What is Your End Game System?

@rvpiano , it might seem like luck but at some level your gut must known that amp would be a sleeper. Nice  job!

@phusis ,wow, that is an end game. I knew those were theater speakers the second I saw the pic and I have seen pics before where members put them behind a screen, built into a wall. Your setup doesn't hide them but has them stand up and salute, nice. I know how it goes with "final" touches as there is always room for something to squeeze a little more. Do you take measurements? Thanks for posting.

@kota1 wrote:

wow, that is an end game. I knew those were theater speakers the second I saw the pic and I have seen pics before where members put them behind a screen, built into a wall. Your setup doesn’t hide them but has them stand up and salute, nice.

Thanks. To my mind there’s something to be said of the "aesthetics" of functionality as a very clear reflection of ’form follows function,’ and not the other way ’round as something that more predominantly caters to interior decoration and (anti-)size demands. Pro cinema speakers are meant to be placed and hidden behind perforated screens, and thus any design considerations as it pertains to their looks are zilch (I guess this can be said of most pro designs). If anything there’s an honesty to their appearance, not least with regard to the design efforts invested towards functionality; what you see is what you get, and yet to many an audiophile this may be misconstrued as sonically crude and unfit for a domestic environment.

I know how it goes with "final" touches as there is always room for something to squeeze a little more.

Indeed. Pragmatically speaking "final touches" can very well be, maybe even mostly so about that endless tinkering within a given setup context that may involve the occasional and local hardware replacement, yet as something that wouldn’t affect the overall approach and path chosen. "Final touches as a refinement work-in-progress within a specific setup context" may be the more appropriate way to go about it.

Do you take measurements?

Yes, near-field measurements have been taken of the horn section on top to assist digital filter adjustments and finding the precise frequencies to place notches and a mild peak suppression (these measurements fairly closely mirrored those found via EV’s own measurements, which initially served as an outset). From hereon the specific gain and Q-values of these minor corrections have been found by ear. The remainder of the driver section, i.e.: the EV bass bin + tapped horn subs, use no PEQ’s within their frequency span, other than of course cut-off frequencies, slope type and gain structure.

My end game setup, including the room would be centered around top of the line MBL speakers.  If I can't afford those, then one notch down in MBL lineup - 101 E vs. 101 xtreme in current lineup.  A good tube preamp would be next, and 101 Es have very poor sensitivity of 81 db, so a good strong set of solid state amps would be in order.  I doubt I would be able to afford x-tremes, and even if I had $200K to spend on something awesome made in Germany, a Porsche would be much higher on the priority list.

A Porsche, while fun do drive plus being a great sports car, and it has that "look at me" factor, they are not really all that dependable.  If you do buy one, be sure to have Geico Auto Insurance, and include in your policy, the Mechanical Breakdown Insurance.  THAT will save your bacon, unless that is, the sound of Benjamins flying out of your wallet.  :P