The active speakers club

[matt49]

Have you considered Adam's range of 'home audio' active speakers? The 'Classic' range has very conventional styling and are available in either gloss or wood vaneers and have speaker grills.

Clicky

They don't seem to offer quite as good value for money as Adam's 'pro audio' range but they might be just what you're looking for.

Ah, hadn't trealized they made the nice wood finishes. Those look the ticket. Thanks.

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

Matt,

This might well be a not so helpful suggestion. I'm wondering myself about a move to actives: if ATC themsleves say they sound better, then who am I to argue? So I have on home dem a pair of Focal SM9's. How I didn't put my back out lifting them I don't know.

The bad news: they are ugly in a brutal kind of way. I don't mind ugly generally, but these go too far. But the sound they produce is well, hard to describe. I can't say sensational, as they just get out of the way, and let the music - all that's there - come through, as if you were in the place where it was recorded. I though they might be too forensic and not all that enjoyable: any flaws are certainly exposed, but good recordings sound well, like I say, like you're there in the same room.

All that would be needed would be some kind of home made fabric grilles and the looks problem is solved.

Hope this helps

phydeau

The Focals certainly do belong to the brutalist school of design. I was interested to see WHF reviewed these last year.

While I'm aware of the SQ benefits of some active models, my main reason for going active in the living room has to do with tidiness, not SQ. If I wanted the best SQ, I'd get some electrostatics. But that's probably not a discussion for this thread ...

Matt

 

[skippy]

Focal solo6 be.

Rosewood or black are the only finishes

 

[James7]

A bit left-field perhaps but the 'hybrid active' combination of Audiosmile Kensai and Advantage might be worth checking out, Matt.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

wrong about that one. Audiovectors use Opalum technology to "activate" their speakers which means there's no mains cable connected to the speakers. both digital signal driving DSP modules and DC current required to power up the amps flow on the same thin (18 AWG equivalent to 1mm cross section) cable. the only point of connecting the mains cable is within the controll hub, which in your case can be placed near your sonos and fed digital signal out of it. thanks to the fact that sonos and the hub are relatively small devices and can be put out of sight and the connecting wire can be easily hidden along the walls you could end up with as much "invisible" hi-fi system as legacy hi-fi system go, with the only outrightly visible objects being the speakers.

 

[Overdose]

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

wrong about that one. Audiovectors use Opalum technology to "activate" their speakers which means there's no mains cable connected to the speakers. both digital signal driving DSP modules and DC current required to power up the amps flow on the same thin (18 AWG equivalent to 1mm cross section) cable. the only point of connecting the mains cable is within the controll hub, which in your case can be placed near your sonos and fed digital signal out of it. thanks to the fact that sonos and the hub are relatively small devices and can be put out of sight and the connecting wire can be easily hidden along the walls you could end up with as much "invisible" hi-fi system as legacy hi-fi system go, with the only outrightly visible objects being the speakers.

...,but the speakers do have power cables?

 

[James7]

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

wrong about that one. Audiovectors use Opalum technology to "activate" their speakers which means there's no mains cable connected to the speakers. both digital signal driving DSP modules and DC current required to power up the amps flow on the same thin (18 AWG equivalent to 1mm cross section) cable. the only point of connecting the mains cable is within the controll hub, which in your case can be placed near your sonos and fed digital signal out of it. thanks to the fact that sonos and the hub are relatively small devices and can be put out of sight and the connecting wire can be easily hidden along the walls you could end up with as much "invisible" hi-fi system as legacy hi-fi system go, with the only outrightly visible objects being the speakers.

...,but the speakers do have power cables?

no, I don't think so

 

[matt49]

Audiovectors use Opalum technology ...

Actually, Oldric, I'm glad you reminded me of Opalum. They could be just the job. I know you were interested in them. Have you heard them yet? Mrs 49 would love them.

Matt

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Audiovector is going active!

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/audiovector-si3-signature-active-discreet/

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

Audiovectors use Opalum technology ...

Actually, Oldric, I'm glad you reminded me of Opalum. They could be just the job. I know you were interested in them. Have you heard them yet? Mrs 49 would love them.

Matt

that's correct, I'm interested in a set of Opalum flow.4810 speakers. but I haven't heard one yet. and telling frankly I don't think I'll have an opportunity to have a listen before I make a move to own one. fortunately Opalum offers 1 month trial period when buying through their web store, but I'm convinced I won't need to make use of that option. first I have to sell my existing CDP + amp + speakers set before I make the move but unfortunatelly I don't have a great deal of interest in them so far... dawn of legacy hi-fi upon us already? I'm not planning either to do any trips within forseeable future to anywhere where I could have a chance to listen to Opalum speakers so I guess I'll have to rely in my purchasing decission making on what knowledge I gathered from various press releases, reviews and direct phone conversations with the makers. but what I already learnt keeps me quite confident I won't be making a bad move here.

