Speaker select now to two choices - Harbeth HL5 and Vienna Accoustics Beethoven Grand

[JohnK]

Congrats Olskool! Sounds like your demo pair is broken in - hope it doesn't take too long for the new pair to open up!

[Olskool]

Well guys the new Vienna's and Red Dawn Nordost cables deliver tomorrow; any break-in wisdom to share? I'm really stoked about finally getting them. They are an easy speaker to like the performance of and they integrate very nicely with the VS-115 / LS27 combo. They seem to pair nicely with my Project 6 PerspeX turntable / Sumiko Blackbird cartridge combo for great vinyl performance too (particularly when spinning jazz). I believe the Vienna Concert Grand speakers round out to a nicely matched system at this price point and performance level. Excellent resolution, accurate detail, solid imaging, and bass extension has caused me to begin a journey going back through my long standing, well played collection and marveling at all the new music I never heard previously. The soundstage is wide, airy and deep although my room has lots of disorganized reflections that should get better tamed when room treatments arrive in about 3 weeks.

My dealer left me his demo units this past two weeks while my order was en-route, I hope he does not mind all the slobber and drool from me loving on the speakers when he gets them back... ; - ) I really need to add here that my dealer has been superb to deal with and provided great support and guidance leading up to the buildup of my system to this point - fair pricing, knowledgeable, responsive, and patient. Anyone needing a reference for a local dealer here in Dallas can certainly pm me for more input about them.

I realized recently that to this point I had achieved the sound I had been looking for all along in a high end stereo system. The heart of the system based in ARC provided a warm, lush sound with a wide spectrum musical reproduction range. From speakers I wanted to hear particularly solid bass and excellent overall tube produced acoustics that don't require 1000 watts of amp played at mid and higher volume levels to enjoy fully. I'm a happy camper overall! I'll report back in and send pictures at my next opportunity. Take care.

Olskool

[thesaint519]

Congrats & happy listening.

[Ritmo]

Did you get delivery?

Mike

[Olskool]

Thanks thesaint519 and Ritmo

I have taken delivery and they are great. The sound right now out of the new speakers is good but they have a bit of loosening to do before they get to sound as nice as the broken-in demonstrators. I'm anxious to get to the level heard from the demos but this is a different satisfaction level because they belong to me. It was amazing how great vinyl sounded through the demonstrators so my thinking is now in the direction of phono stages. Currently my system uses a Project Phono Box II SE. My dealer made a great offer for a "new" PH6 but I wonder about instead moving to a pre-owned PH7 priced near the same dollar range as the new PH6. I'm not rushing in to it since it is necessary to save money now. This desire seams to be symptomatic of the addictive nature of we Audiophile junkies. Any input you offer is greatly appreciated.

[slowGEEZR]

Very nice looking speakers! Congrats!

[Ritmo]

Originally Posted by Olskool

Thanks thesaint519 and Ritmo

I have taken delivery and they are great. The sound right now out of the new speakers is good but they have a bit of loosening to do before they get to sound as nice as the broken-in demonstrators. I'm anxious to get to the level heard from the demos but this is a different satisfaction level because they belong to me. It was amazing how great vinyl sounded through the demonstrators so my thinking is now in the direction of phono stages. Currently my system uses a Project Phono Box II SE. My dealer made a great offer for a "new" PH6 but I wonder about instead moving to a pre-owned PH7 priced near the same dollar range as the new PH6. I'm not rushing in to it since it is necessary to save money now. This desire seams to be symptomatic of the addictive nature of we Audiophile junkies. Any input you offer is greatly appreciated.

Congratulations! The speakers look very nice.

Mike

[Banter]

You are at a halfway rest area in your journey yet; with those Nordost Red Dawns thrown in the equation.

When I got them new, it used to hurt wife's root canal! She has very sensitive hearing. It took many weeks of burning-in with speakers facing each other and polarity reversed before I could play them.

Since then I have moved on to different (read more expensive) cables. Recently we did the speaker cable shoot out with friends and those Red Dawns came last in the rating. All cables were in the one thousand dollar range.

I am telling you this because some speaker cables can effect sound in very big way.

[Olskool]

Originally Posted by Banter

You are at a halfway rest area in your journey yet; with those Nordost Red Dawns thrown in the equation.

When I got them new, it used to hurt wife's root canal! She has very sensitive hearing. It took many weeks of burning-in with speakers facing each other and polarity reversed before I could play them.

Since then I have moved on to different (read more expensive) cables. Recently we did the speaker cable shoot out with friends and those Red Dawns came last in the rating. All cables were in the one thousand dollar range.

I am telling you this because some speaker cables can effect sound in very big way.

Banter, so the Red Dawns just did not perform as well as the rest overall or they were hard to get broken in? I demonstrated the Red Dawns against Blue Haven, also Nordost, and got a much wider sound stage and detail when I finally sat down and listened to them very critically one night against the Blue Haven. Just to insure I was not kidding myself I listened to the original cheap Monster cables I started with. I would be curious about two things, what were some of the other cables demonstrated, and what major components is your system comprised of? Thanks for sharing this with me.

Olskool

[W9TR]

Hi Larry,
If I remember correctly it took about 100 hours for the speakers to break in. I didn't notice any changes at all after 200 hours.

I did play around with positioning quite a bit and ended up with the speakers about 12 feet apart, and 10 feet from my listening chair, 5 feet from the back wall, and 3 feet from the side walls, which are only partial walls, so that dimension had the least effect on the sound in my case at least.

I found the best placement from the rear wall by listening to a single speaker, and ensuring there was no mid-bass hump or chestiness in vocals. I also made sure that acoustic string bass sounded natural. Then I added the second speaker and adjusted the distance between the speakers to get the soundstage I wanted. I ended up toeing in the speakers about 20 degrees to strengthen the center image so that on mono sources you hear a tight ball of sound centered between the speakers. This also changed the balance a little, so you work the best compropise.
Finally, I adjusted the tilt using the spikes, adding just a bit of backward tilt, maybe 10 degrees, to nail the timbre on plucked strings and percussive instruments.

Enjoy, you've got a great set of speakers that will fully reveal themselves over the next few weeks.

Tom