Stereophile review of Escalante Fremont

Raquel,

You can read a play by play on my AVS HT thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=748097&page=1&pp=30

I will post a synopsis eventually on these fora as well.

The titanium drivers seem to be sounding better hour by hour. I gather they have a long break-in time also, considering how stiff a material they are, correct? When I first started playing them, the mid-range localization was fuzzy and incoherent. It has been sharpening up over the last 30+ hours though.

The Salon2s appear to be as stubborn as the W/P8s in terms of room placement. They both have different needs, and unfortunately, the Salon2s so far need to be too close to my recessed HT screen!

I don't find any issue with how the W/P8 handles strings. They sound natural and real to me. If you look at the frequency response comparisons you will see that the W/P8 is flatter when both speakers are in the same spot in the room. I had to move the Revels further into the room to get the 200-300Hz bump (also affecting the 100-200Hz bump) flatter, but it still isn't as low as the W/P8 bump in that region. Consequently, on the Salon2 low frequency voices are a little chestier and the lower frequency strings on some instruments are a little ripe.

The Salon2 includes a boundary compression knob (which basically rolls off the lower frequencies below a certain point, though not between 200-300Hz unfortunately), which has been useful so far. This has added greater bass definition and extension than I was getting on the W/P8, which had a big kick drum sound but fell off quick below 40Hz. The kick drum was a little too much for me without PEQ. The Salon2 tweeter is still exhibiting sibilance, which I hope will fade more as it breaks in (this is even with the treble control set to -1).

It is too early to come to any real conclusions. So far I have had much more of those breathtakingly "lifelike" experiences with the music on the W/P8s, but I'm hoping that the break-in time and continued experimentation with speaker positioning will change that and even the scale more. I'm a big fan of technology...

It is too bad this God forsaken hobby is always one compromise or another.

JKalman: Metal tweeters take a long time to break in, as do crossover parts. Manufacturers tend to say "100-200 hours", but 500 hours is what it generally takes with speakers to get to 95%. The final 5% in my experience takes another 500 hours. Verity is honest about this and says "750 hours" (it's in the specs for their speakers). I would call Harmon out in California (NOT Harmon International in New Bedford -- I have spoken to shockingly ignorant techs there) to confirm that it is okay to wire one speaker out of phase for purposes of break in (should be fine, but call), and then just play the hell out of them 24/7 for a month (of course, if you live in a house, are single and can just crank them normally, do that). At that point, you'll be able to position them and start to draw some conclusions.

Unfortunately, Dhaan above is correct about the WP and the hot Focal tweeter -- the breakup resonance indeed causes distortion throughout the presence region, and this is plainly audible in the original Focal (JM Labs) Utopias and the Wilsons. I once heard the Grand Utopia run with the On-Gaku, and the combo of the tweeter with typical high-ish tube amp output impedance made the speaker absolutely unlistenable (it was owned by an industry pro in NYC who is famous for being partially deaf).

Unfortunately, Dhaan above is correct about the WP and the hot Focal tweeter -- the breakup resonance indeed causes distortion throughout the presence region, and this is plainly audible in the original Focal (JM Labs) Utopias and the Wilsons.

I don't agree if you are referring to the W/P8 tweeter. I even ran some tests and eliminated it as the cause of issues Dhaan said he had heard with soprano and violin (he said any soprano and violin material would reveal it). He won't give me any specific recordings to test, so I can't figure out specifically what was causing the issues he was hearing. The break up mode should be below adult hearing threshold unless you are a pre-pre-teen.

If you want to give me some music you heard the problem on, as well as specific times and locations on the albums, I'll be glad to figure out what you were hearing. If it was tweeter break-up, which I doubt because of the high frequency location of the break-up mode, I'll be glad to confirm it or figure out what it is. I also have the ability to test it on three decent speakers (as I did previously with only two speakers).

I'm not sure about the W/P7 if that is what you are referring to... The W/P7 and W/P8 use different tweeters...

God God Jaybo, is there anything you haven't heard?

Undertow :
I have received your PM .
Thanks for your recommendation .