500 v 2x300 active?

500 DR is nice - went from 250 DR missing out the 300DR… it’s unfazed, clear, and competent.

Speakers I can comment less on for these though I didn’t like Magicos and Kudos’s were great, but beaten by Dynaudios for me.

However, the Caterham 7 I can properly relate to. Quite why 2 are needed (and an Elise!) I’m less sure of!

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Not at the same time :grin: Elise first. Replaced by caterham 7 to do the academy - 8 events. Then superlight with 60% more power

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ah I see. We have a Superlight R… (called Colin :grinning:)

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Re 500 DR - worth looking preloved - I got mine for not too much over £10k…

Steady on - haven’t even tried the 808s yet :grin:

Sadly the superlight (it was a 1.6 k series with throttle bodies and race exhaust with 160bhp) had to go when we moved to this house - nowhere to put it for the first few years and we needed the money. My jaaaaaag iPace is as fast in a straight line if not round the bends.

Should have said I didn’t like the look of the dynaudios, though not heard any

Fair enough - that’s a very personal thing. One of the things Mrs Xcentric liked was that though tall they were slim, and very well finished indeed, so they worked aesthetically for us. We did a back to back to back session at Acoustica and wanted to not like them as they were the most expensive in the shop, but it was clear from the first few bars, for us. Did another separate listen when down in Kent, and again they won for us. Kudos’s were the next in line, both times. Great speakers, from what I heard - and seem to partner the Naim stuff very well.

When we got ours it first lived outside under a tarpaulin that was strung from the house to some trees - decided that I needed to build a lean-to car port which ended up as a six-car garage… (sounds like Naim-upgraditus extends into other areas of life… :grinning:)

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Good man :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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Re:
Will try to compare with 3x250 as, for example, Peter Swain (Cymbiosis) rates that above a single 500…

Is this into 3 way speakers or how would this work ? Excuse my ignorance.

I don’t think I am the person to explain well as the 808s are described as 2.5-way which I don’t understand, but in more general terms there are usually two or three speaker units in each cabinet. So a three way speaker has a low (woofer), a mid and a high (tweeter) unit. So the signal needs to be split between those three levels. Most speakers do this with a crossover in the cabinet. But some speakers have cross overs that can be removed or bypassed and the function is then taken on by an external cross over. So the speakers can be driven by three amplifiers - one running the low frequencies only, one the middle and one the high. So each is doing less work and can perform better. My sl2s are two way and I have an external Naim cross over (a snaxo powered by a super cap) and two 300 amplifiers

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Thanks for clarifying this for me, just trying to follow here, seems the box count goes up exponential this way. Has anyone actually ever followed Peter’s suggestion and checked the gain in SQ ?

Well I have been to a dem of both 606 and 707 Titans played first with one 300 and then with a second plus the snaxo/supercap added (those are both two way). The improvement was significant - but of course you are adding four boxes. There were other people there at the same event that didn’t notice much of a difference, but I thought it was worthwhile (but I do already have active SL2s). When I try the 808s, I am selling my active bits to help finance the purchase if I decide to have them. But with 808s I would need to add two more boxes (1x300) for which I absolutely do not have the space, so will start with a 300 and later on compare 3x250 with 1x500 as a possible upgrade.

I understand that some people have agreed that 3x250 at a dem run by Peter Swain that that sounded better than 1x500 but I was not there and don’t know the names, and I haven’t seen explicit comments one way or the other. Peter has told me that he likes the 3x250 option (with snaxo and supercap the cost of 3x250 is similar to 1x500) better than a single 500 (if I understand his off the cuff comment properly) but I haven’t tried it

Hi Tim, going back to basics and as you are not ruling out maximising box count again, what are you actually missing in your already nicely balanced active system with the SL2s I wonder? ATB Peter

Bass definitely, wider sound stage and some details ?

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As Dunc has said, it’s some more bass. I noticed the 707s that I heard active (along with 606s) at acoustica just over a year ago had more “oomph”, in particular more bass and I really liked them. After discussions with Pete (who now runs acoustica with a couple of new guys since Geoff’s retirement) who reckoned I should try 808s in my own home, I thought I should take him up on his offer of trying a pair out at home. He likes the idea of setting a pair up here abs better than setting up a pair in his showroom and then again here if I like it there. So who am I to argue?

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I should add that my lp12 post lots of upgrades is currently making quite a lot of bass, and it doesn’t really feel bass light. It is possible that I will not like the 808s as I don’t want an excess of bass. I have never liked “impressive” bass - it’s accurate bass that I like. I bought acoustic energy ae1s back in 1990, bought against speakers with more (but less accurate) bass

I particularly want to explore classical more and I think that this is where more extended bass from the 808s has potential to help

So to me it sounds as if more ‘depth’ is what you crave, just as I once did. I was also craving more foundation, scale and in fact a more 3 dimensional soundstage. Active or not a 250 is never going to give you that I think. We are very similar when it comes to amount of bass, where to me clean and resolved bass notes are much more important than lots of bass- it’s just got to be in the right proportions musically.
Buy into a simple life Tim and get yourself a 500DR and let the rest be pleasant history :+1:t3: ATB Peter

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I had the exact same thoughts before listening to the Magicos.

If I may, what you probably dislike is greasy, sluggish and uncontrolled bass.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of speakers able to provide a clean control on frequencies under 45-50 Hz.

Considering Kudos reputation, and the fact the 808 are their flagship, you certainly won’t be disappointed.

There are other speakers that provide controlled low end. PMC are nice option or even, a pair of Magicos.

The speakers I have now are a lot bigger than what I had before, and are able to go down to 24 Hz. But the low end is a lot more clean, giving the impression of less bass.

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I wouldn’t have used those exact words but that description is entirely repellant to me :grin:

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Hi Tim,
808’s are super speakers and definitely ‘do’ Classical, as well as every other genre to boot. I’m a died in the wool Shahinian fan for the past 26 years, largely because they do Classical so naturally. They’re also usually more domestically acceptable than most and if you go for Obelisks or Diapasons, they can even be wheeled away back against the wall whenever needed. If the 808’s don’t pass the domestic acceptability hurdle then I’d strongly advise you hear Shahinian alternatives.
As a consequence of my addiction to the Shahinian approach, I really struggle with most direct firing designs. To me, most are the aural equivalent of a searchlight straight in my eyes.
FWIW, in the last 2 decades I’ve only heard 2 ‘conventional’ designs that I think I could happily live with long term and those would be the 808’s and the Fact 12’s.
Best of luck !
Kevin

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