In Reply to: ORIS 150 mini-review posted by Brian Day on January 24, 2001 at 10:24:21:
Hi Brian,Thanks for taking the time to post your experience with the Oris Horn.
I agree with you about the macro-dynamics. While the Oris is very dynamic, it's not quite as dynamic as say an Edgar Horn system, Exemplar, etc. However, if you were to use a more powerful amp with the Oris (say a 20W SE or 40W PP amp) you could coax more slam from these speakers. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that the higher powered amps won't provide you with the same amount of low level resolution and micro-dynamics that you mention you're obtaining now....you win some and you lose some.
Concerning soundstage depth; moving the ORIS further out into your listening room will provide better depth and also help somewhat with the 3-D imaging effect you so cherish. Obviously this might not be an option for you (because of the K-Horn bass cabinets) and others because of room size limitations.
That being said, the Oris are somewhat of a finicky speaker, i.e. don't expect to just plop them into your living room and begin experiencing their magic. While the Lowther driver is generally refered to as being somewhat directional and therefore should be less sensitive to placement. You must understand that at the lower frequencies 150-500Hz the Lowther in effect becomes a 31" diameter driver. This is a BIG SPEAKER!!! Notice I could have said a BIG HONKIN' SPEAKER, but the Oris doesn't honk;) And so they ARE very sensitive to room placement.
I've spent the last year pushing these speakers (and furniture) around my room trying different locations, listening angles, distances, etc. and only recently got them to a point where I thought they sounded REALLY GOOD! And then couple that with the fact that these speakers are very revealing of your electronics and so one could probably spend another year searching for just the right cables, power cords, conditioners, etc. to extract even more low level resolution from this system.
So keep working at it Brian. It will get even better...maybe not as good as you would hope for...but then you might get bored if you were completely satisfied!
Ron
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