soundermn:
My room is a mere 13X16 and they image perfectly 9’ apart and about the same distance from my listening position. I just adjusted the toe-in to focus them about 2’ behind my listening position (per Eric’s suggestion) and they coalesce really well. They are very dynamic and responsive with great jump factor, but they never sound too big for my room or overwhelm it even at very high volume levels.
I’ve owned speakers from $1000-$25,000 and these speakers bested them all, I feel like I stole them at the price I paid. These really are the best sounding speakers I’ve ever heard that can equally be driven by my Art Audio Diavolo 300B Copper Reference Tube Amplifier running either a standard 300B tube at 8wpc or my Elrog 300B tubes (amazing tube, but overpriced) also at 8wpc, or my Emission Labs 300BXLS tubes at 8 or 17wpc (These are the best value for the sound quality and, btw in 17wpc mode it’s totally overkill) & with absolutely no compromise of sound quality or volume level. Quite the contrary I have incredibly tight bass and a glorious midrange with very detailed highs that lack nothing, but aren’t fatiguing at all. The coherence will amaze you. These are the real deal.
High efficiency and a non-reactive impedance curve should be the very foundation of a well designed speaker for maximum compatibility allowing the user to use any amplifier of their choosing to gain said amplifier’s sonic virtues.
I’m of the firm belief that SET Amplifiers recreate an event in your sound room that’s so holographic, dynamic, and organic that it’s simply transcendental. They create an event in your room that is startling, spooky, and mesmerizing. If you’re not getting emotionally involved with the music, tearing up from time to time, having chills sent up your spine, and listening for hours blissfully and upset when you have to go to bed, well you’re missing out on what’s possible. Many here are quite content with 1-3wpc driving their DIs. Get that 1st watt right and you’re 90% there.
I apologize for the digression, but I really like steering people to SET amplifiers and I am very biased. I have heard it all, but nothing fills the void for me like a well engineered SET amplifier. I discovered their virtues and magical abilities when I was 25 while working with a high-end audio boutique in San Jose, and after listening to every amplifier that was available to me I kept coming back to SET Amps, and I have never looked back. That was 17 years ago. I’m as enthralled with their presentation sonically today as I was then, and hell, even more so today because I finally have a no-compromise speaker to mate with my amplifier.
Best of luck with your speaker and amplifier search. If you’re ever in the Raleigh, NC area, I invite you to hear my system.
That goes for anyone who reads this long-winded gush-fest.
-Jonathan
