Synergistic New Tesla Line...Any comments?

Dave and others:

I had a really good "AHA" moment yesterday regarding the speaker cells. After a bunch of brainstorming, Elliot(SR)and I, with the assistance of nautical Ted, figured out that the main reason I wasn't getting good performance out of the speaker cells was that the 48" bi-wire pigtails of my Apex speaker cables were not also connected to the speaker cells. They were basically acting as antennae and also robbing the speakers of full signal.

When I connected all 4 speaker leads to the 2 terminals on the speaker cell (pretty awkward with spades), the sound changed dramatically for the better. I now have bass again as well as midrange and the glare in the highs I had been hearing is pretty much gone. I will be replacing the 48" bass leads with 16" leads tonite, which should hopefully give me a bit stronger bass response, due to a potential loss of some current with the longer leads. I will post results as soon as I have a chance to set both speakers up and listen.

Currently, I have only got 1 speaker hooked to the speaker cell. The other has the Apex bi-wire on it and is relatively difficult for me to get behind. I am playing all types of music like this, as it is the easiest way for me to hear differences in the lows, mids and highs, of course making allowances for the signals not being identical. (Another benefit of mono amps ;-)). The dogs think I'm playing with them, as I bounce from speaker to speaker. I am hearing positive differences out of the speaker cell side so far, as the positives from before have not gone away, but most of the negatives have.

Glad to hear that you are making progress with the cells, Fplanner. Good thing you stayed with it. You might have sent them back without ever hearing what they really do.

Elliot is definitely one of the finest human beings of all time.

Anxious to hear your impressions when you get the other speaker hooked up.

Best,
Dave

Fplanner2010, I think I understand what you are attempting to do and don't understand why you are doing it. I think you have two sets of Apex speaker wires running from your amp to each Universal Speaker Cells and one set of pigtails from the Cells to your speakers and that previously you had one set of your Apex speaker wires connected directly to your speakers bypassing the Universal Cells. Forgive me if I misunderstand, but I would simply get another set of pigtails to run between the Cells and the speakers and remove the second set of Apex cables. Or get another set of Universal cells. This would be expensive and I suspect overkill.

Tbg - You almost confused me!!
Let me explain a bit more clearly. Before speaker cells: Apex biwires hooked to my VR-7s in bass and mid modules; 1 amp per side. Currently: 1 speaker just as before. 2nd speaker with both Apex main and Apex pigtails (hence "biwire") hooked to speaker cell input terminals; 48" leads(2) from speaker cell hooked to midrange terminals on speaker, 16" leads(2) from speaker cell hooked to bass terminals of the speaker. What we hadn't done before was to hook the Apex pigtails to the speaker cell input terminals as well, but just left them un-connected.

BTW, shortening the bass leads from the speaker cell from 48" to 16" noticeably tightened up the bass, which I was happy to hear. After a few more days of "A-B"-ing the 2 speakers, I will hook the other speaker cell up and hopefully be happy with the result. So far, I am getting better instrument separation and a bit more detail out of the speaker hooked to the speaker cell. The bass is also a bit deeper and tighter than the non-speaker cell speaker.

What is difficult to ascertain until I hook the other speaker to the speaker cell is their effect on the overall musicality of the system. It was pretty non-existent before when the cables weren't hooked up properly. I'm expecting a huge positive difference now, hopefully even better than without the cells at all. If that happens, I will of course keep the cells. The next week or so should be pretty interesting.

Fplanner2010, now I am more confused. What does "both Apex main and Apex pigtails hooked to speaker cell input" mean? I know there are pigtails on the ends of Apex speaker cables. Presumably these are not what you mean. I know that the Universal Speaker Cells come with Basik speaker wires. Is that what you mean by Apex pig tails? If this is so, who suggest that you do this? I would not expect that have fully shielded Apex speaker wires with unshielded Basiks would be best.

If none of this is the case, just ignore me.