I wasn't trying to push the idea of Opalum speakers on to you in this thread because you were mentioning something about preference for traditionally looking speakers and capability to cover full range sound spectrum. in which cases Opalum falls short on both ground IMO but since you say they might be the ticket then be my guest! you won't be able to change the look of the speaker (which in my opinon is simply stunning) but since they are so thin and on-wall and look more like a modern sculpture than a traditional speaker they can be fitted in many a room decor IMO. as for the capability to cover full range spectrum. reviews say they do bass surprisingly well. but I'm quite certain they will strugle to fully convey the drama of a large scale orchestral works, which you like. fortunatelly the speaker system offers an easy option to integrate an active sub-woofer with xover point fixed @ 80Hz. which isn't all that bad solution at all IMO. any decent 12' sealed sub-woofer will easily offer much cleaner (i.e. low in distortion) and more convincing low end performance than any pair of 6.5' woofers supported by a bass port. the question is whether you might consider an essentially sat-sub system and if you could blend in a sub into your room decor? because that's the reality here. I thought I'd bring up this issue with you before you start to making arrangement with your missus 49 .

P.S. IMO in favour of Opalums may speak the fact that they may offer the closest experience to what you have with your ESLs outside of panel speakers! which should be a big selling point to you. and for me as well. as we all know it's hard to walk away from panels once you heard them Opalum speakers offer the best impulse response in any speakers I know, bar none! and that includes panels too. as you know, the performance of and audio replay system on transients is the most important part since music is nothing but a bunch of transients spread in time.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

wrong about that one. Audiovectors use Opalum technology to "activate" their speakers which means there's no mains cable connected to the speakers. both digital signal driving DSP modules and DC current required to power up the amps flow on the same thin (18 AWG equivalent to 1mm cross section) cable. the only point of connecting the mains cable is within the controll hub, which in your case can be placed near your sonos and fed digital signal out of it. thanks to the fact that sonos and the hub are relatively small devices and can be put out of sight and the connecting wire can be easily hidden along the walls you could end up with as much "invisible" hi-fi system as legacy hi-fi system go, with the only outrightly visible objects being the speakers.

...,but the speakers do have power cables?

no, they don't. I thought I made that feature quite clear in my previous reply to matt's post. or so I thought. oh well, gotta practice more my English skill I guess...

 

[matt49]

[...] you won't be able to change the look of the speaker (which in my opinon is simply stunning) but since they are so thin and on-wall and look more like a modern sculpture than a traditional speaker they can be fitted in many a room decor IMO. as for the capability to cover full range spectrum. reviews say they do bass surprisingly well. but I'm quite certain they will strugle to fully convey the drama of a large scale orchestral works, which you like. fortunatelly the speaker system offers an easy option to integrate an active sub-woofer with xover point fixed @ 80Hz. which isn't all that bad solution at all IMO. any decent 12' sealed sub-woofer will easily offer much cleaner (i.e. low in distortion) and more convincing low end performance than any pair of 6.5' woofers supported by a bass port. the question is whether you might consider an essentially sat-sub system and if you could blend in a sub into your room decor? because that's the reality here. I thought I'd bring up this issue with you before you start to making arrangement with your missus 49 .

P.S. IMO in favour of Opalums may speak the fact that they may offer the closest experience to what you have with your ESLs outside of panel speakers! which should be a big selling point to you. and for me as well. as we all know it's hard to walk away from panels once you heard them Opalum speakers offer the best impulse response in any speakers I know, bar none! and that includes panels too. as you know, the performance of and audio replay system on transients is the most important part since music is nothing but a bunch of transients spread in time.

Thanks for those helpful points.

Having something thin and modern-looking hanging on the wall is, to my mind, quite different from having a modern speaker standing in free space. Mrs49 will like the look of them.

The fact that they don't need to stand in free space might well make the inclusion of a sub justifiable spacewise.

Your point about comparison with 'statics is interesting. If you're right, they will suit me down to the ground.

Matt

 

[Overdose]

The more I think about it, though, the more the Audiovectors appeal. The wirless connection would be a great boon: just plug the wireless transmitter box into the Sonbos Connect and hide them away somewhere, then all you need are the speakers and their mains cables.

wrong about that one. Audiovectors use Opalum technology to "activate" their speakers which means there's no mains cable connected to the speakers. both digital signal driving DSP modules and DC current required to power up the amps flow on the same thin (18 AWG equivalent to 1mm cross section) cable. the only point of connecting the mains cable is within the controll hub, which in your case can be placed near your sonos and fed digital signal out of it. thanks to the fact that sonos and the hub are relatively small devices and can be put out of sight and the connecting wire can be easily hidden along the walls you could end up with as much "invisible" hi-fi system as legacy hi-fi system go, with the only outrightly visible objects being the speakers.

