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Two Tower initial impressions [message #48214]

Thu, 17 November 2005 09:58

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Well, even though I won't be veneering the cabinets till spring probably (due to kids and Xmas, etc....)I'm impressed with the sound of my 2 Towers. They are sub-optimally placed in the corners of the room, toed in about 2 inches, 5 inches from the back wall, 10 inches from the sides that have full length curtains on them, about 10 feet apart, with the listening position around 12 feet out against the far wall. Initially they produced almost zero bass unless driven pretty hard. Now that I've got a little time on them the bass has come out more, but still seemed "thin". Then I started really paying attention to the CD's I was playing. Some had great bass, some none. Played them on my vintage Kenwood/Polk system and didn't notice it as much. I think the higher sensitivity of the Pi's is revealing that some of these recordings that I thought were good in actuality are not! That and the new NAD amp/cdp I got are much more neutral in processing the music. When you put the power to them they really stand out and shine. Also, the soundstage is very, very good. My wife walked in the other day and said "hey, the singer is right in the middle and the drums are right behind him with the guitar player right there and the bass right over there--that's so cool!" She is a complete audio non-afficianodo with a tin plated ear, which is saying something when she can pick out details. All in all I would definitely recommend the Towers for anyone who wants to give a try at building a first set of speakers.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48216 is a reply to message #48214]

Thu, 17 November 2005 10:32

Matts
Messages: 359
Registered: May 2009

Grand Master

sounds like you did a good job on the speakers! My guess is that your take on the wife's ear is 180 off...most women have better ears, but just think they must not "get it" and are polite when the lower-quality stuff doesn't sound good to them. From what you say, though, sounds like she has excellent ears.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48218 is a reply to message #48216]

Thu, 17 November 2005 11:09

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Yeah, she's got good ears, she just doesn't care usually as long as the music is playing in some fashion. Although I caught her in the room listening the other day when I came home from work! She didn't realize that a hi end end system could sound different till I took her to the local hi-fi shop a couple of months ago. We listened to the new B&W $12k speakers through a top of the line Classe system. That pretty much changed her attitude when compared to the old vintage system I had. Her comment was that she could "almost" get rid of the TV if we had something that sounded like that. We'll the Towers don't match the kind of sound we heard that day, but they are are very, very good for what $$ I have in them. As good and better than some of the several $K speakers I've heard. And of course my front end isn't top quality either as that can make a huge difference. All in all, though, I am very pleased and have no desire to "upgrade" at this time---well, I might need to make some Thermionic 8's just to be covered!

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48220 is a reply to message #48214]

Thu, 17 November 2005 11:13

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18789
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Glad you have them running, Shane. Just out of curiosity, have you checked the phasing of the woofers? Put the speakers face to face and listen to the bass when both speakers are playing and then fade hard left or hard right so only one speaker is playing. Does the bass level go up when both speakers are playing or does it sound like it goes down?

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48222 is a reply to message #48214]

Thu, 17 November 2005 12:06

GarMan
Messages: 960
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (2nd Degree)

Shane,

It's very strange that you're finding the bass thin on the Towers. When I built mine, the first thing I noticed was the incredible dynamics. The second thing was the bass. In some recordings, it was enough to buzz the windows in the room. Definately check the phasing as Wayne suggested. Mine were always able to fill the room up with bass.

And yeah, revealing speakers and poor recordings are frustrating. At least you got a set of good component to drive the speakers. BTW, have you soldered the CDP and amp together like I suggested to hear how it can sound without IC's

gar.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48223 is a reply to message #48220]

Thu, 17 November 2005 12:21

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Just tried that while I'm home for lunch. Bass definitely goes up. It's not as if there isn't any bass at all and I definitely notice a difference with different recordings, but you don't really "shake anything" unless you have the volume up fairly good. I noticed the difference in bass on recordings when I listened to Wayne's pair. Norah Jones on his had great bass, but my Pantera seemed to have very little unless you were really driving them. I've noticed the exact same thing with mine. The dynamics are good, and it may be that the high freq. are a little much, too, causing me to not pay attention. I've had to attenuate them some with the NAD's controls. The good thing about the NAD is that it just affects the higher frequencies and not the uppper mids at all. Takes a little of the "bite" off. If I were to guess it would be that I'm used to driving my little Polk 5b's in a large room and having to compensate by boosting the bass on them which can sometimes make it a little boomy. The bass on the Towers is definitely taught and defined, not boomy at all. And it could just be synergy between the amp and the Pi's at lower levels.
Please don't think that I'm complaining, they're great!

I guess I could blame it on that Royal Cable someone sent me.LOL! On that note I might just need to hurry up and get those IC's built.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48224 is a reply to message #48223]

Thu, 17 November 2005 12:28

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Also, there could be several other factors. The fact that I have a double front baffle where the front piece is 2" narrower on each side making a double step off of each side is probably not helping any matters. I can't remedy that till I veneer the front as oak strips are filling that edge space. And the fact that they are in corners where the side wall is long, but the back wall is only about a foot wider than the speaker cab then followed by an open doorway (this is on each side) then a wall in between the openings where the stereo sits can't help either. Unfortunately that will not change as I'm not putting my good system in the living room, it'll have to stay in the bedroom.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48225 is a reply to message #48218]

Thu, 17 November 2005 13:36

Matts
Messages: 359
Registered: May 2009

Grand Master

Women tend to like good SET a lot- find a good 300B, 2A3, or 45 amp for her to hear and you may not be able to hold her back. The 2 Pis sound great, and there's no better cost/benefit ratio around.

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Re: Two Tower initial impressions [message #48226 is a reply to message #48225]

Thu, 17 November 2005 13:46

Shane
Messages: 1117
Registered: May 2009

Illuminati (3rd Degree)

Um, don't get me started on the whole tube amp thing. Let's just say that the NAD amp was to replace a UPS "mistake". I don't like the idea of shipping a 50lb amp that's in a 14x14" box anymore. Too easy to drop. On the other hand I've been collecting vaccuum tubes for the last 4 months and have enough to try out about a dozen different low cost SETs and PP's. Not 300B, 2A3, or 45's but some others non the less. I've got a set of old GE EL34's that I'd love to make a SE amp from. Just need to invest in the iron now.

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