Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Macca]

Martins gone quiet.......buyers remorse?

lol just not had the chance to use them since Monday - day off tomorrow so going to have a good, long session and then I'll report.

From what listening I have done they seem to be superb - but I'd like a bit longer before I'll commit to that.

[Macca]

Well that was a pretty enjoyable afternoon of listening to music.

Here's the albums I listened to:

Mica Paris - 'So Good'
Don Henley - 'Best Of'
Chris Isaac - 'Wicked Game'
AC/DC - 'Who Made Who?'
Boston - 'Boston'
Donald Fagan 'The Nightfly'

I suppose the first thing that anyone will notice about these speakers is that the bass is not overblown but there is some serious low frequency 'weight' to everything - nothing sounds toppy or bass-shy.

And they are smooth - smooth as silk. If you think using P.A drivers is automatically going to make a speaker sound like a dog rough Peavey stack, then think again! I think this is partly due to using such large drivers, they hardly move so there's very little distortion. A small bass driver can have 10% THD but you don't really hear that until it's not there.

The Chris Isaac album is not one of my faves but it's good for comparison since they always play the title track at shows. Anytime I hear it I'm always mentally transported to a hotel room somewhere. Don't usually listen to all of it but I did this time, it just sort of washed over me.

One thing I think I can say for certain is there's no nasties with this speaker. Nothing jars. Going from memory which is always dodgy, I don't think they quite deliver the same purity of tone in the bass that the outgoing Focals manage. But this was not a huge difference.

Mica Paris album is pretty typical 80s club soul fayre. Bass on this was excellent, just like in a club.

The Don Henley best of is heavily compressed like a lot of more recent compilation albums, so you can't crank it without it getting shouty. Lots of 80s synth on this, it can sound bad, but it didn't. Even at the end of 'Sunset Grill' where a load of synths build to a loud climax and it can get shrill, it was all smooth and well laid out.

I expected AC/DC to sound awesome, but in fact it was just a little bit flat. I will have to try this again with my original release of 'Back In Black' which was always devastating on the Focals. Maybe tomorrow.

Now with the Boston album we were cooking on gas. Seems like this music was made to be listened to on speakers like this. Absolutely tremendous, I couldn't fault it at all.

Finishing off with the Nightfly - I listened to this on Monday night but with it being late and having played loud music all day thought I'd give the neighbours a break so I didn't crank it up. Today I did and it was just astonishing. Of course it's a textbook recording which is why pros use it to test that they have FOH PA systems properly calibrated. It should sound sweet and tonally balanced, and it did.

I think really that I confirmed a lot of my first impressions, which was that the speakers have very low distortion and are balanced maybe slightly to the soft side compared to the Focals. Probably not a surprise to anyone familiar with Focals.

I went with this design as my favourite speakers for long term enjoyment have always been the big three-ways from the late 1970s, early 1980s. Most of them have these same qualities of impressive bass weight allied to a balance that is easy to listen to over a long period, rather than being cutting edge in terms of resolution but wears you out after a couple of albums.

I think I got that, but I also got a lot more.

More thoughts to follow tomorrow.

[Pigmy Pony]

Glad it's all sounding good, and look forward to more impressions tomorrow when you play some decent albums Only kidding, some of them are ok, but you know you have to include your reference recording tomorrow (Brothers in Arms ofc).

[Macca]

Played that one last Monday - sounds good but then it's got to be a pretty bad set up if it doesn't.

[Gazjam]

Nice write up Martin.

Similar experience with bass here in my travels.
a big percentage of listening experience bass is with it being either overblown, EQ’d to be popular or designed to blow the bloody doors off.

All of the above isn’t accurate, (whatever that is) and if you listen often enough you get annoyed when you know it’s being tampered with.
Remasters can GTF.
A good system synergy lets you know when bass is there, as in when it’s been mastered in.

Its the visual eye/ear thing maybe?
You’d expect big cabinets to kick out low end like a pair of Wharfedale E90’s hard against the back wall, which is cool, but not always.
Had the same thing with the Eddingdales when I first got them, didn’t sound like what I heard with Toppsy’s travelling pair he took to shows.

Put on some Massive Attack or Portishead when they are run in,
my Wharfedales took nearly six months before they really sung.

Kept thinking great, sounds good.
Then they got better. And better.

it’s a process.
Let time take it’s time, they are still fresh out the packet.

They’ll get there.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the early listening impressions. Don’t think you can go wrong with a nice large speaker if well designed.

One of the earliest pieces of advice I had about speakers was a good bigun will always beat a good little one!

[Macca]

Nice write up Martin.

Similar experience with bass here in my travels.
a big percentage of listening experience bass is with it being either overblown, EQ’d to be popular or designed to blow the bloody doors off.

All of the above isn’t accurate, (whatever that is) and if you listen often enough you get annoyed when you know it’s being tampered with.
Remasters can GTF.
A good system synergy lets you know when bass is there, as in when it’s been mastered in.

Its the visual eye/ear thing maybe?
You’d expect big cabinets to kick out low end like a pair of Wharfedale E90’s hard against the back wall, which is cool, but not always.
Had the same thing with the Eddingdales when I first got them, didn’t sound like what I heard with Toppsy’s travelling pair he took to shows.

Put on some Massive Attack or Portishead when they are run in,
my Wharfedales took nearly six months before they really sung.

Kept thinking great, sounds good.
Then they got better. And better.

it’s a process.
Let time take it’s time, they are still fresh out the packet.

They’ll get there.

Bass isn't lacking, they will play the fundamental of the low note on a 5 string bass with no problem, that's 31Hz or thereabouts. But because my room is long (29') the main mode is down in the 20s. So it doesn't enhance any bass notes, there's no 'stunt bass'.

Think I have a Massive Attack album, I'll have to dig that out. Got no Portishead though, never was keen on them.

[Macca]

Someone at that do I went to gave me a bastard of a cold so didn't do anymore listening until Sunday.

Tried 'em with a bit of Korn. Now that does also sound epic on the Focals, but with these - well I think I found their party trick. I mean it was just stupid.

I know what you're thinking and I was thinking that too. Are these just a rocker's speaker? What about the subtlety? The delicacy?

So thought I'd put on some Tull - 'Songs From The Wood' as that has a lot of acoustic instruments on. It was with some trepidation I cued it up.

Well I needn't have worried, it sounded magical. Like there was nothing, no device producing the sound at all, just the sound.

Later a pal came round, likes his music, plays guitar in a band. He like ZZ Top so I put on 'Tejas' for him. As first song kicked in I raised the level just a little bit to the 'bite point'.

His eyes widened up exactly like that German bloke at the end of 'Kelly's Heroes' when they tell him about the gold.

Upshot of that is he's borrowed some speakers and an amp off me and went off to set up a system.

I don't know if it is me burning in or the speakers but they do now sound pretty much exactly how I expected/hoped they'd sound.

Sweet, no edge, and totally effortless low frequencies and dynamic swings.

I'm still undecided if they are just a little soft in the upper mids, like with snares and ride cymbals and that. That would contribute to the smooth, relaxed nature I suppose.

I'll have to do some more listening regarding that as if it's there, it's subtle.

[Roy S]

They look the bollocks and it's always good to see when someone's main living area is designed around their sound system

Time to change the sig again Martin.

[Macca]

They look the bollocks and it's always good to see when someone's main living area is designed around their sound system

Time to change the sig again Martin.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I suppose they're probably staying.