My Linkwitz Orion Begins

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So far my impressions of the Orions are unchanged; they sound absolutely wonderful.

They produce a grand soundstage; smooth, crystal clear, detailed sound; and fantastic tight bass.

It's cliché, but I keep on hearing things in songs I didn't notice before.

Comparing this sound to my audition of the KEF 201/2 on Friday, I would have to say they are very similar in terms of resolution, detail, smoothness, clarity, imaging, and soundstage. Of course, the $9K Orions have much deeper and powerful bass than the much smaller $6K 201/2s.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Well, here are some pics of the Orion:

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The degree of loathing that I have for you knows no bounds.....

 

[swspiers]

Well, here are some pics of the Orion:

Wow!

Just...wow!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

One other thing I've noticed about my Orions is that there is a slight hiss sound when I place my ear on the tweeter when nothing is playing (stop mode).

I do not hear any hiss sound from 1 ft away.

I know this has something to do with the Active Analog Signal Processor/Crossover.

When I unplug the ASP/Crossover and just have the Amplifier on, there is no hiss sound.

I talked to Don Naples (Wood Artistry), and he assures me that there will always be a slight hiss sound if I place my ear on the tweeter when nothing is playing.

I guess this is a byproduct of the analog processor?

I remember when I had the Acurus RL-11 Analog preamp, and it produced a slight hiss sound just like the Orion ASP/Crossover.

There is no hum noise however.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

One other thing I've noticed about my Orions is that there is a slight hiss sound when I place my ear on the tweeter when nothing is playing (stop mode).

I do not hear any hiss sound from 1 ft away.

I know this has something to do with the Active Analog Signal Processor/Crossover.

When I unplug the ASP/Crossover and just have the Amplifier on, there is no hiss sound.

I talked to Don Naples (Wood Artistry), and he assures me that there will always be a slight hiss sound if I place my ear on the tweeter when nothing is playing.

I guess this is a byproduct of the analog processor?

I remember when I had the Acurus RL-11 Analog preamp, and it produced a slight hiss sound just like the Orion ASP/Crossover.

There is no hum noise however.

I have my Studio 20's routed through my DCX2496 and, up close, I can also hear a slight hiss. Before I got the DCX, the speakers were fed directly from the C372 and there was no hiss. I had assumed that it had something to do with the different gains, because when I change the gain on the DCX, the volume of the hiss changes. Right now, I have it set where I get plenty of music volume, but the hiss is only audible up close.

P.S. I still hate you!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

P.S. I still hate you!

This may be the only place on earth I'm glad to be hated.

 

[TLS Guy]

GranteedEV did answer all this, but his answer was so long, I thought I'd give the short version .

The SEAS W22 is an 8" woofer. It can't go high enough to cross to a tweeter in the 2-4 kHz range. Because it's metal, it has an extremely big (read loud) breakup peak beginning just above 3 kHz. 1.4 kHz is about one octave below that. From the manufacturer's FR curve, the off-axis response looks OK at 1.5 kHz.

The SEAS TC25 tweeter is 1" (25 mm) diameter, but has an Fs of 500 Hz, good enough to allow a crossover point at 1.4 kHz, very low for a tweeter, but you pay for it. Like most dome tweeters, it has a closed chamber behind the voice coil, so it can only work as a monopole. For a dipole, you need two. Twice the price.

I have no idea how much equalization and correction is needed in a dipole design crossover, but I'd guess that may be the reason for the complexity of those network boards. Because of who designed it, I expect the FR through the crossover range is very good.

ADTG, thanks for the photos, keep posting more .

I don't know why he didn't use the W 18EX.

You have a narrower break up mode and gain 500 Hz. In fact I crossover at 2.8 kHz but you need a steep notch filter.

 

[GranteedEV]

I don't know why he didn't use the W 18EX.

You have a narrower break up mode and gain 500 Hz. In fact I crossover at 2.8 kHz but you need a steep notch filter.

Well here's one of his quotes:

The MT arrangement gives a more uniform polar response in the vertical direction and the tweeter sees only one midrange cone cavity that modulates its response.

I would have had to use two 6.5" drivers in a less favorable MTM arrangement to obtain the same low frequency volume displacement, yet the the narrower open baffle would have yielded little benefit in off-axis response.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Audyssey

Okay, I ran Audyssey twice on the AVP-A1/Orions:

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The Audyssey speaker distance was 11.2 ft, Speakers are Front Large (2.0, no surrounds or subs), and speaker levels are -3dB both left/right fronts.

Since Audyssey speaker levels are -3dB, I had to increase the master volume by 3dB to achieve the 85dB Max Volume as before.

Subjectively, I thought Audyssey (both Audyssey & Audyssey Flat EQ) adversely affected the sound quality; I thought it sounded "compressed".

Thus, I went back to Pure Direct Mode for every source.

 

[GranteedEV]

Subjectively, I thought Audyssey (both Audyssey & Audyssey Flat EQ) adversely affected the sound quality; I thought it sounded "compressed".

hmm...That actually kind of makes sense. The goal of the orion is to reproduce an orchestra type atmosphere, whereas audyssey is to reproduce the :movie theater sound: which I guess would be more "closed in".