Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Macca]

Well it's a make I know nothing about and your listening impressions should be interesting. What's the spec?

33 Hz - 22Khz +/- 3dB, 2 and a half way , crossover is at 3Khz. sensitivity 90dB, power handling 180W, weight 18 kilos.

[Macca]

I few thoughts then, so far. I heard some Audiovectors a few years back and was pretty impressed by them, they do that hi-fi 'crispness' thing that I really like. These came up at a reasonable price and the owner said he would deliver them personally if I paid the fuel cost, so here we are.

These are a different model, later and lower down the range, I think they were a grand brand new so not an expensive speaker, but I thought that given how much leading edge they put on everything they would be a good test to see if the 'softness' problem I have is down to my existing speakers or not.

Well, they have improved it a little, but not cured it completely. Back to the drawing board. At least I can rule out the speakers as the problem.

Otherwise I have to say these are pretty good speakers given they were only a grand brand new. I'm not usually keen on 2 way cone/dome speakers as you just don't get that mid-range clarity that you do with a good three way but these seem to be an exception to that rule. Plus the bass on them really is excellent with superb timing.

You can 'hear the box' occasionally That's about the only criticism I can make up to now. And I know what you're thinking and you're right - you're not going to get heroically constructed cabs at this price level so it's fair enough.
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[Macca]

Some pics of today's experimental system:

Audiovector Speakers. The question is how much more white could they be? And the answer is none. None more white.





Stack from top to bottom:

Audiolab CDT6000 CD Transport
Oppo BDT 101C - soon to get moved to the A/V system as my freebie Panasonic DVD player is dying.
Sansui SE7 Graphic Equaliser. Not hooked up anymore but I've left it there as it looks good.
Soncoz SGD1 DAC - also acting as the preamplifier






Thought I would try a different amp with the new Audiovectors so put in this Linn LK100. Doesn't help with heating the room like the big Krell below it does.
The Linn sold for £675 in 1997, that's £1237 today. I bought it second-hand back around about 2001.

[walpurgis]

How's it sounding?

[Macca]

Enjoyable, if not the last word.

The Audiovectors are good speakers but not as good as the JM Labs. Not as open sounding. I do like their really crisp sound though. Don't know if you recall the B&W Solid speakers but they remind me a lot of a larger version of them.

[Puffin]

Why not try them both together? Not such a daft idea as I have done it to good effect.

[Macca]

Both sets of speakers together?

[Macca]

Decided to put the JM Labs back in after a few weeks living with the Audiovectors. Took the opportunity to re=position a bit from how I had them before, wider apart and with the speaker on the right further from the wall. Kept the Linn LK100 in as the power amp and the DAC feeds it directly. On the whole this is a great combination, still maybe a little soft on transient attack although it's no longer too soft, although not sure what has improved that as I'm sure I tried this combo before and was disappointed. But nothing else can be faulted.



Pretty sure that when I get the Krell KSA50S back in I'll be back to killer levels of sound quality. The whole front end has had a massive upgrade (on paper at least) since it was last in so hoping for great things.

[walpurgis]

Dunno if you've ever considered it Martin, but if you should ever suspect the other speakers in your room might be resonating in sympathy and colouring things, connect their pos and negs together with short bits of wire. That'll stop it.

Good tip for anybody with extra speakers in the room.

[Macca]

There's another 5 pairs of speakers in the room plus a subwoofer and a guitar amp....

I really don't think it makes any difference at all, at least not one you can actually hear.

I read that Linn invented the idea so they could get competitor speakers out of the dem room, make it harder for the punter to point at them and say 'How about a listen to those?'

It got to the point where some people were suggesting that even the presence of the tiny speaker used on a digital watch alarm would colour the sound. Ivor T took a blind test where he had to identify when a single Linn Kan was present in the room in addition to the pair playing the music. He failed to discriminate.