...,but the speakers do have power cables?

no, they don't. I thought I made that feature quite clear in my previous reply to matt's post. or so I thought. oh well, gotta practice more my English skill I guess...

According to the manufacturers quick start guide, "The cables transfer both signal and power". So apart from these power cables, it has no power cables.

So not quite wireless either then I suppose and cables still need to be hidden somehow, particularly on a conspicuous wall mount speaker.

Your written English is fine, it's just the reading that appears suspect.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

According to the manufacturers quick start guide, "The cables transfer both signal and power". So apart from these power cables, it has no power cables.

So not quite wireless either then I suppose and cables still need to be hidden somehow, particularly on a conspicuous wall mount speaker.

Your written English is fine, it's just the reading that appears suspect.

for the record - I never used adjective "wireless" with conjuction with Opalum technology. I may admit that the use of term "wireless" by Opalum may be slightly misleading if you don't study their blurp attentively. they refer to their speakers as "wireless" because you can transmit a musical signal into the speakers - or more precisely into the control hub - by a wireless means. the hub has a built in BT Apt-X receiver. now, if you compare that to marketing blurp of other manufacturers of "wirelss" speakers can you really say that the reading there is more suspicious than in case of others? if you rule out mono-batterypowered-mini-to-micro-BT-type-of-speakers out there (like UE Boom for instance) can you really find trully a "wireless" speaker? Dynaudio XEO and other such-like speakers (with wireless transmission of audio data into the speakers) will always need power cords connected to them. unless manufacturers figure out how to transmit power wirelessly too, but I don't see that happen within forseeable. other so-called "wireless" speakers, like Philips Fidelio E2, Dali Kubik Free Q Acoustics Q-BT3, Audio Pro Addon T8 to name a few, will not only need a power cord connected into the main speaker but also an interconnect running into the other one , in case of a stereo arrangement. I'm not trying to be any one's defender here but are Opalum speakers any less "wireless" than the ones just mentioned?

also worth mentioning is another speacial feature of Opalum's techonology. even though the speakers need a cable conneted from the controll hub this can be made "invisible" leaving impression of a truly wirelss speaker, like on the picture below:

the picture is from a real-life arrangement. not one of those marketing photo takes of some passive speakers where manufacturers "forget" to attach cables for a neater look. the trick here is the thin signal/power wire is routed within the wall. since the speakers receive only 24V DC (rather than 240V AC) which is considered low voltage you don't need any special allowances to run the wire inside a wall making the whole instalation really neat and seamingly "wireless". of course this will only work out if you are settled on the speaker placement. but if you are then such arrangement takes you as close to a wireless speaker nirvana as it gets, outside of battery powered ones, IMO.

 

[hear quality]

Sorry to tag into a long running thread but I'll be brief and then I'll not post back - just absorb the wisdom.

It says at the top "Have your say and ask the experts" so that is just what I plan to do.

All of my music is on a NAS in either FLAC or high quality (contradiction in terms I know) .mp3. NAS is networked via cat6 ethernet to a DAC.

My question is what active speakers? And before the torrent starts I just want something of good quality for listening. No interest in 'mixing'. Just listening.

My music tastes are very catholic from high opera through sixties/seventies rock/acid rock to trance (but I prefer to avoid RAP with a silent 'c' and hit with a silent 's')

Yes, I have a budget and it in the hudreds not thousands of pounds so let's be realistic. And, being a normal person not an audiophile, can we restrict the jargon, please?.

All I want is for my sixty five year old ears to hear is a reasonable reproduction of the music that I have recorded. I am really not so interested in being able to distinguish from my speakers the difference between a gnats fart in the left channel from a mosquito's fart in the right because, quite frankly, my ears are no longer that good.

So the focus needs to be on good qualit build and good quality sound reproduction that will sooth my aged ear drums. Room size, where these will be placed, is 36' x 21' with two doors opening out onto the terrace so that I can hear the music outside.

My thanks in advance for any and all contributions made. No further postings will be made by me.

Sorry, I hadn't recognised that it might be helpful to know the model DAC that I have. It is a Squeeze Box Touch so it does have a volume control.

Many thanks for the suggestions made. Two questions, if I may.

1) Any opinions on Teufel Ultima 40 MkII?

2) A three way floorstander that is in my budget range? (Yes, I know. I'm an optomist. But if one never asks the question one never gets to receive the answer.)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Reijer]

Hi everyone.

Have anybody any experience with Quested? Like the S8R http://www.quested.com/studio-monitoring-production/products-s8r.html

I've heard a set of Quested speakers in a studio a few times and they sound very good. Even considerd buying a set because it's much beter than B&W in the same price range but my wife..... Never mind.

