Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Newform Research Pyramid 45 ribbon hybrid impressions



First, a bit of personal history. I have always been a planar fan. The first speaker I fell in love with as a kid was the ESS AMT-1, but couldn't afford them. Ever since I built a pair of hybrids based on Janszen electrostatics 30 years ago, I have owned nothing but planars and planar hybrids.

When I set up my first home theater in 1997, I already had a pair of Magnepan MG3.5Rs. I ended up building an all Magnepan (except for the front center) home theater. The MG3.5Rs were bi-amped, with a passive electronic crossover (a capacitor in-line with the amp input, Magnepan used to sell these as an accessory) for the high-end. I had a huge custom built theater room, and after a large amount of tweaking, I managed to get an incredible sound out of the system.

Later, I went without a home theater for various reasons for a few years. When I put together a new system, it had to be planars. I didn't have the space to do Maggies justice, so it had to be hybrids. I started first with BGs, but I could never get used to their sound. I replaced them with Sunfire Trio Ribbon XTs. Much more listenable, but they didn't image as well as I would have liked. I demoed the new Janszens, but while they were excellent, they weren't what I was after.

I was familiar with Newform Research from way back (they have been around many years), but since there are no US dealers, I had never heard them. Based on a large number of enthusiastic reviews, I decided to give them a try. After talking to the owner, John Meyer, who is extremely helpful, I ended up with the Ribbon Pyramid 45
The photos are of my pair, I bought the prototypes.

John makes two recommendations for his products. First, to not use a center. I tried it with and without using my existing Sunfire center. I strongly preferred the sound without a center (note that the Sunfire is a horizontal center). Dialog was more intelligible and pans across the stage were smoother. I have a suspicion that line source speakers are especially well suited for using a phantom center.

And the sound was a big step up. Soundstage was huge and more precise, and the transient response of the system is amazing. Both with music and with movies, the sounds was very detailed, involving and without any trace of fatigue at any level I could stand. Again, I think the fact that the Pyramid is a line source has a lot do do with its impressive sound quality.

The second recommendation was to use active crossovers. I wanted to try this also, but first wanted to wait until the Emotiva XMC-1 came out, which it did a few months ago. So which crossover to buy? I have long been a fan of Legacy Audio's products - they are just out of my price range. Their top models use Xilica digital crossovers. They selected Xilica after testing indicated that after even chaining five units together, there was no degradation in sound. The Aeris at $16,000/pr uses the XP series. I verified that Legacy used stock, off the shelf units (with their own settings pre-programmed). Since I only needed 2 channels out, I got an XP-2040. I used Parts Express Omnimic (very easy to use) to take measurements, and the Xilica was straightforward to set up. The result was another step upwards. I am not that great at describing listening impressions, but it seemed like there was a veil lifted from the ribbons. If you have ever listened to a pair of high end electrostatic headphones, that is the kind of highs I am talking about. Also, the soundstage is improved. Even with very lossy recordings (Dolby Digital), the speakers can locate sounds well beyond the physical placement of the speakers.

I can see why a number of Newform Research owners have stated that their purchase ended their search for the ideal speaker. While I can't compare the Newforms directly to my old Maggies, it has just been too many years since I have heard them, I can state that these are one of the most musical and satisfying speakers I have ever heard, and I used to attend high end shows pretty regularly.

Highly recommended!



Edits: 12/20/14

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Herbie's Audio Lab  


Topic - Newform Research Pyramid 45 ribbon hybrid impressions - bradleyaudio 16:33:14 12/20/14 (6)

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.