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System pics 2012 #2

They are lovely Tony.

Oak veneer. A laminate of 18mm Birch Ply over 25mm MDF. Heavily braced. Weigh about the same as a small Frigate.

They wouldn't fit in the motorhome sadly..

Same concept as mine - except mine are birch/chip and my front baffle has an extra sheet of birch so 6cm thick(!). 50 Kg each without the speakers installed. Yours look a bit nicer though.... I could never afford to get them laminated.

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What's happens to the MEGs Tony?

One seems to need a new cap or something somewhere, an intermittent fault with one bass amp, so they are boxed up whilst I figure out a plan - finding someone capable of servicing them this side of Germany may prove somewhat challenging. I'm prepared to bet it's only a £2 cap somewhere as that's what it sounds like! I really like them, in many ways they are simply phenomenal, but I don't think they are ultimately what I'm looking for. Somehow they tell me far more than I want to know, though I needed to try them to find that out. I can't explain it, but I found their astonishing openness and clarity intimidating somehow. I suspect I'm far more 'pipe and slippers' in what I'm after! I've never liked a bright or spotlight on anything, I'm more into 'big music somewhere over there' - I love scale, weight and realism, but don't like to be distracted by image, mic-placement etc etc.

On the right material the MEGs are startlingly good, e.g. I've never heard any system in my life do acoustic guitar the way those things can, it's just real and straight in front of you, but throw a grungy old mono cut at them and it won't be on for long, they just show up too much. They also really set-off a room-node too, I think their port resonance is bang on that for my room - they can boom quite badly on some electronica that the Tannoys sail through without issue.

I'm actually in no rush to lose them as they may prove useful later on, and despite what I've said above I do really like them, they are an amazing small speaker, plus they are at their maximum devaluation point right now due to needing a service, so it doesn't really matter when I do it - a year or two later and it will still cost similar to do, and their freshly serviced resale value will be similar. As such I'll just forget about them for a while, certainly until I've decided where I'm going with the main system, and if I ever do decide I'll have a massive clear-out at that point!

Nice shelves Tony. I am about to get some built and and don't want any sagging with several hundred LP per shelf. Thinking of a second cross peice parallel with the back wall.

If you do I'd strongly recommend dividing the shelves into two or more sections / partitions - the width and sheer weight of covers makes getting vinyl on and off the shelves rather awkward. I think splitting them in two would be adequate.
 
My garage system

Tha Coda 9s have now got 18mm MDF cabs after a leak, and sound much better.

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For listening to tunes while I make stripy shavings

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Pete
 
Tony you cabs look quite lovely. Have you tried some simple bracing on the internal walls?

I got mine built eons ago at some considerable expense then decided I wanted my living space back - not the cleverest investment I ever made!

Still, a couple of JBL 15" and I could be away again - they are 4 cu.ft so probably too small for Tannoys.

I'd swap them tomorrow for the contents of your shelves - now that's putting money into the right area :)
 
Have you tried some simple bracing on the internal walls?

They are a very accurate York clone, exact in every detail aside from not being veneered (the "finish" is just crudely applied varnish over the raw blockboard), so they have that kind of square 2 by 1 semi-brace thing right in the middle just beneath the driver. I tried beefing that up a bit by bolting something across the middle to better couple baffle to rear, but it didn't help so I took it out again. The more I tighten that cab up the higher the resonances seem to move and the more obvious the issue. Basically it's just too flimsy, and to my ears sounds best hanging as loose as possible, hence my leaving the back door kind of flapping (keeps issues well below the midband). I think the main issue now is the front baffle, given the considerable physical weight and power of the driver it really needs to be massive to hold it even remotely still.

I like the dimensions aesthetically and I think the bass loading is acceptable (it's very low-Q), so if I were to get cabs built I'd probably keep to the fundamental design, just get them made as well as yours. That basic design would look great with a nice dark veneer and proper grills.
 
Bet they are internally braced too. Given the smaller dimensions it would make for a far more rigid cab.
 
I don't think the Kensington cabinets are that heavily braced - the speaker is 100l and I think it only weighs something like 37kg including drivers.

When you turn them up you can hear the cabinet but for me, that was part of the allure of the speaker. The DC10a is in a far more rigidly braced cabinet so it will be interesting to see what people think of the same driver in a more modern box.

Tony I had a joiner build the boxes from plans. The first set of sub boxes (which were fantastic and built from pland given to me by Greg Timbers) I ended up giving away. Again not the cleverest decision I've made!
 
I really like them, in many ways they are simply phenomenal, but I don't think they are ultimately what I'm looking for. Somehow they tell me far more than I want to know, though I needed to try them to find that out. I can't explain it, but I found their astonishing openness and clarity intimidating somehow. I suspect I'm far more 'pipe and slippers' in what I'm after! I've never liked a bright or spotlight on anything, I'm more into 'big music somewhere over there' - I love scale, weight and realism, but don't like to be distracted by image, mic-placement etc etc.

