System Pics 2023

I got Ovators because I thought that these speaker would probably survive my young kids. I had punched tweeters and loudspeakers turned over before and did not want to be in that situation again. Solution? Speakers with decent grills (metal) and heavy so that they cannot be turned over. The sound quality was just a pre.

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At the risk of posting a very similar picture to yesterday, I have now hung the pictures properly and adjusted the Toe-in on the speakers which brought a surprising uplift in SQ

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It looks good with the two pictures. Iā€™m very impressed that you get away with posting so many similar photos: I posted one when Iā€™d moved my Nova from one shelf to another and I had some dork questioning my motivation on another thread. Itā€™s made me more reticent to post pictures, which is probably a good thing on balance.

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Iā€™ll be honest HH, I was bracing for a bit of verbal heatšŸ«£

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Well youā€™ve two tigers there which makes us very careful.

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Iā€™m no biologist, but I think oneā€™s a lionā€¦.

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You could always introduce them to your other ā€˜Tigerā€™ā€¦ā€¦

IMG_0210 :joy:

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M,

I have never heard mis-integrations between bass and BMR. The Fink driver takes over at 300Hz on the 600 and at 700Hz on the 400, approximately. Which is at least one octave lower, in the case of the 400, than almost any other conventional tweeter. It would take a very lousy designer to miss a smooth transition from a 165mm woofer to a tweeter at such frequencies. And Roy George and Karl-Heinz Fink are not exactly amateurs.

What I did hear on both is a slightly unrefined upper midrange and treble; and the Ovators need some space around them or the bass may be a little redundant.

On the other hand, all of Harbeth speakers bar perhaps the HP3 need to be placed away from walls, yet nobody is ever complaining about them because of the supposed wonderful midrange - which, to my ears, only means a pronounced bump in the voice region and a sound thatā€™s life-sentenced inside the box with no chance to expand in the roomā€¦
But, as I said, each to his own.

As for the rest, I could never understand the charme, the sound and the cost of any ProAc model I heard in my life.

Heavens, if Harbeth and ProAc are so bad, I dread to think what youā€™d make of PMCs.

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I cannot comment on ovators as I already said. I have never heard any. Maybe I should say nothing because of that. I am just echoing what others have said including a dealer that goes back with Naim to the beginning. Anyway, it is possibly how you suggest (as is the case with Naim speakers of old) that they donā€™t work everywhere and like any speaker are not just plug and play

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N,

I didnā€™t exactly mean theyā€™re bad. I said I donā€™t like them, which is different. I am aware that my opinion is just my opinion, no hypocrisy here, believe me. Mtuttleb asked me for names, I mentioned speakers that never fully convinced me. I then added explanations that are perhaps a bit colorful, for which I apologize.
The temptation to describe the very unique Harbeth sound was irresistible. Harbethsā€™ designer is adamant in suggesting that his speakers are basically the only ones in existence entitled to correct music replay; he says that he voices them using his daughterā€™s voice. Well, apart that his daughterā€™s voice must have changed a lot in the years, I havenā€™t recordings of her so I canā€™t share his faith in his sonic template.

ProAcs are simply too bright and too expensive for what they give to me. They donā€™t seem to have enormous thought behind them; and since I am used to, say, n-Sats, which have a complex enclosure - rounded panels, separated internal chambers for woofer and tweeter, a box that sounds like stone when knocked - I simply cannot understand how they can cost so much and sound so plain. Truth is, I guess, that loudspeaker systems are many all over the world, but those which have a reason behind them are lessā€¦

Thatā€™s why I still admire the Ovators enormously even though I donā€™t always love their sound and have given up making them sound ok in this living room. Every detail in their design has a reason, form does not follow function but is born, I believe, with it. And they are beautiful in the room, with any furniture.

I first heard PMCs in Munich in 2012. It was the small stand mounts in the new Twenty series. They were driven by Bryston electronics in a very large room, and I was impressed by clarity, dynamics, cleanness. I loved those qualities then. I suppose the same goes for ATCs, which I donā€™t know personally.

Itā€™s just that I have lost interest in speakers derived from the pro world. A recording studio and a private listener have opposite requests, even though the latter may not always be fully aware of this. A studio probably needs the most linear, ā€˜objectiveā€™ design; the private listener doesnā€™t - the way I see it now is, I need something that comes from a mind thatā€™s sonically akin to mine. I may have struggled to acknowledge this - there must be a reason why I had twice SBLs, twice S-400s, Arivas, seven times Sats and now IBLs - but itā€™s celar to me now.

So I apologize twice - for the length and verbosity of this post, and for having expressed an opinion as if it were a fact. Not much is left at 70, even when one is mildly juvenile looking and in good shape - other than the freedom to have personal opinions without the burden of having to motivate them.

Best,
M.

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ok Max,

Letā€™s hear it.

What do you think of the Briks?

Go on. I can take it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Hi Nobuko,
please donā€™t pull my legā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Iā€™ve heard Isobariks a couple of times about 35 years ago, maybe more. They were a friendā€™s, with 32.5/HC/250.
I donā€™t rememberā€¦ Sorry. They possibly sounded under-powered. But I would love to hear some now.
I have had Kan 1s and 2s. I remember the Saras, a very velvety and dark midrange, a strange balance between one (two) large woofer(s) and a small tweeter.

M.

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What a shame that Naim no longer make N-sats and an accompanying N-sub

They didnā€™t sell enough it seems. I must have bought most of those manufacturedā€¦ :smile:

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:laughing:
Very diplomatic answer!

Unlike mine :joy:

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I guess to each their own, Iā€™ve heard numerous Naim demoā€™s over the years & the only ones that consistently did nothing for me were only when Naim electronics were paired with Ovators :laughing:

May I ask which ones?

Iā€™ll check all the models Iā€™ve heard at my dealerā€™s over the months/years, and will surely tell you. But as I said, itā€™s only my opinion. Iā€™d better post less, possibly.