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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/
rushton
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
911 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.
trelja
3,226 posts
 
Curious, Rush... Have you moved on to these speakers?
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Lewinskih01 ... I noted from your 11/29 post that you are considering DIY speakers and also mentioned the import of time alignment.

I don't know anything about Surreal or its drivers. But I have been doing a vertical learning curve on time alignment. If you think the Surreal drivers are special and might be used in your DIY project, I'd like to suggest you consider incorporating a DEQX unit in your set-up.

You can learn more about DEQX in the threads "Is DEQX a Game Changer?" and "Sloped Baffles." Also, Kal Rubinson just reviewed the DEQX PreMATE in the December Stereophile issue.

I bought the PreMATE about 2 months ago. And yeah ... it made a big difference.

I agree with Rushton's comment that speaker design entails many compromises. Classic time coherent speakers necessarily require their drivers to cover a larger frequency pass band because they use 1st order crossovers which cut over at 6 db per octave. I somewhat dubious that the drivers used in such speakers can really maintain linear performance over the larger pass band at which they are asked to perform. Also, room EQ effects can be quite considerable.

Ergo the DEQX. My speakers use a 3rd order crossover (18 db per octave) between the tweeter and midrange and a 2nd order crossover (12 db per octave) between the woofers and midrange. To put it mildly, my speakers were a time INcoherent mess, but the DEQX PreMATE tamed them very nicely. Plus, my room twisted the FR of my speakers into an acoustic pretzel. The PreMATE did room EQ correction too.

Bottom line: I think the DEQX PreMATE has helped me squeeze a lot more performance out of my system.
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