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Re: ELectro-Voice Empire sound better then Altec Valencia

Posted by Saturntube (M) on March 4, 2007 at 09:30:03

In Reply to: Re: ELectro-Voice Empire sound better then Altec Valencia posted by Duboiz on March 4, 2007 at 02:25:41:

Duboiz, I didn’t mean to come out aggressive, do enjoy your EV, I enjoy them and I collect them.
I grew up listening to a pair of TRX12b, actually the Wolverine model LT12, I loved them and probably they are the reason I am into this terrible hobby, I still have them, I also have the TRX15 top model with the T25 horns and original Xovers, After living for a while with all these speakers I can tell you I think the LT12 are more balanced with nice mids, I never liked the "mid range" of a 15" driver, sounds dull, even with the whizzer thingy (another mistake IMHO). The TRX15 are very good speakers, yes the mids are not sparkling but sound good if you like a darker non aggressive sound, their best attribute is the great T350 tweeter, the highs are dynamic and extended (some of the best I heard). When combined with the T25 horns the higher range of the mids take off, with very nice tone and dynamics, but unluckily the T25 units have no detail and the highs are sssssing (probably the phenolic diaphragms are to blame here) but the huge concoction of TRX15 and T25 horns is spectacular and involving (I had the bigger cabinets 315 liter on these) my wife loves the sound but hates the size!!!
On the other hand I also have the Altec Valencia and yes I agree with you, "as is" they are not good the fabulous 806a doesnt go up to 20khz, maybe 16khz yes, so you would need a super tweeter, the legendary 416 woofers (sorry to say this) just dont go up to 800 hz convincingly, so yes you have the dull 15" midrange, and the cabinets are too small to get any bass under 40hz, so you have some of the best drivers in the world in a terrible product.
I used to have (sold them of course) top loader Hartsfield, IMHO the worst of the lot, the bass is not thompimg, its womping, no mids can get out of that complicated corner horn, and the bubble back 375 units must have been demagnetized because they were never convincing with anything but horn music, I checked the diaphragms, changed horns took the "bacon slicers" out which helped a bit but violins were never convincing and highs would go up to I guess 11khz. so the supertweeter had a big job to do. Lower mid range was inexistent.
Today I am listening to my Altec 416 in the huge 315 liter cabinets doing the best bass I heard (competing with coffin back Hartsfield at the RMAF) these go up to 250 hz, I got Fostex 207 in a sealed cabinet with my 806 horns on top doing the "Magic horn thingy" and a pair of Beyma cp21f from about 18khz. Big, Involving, Analytical, You Are There sound, my wife peeked in to see who of my friends was singing! I am waiting for some 180hz front horns for my Lowthers to cover up to 1k, haven’t got the nerve to cut out the whizzers yet!!!
So as a finished product EV is best yes, but you are missing on the real thing!

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