 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
In Reply to: Beauhorn Virtuoso Ref. posted by adog on November 05, 2000 at 07:52:09:
Hi Jeffrey,Glad to hear you like the Beauhorns and interesting to read your comments. I listened to AGs on a couple of occasions and really didn't appreciate them. I then heard Beauhorn Virtuosos with the DX4 and thought they were wonderful. I was all set to buy Beauhorns when I heard AGs under better circumstances.
I had DX4 Beauhorns and AG Duos at home for a long weekend in May of this year. I was listening with a C-J Premier 14 pre-amp and 11A power amp, and also with a Border Patrol WE300B SET amp kindly loaned to me by Gary Dews. Initially I was leaning toward the Beauhorns, but at sometime over that weekend something clicked with the Duos and after that it was no contest, despite the difference in price. I believe they are both very good speakers, but for me there was no doubt. I purchased Duos.
I'm interested in your negative comments about the sound of the AGs, because, if I had any criticism of the Beauhorns, it was that they exhibited a slight hardness on transients. Eric Thomas of Beauhorn, a kindly and very helpful gentleman, thought that what I was hearing was digititis (I was listening only to CDs and radio), but I can only say that I was not hearing the same thing through the Duos.
Incidentally, you refer to the Beauhorns as being a 'fraction of the price', but in the UK the DX4 version retails for just under 5,000 Pounds, the AG Uno is about 5,300 Pounds (with 217 sub) and the Duo is 7,500 Pounds.
AG speakers do seem to produce a love 'em or hate 'em reaction among those that experience them, and I really think it is down to the ancillary equipment, the room and, of course, personal preference.
Enjoy the Beauhorns. Thank heavens we don't all like the same things. In the end, it's what appeals to you that matters.
Jeremy
Follow Ups:
.
Hi Jeremy, Even though you listened to both speakers with the same equipment I think the A.G.s "might" be more forgiving than the Beauhorns ( this can be a major + depending on the system). My entire conception about system preferences has changed due to the microscopic revelation the Beauhorns exhibit. I found the cj 14 both hard and thin. I also think Eric is right about the digital issue (I am a vinyl person). I prefer a single driver in a wood enclosure, no crossover, simple and direct. You are right, they are both great speakers. What is really important is the music, not the messenger. Jeffrey
Dear Jeffrey,> > I found the cj 14 both hard and thin < <
Nope, its neither. Not when everything is working well.
Again, if the CJ 14 has faults, its faults of ommission. If it sounds as you describe, there are other problems. The CJ is a great amp for the money (I don't own any CJ products btw) and while its not up there with the very best, it basic nature is not as you describe.
Steve
Hi Steve, you and I are a million miles away in our hearing, taste and probably everything else (which is cool with me but, apparently not with you). I owned the 14, you never did. I lived with it for over a year, mated with the Preimer 12 amps, various cables, 2 different pairs of speakers and all sort of tweeks. It always sounded hard and thin. How long did you hear it, 10 minutes, maybe an hour? I get the impression only you know how to properly set up a system, you keep mentioning that fact in your posts. What are we mere mortals to do? Jeffrey
Hi Jeffrey,> > you and I are a million miles away in our hearing < <
No I doubt that. Hard and thin is hard and thin. It makes the sound fatiguing and not very enjoyable. It sucks.
But you take 2 products which I know to be highly musical and the antithesis of hard and thin and accuse them of having characteristics which they do not. So why should that be?
Well firstly, lets get back to the first law of hi-fi. A product cannot sound better than it basically is. It can however sound a lot worse. Example. A low res. component can never produce high res. music but a high res component, when not properly matched and set up can sure produce low res. sound.
So lets take 'hard and thin'. This means that a component is lacking something somewhere in its bass region. Usually this lack of warmth and weight is caused by the component not being able to fully develop a complete and even bass response. The component is not reproducing the full signal. Given that the component has a problem in the bass, its not unlikely to suppose that if its missing bass, its also missing part of the signal in the mids or tops and usually the subtle air and detail are the first to go. The unit sounds closed in, compressed, hard. Taken all together, it sounds as you describe.
But a hi-fi is the sum of its parts. In the above example, it could be the component that's at fault, but is could equally well be another problem with the set up. Poor mains supply, high RFI in the vicinity, poor vibration control, a fault in one of the interconnects, difficult room acoustics, a bad system ground, poor component matching, in fact anything where the end result is some loss of signal will make a system sound hard and thin.
In this scenario I could insert a perfect component into the chain and if it is high resolution, like a CJ-14 for example, it will simply reveal more of the problem. I assume you bought the CJ-14 because you liked its sound. I also assume you got rid of it because you could never make it sound good in the context of your system.An example from my system:
I reported that the bass on Cafe Blue was overblown. Rich Morgan came back and said that on his full range Dunlavy system, the bass was powerful but not overblown. Given the first law above, I clearly had a problem.
I changed the power cables in my system back to the originals and the bass improved. I changed the speaker cables from high-end to some left overs from years back and the bass improved even more. Conclusion: My after-market cables were causing the bass problem.
Hmmmm. Actually it turned out that one of my input tubes had become microphonic and the increased bass introduced by the better cables was exacerbating the problem. Took a long time to find the problem
So to conclude, when someone logs onto the web and reports that a component that I (and many others) know to be highly musical sounds thin and hard, I immediately jump to the only logical conclusion i.e. the installation is losing information somewhere and the various components are doing a great job of revealing the loss. The better the component, the better the job it does.
Again Jeffrey, remember the first law of hi-fi. A thin and hard sounding component cannot sound rich and full. Period. But a rich and full sounding component can very easily be made to sound thin and hard.
> > I get the impression only you know how to properly set up a system < <
No, but I do have enough experience to know that when an allround exellent component sounds poor, one should look elsewhere for the problem.
Steve
I have to agree with Jeremy. I also hear some of the hard edges on the Lowthers. I also have to say, that it is correct, that most of it is from digital source. My opinion is simple, but probably the most important one : Listen for yourself, with your front -end equipment and with THE MUSIC you like to listen to.
Everything then is a mater of preference...
libor,The "hard edges" may be due to the fact that many Lowthers seem to have a response peak around 1-2k. The ones i had here for review seemed to fatigue me, but then he later replaced it with C37 coated driver and the peak was reduced, but not 100% solved. Does the Beauhorn folks use the C37 as many folks seem to rave about is. i WANT to love the Lowther, though i have a feeling what Thorsten did (add supertweeter and subwoofer) is what is really needed to enjoy full frequency music.
Enjoy the music (dare i say it, Molly Hatchet right now),
Steven R. Rochlin
"Flirtin; with disaster everyday"
"Flirtin; with disaster evryday"
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
