Anyone got real life experience with Neat Iota Alphas?

[Benedict_Arnold]

Saw them on the WHF page and they check an important box for me. Being only 19 inches or so tall, they're floorstanders that will not block the hoped for big PJ screen (or better still 120 inch 4//6/8K wallpaper TV) in my HT room. Angled faces should also help with the one foot drop between the MLP and the floor on which they would stand.

The HT room is (from memory) 12'6 x 19', windowless, with the screen and speakers across the short end wall. The room has plasterboard walls and ceiling with a carpeted chipboard floor.

Use will be "proper stereo" only. They would be partnered with a suitable mid to high (depending on your perspective) integrated or pre / power combo, e.g. the Primare i 32 or a Cyrus DAC XP Signature and one or two X200 signatures. Sources would be a good to jigh end CDP or CDP / DAC combo and / or FLAC files ripped from CDs onto a USB hard disk or via a streamer. Although I'm open to alternative suggestions, no valve or Class D amps please!

Music taste? Just about everything.

 

[Al ears]

Saw them on the WHF page and they check an important box for me. Being only 19 inches or so tall, they're floorstanders that will not block the hoped for big PJ screen (or better still 120 inch 4//6/8K wallpaper TV) in my HT room. Angled faces should also help with the one foot drop between the MLP and the floor on which they would stand.

The HT room is (from memory) 12'6 x 19', windowless, with the screen and speakers across the short end wall. The room has plasterboard walls and ceiling with a carpeted chipboard floor.

Use will be "proper stereo" only. They would be partnered with a suitable mid to high (depending on your perspective) integrated or pre / power combo, e.g. the Primare i 32 or a Cyrus DAC XP Signature and one or two X200 signatures. Sources would be a good to jigh end CDP or CDP / DAC combo and / or FLAC files ripped from CDs onto a USB hard disk or via a streamer. Although I'm open to alternative suggestions, no valve or Class D amps please!

Music taste? Just about everything.

Ever thought of a Parasound Halo Integrated, should you ever want to employ a sub? Afraid much that I like the idea of the alphas I have never heard them.

Also not too sure exactly what you are asking. Any other persons experience of them will be pretty meaningless.... unless they happen to have an exact replica of your HT room... ;-)

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Things like "don't buy them they're cr#p" or the usual WHF "need careful partnering" or if anyone has tried them with the amps I've suggested and had good (or bad) results or....

 

[ellisdj]

Primare i32 is class d?

 

[gowiththeflow]

Primare i32 is class d?

....and bl**dy brilliant too.

z

 

[Al ears]

Primare i32 is class d?

Which is why I suggested the Parasound...

...and being out ther in sunny Texas the OP is likely to be able to pick one up cheaper than normal...

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Didn't know it was class D :-(

Being in Texas means I don't give two hoots about the energy savings of Class D vs. my long preferred "push-pull" class A (AA?), but I can give it a listen. I guess I'm just a traditionalist, although I draw the line at valve amps in much the same way as I favour internal combustion engines over the four-legged, hay eating alternatives. Class D might be like switching to a milk float though....

Hifi from the UK and the EU is subject to a THIRTY FIVE PERCENT US government import tariff, is only sold by high markup boutique dealers, and is then in Texas 8.25% sales tax on the total. So it ain't cheap. :-(

Added to which boutique dealers are few and far between and not likely to let one home demo. So I need to get my choice right first time.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Parasound looks like a likely US contender though....

 

[Al ears]

Parasound looks like a likely US contender though....

It's a pretty good contender in the UK as well.

Looking to audition one myself.

 

[Al ears]

Didn't know it was class D :-(

Being in Texas means I don't give two hoots about the energy savings of Class D vs. my long preferred "push-pull" class A (AA?), but I can give it a listen. I guess I'm just a traditionalist, although I draw the line at valve amps in much the same way as I favour internal combustion engines over the four-legged, hay eating alternatives. Class D might be like switching to a milk float though....

Hifi from the UK and the EU is subject to a THIRTY FIVE PERCENT US government import tariff, is only sold by high markup boutique dealers, and is then in Texas 8.25% sales tax on the total. So it ain't cheap. :-(

Added to which boutique dealers are few and far between and not likely to let one home demo. So I need to get my choice right first time.

Ouch! The definetly want you to buy 'Merkin don't they...

 

[nopiano]

I heard the Alphas before they had a name, so I think that would have been about 18 months ago at the Bristol show. They were superb sounding in a way few speakers are in an hotel room. Much bigger image than you'd imagine from such a tiny box on the floor!

At US prices I might struggle to be convinced they make sense. I'd rather go for LS50s if you want small British designed boxes. Can't you accommodate home grown speakers like Maggies or Martin Logan?

By the way, the Primare is notionally class D but like several recent Hi-Fi incarnations of this technology (including the new Marantz PM-10 at £6,999) they do not suffer the past flaws some displayed. It will also keep your a/c bill down a bit!

