Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Audio Physic Yara (floorstander) Speakers

Hi Twisty,


I loved your review of your Yara's and can how!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ Finally understand and share your joy ~

I just felt the need to share someother recommendations on room placement with you. If that's okay?. As someone whom has owned a pair of Audio Physic Step SLEs since 2001 as a means of having an alternate sound which offers a different preception of overall Musicality then those rended from my primary Mini - Monitors: ProAc Tablette Reference 8 Signatures. As someone whom came into this hobby head on as the result of having a Father whom was an Audiophile I grew up listening with my dad each and every weekend as he had a very nice Jazz Collection Circa 1964 to present. I found myself shortly after returning from my time in the USMC spending over 9 years in Japan. That is nothing else they cared more about properly set - up components then most.

As they normally have their hardware placed on Platforms more often then not made of some sort of wood or another! I found that their systems tended to have a sense of flow which I've yet to hear with some of the better electronics which we are blessed to hear here in the States. Yet for whatever reason I've noticed that none have been able to communicate the very essence of the Music moreso then what I had heard during my stay there. Upon returning to the states I was blessed to become the buyer for a local Audio Salon and took pride in having a very good pair of ears and an uncanny sense of Loudspeaker placement and a better insight into their soundstaging abilities. Or so I thought until yesterday that is! to this very day I've only known one other person whom within mintues of entering someones listening room was able to detect any weaknesses within said systems placement of either Isolation Devices or the oweres Speakers themselves. Long story shorter as I do have a way of overspeaking on certain issues of merit from time - to - time.

As a result of chatting with a freind of mine in Korea the other day, he sent me around 12 photos of he and a few of his friends setups which caused amazement on my behalf. As I have a spare bedroom of 10' 31/2" w. x 14' 7.5" l x 8' 8" h. to use for a secondary system I thought to myself I'll put the Steps in here as they have been boxed up for over 2 years now. But considering the size of the room, I found myself somewhat lost as to the best placement for them. I'm aware of the methods used by either Audio Physic ~ Wilson Audio and that of Cardas. Yet none of the seemed to work out. I was told to contact Brian of VenusHiFi whom by chance has moved back to Michigan recently and not far from where I live. I mentioned this subject to him, and he said that he would return my call with recommendations of which he has been doing with most European designed speakers for years.

Upon returning his call, he took me to throw all of those other methods out the window and rethink the concept from a more 3 dimensional prespective. He then when on to say start by placing the speakers 18" from sidewalls to the outer edges of the speaker cabnits and starting with placing their back edges @ 24" from the rearwall and slowly toe them in @ the 45 Degree area which seems to be common knowledge with most LS Designs. Upon taking the time to place a futon dead center of the listening wall and upon 4 solid mapleblocks of 3" x 3" x 2"h. and centering my second int. tube amp alone with a Naim Audio CD5i CDP onto several pieces of Ebony [ African Blackwood ] Platform which I've owned since said time in Japan. Isolated with Ebony Footers underneath the Source and Tube Amp to say the least and with both platforms further Isolated from the floor sitting on 1"h. Audiopoints and Disc Couplers.

I looked at the placement of both speakers and did a measuement and said to myself! Damn these things are more then 11'.5" apart this can't possibly work?. Yet upon powering things up for 30 minutes [One of the joys of tube ownership ]

I sat down and pressed play and DAMN IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I didn't hear Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue [ Mobile Fidelity SACD ] For the first time rended with such a sense of space and refinement. I heard a more snappy and detailed and tighter bass with a greater sense of flow and agility intact. She was dead center and sounding very lovely I might add. And then when the Guitarist came in it was all over for me. This was some of the best sound which I've ever been able to obtain from these speakers since first hearing them Circa 1995 @ Paragon Sight and Sounds then located in Ohio.

Music just seemed to have more direction and a renewed purpose to it, and my emotional involvement became that much greater. I attempted to bring the speakers closed together @ 8.5' apart and point them straight into the room and was within seconds! moving them back to the position which I had finally found which caused them to simply disappear. I'm talking refinement ~ Bass agility &~ snap as well as the bassist technique was easier to follow and understand the communicative skills required by some of the better ones out there ~ Smoother and more refined vocalist and backing vocals were highlighted in such a manner it was down right scarey!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ Better overtones of Piano notes and pedal movements ~ The Natural &~ Beautifully rendeding of Cymbal decay was the most accurate I've heard to date and is more often then not! can't be captured any better then one is to expeirence on just about anything as recorded by the engineers @ ECM - Germany. [ Cymbal recorded the right way ~ to my way of thinking they should.could sound. ] ~ Brass Instruments has a sense of extension which I've only heard twice in my entire life and one was on what I consider one of the best sounding DIY SET Systems I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. While the other was on a system which consisted of a Townshend Elite Rock Mk.3 w/ Grado Signature Tonearm a Grado MZX+ into a Naim Audio NAIT 3R/Flatcap driving a pair of Epos ES 14s @ a Naim Dealers home here in MI. This set ~ up plain and simply has allowed me to finally know the hidden messages within the very texture of the Recordings themselves. All I can say is that I've been listening with a more open mind for over 10 hours as I type this response as a means to share in your joy!.

Now, I'm someone whom has been known to travel 874 miles to listen to things which I consider of worth as a means of knowing just what's what, and be able to say to others proudly, yes I've listened to this or that and my opinion on it is????????????? [ Maybe next time?. ]
Anyway this is nothing more then a all ot attempt to assist another owner of this Beautifully designed line of speakers obtain the very best from them. Mikeys reviews @ Stereophile were true after all ~ Unf_ _ _ing Believable! indeed!.

Regards,
- Oscar


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Amplified Parts  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups


You can not post to an archived thread.