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In Reply to: RE: The most significant loudspeaker of the show... IMO posted by gme109 on October 13, 2014 at 15:09:37
Link to Stereophile LX521 and LXMini coverage at 2014 RMAF: http://www.stereophile.com/content/rmaf-2014-reichert-Sunday(all text removed per JA; also removed jive paraphrasing because it offended one brotha).
Edits: 10/15/14 10/15/14Follow Ups:
Summing Up
I have not tested or even briefly listened to every high-end loudspeaker out there, but of all the speakers known to me none equals the Linkwitz Lab LX521 in my opinion. I have been to a few audio shows fairly recently and auditioned the most highly touted speakers there, and after each listening session I just shook my head, wondering how they could charge so much money for such obviously canned, unlifelike sound. It’s as if the designers had never heard live acoustic music in a concert hall. Siegfried Linkwitz has not only established a new paradigm but has also proved that throwing money at each component of a speaker design, and then charging the consumer with a huge multiple of the cost, is not the way to go. Instead, the simple and cost-effective principle of the “spectrally neutral radiation pattern” rules!
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N/T
Is Aczel saying it's even better than the Fourier?
Am I the only one here that finds the "paraphrasing" of JA racist and offensive?
Just curious.
... tedious, boring and untalented.
One sentence would be OK, one paragraph is way over the top, entire post - is just plain silly.
> Am I the only one here that finds the "paraphrasing" of JA racist and
> offensive?
And childish. All I am asking is that material from Stereophile not be
quoted in almost its entirety, as it originally was from Herb Reichert's
comments on the Linkwitz room at RMAF. We may give readers free access to
our content, but that doesn't mean others are entitled to steal it.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Even if you include a link to the original, as you have done here, please
do not repost this much content from Stereophile on third-party sites
like the Audio Asylum. A sentence or two is almost certainly fair use;
two long paragraphs is almost certainly not.
Thank you.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Pity about the looks!! awful!!
An ugly speaker that sounds good will look pretty after awhile. A sexy speaker that sounds ugly will be be seen as ugly after awhile.Indeed, plain and boring and ugly speakers that last is a pretty decent indicator that they probably sound pretty good. They're probably surviving on their sound not their looks.
Edits: 10/15/14
My wife would not agree, an ugly speaker will stay an ugly speaker.
Maybe they sound better than they actually are as you would not expect such ugly speaker to sound that good?? :)
Those speakers could certainly be made to look better than the basic forms shown in the photos. The cost-to-performance ratio would be rather handily destroyed that way, of course.Taking a cue from the Decware archives, something that looks like this might be the alternative using butt ugly PVC pipes and fittings...
Edits: 10/15/14 10/15/14
The edges of plywood don't do anything for me either and I would agree that much can be done about the looks. The top baffle takes a little getting used to but given the choice between great sound and looks, I'll take the sound any day. If I want furniture I'll go to the furniture store.
A fellow named Bill Schneider did wonders to make them look quite good. Here is a picture of his LX521s as well as a link to his build documentation. I think his web page has been a real asset as well as a benchmark to many builders.
Linkwitz labs also has this link to some others who have a different look. Some are quite nice. I actually like the looks of them and have all along.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LX521/PhotoGallery.htm
Especially for those ugly bass drivers.
Fundamentally as ugly but with a nice finish.
I could live with those quite easily, especially considering their sound.
The biggest issue I have is amplification. As good as they sounded with the XP5's, I'd like to use something a little more high end, but that could get quite costly with 6 channels of amplification. Just curious what other LX521 users are using.
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One word: Hypex.
I'm currently using a pair of Channel Islands D200 mk. II's which use the Hypex chip set.
I'm quite happy with the sound, but at 4k per channel of amplification, it would be too expensive to use with the LX521. Which Hypex amplifiers are you referring to?
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Sunfire 5 channel amp that's been out of service for a while and I'm looking for another one to match up with it for the 521s I'm building. A secondary plan is to use the Sunfire for the 4 woofers and get a Bryston or something similar for the mids and tweeters. From the people I've talked to there seem to be a lot of people mixing amps and being perfectly happy with the results. You're right though, the amps are an outlay of cash to consider. IMO I think Mr Linkwitz is using those Emotivas to prove a point. Chinese amps aren't in my future though. I've been burned on Chinese quality issues enough that I stay away if I can.
I suspect that the baffle shape has to do with managing diffraction effects. However, it's quite likely that another shape can do just as well, so for those folks who are considering the basic design, don't limit yourself to the specific shape. But be mindful of any serious issues your newly-thought-of shape might introduce.:)
Edits: 10/16/14
To me, the main value of the reviews is that, based on your own experience and opinions expressed by the reviewer, you kind of "get to know" him - and that helps to establish certain degree of trust. Not literally, of course, but after a while you know whose opinion is more likely to resonate with your own - and whose you can safely ignore.
Case in point: I certainly feel somewhat "in tune" with M. Fremer's opinions, after his less than flattering Bryston monos review.
With that in mind, and based on the coverage by Herb Reichert that you linked to, I know whose opinion I need to take with a huge grain of salt.
the "perfect amp" was an Emotiva XPA 200 ($399). - a'aight then, whatever you say.
So many systems have all these good audiophile traits but play music in a woeful joyless manner - again, whatever. Not my experience at all.
Experiences hopefully widen as one grows older. However, it's tough to do if you're locked into preconceived notions, who's opinions you can blindly trust/reject, and other such things, etc.
There's a growing number of positive comments about the LXMini debut at RMAF, so there's no need to base your preconceived negativity on this particular Stereophile report. IMO.
Get out and hear a pair for yourself. Linkwitz will likely be demo them again at the next Burning Amp Festival.
p.s. I also think you're taking the Emotiva reference by the SP reviewer out of context. (Not seeing the forest for the trees). There's also the fact that the LX521 (and LXMini) can sound different/better when used with top-shelf amplification (which is what prompted my reply in the first place).
Could these speakers be driven by a robust 24 watt SET amplifier? Does it need high power SS?
I think I spent enough bandwidth trying to explain it, but whatever.
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