Modulari Duo Loudspeakers

crytklmass · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 12:15 PM

Sorry Krell... Krell makes excellent amp or used to back in the day. I heard the new Modulari Duo Loudspeakers at Krell's presentation. I must say they had excellent bass but just didn't do it for me. At $65,000.00 a pair I think the Wilson Sasha's or B&W's in the $20,000's is a much wiser purchase. Just my ears though. Krell has a unique speaker for a unique buyer. When we asked to play something different, Krell stated they only play sanctioned music to demonstrate there speakers strong points, but he would play a home cd. After all, that's what we all listen too. I guess in my opinion Krell should stick with amps. Some manufactures are great amp builders while other make great loudspeakers and others subwoofers. Why do they keep tying to build equipment that was never there main focus....I know, I know, more money.

The amps were $30,000 ea for 600w. hmmmm pair of speakers and 2 amps = approx. $130,000 w tax. Too rich for my pocket book.
IMO, the amps didn't have the krell monster look, they looked a bit cheap. Guess that could be the material and im used to the old krell look and Mcintosh amps. The 2301's in the other roomed looked like tanks on roid's compared the krells plain look. But, some people like that look my friend doesn't care for meters. so many choices, so little money.

crytklmass · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 12:30 PM

After reading my post I must add a statement. The bass response from these speakers is the deepest, hardest I have heard to date. period....When they hit, it scared the crap out of me. No sub required here. If the mid's and high's were as strong as the bass these would be the best speakers made. Maybe too accurate for some listeners. You would never believe the bass response without personally hearing them. As far as the aluminum appearance, well each will decide for themselves. I wish my B&W's had bass like the Krell Modulari's

PHC1 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crytklmass

I wish my B&W's had bass like the Krell Modulari's

Well, they may if you drive them with a Krell....

Bass and slam has always been the signature of Krell amps. I do agree that Krell house sound can be a bit relentless and fatiguing but much has to do with synergy of what speakers and rest of the gear they are paired with.

I don't look at amps and speakers separately any more. Having heard many various configurations one can jump to conclusions and be proven wrong when hearing them in a different pairing.

Much like building a great race car, I'd have to say the speakers/amps are like the chassis/engine combination around which the body can be later designed with priorities and goals in mind.

Getting back to Krell. It has been some of the worst pairings and some of the best as well from my experience. Two of my friends have owned and still own Krell and don't like much of anything else. One is an older system with the KSA200s and the other is the newer EVO. They took their time and through trial and error have created two great sounding systems.

The new EVO series Krell of amps mates pretty nicely with the Sonus Faber speakers as one example, ProAc is another possibility and is what my friend has, the Peak Consult speakers also sounded pretty good with the top of the line and pretty expensive EVO 1 Krell as my other friend has.

I don't care for the Wilson/all Krell combination at all. It is shockingly dynamic and does "scare the crap out of people" with the punchy dynamic transients when one combines the EVO 900 amps with the Wilson Alexandria X2.

It is however less than a truly musical system with the rest of components by Krell but can be tamed with supporting gear that is more forgiving and less analytical. The amps themselves are rather linear as the Wilson speakers are and need a source and preamp that would balance out the rest of the gear somewhat. It all depends on how one assembles the system but the speaker/amp combo is crucial in my opinion.

Still-One · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crytklmass

After reading my post I must add a statement. The bass response from these speakers is the deepest, hardest I have heard to date. period....When they hit, it scared the crap out of me. No sub required here. If the mid's and high's were as strong as the bass these would be the best speakers made. Maybe too accurate for some listeners. You would never believe the bass response without personally hearing them. As far as the aluminum appearance, well each will decide for themselves. I wish my B&W's had bass like the Krell Modulari's

Have to say I disagree with you here. The Sasha's did not come close to the accuracy of vocals on the Krell MD's. You are correct regarding bass, I have never heard any speaker present bass like the MD's. Now as Serge points out System Synergy is critical and Wilson's playing thru the 2301's may not be ideal but I have heard those Sasha's with the Krell amps and they were better but nowhere close to the all Krell system.

I am not sure what you mean about them playing only certain recordings. He would play any CD that anyone presented. They demo'd many types including Acapella, Organ, Classical, Rock and Jazz. What were they missing?

PHC1 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stillone

The Sasha's did not come close to the accuracy of vocals on the Krell MD's. Now as Serge points out System Synergy is critical and Wilson's playing thru the 2301's may not be ideal but I have heard those Sasha's with the Krell amps and they were better but nowhere close to the all Krell system.

Jim, I'd believe Dan Wilson knows a thing or two about speakers and has spent more effort and time on designing them as compared to Dan D'Agostino who lives and breathes amps/preamps and digital.

