What New Stuff Have You Bought? If You Care To Share Thead! :)

[Cos]

My favorite pickup in Nashville this week. Got home to the latest Dave’s Picks in the mail. Grateful indeed.
View attachment 73362

Heading to Nashville in July! 1st stop......

 

[Bobby Bass]

Heading to Nashville in July! 1st stop......

Excellent have a great trip!

 

[Happy Joe]

After a bit of consideration (and shopping) I ordered an SVS ultra evolution center channel speaker.

https://www.svsound.com/products/ultra-evolution-center

in black oak veneer; (not a fan of glossy plastic looking finishes).
Have been experimenting with the center channel speakers that I have and am not satisfied with either Polk or Klipsch.(separately or together/stacked; although stacking a Polk ES35 on a Klipsch R34C was an audible improvement to both/either).
I did listen to a sample of this center at a local sound emporium but was unable to locate a KEF center.
...Perhaps Santa will bring matching, bent, left and right SVS speakers for Christmas...

Enjoy!

 

[Matt34]

After a bit of consideration (and shopping) I ordered an SVS ultra evolution center channel speaker.
View attachment 73423
https://www.svsound.com/products/ultra-evolution-center

in black oak veneer; (not a fan of glossy plastic looking finishes).
Have been experimenting with the center channel speakers that I have and am not satisfied with either Polk or Klipsch.(separately or together/stacked; although stacking a Polk ES35 on a Klipsch R34C was an audible improvement to both/either).
I did listen to a sample of this center at a local sound emporium but was unable to locate a KEF center.
...Perhaps Santa will bring matching left and right SVS speakers for Christmas...

Enjoy!

Good luck with that one. I've almost bought it a couple times to see how it does, but wasn't too impressed with the Evo Ultra bookshelves I've tried. They weren't bad, just weren't my cup of tea, most noticeable with female vocals.

I bought a used Arendal Sound 1723 center to compare to the Ascend Acoustics CMT,340Se2 I'm currently using as a center. Dave at Ascend says it should compare favorably.

 

[Happy Joe]

Unfortunately, like the KEF I have not been able to find a local dealer to audition Adrenal speakers; historically I have always liked the sound of Scandinavian speakers...

$1k is about my limit to risk on buying an unauditioned speaker...

Enjoy!

 

[Matt34]

Unfortunately, like the KEF I have not been able to find a local dealer to audition Adrenal speakers; historically I have always liked the sound of Scandinavian speakers...

$1k is about my limit to risk on buying an unauditioned speaker...

Enjoy!

If the SVS doesn't work out for you, it's worth trying the Kef Q6 meta center channel. It's the best I've heard under $1k.

 

[Happy Joe]

I hear you! I tried pretty hard to find a local KEF dealer since I like the looks, reviews and specs of the Meta series but living in the high desert sometimes limits one's options...
If the SVS doesn't work out I'll try the KEF in home option...

Enjoy!

 

[Bobby Bass]

Unfortunately, like the KEF I have not been able to find a local dealer to audition Adrenal speakers; historically I have always liked the sound of Scandinavian speakers...

$1k is about my limit to risk on buying an unauditioned speaker...

Enjoy!

Arendal sells direct. You may be able to find a used pair at a dealer. They have a buy and try for 60 days and free returns if you’re not satisfied. I have the 1723 towers and they’re excellent. I don’t have a center channel since I switched to a 2.2 setup for music.

 

[Happy Joe]

Arendal sells direct. You may be able to find a used pair at a dealer. They have a buy and try for 60 days and free returns if you’re not satisfied. I have the 1723 towers and they’re excellent. I don’t have a center channel since I switched to a 2.2 setup for music.

I do like the Adrenal 723specs, unfortunately there is a lack of dealers in my area.
Where possible I prefer to audition speakers a a dealer. I really do not like repacking speakers, especially, tower speakers to ship them back.

The intention with this center channel exercise is to try to find a good, widely applicable center channel speaker, then follow up, later, by getting towers in the same family (bass ackward; I know, but I really do not care for these polk ring tweeters; Even though they worked well during last evening's listening)... the towers will get replaced by better ones, as the opportunity, and funding, presents itself.

Hopefully going to a SVS tweeter, that uses a variation on widely used technology (aluminum dome tweeter) will result in more even sound with less/fewer high frequency artifacts (ringing, resonance, chirps, beeps and other things not on the recordings).

Seas aluminum domes (OEM) worked very well in my previous speakers (I just wish that I could get replacement Peerless OEM midranges; its a fitment issue).... The destroyed NHT 2.5i's have been rebuilt using lower wattage midranges (I have a box of spares) and should be an improvement over these Klipsch tower, rear speakers.

