Zia,
Thanks! I haven't really had a ton of time lately to go onto all the forums I like to peruse and since I'm not currently building anything I've been off of here for the most part.
I'm looking very seriously at the Odyssey Stratos amps, I'm actually going to look at one tomorrow. Also looking at the Parasound Halo A23 I want something with excellent sound and a grip of power for when I can actually have two systems again
For a pre-amp, I don't know yet but I need something with HT bypass as I'm having to integrate my HT and 2-channel and want it easy. I can't do tubes right now unfortunately, too many little ones running around. I'm thinking of the Parasound Halo P7. One of my friends Kris Deering just reviewed it for Home Theater Magazine and really was impressed by it.
What cabinet do you have the A12P in?
Scott
Thanks! I haven't really had a ton of time lately to go onto all the forums I like to peruse and since I'm not currently building anything I've been off of here for the most part.
I'm looking very seriously at the Odyssey Stratos amps, I'm actually going to look at one tomorrow. Also looking at the Parasound Halo A23 I want something with excellent sound and a grip of power for when I can actually have two systems again
For a pre-amp, I don't know yet but I need something with HT bypass as I'm having to integrate my HT and 2-channel and want it easy. I can't do tubes right now unfortunately, too many little ones running around. I'm thinking of the Parasound Halo P7. One of my friends Kris Deering just reviewed it for Home Theater Magazine and really was impressed by it. What cabinet do you have the A12P in?
Scott
No cabinet yet Scott.
Probably will go in Super Pensils for the A12P
Definitely need to stay "Super"
So I ended up getting some killer deals that I just couldn't pass up. I got an Emotiva UMC-1 and 5 of the AV123 X-Amps which are 150 watt monos. I haven't run an auto setup yet but ALL music and movies sound so much better. I haven't changed any of the other electronics in my system or any cables. There is so much more bass, clarity and resolution are greatly increased as well as soundstage coherence and depth. Very happy with the upgrade over my Onkyo 805. I wish I could have gone with tubes but my current setup really doesn't lend itself to tubes.
Just wanted to say I'm enjoying my SuperPensils and centre more than ever
Scott
Just wanted to say I'm enjoying my SuperPensils and centre more than ever
Scott
Scott,
Your new gear looks cool and good to know that you are clearly hearing the difference from the upgrade.
BTW, I've got my Alp 12s in Pensil cabinets now and very impressed. As you know, the Super Pensils were kind of too big for my room, and I was getting a bit of mid bass suck out too. The Pensils are a better fit and I guess the baffle step compensation in the design is working nicely - the mid-bass is stronger now, with more slam and presence. Probably it's not as digging as low as the bigger Super Pensils, but overall the sound is more balanced. The speakers can play loud and clean with both the Hypex UcD and HifomeDIY Tripath (Tk2050) amp. Over the weekend they delivered a satisfying experience in HT (Prometheus, Snow White & The Huntsman) with plenty of low end oomph at decent SPL without excursion getting out of hand. The vocal clarity was pretty outstanding too. But truth be told, I better put in a filter or get a sub - some of the movies do have significant low frequency info.
- Zia
Your new gear looks cool and good to know that you are clearly hearing the difference from the upgrade.
BTW, I've got my Alp 12s in Pensil cabinets now and very impressed. As you know, the Super Pensils were kind of too big for my room, and I was getting a bit of mid bass suck out too. The Pensils are a better fit and I guess the baffle step compensation in the design is working nicely - the mid-bass is stronger now, with more slam and presence. Probably it's not as digging as low as the bigger Super Pensils, but overall the sound is more balanced. The speakers can play loud and clean with both the Hypex UcD and HifomeDIY Tripath (Tk2050) amp. Over the weekend they delivered a satisfying experience in HT (Prometheus, Snow White & The Huntsman) with plenty of low end oomph at decent SPL without excursion getting out of hand. The vocal clarity was pretty outstanding too. But truth be told, I better put in a filter or get a sub - some of the movies do have significant low frequency info.
- Zia
Thanks! I sent back the Emotiva to have the firmware updated and faceplate upgraded to work with their new aluminum remote and get the setup mic as well. When I bought it the remote didn't work and the original owner had lost the setup mic. I should get it back in a week or so and then I can really run it through the tests. For now I'm back to running my Onkyo as a pre-pro and the X-Amps for power. Whoever said amps all sound the same should listen to the difference between the factory amp in the Onkyo and my new amps. All rated at the same power, 150 watts RMS, so it can't be the power upgrade. My Onkyo was even bench tested independently to put out that power too. These amps sound great!!
So you built Pensils as well Zia? I didn't know that. Did you ever build a matching center with the 12's? Very interesting on your impressions of the mid bass. I have thought that mine might have missed in that area a tiny bit but without ever graphing them I never really knew what it was. It'd be interesting to build another set and compare ...
Regarding running them full range for movies I would definitely get a sub. It's going to relieve them so much of trying to reproduce subsonic frequencies at volume. So many movies now are mixed with substantial subsonic info as systems get more and more refined and capable of reproducing information into the single digits (at my old house my system was flat to 15hz and only down 3db at 10hz!). Trying to get these drivers to reproduce these is futile. Definitely get yourself a new good sub, you'll thank yourself the first time you throw on a good flick. Cross them at 80, turn the wick up on the sub 3db to 6db hot and enjoy
Scott
So you built Pensils as well Zia? I didn't know that. Did you ever build a matching center with the 12's? Very interesting on your impressions of the mid bass. I have thought that mine might have missed in that area a tiny bit but without ever graphing them I never really knew what it was. It'd be interesting to build another set and compare ...
Regarding running them full range for movies I would definitely get a sub. It's going to relieve them so much of trying to reproduce subsonic frequencies at volume. So many movies now are mixed with substantial subsonic info as systems get more and more refined and capable of reproducing information into the single digits (at my old house my system was flat to 15hz and only down 3db at 10hz!). Trying to get these drivers to reproduce these is futile. Definitely get yourself a new good sub, you'll thank yourself the first time you throw on a good flick. Cross them at 80, turn the wick up on the sub 3db to 6db hot and enjoy
Scott
I rearranged my living room this weekend back to how I had it when we first moved into this house (I'll post pics once I get my UMC-1 back). I'm listening to Pandora through my Roku fed to my Onkyo 805 via HDMI so not exactly the best example of top quality source material and pre amplification bit dang it if these don't sound amazing to me right now! I'm listening to jazz and these are digging VERY deep and imaging fantastically. I really do love these speakers. I think it may be worth upgrading the cabinets to a Baltic birch construction. Pretty sure I'd have to have someone build them for me though ...
I know these drivers are discontinued but it really does reaffirm my love for these speakers. I know my next FR build will use Mark's drivers, maybe ill explore a FH3 with 7's ...
Anyway, thanks again Mark!
Scott
I know these drivers are discontinued but it really does reaffirm my love for these speakers. I know my next FR build will use Mark's drivers, maybe ill explore a FH3 with 7's ...
Anyway, thanks again Mark!
Scott
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