Speakers to hang on to for LIFE


After 9 years with my Proac Response 3s, I recently decided to change speakers. As you can tell, I'm not an upgrade fever patient. I want something I can live with for years & I think the best advice I'm gonna get will be from those who have & are still living with their speakers for an extended period of time. Please tell me why too. Thanks.Bob.
ryllau
It's an honor and a pleasant surprise to have speakers that I build become a topic in this thread.

Pankaj wrote: "Hi O_holter my I was interested in the audiokineses LCS Dreammakers likw what you have I have been listening to a pair of Green Mountain Audio EOS HX bookshelf speakers time aligned and phase coherent. Is room size a big contributing factor for the Dreammakers? My music is a mix of jazz vocals sometimes a little rock but not much."

Just to give a little bit of background, O_Holter's system is unique: Bipolar original-format Dream Maker speakers, with a pair of Late Ceiling Splash (LCS) modules, an invention that I use with the permission of James Romeyn.

Room size does play some role of course, and in particular, the original-format bipolar Dream Makers like to have a fair amount of space behind them to allow a fairly long time delay before the reflection off the wall behind them reaches the listener. This is pretty much identical to the situation with Maggies or Quads or Sound Labs or any other planar.

Originally the LCS modules were designed to be part of a newer system called the Dream Maker LCS system, which consists of a pair of monopole main speakers, and then the up-firing LCS modules would supply the additional spectrally-correct reverberant field energy that would get its recommended 10 milliseconds (or more) of arrival-time-delay from taking the long bounce off the ceiling. Obviously this calls for fairly aggressive radiation pattern control in the LCS modules, but fortunately that's something I'm comfortable working with. So conceptually the Dream Maker LCS system is a bipolar like the original Dream Maker, but instead of the rear-firing drivers bouncing their energy off the wall, we use up-firing drivers which bounce their energy off the ceiling. (If your ceiling is absorptive, you can stand the LCS modules on end and aim them at a wall.)

So what O_Holter has is a system that combines both rear-firing and up-firing drivers contributing to the reverberant field, and apparently the net effect is pretty good:

"They do something special, have never experienced it before. The soundscape becomes much more three dimensional, embodied, fleshed out, poignant; the sound is almost visually present, and this effect covers most of the room. When I walk forward from the listener position it is like moving through the front seats of a concert venue, and then on to the stage itself, the musicians playing around me. Quite amazing. There are SOME things I dont like with reverberant energy, but this execution is mainly for the better. When I turn off the LCS, playing the main speakers (Dream makers) alone, it still sounds fine, but more traditional, flatter, less engaging."

We are working on a "universal" LCS module that can be added to most existing systems, as we think that it can benefit a wide range of systems. So theoretically Pankaj could retain everything the Green Mountain Audio speakers are doing right as far as the first arrival sound goes, and add a generous helping of spectrally-correct reverberant energy that will arrive after a decent time delay from taking the long bounce from the floor up to the ceiling.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer
THE NEW PARADIGM PRESTIGE 75 F
Just broken in, sound fit and finish for the price can not go wrong. Very tough to reach this speakers limitations , The size will fool you , its very dynamic and power full loads of detail, And the Piano Black is beautiful the cherry is not worth the upcharge. Give a listen .
After 7 different speakers in the last 10 years, and the last 3 months with Triton Ones, I do believe I have found my speakers for life. There is nothing they cannot do. Genre, volume, whatever. If you don't believe me, c'mon over.
ADS L300c Aluminum minis. They were $300 per pair in 1977 and followed me to school on the East Coast. They now serve duty in the garage wired to a NAD receiver and Squeezebox Duet. They are a joy.