passive set up v active set up

[PITW]

Well maybe not the light but as a AVI customer and owner of ADM 9's with the ADM sub and then DM5's I feel qualified to make a comment here. Some may listen, some may snipe, and some may even garnish more evidence that points towards making an informed choice.

I've been happy with both the 9's and the 5's. They are excellent and I've never looked back and never been even slightly concerned that I'd made a bad purchase. I did once spend £100 on speaker cable and I have to say that was a bad decision. But the AVI's, no way... I could spew out a load of audio gumpf on how they sound but I'll try and keep it BS free and just say they are detailed, powerful, give an excellent stereo image and sound superb! Really pleased with them and never looked back.

The best advice I can give to anyone who is listenng and interested is to simply go have a listen to them. You will find many friendly folk on the AVI forum who will welcome you into their home and let you have a demo.

The AVI's are an excellent product, offer fantastic VFM and I can recomend them as a 5 star product.

 

[jcbrum]

Two banned members ?

Hi Norm, if you meant me, I'm not banned.

What's happened to good ol' Al Lemon, is he banned ? I miss him.

I'll crack another tinny open till he gets here.

JC

 

[spiny norman]

is not the first time when you try to be funny and your not.. watch some stand ups, live some life, learn few things, accept that comedians are first friendly and then funny and above all justy simply shut up and stop leaving your infantile comments under my posts since you know I'm an Avi user.. I've said that before to you and I say this again: if you have issues look for professional help.. this message got nothing to do with who owns/ use what and is simply and not only my reaction to twats on this forum.

Ah, the old 'you need help' line. Is that really the best you can do, o arbiter of humor? Or are you just following the master again? Oh yes, so you are: apparently I'm 'verging on ill' and am a 'girl'.

And stop calling me 'justy'; it's Justin to you.

 

[JamesMellor]

"Im not selling my atcs"

Damn and double damn , I looked long and hard at your r700's before admiting they where far too , far too far too big and not part of my futue plans.

James

 

[JamesMellor]

Hi Ipv,

So a normal room in a normal house with normal kids , like most of us , a true real world enivorment. This is how life is.

I believe bad postioning on the wrong stands can turn gold to dross,

 

[chebby]

Hi Ipv,

So a normal room in a normal house with normal kids , like most of us , a true real world enivorment. This is how life is.

I believe bad postioning on the wrong stands can turn gold to dross,

I know the mention of Alan Shaw (of Harbeth) is going to be like throwing petrol on a fire in an AVI thread, but he seems to concur with/echo Ashley's sentiments on stands. (He even claimed to have used IKEA plant stands with no ill effect.)

So long as they get the speaker into the right position and don't wobble.

Sometimes wish i'd followed his advice and saved £150

 

[spiny norman]

I know the mention of Alan Shaw (of Harbeth) is going to be like throwing petrol on a fire in an AVI thread, but he seems to concur with/echo Ashley's sentiments on stands. (He even claimed to have used IKEA plant stands with no ill effect.)

So long as they get the speaker into the right position and don't wobble.

Sometimes wish i'd followed his advice and saved £150

I guess taking expensive stands out of the equation leaves more money to spend on the speakers: isn't the 'don't spend much on anything except the speakers' mantra something of a Harbeth hallmark?

Mind you, you don't see speaker companies who sell their own stands suggesting they're an irrelevance.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Darius and i should do the test again at my house this time in a few weeks.

If we can arrange another forum member also to verify the findings will be good.

Any up for this?

 

[lpv]

ayup.. I just sprayed back garden with cat repellent cause neighbours cats sh!t all over the garden.. and now some hedgehog, damn! went on reptile forums they say hedgehogs are nocturnal and they recommend this

anybody used one? is this works for you?

 

[lpv]

Darius and i should do the test again at my house this time in a few weeks.

If we can arrange another forum member also to verify the findings will be good.

Any up for this?

let's do it Andrew.. anyone? justy, are you in?

 

[lpv]

justy, if you're in we can do night time demo.. me and Andrew we both work nights so we're easy

 

[Ashley James]

I know the mention of Alan Shaw (of Harbeth) is going to be like throwing petrol on a fire in an AVI thread, but he seems to concur with/echo Ashley's sentiments on stands. (He even claimed to have used IKEA plant stands with no ill effect.)

So long as they get the speaker into the right position and don't wobble.

Sometimes wish i'd followed his advice and saved £150

I guess taking expensive stands out of the equation leaves more money to spend on the speakers: isn't the 'don't spend much on anything except the speakers' mantra something of a Harbeth hallmark?

Mind you, you don't see speaker companies who sell their own stands suggesting they're an irrelevance.

i think Alan Shaw is a decent and honest man and that he talks a lot of sense, just as we try to do.

