Status Acoustics Titus 8T Floorstanding Speaker System Review

[haraldo]

Thanks for the review Gene

you're probably touching base with everything that this hobby is about, components that are so good that anyone and everyone will just sit down and enjoy, and the fact how your wife enjoyed this too makes me really smile....
Now it's hope for me to get my wife to accept big statement speakers, just need to work hard a while now to save up... thx for all the good input tho this process Gene

And it bugs me that whenever we do have a review of very expensive speakers the DIY suggestions come in, I seriously doubt anyone in here will get close to even the first draft of any hi-end product..... DIY is interesting but it will not get you a statement product.

When a hi-end producer spends years getting a product ready, how can anyone suggest to DIY and even suggest to be close to the same ballpark.....

By the way Gene, I think the way you listen to the speakers are wrong

 

[jinjuku]

Thanks for the review Gene

And it bugs me that whenever we do have a review of very expensive speakers the DIY suggestions come in, I seriously doubt anyone in here will get close to even the first draft of any hi-end product..... DIY is interesting but it will not get you a statement product.

When a hi-end producer spends years getting a product ready, how can anyone suggest to DIY and even suggest to be close to the same ballpark.....

By the way Gene, I think the way you listen to the speakers are wrong

Who peed in your Cheerios? This is all in fun. Jeez. Hey if it ain't hard, it's not worth doing. Right? I have to say you have been a bitter pill around here as of late.

 

[monkish54]

[
DIY is interesting but it will not get you a statement product.

This is just plain not true. I don't want to get in a war or anything, but there have been many a statement product built via DIY. Just because a DIYer doesn't get paid, doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing.

 

[monkish54]

Six Peerless 830452 10" Subs, Zaph ZAW1408 with SB Acoustics SB29 Neo Tweeter in an MMTMM array. DEQX for Active Crossover and 8 channels of Crown.

Makes it sound like I have all the parts picked out. Or something

And there is a guy with CNC that I know from over on AVSForum.

Build it!!

 

[haraldo]

Who peed in your Cheerios? This is all in fun. Jeez. Hey if it ain't hard, it's not worth doing. Right? I have to say you have been a bitter pill around here as of late.

Bitter pills are hard to swallow

 

[haraldo]

This is just plain not true. I don't want to get in a war or anything, but there have been many a statement product built via DIY. Just because a DIYer doesn't get paid, doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing.

I never said or implied that

But when someone that's worked with speakers his whole life spends a long term project to make a statement product it's fair to expect that it will be slightly better than what mostly any enthusiast can make

 

[jinjuku]

Sorry everyone. I didn't mean to derail the thread in the slightest. I'm excited about the Titus 8T and am drooling over the day I could afford a pair.

I DIY so I can stretch my $$. That and it's addictive.

 

[monkish54]

I never said or implied that

I clearly misinterpreted your comment.

Why can't a DIYer build something like this?

I too apologize for the derail (again...). Once my question is answered, I will finish the discussion via PM or new thread.

 

[haraldo]

I clearly misinterpreted your comment.

Why can't a DIYer build something like this?

I too apologize for the derail (again...). Once my question is answered, I will finish the discussion via PM or new thread.

DIY is a derailing of the thread, sorry about this, that should go into another thread, but I would be very happy to see that you prove me wrong (and I'm NOT sarcastic)

Sorry everyone. I didn't mean to derail the thread in the slightest. I'm excited about the Titus 8T and am drooling over the day I could afford a pair.

I DIY so I can stretch my $$. That and it's addictive.

I agree with you and don't get me wrong: DIY is very interesting it's just that as a DIY you just don't have all the resources, equipment, toolings and many other things that a professional builder do have..... It's not said how many prototypes of the cabinets they made until they got the final shape, but say... what if they made 15 or 20 trials before they got it right....

I wouldn't have the patience to build 19 cabinets, then realizing I still would have to make them slightly different....

Better to work with my profession and save for speakers like THESE ONES

 

[agarwalro]

DIY is interesting but it will not get you a statement product.

Yes one can, refer to this DIY build.

Sorry for this tangential post.

 

[Nuance AH]

I clearly misinterpreted your comment.

Why can't a DIYer build something like this?

I too apologize for the derail (again...). Once my question is answered, I will finish the discussion via PM or new thread.

They can, if they actually know what they're doing. You can't expect some random dude to put together a DIY project that will top something an industry professional has spent years designing; a product proven (objectively and subjectively) to be very good. I think that's what haraldo is saying. For example, you and granteed are becoming avid DIYers, or at least you're on your way, but I'd never bet on you when pitted against the likes of the Harman or Kef design team; I don't care what you think you guys know.

 

[monkish54]

They can, if they actually know what they're doing.

I would assume that's implied. A random guy can't build a car, design a building, or build a house and it would be silly to think they can. Likewise, a random person can't build a well-designed loudspeaker. That said, there are many DIYers who "actually know what they're doing."

My point is a competent DIYer can build a speaker that rivals the 8T while using an active crossover, any finish they want, any "sound" they like (accurate vs house sound), a very well braced and nice looking cabinet, and do so at a very small fraction of the 8T's asking price!

