Some unboxing pics from yesterday. I would have posted sooner, but could not resist doing a quick listening session after a one point Audyssey run to get everything playing.
Nicely double boxed with QC results from FR, gloves, feet and material from Ascend,
The speakers are very securely nestled in foam and individually wrapped in a sock,
The following pictures cannot do not do justice to the beauty of the Gloss Cherry finish. They just scream high price/not your average Best Buy product,
The supplied cotton gloves looked like they might have been slippery, so I broke out my super supple leather gloves to protect the finish while securing the speakers onto the stands. I was handling them more gingerly than my newborn LOL!
The finish, I'd give a 9.5 out of 10 because there are some micro scratches. Very difficult to see unless you are looking at a bright ceiling light reflected on the finish. Even then, a polish will easily get rid of them. I can see that the finish is going to be a dust magnet. But, with the lights on, they are just WOW! I'm very happy with the Gloss Cherry choice.
Initial impression on sound, with a dirty one point Audyssey run; Tweeter is absolutely amazing! Stunning improvement over the Behringer monitors actually. Mids are tight. Overall the sound feels more forward than the previous setup yet, at the right volume (speaker and room interaction balance point) they just vanish. I really could not gush over the sound any more. On the flip side, a couple of tracks I liked on the previous setup left me feeling like they sounded like crap.
The new 2.2 when compared to the old 2.1 on the whole seems more subdued, but, everything is better. The trebble is hugely improved, the bass almost seems gone, but, I can tell, it is much much less boomy than before. My brain is rewiring to the huge jump in sound quality.
This weekend will be spent dialing in everything, tidying up the cables and then settling down for some serious listening with a good scotch.
