Maybe I just responded knowing only the title query but dang, bro. That's a ton of ching be enjoying other tweeters more.
Fortunately, these were being clearanced at a deep discount and ADTG gave me a good price on the upgrade to the reference drivers! I would not have been willing to gamble on them had I had to pay MSRP. I already had the RBH RB61lse (same drivers, but only one each) which I knew to be a bit deficient in the treble, but also knew to have very nice midrange detail. I also had determined with the RB61lse that I could add something like .5dB at 8kHz and 1.5dB at 16kHz which would give them the top end that was missing (as long as I did not get other speakers with a RAAL, Be or Ceramic tweeter in the same room). I really wanted to experience the multiple drivers to see what that added (see below)
Having heard me some Sig 8s in the past ... and the
Beolab 5s, I can say that hearing all that clean output for even short bursts is an awesome experience. When the POW POW seems to be coming from inside you because your inside it ... man, you just have to keep turning the volume knob up until you're there. At least do it for guests. Chances are it will be
perceived as the rockinest thing they're ever gonna hear.
I fixed your last sentence (bold italic)! Because of my perverse sensibilities, I decided to compare it to the Canton Vento which is about the size of a Pioneer BS-22. As I expected, the ceramic tweeter on the Canton did its thing, but man, the way the T1/R would envelop me in sound with is massive soundstage was pretty compelling! I decided to have Alex (TheWarrior) come over and do a blind comparison. He quickly determined that the Cantons had better sound. Before the reveal, I asked him if he had any sense of difference of scale between the speakers and his response was "absolutely not"! My jaw dropped!
After he left, I just closed my eyes and started switching back and forth, and realized he was right! So, even if I have AB level matched instant switching, just seeing the visual mass with all of those drivers was enough to influence my bias. It was interesting how much simply closing my eyes made a difference! I guess you would call this "expectation bias" because how could those seven drivers per speaker not deliver a compellingly enveloping sound?
These speakers are a real education for me in how susceptible we (or, at least, I) are to being influenced by visual perception!
That said, your comment is pertinent and I am not sure I ever really opened them up on an action flick, which is a worthy test. I know there has to be a level where something like the tiny Cantons would just say "I'm out" and the T1/R's would still have plenty left to give!!! For the levels I listen to music, I haven't seen it!
But to your comment above, anyone walking into my home when these speakers were set up had no doubt as to how serious I am about audio! They definitely make a statement that way.
So you still have these? I've actually looked at them before (wistfully) and I think I'd love them! Do you have them in play at all or moved on?
Not currently in play. I should probably go ahead and sell them. I should reserve judgement on really opening them up and rocking out with them, but at lower levels, I feel like the comparison TheWarrior did of the Ultras vs the RBH RB61lse in his bookshelf shootout is pretty valid!
A perverse reality of my life is my LR sees a constant rotation of speakers, and even though I have some very, very good speakers, I don't really listen to them very often! Most recently (maybe for the last two months) I have had the ($225/pr) DCM TFE100's setup in there, but I can't complain, they are very enjoyable speakers! However, I really need to get rid of some of the speakers I have to make more room if I am going to continue to make "experiencing speakers" a hobby!