Speaking to both, Dave is a big music fan and loves talking about music while Dan... well let's say he can talk amps.....

The Sasha uses the Maxx 3 midrange driver. The Maxx 3 has already been reviewed very favorably. Once the Sasha starts hitting the reviewers rooms, I am sure the praise will be well deserved. I have not once heard even a hint of negative qualities from the Sasha midrange. It is not only accurate but is simply an amazing, natural sounding unit.

About the Maxx 3 midrange “It is more lively and animated, more detailed, textured and expressive ...while never giving the impression that the frequency response, for instance, has been contoured or goosed. This wasn’t a matter of output as much as input -- the ability to convey important musical information from recordings, once again differentiating them from each other.”

PHC1 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 09:01 PM

Oh yeah, Mikey Fremer also really liked the Maxx 3 midrange.

What Wilson has achieved in the 3's midrange far exceeded my every hope and expectation. The new midrange drivers, probably in conjunction with the Aspherical Group Delay alignment, produced enormous, perhaps groundbreaking improvements in all of those areas. All of the MAXX 2's midrange opacity and congestion was dissolved, leaving expansive, transparent vistas with depth, and reverberant detail. Instrumental textures and harmonic resolution were considerably better, and were combined with the same subtlety of attack I heard in the 3's bottom octaves.

Still-One · #7 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHC1

Jim, I'd believe Dan Wilson knows a thing or two about speakers and has spent more effort and time on designing them as compared to Dan D'Agostino who lives and breathes amps/preamps and digital.

Speaking to both, Dave is a big music fan and loves talking about music while Dan... well let's say he can talk amps.....

The Sasha uses the Maxx 3 midrange driver. The Maxx 3 has already been reviewed very favorably. Once the Sasha starts hitting the reviewers rooms, I am sure the praise will be well deserved. I have not once heard even a hint of negative qualities from the Sasha midrange. It is not only accurate but is simply an amazing, natural sounding unit.

About the Maxx 3 midrange “It is more lively and animated, more detailed, textured and expressive ...while never giving the impression that the frequency response, for instance, has been contoured or goosed. This wasn’t a matter of output as much as input -- the ability to convey important musical information from recordings, once again differentiating them from each other.”

Serge
As I have previously noted after first hearing the Sasha's, the midrange is much improved over the WP 7's & 8's. That does not mean that other companies cannot have mid's that sound better to me. Your position that because Dave Wilson has been making speakers longer than others makes his speakers better holds no water. There are quite a few of the newer speaker manufacturers than readily compete in the same sand box as Wilson.

The Sasha is a wonderful speaker that I could easily live with. If I had to purchase a speaker in the low to mid $20K's it might be my first choice. That said, if I decide to replace my MBL's at some point they would not be in the running.

Still-One · #8 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PHC1

Oh yeah, Mikey Fremer also really liked the Maxx 3 midrange.

What Wilson has achieved in the 3's midrange far exceeded my every hope and expectation. The new midrange drivers, probably in conjunction with the Aspherical Group Delay alignment, produced enormous, perhaps groundbreaking improvements in all of those areas. All of the MAXX 2's midrange opacity and congestion was dissolved, leaving expansive, transparent vistas with depth, and reverberant detail. Instrumental textures and harmonic resolution were considerably better, and were combined with the same subtlety of attack I heard in the 3's bottom octaves.

Yeah, Mikey also likes the limited dynamic range of vinyl too!!

PHC1 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stillone

Serge
As I have previously noted after first hearing the Sasha's, the midrange is much improved over the WP 7's & 8's. That does not mean that other companies cannot have mid's that sound better to me. Your position that because Dave Wilson has been making speakers longer than others makes his speakers better holds no water. There are quite a few of the newer speaker manufacturers than readily compete in the same sand box as Wilson.

The Sasha is a wonderful speaker that I could easily live with. If I had to purchase a speaker in the low to mid $20K's it might be my first choice. That said, if I decide to replace my MBL's at some point they would not be in the running.

I am not implying the Wilson speaker line is the "be all, end all" speaker company but it sure is up there with the very best. Many speakers do many things right and Dave Wilson makes sure his speakers do just as much if not more.

I doubt that Krell even designs their own speakers but I could be wrong. I am not really sure what type of speaker really turns you on as the MBL speaker is different from most for sure.

Of course you can find a speaker that "sounds" better to your Jim. That doesn't mean that the Sasha is not accurate.

PHC1 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stillone

Yeah, Mikey also likes the limited dynamic range of vinyl too!!

As skewed as his perspective is, the man sure does get to listen to and live with many speakers.

Of course I've also heard vinyl rigs and recordings that can give CDs a run for the money even though the media is flawed by comparison.

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