We advise customers to buy whatever looks good and is acceptable to their wives, but I doubt more than 10-20% use stands at all. Most people have kids, cats or dogs and stands aren't safe, so wall, bracket or shelf mounting is the only option for them.

 

[JamesMellor]

But the two speakers where in two different postions , maybe a further foot to 18 inches apart , do you not think this matters ? I know the cost of the two systems is wildy different but I dont think the atc/hegel was set up to "win"

James

 

[JamesMellor]

to be fair dosn't he also say amp's dont matter ?

James

 

[Ashley James]

to be fair dosn't he also say amp's dont matter ?

James

He's right too now. You can buy a Yamaha integrated amp for about £230 that is as good as anything as long as it's happy with the load. No sense spending more.

I have HD800 Sennheisers and drive them with an iPhone 6 and a Superlux HA3D for £70 from Thoman. All as good as it gets.

 

[Ashley James]

But the two speakers where in two different postions , maybe a further foot to 18 inches apart , do you not think this matters ? I know the cost of the two systems is wildy different but I dont think the atc/hegel was set up to "win"

James

Of course not! Difference is big and easy to hear by anyone.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

The real Ashley James?

 

[lpv]

But the two speakers where in two different postions , maybe a further foot to 18 inches apart , do you not think this matters ? I know the cost of the two systems is wildy different but I dont think the atc/hegel was set up to "win"

James

James, it was already in this thread but to remind you I owned 3 different Atc set ups ( actives including) with quality £3000 amps in same room, all properly set up and my impressions were the same as Andrew's from few days ago.

 

[JamesMellor]

Speaker postioning dosn't matter ?

James

 

[lindsayt]

Various company representatives and shop assistants appear on here quite regularly and I'd have thought they'd could have been helpful. You can always ignore sales pitches.

My reason for appearing was quite simply that there are many very nice, sensible people on here, some of whom want to know about our DMs, but are prevented from the discovering the facts, the real ones, by a small group who dominate opinion and can be, to be honest, extremeLy unpleasant.

I answered the points raised and someone else explained other aspects that aroused curiosity. All I can hope now is that if you are interested you'll join the AVI forum, which is very friendly and fight free or contact me direct and I'll happily advise.

thank you very much for your indulgence

Ash

They're a bit thick over there and not understanding...

The "over there" being the What Hi-fi forum.

True and I appreciate that LindsayT is the slowest and most opinionated,

Cool-Aid customers in a haze of ignorance and misinformation.

It would help if they read what's written more carefully especially the aforementioned.

Source: http://hddaudio.net/bb/viewtopic.php?id=8510

Okay I apologise. What I should have said is that Lindsayt is as think as a plank. He doesn't read what was written accurately and so fails to understand the mechanisms. In true Dunning Kruger fashion he then disproportiately overestimates his prowess.

in twenty seconds of listening mostly people hear the difference without all the fuss. roll

He's probably not heard anything any good, and twenty seconds is quite a long attention span for some.

Source: http://hddaudio.net/bb/viewtopic.php?id=8510

I think that Ashley James and JCBrum owe me a very big apology for the unfriendly, rude, personal insults they made towards me on the AVI forum.

 

[JamesMellor]

You have more experiance than me, it just didn't look right thats all.

Maybe one of these days I need to walk into fiveways and see for myself.

James

 

[Ashley James]

Speaker postioning dosn't matter ?

James

they need to be high enough to avoid floor reflections, away from corners or side walls if possible and you need to be mindful of the bass cancellation caused by rear wall reflection being out of phase with first arrival.

 

[Andrewjvt]

You have more experiance than me, it just didn't look right thats all.

Maybe one of these days I need to walk into fiveways and see for myself.

James

 

Close to.birmingham then why dont you join us on the next test. To prove the position and stands did not influence we going to do it at my house with my system taking center stage. I promise same result though.

Your welcome to come

 

[davedotco]

But the two speakers where in two different postions , maybe a further foot to 18 inches apart , do you not think this matters ? I know the cost of the two systems is wildy different but I dont think the atc/hegel was set up to "win"

James

If you were trying, for example, to show the difference between two passive setups you might have a point. Sometimes when products are quite similar and of the same type you need to be precise in your setup, both of the system and the comparison method.

But on some occasions, the difference is so fundamental that it really does not matter, in this case the way the music is presented by a good active speaker, in this case the AVI, is so different that the details simply become irrelevant.

If you have never heard the comparison, it is actually rather difficult to describe, though the important thing to realise is that they do not sound like the passive speaker only better, what you hear is something totally different.

If this works for you then it becomes really hard to go back to the passive option, but you have to try it to know, and as we know, that is not that easy.

 

[JamesMellor]

I'm just thinking that if I was trying to sell you those ATC's , thats not how I'd have set them up.

James