 

[Al ears]

I heard the Alphas before they had a name, so I think that would have been about 18 months ago at the Bristol show. They were superb sounding in a way few speakers are in an hotel room. Much bigger image than you'd imagine from such a tiny box on the floor!

At US prices I might struggle to be convinced they make sense. I'd rather go for LS50s if you want small British designed boxes. Can't you accommodate home grown speakers like Maggies or Martin Logan?

By the way, the Primare is notionally class D but like several recent Hi-Fi incarnations of this technology (including the new Marantz PM-10 at £6,999) they do not suffer the past flaws some displayed. It will also keep your a/c bill down a bit!

True. Many are doing their own thing with this class of amp module, so much so that I don't think there is a Type D sound. You'd find it hard to tell the Primare from a normal Type A/B if you didn't know. Same with Bel Canto etc., etc.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

 Can't you accommodate home grown speakers like Maggies or Martin Logan?

They have to be floorstanders (personal preference) and under 2 ft tall as I want the tops to be below any screen (or huge TV) I put on the wall.

Added to which I tend to find American speakers to be like Americans generally: too bright, too effervescent and, erm, too heavy at the bottom end (if you get my drift). Added to which, Martin Logans are sold at Bestbuy (think Currys) which means they're automatically off my list.

 

[nopiano]

We had Best Buy over here for a while but they didn't last long!

 

[rainsoothe]

Can't you accommodate home grown speakers like Maggies or Martin Logan?

They have to be floorstanders (personal preference) and under 2 ft tall as I want the tops to be below any screen (or huge TV) I put on the wall.

Added to which I tend to find American speakers to be like Americans generally: too bright, too effervescent and, erm, too heavy at the bottom end (if you get my drift). Added to which, Martin Logans are sold at Bestbuy (think Currys) which means they're automatically off my list.

Is it only them who sell them? But I get what you mean with the "too effervescent and too heavy at the bottom end" bit. But they are worth an audition, imo, and so do Revel speakers (their Performa range floorstanders really impressed me)

 

[Infiniteloop]

Didn't know it was class D :-(

Being in Texas means I don't give two hoots about the energy savings of Class D vs. my long preferred "push-pull" class A (AA?), but I can give it a listen. I guess I'm just a traditionalist, although I draw the line at valve amps in much the same way as I favour internal combustion engines over the four-legged, hay eating alternatives. Class D might be like switching to a milk float though....

Hifi from the UK and the EU is subject to a THIRTY FIVE PERCENT US government import tariff, is only sold by high markup boutique dealers, and is then in Texas 8.25% sales tax on the total. So it ain't cheap. :-(

Added to which boutique dealers are few and far between and not likely to let one home demo. So I need to get my choice right first time.

I'm saddened by your dismissal of Valve Amps. Although I also enjoy the very latest Amp technology via Devialet, I really couldn't part with mine.

I assume you've had a bad experience with one? I must say mine has been trouble and fuss-free since the day I got it many years ago. And the sound is sublime.

 

[newlash09]

Very glad to see you in the hifi section. Welcome

 

[newlash09]

Very glad to see you in the hifi section. Welcome

 

[nick8858]

Haven't heard the Iota Alphas but I do own the original Iotas which are excellent. On a bookshelf with backs to the wall. Great soundstage and lovely sound. Not earth shattering bass but pretty good for the size. I'd love the Alphas but can't accomodate floor standers otherwise I think they are a great innovation.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Very glad to see you in the hifi section. Welcome

...back....

 

[Al ears]

Very glad to see you in the hifi section. Welcome

...back....

If you can fit them in you might get better response from the Neat Motive SX2's, they are only 765mm high. ...... Too tall??

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

^ Won't know for sure until my numbers come up and I get the mega TV or screen, but 30 ish inches might be fine. I couldn't tell for sure but are the front baffles slanted backwards?

Just looking at options.

 

[Al ears]

^ Won't know for sure until my numbers come up and I get the mega TV or screen, but 30 ish inches might be fine. I couldn't tell for sure but are the front baffles slanted backwards?

Just looking at options.

I believe they do slant backwards yes. To what degree I couldn't tell you.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Slanted front baffles might be good. My HT room has two six inch steps between the floor where all the electronics sit up to the floor where the MLP couch is.

The builders put these in, presumably so people in the back row could see over the heads of those in the front. Sadly they put them too close to the wall where the screen goes so I am going to have to build a third step for the back couch and extend the middle step for the front row couch plus the requisite coffee table.

 

[Al ears]

Slanted front baffles might be good. My HT room has two six inch steps between the floor where all the electronics sit up to the floor where the MLP couch is.

The builders put these in, presumably so people in the back row could see over the heads of those in the front. Sadly they put them too close to the wall where the screen goes so I am going to have to build a third step for the back couch and extend the middle step for the front row couch plus the requisite coffee table.

I would question the need for this in a class Home Theatre setup. Obviously mine has been superceded by a beer-fridge...resulting in stunning improvements in sound quality, up to a point...