Here's a thread that I never thought I would get to write. Next I'll be rubbing elbows with Tom Andry.
So, I'll tell this sort of chronologically. I saw Matt's speakers first tucked away in the back of a shed behind the partially assembled cabinets that are being built for another lucky and understandably impatient member. I got to haul Matt's speakers out of the shed and place them on a work table we assembled out in the light of day. First impression was that the added side braces on the lower portion of the cabinet looked like they belonged there and the veneer work was top notch ... and I mean really top notch. Second impression was that they were heavy ... and I mean really heavy. Third impression was that a knuckle rap test made me think of knocking on a safe door. For acceptable and understandable reasons the speakers needed to have the drivers and binding posts installed along with a couple of odds and ends. Once the prep work was done the speakers got hauled into the house for completion of assembly and crossover programming. That's pretty much where this story of those speakers ends.
... to be continued ...
I noticed a few things about how Chris works. There's a practiced ease to the way he uses his hands with tools. He ain't scared. Another thing that is worthy of note is a comment he made over lunch. He said that if forced to choose a commercial speaker he would get a used B&W 803D I believe. That's not the important part. When he mentioned that the price is ~$7,000 I rolled my eyes and he looked at me with raised brows saying, "It's what I love!" ... not that there was ever any doubt.
Here's the part that I'm least qualified to speak on. I got me a little tinnitus and a pretty serious dip at 5k Hz coupled with a limited audio background/vocabulary. Still, I got to hear this stuff and you didn't so
. The first thing I got to hear his nearfield computer rig, that reworked Primus 160 and 10" Kappa Perfect stereo combo. He only had to tell me 3 times where the sweet spot was. He probably wanted to choke me. Now these easily held their own with the commercial speakers I have listened to which is very limited. The thing to keep in mind here is that these speakers are close so the room isn't helping. I suspect that if I got the Def Tech's, Paradigm's and B&W I had listened to in recent memory and had them within 3' of my noggin the comparison would result in Chris' efforts being considerably more pleasing. I think we all know that he's a little fanatical about non-resonant cabinets. There are two de-coupling devices in place to separate the sub and speaker from each other and from the floor/building structure to eliminate them from resonating.
I'll get to the meat of the matter about his omni polar rig in another post.