 

[haraldo]

As I understand, One of the advantages of the 8T is the complete lack of dynamic compression at any level, one of the reasons being the the MMTMM loading

is this quantifiable?, any way to measure or explain to which extent they are superior to competing products

Above 2.7KHz you have only one driver, so here the compression artifacts while come to play again, or?

Will 8T be able to recreate a symphonic orchestra realistically, at realistic levels?

 

[haraldo]

I would assume that's implied. A random guy can't build a car, design a building, or build a house and it would be silly to think they can. Likewise, a random person can't build a well-designed loudspeaker. That said, there are many DIYers who "actually know what they're doing."

My point is a competent DIYer can build a speaker that rivals the 8T while using an active crossover, any finish they want, any "sound" they like (accurate vs house sound), a very well braced and nice looking cabinet, and do so at a very small fraction of the 8T's asking price!

Well, a very very competent DIY'er can do very good things.... but it will take you lots of lots of lots of efforts!!!

But a DIY'er is not Richard Vandersteen, John Dunlavy or Jim Thiel....
There are just things a DIY'er cannot do unless you own a mechanical workshop or can do 20 iterations of a speaker cabinet and can spend years researching....

I built my own speakers too and were very happy with them but it will never even rival anything built by good professionals.....
Now back to what this thread is about!

 

[jinjuku]

I built my own speakers too and were very happy with them but it will never even rival anything built by good professionals.....
Now back to what this thread is about!

Tell that to a guy that owns a pair of $15K Aerial Acoustics that had to pick his jaw up off the floor after demoing my Statements.

 

[Nuance AH]

My point is a competent DIYer can build a speaker that rivals the 8T while using an active crossover, any finish they want, any "sound" they like (accurate vs house sound), a very well braced and nice looking cabinet, and do so at a very small fraction of the 8T's asking price!

That's highly debatable, as many "competent DIYers" probably don't have access to the resources that the big companies use to design and manufacture their products.

Tell that to a guy that owns a pair of $15K Aerial Acoustics that had to pick his jaw up off the floor after demoing my Statements.

I have no doubt that those are awesome.

 

[monkish54]

Granteed is becoming an avid DIYer

He is long there!

you're on your way,

That I am!

I'd never bet on you when pitted against the likes of the Harman or Kef design team; I don't care what you think you guys know.

You give me one year** and a 6K budget (probably much less but wiggle room is good.) and I will at least equal the $22,000 Salon 2. If it measures significantly worse*** than the Salon 2 for On-axis, off-axis, cabinet resonance, etc. You can have the speaker.****

If you actually want to do this, we can set up some rules and guidelines and see what I can do.

(Lets hope I can come up with 6K in a year cause I wanna do this really bad. )

**To gain more knowledge & hopefully some cash. If you wanna let Grant help me you can give me 3 days That is, If 6K fell into my lap.

***just within reason. "It is .5 db flatter" is not reasonable LOL

**** I do get to cry when giving it to you!

 

[frostbyte]

Any good DIY could technically build anything even better than this, but that would take an astronomical amount of personal expertise and resources. There's a reason they call it a DIY project. It's something easy for anyone to do. This was many years of research and work. Great expense went into the design (many variations of the design). A DIY could technically build a space shuttle if they were smart enough and resourceful enough. It's not likely to actually happen though.

 

[agarwalro]

As I understand, One of the advantages of the 8T is the complete lack of dynamic compression at any level, one of the reasons being the the MMTMM loading

is this quantifiable?, any way to measure or explain to which extent they are superior to competing products

From the article's measurements section,

I drove the 8T’s at high output (more than my ears could take for any duration of time) and I noticed as I increased the volume, the output level went up but the distortion curve did not. This indicated to me that the Status 8T system distortion was below the noise floor of my room. So, I repositioned the mic to the listening area almost 14ft away from the speakers and ran a full-range sweep from 10Hz to 20kHz with both speakers driven. Again, the same excellent results were produced. This was the cleanest system I’ve ever measured. Most speaker systems distortion goes way up at low frequencies since hardly any so called “full-range” towers are really full-range. This was not the case with the 8T system as you can see in the graph above. This is what happens when you mate multiple high quality drivers in a large box with well-executed crossover design.

I wish this was divided by harmonic components, fwiw, THD@Listening position,

 

[Nuance AH]

He is long there!



That I am!



You give me one year** and a 6K budget (probably much less but wiggle room is good.) and I will at least equal the $22,000 Salon 2. If it measures significantly worse*** than the Salon 2 for On-axis, off-axis, cabinet resonance, etc. You can have the speaker.****

If you actually want to do this, we can set up some rules and guidelines and see what I can do.

(Lets hope I can come up with 6K in a year cause I wanna do this really bad. )

**To gain more knowledge & hopefully some cash. If you wanna let Grant help me you can give me 3 days That is, If 6K fell into my lap.

***just within reason. "It is .5 db flatter" is not reasonable LOL

**** I do get to cry when giving it to you!

I applaud your enthusiasm, but I'll believe it when I see it. Go to sleep already!

P.S. I though his name wasn't, "Grant?"