The owner of the studio also builds home cinema's with Quested speakers. Should be awesome!

 

[Overdose]

Quested have an excellent reputation. Maybe your wife could be swayed with the aesthetics of Genelec though?

Most pro audio monitors are not particulary pretty, but are you listening to the music or admiring the finish of your kit?

 

[steve_1979]

Hi everyone.

Have anybody any experience with Quested? Like the S8R http://www.quested.com/studio-monitoring-production/products-s8r.html

I've heard a set of Quested speakers in a studio a few times and they sound very good. Even considerd buying a set because it's much beter than B&W in the same price range but my wife..... Never mind.

The owner of the studio also builds home cinema's with Quested speakers. Should be awesome!

Quested are fantastic! They make some of the best speakers that I've ever heard. Incredibly detailed and clear sounding while also being smooth and refined. The type of speaker that you can listen to all day without getting fatigued.

The 8" S8R sounds very good but it's the smaller 6.5" S7R (with the matching 10" subwoofer) that's the pick of the SR range IMO. The S8R has deeper bass but the S7R has a slightly better midrange.

 

[davedotco]

Hi everyone.

Have anybody any experience with Quested? Like the S8R http://www.quested.com/studio-monitoring-production/products-s8r.html

I've heard a set of Quested speakers in a studio a few times and they sound very good. Even considerd buying a set because it's much beter than B&W in the same price range but my wife..... Never mind.

The owner of the studio also builds home cinema's with Quested speakers. Should be awesome!

Quested are fantastic! They make some of the best speakers that I've ever heard. Incredibly detailed and clear sounding while also being smooth and refined. The type of speaker that you can listen to all day without getting fatigued.

The 8" S8R sounds very good but it's the smaller 6.5" S7R (with the matching 10" subwoofer) that's the pick of the SR range IMO. The S8R has deeper bass but the S7R has a slightly better midrange.

Agree.

I have some experience of the S7R and it is very good indeed. Bass is sensible, enough for my needs but if you need greater extension use the sub.

Styling is pretty prosaic, though the product is well made and nicely finished. XLR only in, which could be a bother for some.

The WAF is easily sorted, a nice pair of Manolo's should do the job.......

 

[ID.]

Website still dodgy. Couldn't search for this thread from within the site and google search kept taking me to another thread.

Anyway, another impulse purchase. I have moved my little Fostex PM04.n into the living room and they are sounding fine being fed from the cheap little Fiio DAC, and I now have a pair of Adam A7X looming menacingly over the desk in my little study. Complete overkill for the room, but sounding mighty fine. Using my NuForce Icon HDP as a preamp.

Sounding anything but cold and clinical. Quite lush and musical so far with a big enough mid/bass driver for the music to have a visceral impact. Iguess that these will eventually migrate into the living room, but with toddlers about they can exercise their temptation on the much cheaper Fostex speakers where I won't get so upset about poked in tweeters and crayons in bass ports.

 

[unsleepable]

Has anyone had the chance to listen to the new Focal Alpha 50 and 80? I've just noticed that they are already available for purchase.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

To those who follow this thread -

with the recent site re design and lack of improvement since, I find myself not visiting the site any more.

I hope somebody with interest in actives could look after this thread and keep it going.

 

[DocG]

To those who follow this thread -

with the recent site re design and lack of improvement since, I find myself not visiting the site any more.

I hope somebody with interest in actives could look after this thread and keep it going.

that's such a sad thing to read! I mean: we're at post #747 here and basically the thread is still on topic!

i do understand your frustration though... (I read and type on my iPad -- need I say more?) I had left for a while too, but start to pop in every once in a while again.

I really hope to see you back here later on... It's your baby, after all...

PS: if we'd nominate your thread for the reader's award, could that help? *cray2*

 

[WishTree]

To those who follow this thread -

with the recent site re design and lack of improvement since, I find myself not visiting the site any more.

I hope somebody with interest in actives could look after this thread and keep it going.

This has been my favourite thread since I moved to actives. And I am in the same boat as you with respect to the forum. I am coming here after a long time but the things have not changed much with respect to the 'improved design' which is not at all convenient / easy like the old forum. It looks like my frequency of visit is going to reduce even further if this thread is not maintained. Well, let us say, atleast we had a good run! Cheers!!

 

[steve_1979]

The active speakers club will have a new member on Tuesday.

 

[Ajani]

The active speakers club will have a new member on Tuesday.

Congrats!

I'm looking forward to your review of the DM5. I've been rather dissapointed that all the talk about the DM10 (or whatever it will eventually be called when it finally becomes a real product) has taken attention away from the DM5.

I especially want to hear your thoughts on how it sounds without a sub.