Picked up a pair of these heavy beauties on Saturday from Guildford Audio, aka Trevor's van. They had been in the van all night so were bl**dy cold, Trevor reminded me to leave them to stand out of their boxes for a few hours to warm up. Just as well, the metal drive enclosures soon had condensation all over them so as well as cold, they were a bit wet! So off shopping I went to let them warm up.
On return found the speakers were now warmer and drier Unpacked and wired them up, no problem with the tri-wire configuration as the ES30s are the same. Running 2 lengths of Townshend ISOLDA cable both sides, one to the woofer, other to the mid with tails to the tweeter.
Turned on the Muse 300W mono blocks and dropped in a silver dics (I forget what). Well I was told not to be instantly amazed. Well perhaps "amazed" is over stating it, but the difference was clear. The sound was bigger, most noticably the bass was bigger, deeper and much more even. No more lumpy ported bass...this was the kind of sound I have been looking for, and the Cardea C30s just didn't produce. And this is before the amps and speaker were properly warmed up.
Did much more listening on Sunday and I am quite impressed. They sound much more even, smooth across the frequency range, quite transparent with much better transient response, and improved dynamic range. Loud passages are louder. And they do go loud without straining. I heard details I'd never heard before, presenting more in the mix. The sound was kind of effortless, I suppose like I would expect a studio monitor to be. Speaker positioning was much easier than with the ported ES30s, very forgiving. Placed a little out from the rear wall, toed in little...I tried a couple of positions from the rear wall and it made little if any difference.
Yes these speakers are revealing. Their strong point is also their weakest. Some recordings sounded a little edgy, on a couple of CDs there was sibilance but this had to be down to the recording since on better produced CDs there was none.
Despite the shortcomings of my EPOS ES30s, the ES30s are very musical, I hesistate to say may be more musical than the SCM40s. Its a hard one this, since the ATCs give me more of what I want - details, dyamics, slam etc but I think they just reveal more of whats on the CD which isn't always the "nicest" of sounds. On a well produced CD they are hands down winners, but on some poorly produced CDs it would be nice to swap them out for the ES30s...
I've got more time with these speakers, not sure when Trevor will either want them back or some money but I'm certainly tempted. Will listen over the next few days and see where my minds at over the weekend. Would have been nice to have compared the SCM40s with the PMC OB1is he had until recently. Oh well, one thing at a time.
:cheers:
On return found the speakers were now warmer and drier Unpacked and wired them up, no problem with the tri-wire configuration as the ES30s are the same. Running 2 lengths of Townshend ISOLDA cable both sides, one to the woofer, other to the mid with tails to the tweeter.
Turned on the Muse 300W mono blocks and dropped in a silver dics (I forget what). Well I was told not to be instantly amazed. Well perhaps "amazed" is over stating it, but the difference was clear. The sound was bigger, most noticably the bass was bigger, deeper and much more even. No more lumpy ported bass...this was the kind of sound I have been looking for, and the Cardea C30s just didn't produce. And this is before the amps and speaker were properly warmed up.
Did much more listening on Sunday and I am quite impressed. They sound much more even, smooth across the frequency range, quite transparent with much better transient response, and improved dynamic range. Loud passages are louder. And they do go loud without straining. I heard details I'd never heard before, presenting more in the mix. The sound was kind of effortless, I suppose like I would expect a studio monitor to be. Speaker positioning was much easier than with the ported ES30s, very forgiving. Placed a little out from the rear wall, toed in little...I tried a couple of positions from the rear wall and it made little if any difference.
Yes these speakers are revealing. Their strong point is also their weakest. Some recordings sounded a little edgy, on a couple of CDs there was sibilance but this had to be down to the recording since on better produced CDs there was none.
Despite the shortcomings of my EPOS ES30s, the ES30s are very musical, I hesistate to say may be more musical than the SCM40s. Its a hard one this, since the ATCs give me more of what I want - details, dyamics, slam etc but I think they just reveal more of whats on the CD which isn't always the "nicest" of sounds. On a well produced CD they are hands down winners, but on some poorly produced CDs it would be nice to swap them out for the ES30s...
I've got more time with these speakers, not sure when Trevor will either want them back or some money but I'm certainly tempted. Will listen over the next few days and see where my minds at over the weekend. Would have been nice to have compared the SCM40s with the PMC OB1is he had until recently. Oh well, one thing at a time.
:cheers: