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My very good audiophile friend, who lives 70 miles south of the Twin Cities, his Rel Storm III fried a couple of months ago and could not be repaired. (He did send it in)...
Called me yesterday morning and asked if I would go to Audio Perfection and check out the Rel S3. Since my dance card was open, I gave him the resounding YES.
They did not have the S3 set-up, but had the S2 in a small room, (12'X12'), with the .7's. The S2 was being run via Wi-Fi, a $300 option, set in a corner. The .7's were hooked to a Rega intergraded and Rega CD player.
I have never heard the .7's before, so this was a real treat. They had the oval base with the peg legs. Wow...what a gem of a speaker, filled that little room with glorious sound out of a very modest system.
The REL controls on the back are notched, so as you are adjusting you feel this clicks that are very close together. I started by pushing the crossover way up and slowly bringing it down until I could not localize where the sub was in the room. Then pushed the volume up and started to bring it down until it just filled out the bottom...This was accomplished within about 5 minutes...then eureka...
The S2 is a very small sub...about 14" square. Build quality was just beautiful. This little guy would start and stop like Barry Sanders running a draw play...no overhang, no slop, no bloat, no farting...just tight and tuneful bass being fed like it was coming out of the .7's...
The Rel repair guy told my friend, due to the size of his room and being used for movies and music the S3 would be the better choice. After a quick phone call, I handed my phone to the dealer, he gave him his credit card number and they loaded the S3 in the back of Jeep...I love spending OTHER peoples money...nice...
Sidebar no. 1:
His wife asked him "do you trust Mark to make this $2000 decision?" He gave her a resounding "yes"...we have very similar ears and have been friends for over 20+ years...He is a Structural PE, left handed of course, we met when I hired his firm to do engineering for us in the precast concrete biz...we became friends and I got him started in this hobby...(his wife reminds me of that every time he buys something)..I had an HT/Music system and he wanted to set one up in his basement. He was all set to buy some Infinity's, then I took him to Audio Perfection where he heard the MG-12's, well and as they say the rest was history...
Sidebar no. 2:
They had the Wilson new Sabrina's set-up with AR frontend and a guy was there auditioning them, so I asked him if I could listen for a while with him...no problem...all I can say about them is they were very dull, un-involving and played small...all this for $15K...really??!!?? My 3.7's would take these out to the wood shed and go Adrian Peterson on them...(we are using running back analogies today)...I actually preferred the .7's over these...
Next, in the big room was the Wilson Alexia hooked up to the Bel Canto Black…Lets start this out by saying this is a $100K+ rig. At low volume, not very impressive at all. Once you started to push the volume, things really opened up. If I had to use one word to describe the sound it would be…Expansive. Expansive does not mean width of soundstage, more like room filling…They give a very visceral presentation of the music. BUT, timbre and tone felt as if there was a thin layer of sun screen over the sound…something was just not quite right…I am guessing my ears are just use to the Maggie correctness…
Now, back to our story…got the sub hooked up in his listening room. He has tricked 1.6's, with an outboard passive crossover. Started with the same type of procedure, push the crossover up and start bringing it down until things blend…this was really funny as we were doing this. We would look at each other, start talking at the same time and were both saying the exact same thing…I said we had similar ears…Once again, it took about 5 minutes and we had it pretty zoomed…
We started fine tuning with some Pink Floyd, (the usual suspects), Chris Isaak, Heart Shaped World title track. This track has a really good bass drum. You can hear the thwack of the mallet on the drum head…several plays. The impact of this felt spot on. Sting, Mercury Falling, track 4, I was brought to my senses…has an acoustic type bass sound, (I do not know the name of the instrument), but it has this great really pure tone…it has allot of sustain that floats with soft decay…wow was this nice. He looked at with this smile like he won the lottery…I will not go into tracks 8 and 9 on this album…but this is great album very well recorded. Next was Ricki Lee Jones, Chuck E.'s in love, track 7, Danny's all-star joint. This track has about as perfect a Fender P-bass that you can find. All the way to the buzz of bass strings on the frets…great walking bass line…this was as tight and fast as I have ever heard it, toe tapping goodness. Patricia Barber, Café Blue, Ode to Billy Joe…stand-up bass played in a very live room…this track oozes PB's coolness in spades…just beautiful. The ring of the room and sustain of bass had this you are there type of feel about it. SRV, Couldn't Stand the Weather, the tightness of Double Trouble bass and drums, really pushed itself to the forefront. My friend commented that he did not like to listen to this album when he did not have a sub hooked up…I can't remember the bass players name, but he plays ALLOT of fills under SRV's deep tone Strat…these came to life, where all the nuances of his playing was on display…
With a medium size listen room, the S3 is a total winner. As of now, that is the best sub and integration I have heard with Maggie's. This little guy starts and stops like no other. Tone, timbre and my least favorite word, musicality are all on display here. This is not a cheap sub, $2000, IMHO…most of you know that I am pretty cheap. I would put would my hard earned money down and buy this without hesitation…
Now, a question to you all…I am very familiar with his system. When he did not have a sub, it was, and dare I say a little lifeless. With the sub, the mids and highs were more defined and overall sounded much better…he agreed with me. Why would this be?
