Partington Super Dreadnaught v Soundsyle Z2

[crusaderlord]

I know the easy answer is to try and get a demo but to gather opions from people who have upgraded or tried both is useful.

I have Neat Motive 3 on Soundstlye Z2 (they were made as unfillable ones). I have enough budget to get the Partington Super Dreadnaught but am not totally convinced it will improve things much. I have no complaints on the Soundstyle but fancied an upgrade if its worthwhile.

I wondered if anyone had any experience on whether it was worth the outlay.

 

[crusaderlord]

Had another thought on this - whilst the Soundstyles are not designed to be fillable (at least its not advertised as such) i think they probably could be with some tweaking.

I may try this first and wondered if anyone else had done this.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried both, the Dreads' p*ssed all over the Z2s

 

[Anonymous]

Heavy, filled stands will destroy unfilled Z2s. The trick is finding the right amount of loading to suit the sound. Sometimes too much mass can rob a little of the life from speakers yet transform the bass. I'm on half filled stands at the moment, the right balance for me.

 

[crusaderlord]

It has taken me a while to get them but my new Partington Super Dreadnaughts are definately an improvement over the Soundstyle. I remained unconvinced even as i unpacked them as they were not quite as weighty as i thought they would be but it was a noticeable better low bassline (although still perfectly good before).

I have added about 3/4 filled with sand in the central space only and its working amazingly well (although im not sure filling made too much difference yet). Anyway I now think the whole sound range is better than my old stands including the treble and mid range.

Trouble now is i honestly dont really think ive anything i can justify to myself left to tweak. However I may still get a squeezebox classic though if spotify is added as an option.

 

[lordmortlock]

crusaderlord:

Trouble now is i honestly dont really think ive anything i can justify to myself left to tweak. However I may still get a squeezebox classic though if spotify is added as an option.

I'm not sure how I'd feel if I thought my system was completely sorted. Good and bad news at the same time!

Maybe start a second set up in another room...?

 

[method man]

got my dreadnoughts yesterday. face to face meeting with an ebayer. like you i was expecting (from reviews, and the odd tiny official pic) something ugly, industrial and huge and heavy.

Mine have sand in allready but are easy enough to move about. I got the matt silver/grey and they just dissapear against our light walls and medium oak furniture. even the wife though they looked ok. she said something about putting plant pots on them. LOL

 

[crusaderlord]

lordmortlock:crusaderlord:

Trouble now is i honestly dont really think ive anything i can justify to myself left to tweak.

I'm not sure how I'd feel if I thought my system was completely sorted. Good and bad news at the same time!

Maybe start a second set up in another room...?

yes the main hi-fi project is pretty much complete for now so there is some sadness.

but i could admit that i am still working on my cellar / office space which is small 2.5m x 3m i think. Here is my leftover equipment - the soundstyle stands with some quad-lite speakers, a NAD C320 BEE amp with a Little Dot headphone amp acting as a pre-amp and the PC as the source. Sounds ok for what it is but i am going to change the speakers via some ebay dealing so its not all over yet.

 

[lordmortlock]

crusaderlord:but i am going to change the speakers via some ebay dealing so its not all over yet.

Good man!

 

[crusaderlord]

i am quite surprised - extensive listening is showing the partingtons to be quite a big improvement to the system which is very pleasing

great product i think and i am glad i took the plunge

 

[chebby]

crusaderlord:yes the main hi-fi project is pretty much complete for now so there is some sadness.

Judging by so many others in this forum, your quest will not be complete until you give in and get a pair of ADM9.1's and throw all your seperates out

I'll get me coat.

 

[floyd droid]

 

[crusaderlord]

sorry chebby but this wont happen in my house - i love to have separates as there is something about them that ticks my boxes asthetically and more importantly soundwise

whilst i am sure they are great for some people - its not for me

 

[chebby]

crusaderlord:sorry chebby but this wont happen in my house - i love to have separates as there is something about them that ticks my boxes asthetically and more importantly soundwise

whilst i am sure they are great for some people - its not for me

Just funnin' ya.

I agree totally. Just an observation on the way a significant number of members have gone and more are soon headed it seems.

 

[JoelSim]

crusaderlord, do yourself a favour and stick a Nordost mains on your CDP. That should be your next upgrade.

You should also be looking at a power amp and biamping.

Trust me on this one. Or two.

ÿ

ÿ

 

[crusaderlord]

interestingly i have tried an upgrade mains cable on the cd player and for some reason whilst it opening everything up expanding the top end and vocals it also lost some punch on the bass and lower range. after some trials i decided i preferred the sound without the upgrade cable and returned the new mains cable for cd player.

On the other hand i did keep the mains upgrade on the amplifier which has been a massive success.

it just shows that upgrade options dont always fit all systems and that you do need to try things and find the optimum set up for your own room size.

the power amp is a potential and i see the arguements for it - but what i have seems to lack nothing now and the p35 would be a bigger outlay which i am doubting would reap big rewards in my listening space. that said it is still in my mind if the right deal appears. i have finally reached the point where i am reluctant to tweak much more for fear of spoiling what i have developed.

 

[JoelSim]

Which cable did you try? Mine was much more apparant on my CDP than on my amps, although the latter were good too. I upgraded from a Merlin Black Widow to the Nordost Shiva and it made a substantial difference. Nice.

ÿ

ÿ

 

[crusaderlord]

The main cable was a Clearer Audio Copperline.

Please note there was a distinct change of soundscale when using it - its just that i didnt find it a better change on the CD player. I did however love the change to the amplifier.

I think perhaps that the use of mains cables on both separates was just too much for the room and the soundstage lost focus and i could no longer follow where all the instruments were.

 

[JoelSim]

Interesting. My Nordost really improved the instrument separation and depth.

 

[crusaderlord]

it could simply be a size of listening area issue.

the speakers are about 2m apart and the chair i listen from is about 2.5m (the room i larger but this is the music area where i can listen)

so if you enlarge the soundstage too much the instruments from a nearish listening position are harder to follow - i found that i need to keep the soundstage fairly focused and not expand it as far as it will go.

what the amplifier mains upgrade did was increase the clarity of the sound and brings things into focus more - giving more bass punch too. But when i added the cd one everything expanded too far and the focus was lost a bit. maybe this is just my ear preference as well going on here.

However all the various tweaks - isolation platforms, speaker stands, speaker cable and Mains cable and condition have really lifted things to an outstanding level. I think you just have to know when you have optimised things in your space.