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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: agree, but who has? posted by docw on February 15, 2007 at 19:16:06:
Well, I have......at party hosted by one of my wife's co-workers. Her husband is independently wealthy, and an audiophile to boot. He doesn't tell his wife just how much he spends on his gear, and with good reason, she would neuter him in his sleep (she's a vet).
He bought his Maxx2s not long after they moved into their new house, because when they were moving his Martin-Logan Monoliths, the surround on one of the woofers got separated from the cone just a little bit. I'll skip the part about having to decide whether or not to answer Megan's rapid-fire, and well-aimed questions at me as to were the ML's "really unfixable?" or not.
She was a bit miffed that he went out and bought new ones, and she was also trying to get me to tell her how much he spent, because he wouldn't tell her (he didn't get rich by being a complete fool). The problem was, she couldn't remember exactly what the speakers were, and she told me "the name starts with "W", and they're pyramid-shaped on top". I assumed she was talking about WATT-Puppys, since we figured out they were Wilsons. She said he got them used, which he did, so I told her a ballpark figure on what the going rate for used WATT-puppies were. She wasn't quite as upset after that, because she thought it would be worse.
Anyway, back to the party. The husband invites me up to listen to his system, and when we get to the top of the stairs, there stands a pair of MAXX2s! Unfortunately, Megan was close enough to hear the gasp escape my mouth, but somehow I managed to evade telling her just how far off the mark I was price-wise.
Ok, sorry for rambling. The sound:
First, they were driven by a BIG pair of vintage Threshold class A monoblocks, can't remember the model #, and a matching Threshold preamp. No problem w/electronics, in other words.
The bass was impressive. Clear, tight, punchy, decent timbre. The tweeter was equally clear, but WAY too bright. Kind of piercing to be truthful, definitely not pleasant. The midrange was horrible, to the point of not being able to recognize instrument timbres, and losing so much definition on vocals that words were almost not understandable. Sorry, but Ella Fitzgerald's diction is not in the least bit indistinct! The effect was very much like the midrange drivers were wired deliberately out-of-phase for some sadistic reason.
No, the room was far from ideal. Big, but too long and too narrow, and not quite big enough for the MAXX2s. It would take a LONG time, and a lot of adjustment and treatment to correct the audible problems. I'm not entirely sure based on the 3 listening sessons (3 different days even) that all the issues were able to be overcome.
My wife and I both agreed that our much more modest system at home actually sounded much better than the MAXX2s, at least under those conditions. There's a lot to be said for speaker placement, and taking time to find not just distance and toe-in, but exactly which orientation in the room (long wall or short wall, etc.), and stands or no stands, and how high, when a pair of Clements 206di floorstanders driven by (well tweaked) vintage NAD electronics can not only sound better, but walk all over something that costs many, many times more.
That said, even though the 206di speakers are under $1000 for a pair, I'm convinced Mr. Clements is a true genius, because little money or lotta money, those speakers are amazing!
BT
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Follow Ups
- Re: agree, but who has? - BrassTeacher 22:37:22 02/15/07 (2)
- Re: agree, but who has? - scriabin 17:50:42 02/16/07 (0)
- I say amen nt - docw 22:43:22 02/15/07 (0)
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