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Surreal Speakers: Made to order in Virginia, USA

My wife and I have just returned from a listening session at Surreal's auditioning room in White Stone, VA, and we have been super-impressed with these speakers and the marvelous musical experience they create! I'm convinced that the newest version of the Surreal Speakers out-perform speakers at twice their price.

Over the past three years, I've watched Surreal evolve these speakers. Today's listening session convinces me that the designers have really achieved the promise that these speakers have suggested since day one. These speakers integrate seamlessly across the frequency spectrum, deliver exceptional dynamics and resolution, and deliver superb results with tube amplification of as little as 30 watts per channel.

The speakers operate with a single cross-over at 135hz. The sound above this crossover comes from a single driver per side for exceptional coherence and soundstage precision. Crossing over below 135hz are six dynamic 10" woofers per side in a dipole array for incredibly fast, dynamic and highly resolved bass reproduction. This woofer cabinet is fast enough and accurate enough to mate seamlessly with electrostatic speakers. With the dynamic drivers used by Surreal on the top, the sound of the entire speaker is completely coherent.

If you are anywhere near Virginia, scheduling an audition of these speakers will reward your effort in doing so.

Surreal Speakers: http://surrealspeakers.com/
128x128rushton
rushton's avatar
rushton OP
2,445 posts
 
Hi Joe, nice to hear from you! Thanks for adding your comments about hearing these speakers at CAF this past summer.
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
Rushton,

Thanks for bringing these speakers to my attention. In full disclosure, I am thinking about venturing into DIY speakers and a different approach like this one is surely intriguing.

The AER driver apparently is working all the way from 130 Hz approx on up. I guess the advantage of a single driver playing that wide range is time coherency. I was wondering if you had ever experienced time-aligned speakers and if Surreal Speakers sounded along those lines?

Cheers
rushton's avatar
rushton OP
2,445 posts
 
Lewinskih01, time alignment is certainly one benefit of the single driver. Another is that it is truly a point source for all of the sound beyond 135 hz - imaging is very precise. The AER drivers are very well made - expensive, but you're getting what you paid for. But what makes these speakers truly special is the design of the woofer array covering below 135 hz. The AER drivers are very fast in their rise and fall times. The woofer array is able to mate seamlessly with the top end - and yet can be thunderous when called upon.

At the same time, I've heard quite a few single driver speakers and would not recommend any of them. This is the first full range implementation using a single driver for the top that I've found close enough to my listening priorities to consider bringing into my own system were I in the market for a new speaker.

If you're a DIY person, consider buying the woofer array from Surreal Speakers and then playing around with your own monitor design to mount on the woofer. You can have the same fun that Doug and Ralph have had with literally hundreds of hours of listening and re-adjusting to get things right. That's a part of our hobby, right? LOL.

Best wishes!
lewinskih01
909 posts
 
Rushton,

Indeed, you have given me a couple of research paths. The dipole subwoofer array is one. I wish I could come by and hear or even buy a sub from them as you suggest, but I'm in South America so not feasable. I'm a UVA grad so who knows, maybe for my next reunion I stop by Surreal :-)

The single AER driver vs a very good tweeter (like a RAAL) + a very good midrange (an Accuton maybe, but taste is crucial) both time aligned is another path. The latter needs to be time aligned for a fair comparison.

Do you think the improved imaging - a key design goal in my case - is driven by being a point source more than being time-aligned?
rushton's avatar
rushton OP
2,445 posts
 
Lewinskih01,

"Do you think the improved imaging - a key design goal in my case - is driven by being a point source more than being time-aligned?"

In my experience, time alignment, phase and point source are factors in getting great imaging from a set of speakers. A good starting point with a mult-drive system is probably keeping the cross-over as simple and phase aligned as possible, e.g., a 6db per octave Butterworth. There are sooooo many variables and trade-offs. For example, some of the most precise imaging speakers I've ever heard are the original Avalon Eidolon speakers, but this is a three-way speaker with a complex crossover from which Neil Patel has created a bit of magic. There is no single path.
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