On the right material the MEGs are startlingly good, e.g. I've never heard any system in my life do acoustic guitar the way those things can, it's just real and straight in front of you, but throw a grungy old mono cut at them and it won't be on for long, they just show up too much. They also really set-off a room-node too, I think their port resonance is bang on that for my room - they can boom quite badly on some electronica that the Tannoys sail through without issue.

Sound remarkably familiar to me. I face the same quandary.
 
Ages since I posted one of these, or anything other than a squeal for help in setting stuff up.

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The new (to me) amp is far to hot to sit in a middle shelf, so I had to split the rack into two. This means the cable to the right speaker is now dangerously taut, so I'll be ordering some new stuff later.
 
I really like them, in many ways they are simply phenomenal, but I don't think they are ultimately what I'm looking for. Somehow they tell me far more than I want to know, though I needed to try them to find that out. I can't explain it, but I found their astonishing openness and clarity intimidating somehow.

ah, the "lie to me" audiophile credo. We need to work to stop the spread of this awful virus.
:D

this my problem with the guys who are into "hifi" but like the "colored" sound. primarily semantics(it isnt really fidelity is it?)
 
ah, the "lie to me" audiophile credo. We need to work to stop the spread of this awful virus.
:D

this my problem with the guys who are into "hifi" but like the "colored" sound. primarily semantics(it isnt really fidelity is it?)

I've never described myself as an audiophile, and I'm certainly not in pursuit of any made-up notion of "accuracy" - I'm just a music lover and a bit of a record collector. I've never really cared what the gear-snobs think!
 
After a long search, I'm finally happy with my system:) New purchases are the Proac D18s, ARC LS 15 pre (gives that lovely sense of space between the instruments), and Tellurium Q Ultra Black speaker cables.
The LS 15 works really well with my NAD S200 pwr amp, which does power but also grace.
Here's some photos:
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11877.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11876.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11875.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11863.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11864.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11871.jpg
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/alan967tiger/SDC11872.jpg

Unfortunately I've never been able to have a system and room where the speakers aren't either side of the hifi rack. But hey ho, I consider myself to be a lucky chap to have this system; the music's beautiful, and my lovely wife, says this must be it, so I need to start doing as she says!
 
Going against my own personal grain here, I've actually been and bought something that's brand new (shock horror!). Bit of a story behind this; I sold my old ProAc Super Tablettes to my dad some years ago, and soon regretted doing so but was obviously glad when the Royds came to the rescue. They kept me happy for a fair few years. Still, dad doesn't use the ProAcs much these days (his hearing isn't that great now, bless him) and I mentioned in passing that I wished I hadn't sold them.

He offered to give me them back but I hadn't the heart to accept them as a gift - they're in fabulous, nigh on unmarked condition and they have the dedicated Target heavy stands too which makes them worth quite serious money - even shabby SuperTabs are fetching upwards of £250 on eBay. By way of exchange (they're almost identical in size to the ProAcs) I thought these...

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...might be worth a go and if the ProAcs don't work out, they would be a suitable fall-back for my rig. They're still running in but from sounding slightly dim-witted (musically and dynamically) they're loosening up quite nicely.
 
Heard the q accoustics playing in richer sound , they were ion a shelf surrounded by other kit powered , I had to look twice as I was surprised how good they sounded , for the money they could be a bargain
 
I was surprised how good they sounded , for the money they could be a bargain

They could well be, Peter. I really didn't warm to these to start with, they're quite dry sounding and very revealing and not so happy at lower volume. Whether this is a consequence of my Sony amp preferring to be driven harder, or the speakers themselves, who knows.

For £112 though - yes, damn cheap for what's on offer. :)
 
The q accoustics get good reviews and was possibly looking at these speakers for a bedroom system be interesting to know your impressions once they have settled down , they seemed to sound good in the shop but being richer sounds they were surrounded by amps etc and quite a lot of speakers
 
Ages since I posted one of these, or anything other than a squeal for help in setting stuff up.

8258093189_5afc66015a_c.jpg


8259161210_015a085115_c.jpg


The new (to me) amp is far to hot to sit in a middle shelf, so I had to split the rack into two. This means the cable to the right speaker is now dangerously taut, so I'll be ordering some new stuff later.

I love the TT nice:D
 
Been a pretty good week here having inherited my old ProAc Super Tablettes from my dad. I owned these from 1994 through to 2005 at which point I sold them to the old man, always hoping I'd have them back one day. They're not the easiest things to drive - and are extremely revealing with it - but sing very sweetly once set up with care. On vocals and acoustic piano they are stunning.

Great to have them back home - and they work beautifully in our room with no bass overhang/room reaction at all. They're also in fabulous condition, the cabinets (built by Castle Acoustics back then) are spotless...

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They don't seem to be turning their noses up at what's driving them either. :)
 


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