vs some pro systems. Even the horn systems in theaters, including some older theaters, produce a more convincing sense of density and dynamics than I've heard in any high-end audio system (and I've been into high-end audio for many years and have heard many meg-priced systems).

As an aside, it's funny but I actually ended up going a somewhat opposite route than yours. Since I do sound effects I'm essentially listening to movies all day (and of course, hearing the tracks played back in professional studios). After a long day of doing this I'm not especially looking to be assaulted with sound so my HT sound system, while still full and rich sounding, was chosen more along the lines of delicacy and timbrel believability. It doesn't have the dynamics of the pro stuff which actually works out fine because after a long day it has the "aaaah" factor on my ears but I can also hear into the details of the soundtracks really well.

But if I truly wanted to impress someone I think I'd end up with a system like yours.
Thanks. Great system you have there.

While not directly addressing the speakers you mentioned, you get the idea. I suppose you could say that I see no downside to the Catalysts except perhaps in a two channel music only system. Mark mentions some direct on-axis issues with the coax mid/high frequency driver employed in the Catalysts’, Sparks and my JTR's. Honestly, I have used mine in two channel mode and felt the imaging and resolution were excellent. It may just be that I lack the "Golden Ears" others possess.

 

[Bittornado]

Many thanx for your reply.

Seems to be a general understanding just like you said regarding Marks' gear... that is, 2ch hifi music listening seems to be one of the few areas where Catalysts and Sparks come a little bit shot.
How short I can not have any opinions about just yet since I've never heard them in reality nor have I been able to compare them to anything else.

I guess I have to accept that it's virtually impossible to have a set of speakers that would sound totally breath-taking in both 2ch music and HT! Probably not even Wilson Audio's Alexandria X2 is capable to reproduce both music and movie HT with total grace...

Anyway, I've already decided to get myself one or two Submersives, maybe even a Tarraform! Maybe I should just go for the whole 5.1 system all the way... need to do some more thinking though... so far I'm absolutely convinced of its dynamics, bass range and clear sound even at high SPL levels. Very impressive job done by Mark!

/B.