The journey to acceptable sound is a trip; 'though not always inexpensive or enjoyable...

Enjoy!

 

[Matt34]

The Arendal arrived, it has to be at least twice as big as the Ascend cmt340se2.

 

[Happy Joe]

The Arendal arrived, it has to be at least twice as big as the Ascend cmt340se2.
View attachment 73429

... any initial thoughts on the sound (pre-break in)?

 

[j_garcia]

... any initial thoughts on the sound (pre-break in)?

Speakers do not break in.

 

[Happy Joe]

Speakers do not break in.

If you say so; others seem to have a different opinion; my present Polk r700s took more than a month before the sound Started to become consistent.... and my listening results still (I recieved them a bit after thanks giving) do not agree with the reviews.

I'm almost to the point of sending them to the recyclers. and getting some decent speakers.... whether I keep them or not is becoming ever more dependent on my up coming center speaker trials (The SVS center is due to arrive on the 15th.)
I just tried to order an Arendal center for trial but there seems to be a disconnect between the credit card company and Arendal.

Enjoy!

 

[Bobby Bass]

I saw this new piece of hi-tech equipment that I’m looking into buying

 

[Happy Joe]

I had a pair of those... they restrict the audio level too much, for all but intermittent use IMO.

Enjoy!

 

[j_garcia]

If you say so; others seem to have a different opinion; my present Polk r700s took more than a month before the sound Started to become consistent.... and my listening results still (I recieved them a bit after thanks giving) do not agree with the reviews.

AH article on it. The more likely explanation is the perceived change is related to your listening, not the speaker. You become "used to" the sound of the speaker, so technically, your ears break in

Loudspeaker Break In: Fact or Fiction?

The debate on loudspeaker break-in persists, sparking arguments from both sides. This article examines the topic with objective measurements to reveal the truth behind the claim.

www.audioholics.com

I saw this new piece of hi-tech equipment that I’m looking into buying
View attachment 73453

$100? Buy 2 for mute.

 

[Happy Joe]

AH article on it. The more likely explanation is the perceived change is related to your listening, not the speaker. You become "used to" the sound of the speaker, so technically, your ears break in

Loudspeaker Break In: Fact or Fiction?

The debate on loudspeaker break-in persists, sparking arguments from both sides. This article examines the topic with objective measurements to reveal the truth behind the claim.

www.audioholics.com

$100? Buy 2 for mute.

The thing that clinched my decision to purchase the polks was that their sound was the closest to my previous speakers during auditions; the longer that I listen to them; the more dissatisfied I become!... Same music, same room, similar positions;
The polks exhibit a lot less apparent phantom center channel... I never felt the need for a center channel speaker with the previous speakers
The polks suck the power (resulting in an auxiliary main L&R power amp so they now sound better).. can no longer fault the bottom end.
... still don't like the tweeters; may try adding some damping around them.... perhaps a pair of the (above) mono converters added to the spikes on the Ring tweeters... (I am serious)... do they still sell NERF balls? I could cut one in half...

Enjoy!

 

[j_garcia]

The thing that clinched my decision to purchase the polks was that their sound was the closest to my previous speakers during auditions; the longer that I listen to them; the more dissatisfied I become!... Same music, same room, similar positions;
The polks exhibit less apparent phantom center channel.
The polks suck the power (resulting in an auxiliary main L&R power amp so they now sound better).. can no longer fault the bottom end.
... still don't like the tweeters;may try adding some damping around them.... perhaps a pair of the mono converters added to the spikes on the Ring tweeters... (I am serious).

Enjoy!

I had Polk LSis before and I have to be honest, the ring radiator tweeters sound good at first but something about them didn't go over well over time for me too. Sold them to my brother. The LSis also required a lot of power, despite decent sensitivity (4 Ohm nom. though).

 

[Happy Joe]

I had Polk LSis before and I have to be honest, the ring radiator tweeters sound good at first but something about them didn't go over well over time for me too. Sold them to my brother. The LSis also required a lot of power, despite decent sensitivity (4 Ohm nom. though).

As per "home Improvement"; MORE POWER!!! is not necessarily a bad thing... 200 to 300 watts RMS seems to work...

Enjoy!

 

[j_garcia]

As per "home Improvement"; MORE POWER!!! is not necessarily a bad thing... 200 to 300 watts RMS seems to work...

Enjoy!

Yep. I stepped to 200w because I had a few sets of 4 Ohm speakers. I no longer do, but no reason to downgrade the amp