Sorry for the long rant…but damn it was a great Audiophile play date…
Thanks
Mark
Follow Ups:
Mark,
Thx for this report. It takes me back... I lived in SW Mpls in the TC from the late '80s through 2006... Audio Perfection was always the stable go-to audio shop in the area as others ebbed & flowed.
When I moved there my main speakers were modified Acoustat 1+1's with Spica TC-50's as backups. Went through some ML CLSs and finally settled on Eminent Tech LFT-VI's, which I still have today.
The 1+1's replaced MG-III's and I'd had MG-I's, MG-II's & SMG's along the way. So can appreciate your comments on the Wilsons.
One of the most sublime experiences I've had in Audio (besides a couple of the TC audio club's visits to Audio Research) was visiting Audio Perfection one time when they had Wadia-> Audio Reserch-> Atmasphere(BIG ONES!)-> MG-20. Def in the same range as the best of the Audio Research listening room setups, but very 'there!'.
I hope all else is well in the TC and I miss the area and the people, but not the winters!
Greg in Mississippi (usetabe Greg in Minneapolis)
Everything matters!
As you know about our two seasons here in MN...Winter and Road Construction...with mosquitos big enough to screw turkeys...
Yeah, the guys at Audio Perfection were just wonderful on Saturday...Mark the owner, as you know is blind, hard not to trust his ears...
He got me settled in and 15-20 minutes later he knocked on the door...came in and sat down and we just shot the breeze...
Sounds like you have di-pole fever like the rest of us...There was a used pair of your speakers in the main lobby room...I personally have never heard them...
Hope all is well in MS...the humidity is not too unbearable...
Mark
I'm glad to hear Audio Perfection is still they way I remember it - they set me up with 3.6Rs, a wadia 861, and a Rel Strata III sub way back in the day.
After moving to North Carolina 8 years ago, one of the things I still miss about Minneapolis is visiting Audio Perfection. It was funny to see this post, because for the last month and a half I'd been thinking about trying to squeeze in a stop at AP to hear the some potential new speakers (maggie 3.7i) and the Exogal Comet DAC.
I'm traveling through the twin cities on the way to Duluth for Grandma's marathon this weekend, but it didn't look like there will be time for a stop, so I decided to get the Exogal without hearing it (and that gamble really paid off - and may have set off a round of system upgrades). Now I just need to find a way to see if I need to upgrade from the 3.6Rs - maybe that will work out on the next trip though Minneapolis.
Lake side to Hill top 10-30 degree swing in temperature IF the wind is coming off the lake...
I have a brother in-law, 2 nephews and one of their girlfriends this year running to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer in remembrance of my mother...so keep your eyes peeled for Millie's Milers...
CZ, yeah Audio Perfection is a great place to visit...I only wish it was about twice as big...they are jammed to roof with gear...and he carries all the MN manufacturers...
Good luck in Duluth and travel safe...
Thanks for the shout out...
Mark
2 reasons In short, you off loaded the portion of the signal that both speaker and amp were straining to do.
1. The amp is not doing low freq (read high power) duties so is spending much more of its time close to the first watt.
2. without reproducing the low freq the speaker is getting far less IMD from the high bass excursions, now being done by the sub - which is not attached to the speaker.
BTW agree on the WATT/Puppy and derivative designs. Similar observations from me. Do I really want to pay that much to get a cheap seat perspective of the performance?
.
When he remodeled his basement he ran connections thru the walls with in wall Hi Level Neutrik Speakon coming off the amps with a ground to the Preamp, (CJ 16LSII), and a RCA of the LFE off the HT processor...
So this is hooked up with 2 cords, as the Rel is designed to do and makes one of better designs since with a separate input and volume for the LFE channel...
But with all this happening, and no crossover until the Hi level Neutrik Speakon reaches the back of the sub...How is there less strain on the amp and speakers since that connection takes place at the amps?
What am I missing in your explanation?
This all pertains to the improvement in the Mids and Highs when running the sub.
Thanks
Mark
If your friend isn't using the crossover to high pass the mg1.6 then there is likely a behavior change due to the presence of the subwoofer. My explanation would not apply.The change in behavior is because you are setting lower volumes while getting much higher low bass output from the sub at the same output level in mids and highs from the 1.6. Because of the Fletcher Munson curves we tend to set the volume so that low bass comes into perception and passes the audibility threshold - which is much higher in the lowest octaves than in the mids or midbass.
It is very common to have people setting their volume control 3-6db lower when they add a sub.because low bass detail enters the audible range at a lower volume setting. . .
With the lower volume settings the amp and speaker are not straining as much as they were before.
Edits: 06/15/15
Really interesting stuff...I did believe it was part of Psychoacoustics...as I said, we both felt the same about the improvement in the Mids and Highs...
Mark
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