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Post by garbulky on Jun 7, 2013 6:53:36 GMT -5
Introduction: 2018! Howdy! If you are reading this for the first time. Welcome! If you continue onward you will be in for a visual treat. Our fellow audio buddy has had a large variety of high quality gear take up residence at his place and I've been fortunate to be able to see and document a portion of the variations over the years. So expect some really nice gear and pictures interspersed with me rambling on about the sound usually with many superlatives and hyperbole thrown in for good measure! Just a note - the impressions are almost always subjective, non-level matched, and will stay that way. It's nice to have good friends you can just relax and enjoy some good sound with . Thanks my friend for years of enjoyment with good folk! Read on I figured I'd start a new thread as it was a really nice experience for me. A visit to boomzilla's!! My wife and I were invited to listen to Mr and Mrs boomzilla's house today. And we had a great time there. As you all know he's a really nice guy who is very passionate about audio and his wife was wonderful company. They also had a gorgeous house. So onto the details. Honestly, I feel that it's hard to give a review of his system as his review of my system and comparisons are pretty much what I would have said was I that articulate and I find it tough to better that review. Overview: He has Klipsch cornwalls, A deftech studiomonitor 65, a usp-1, an xda-1, an xpa-2 and a jolida tube dac all connected to an airport express run off an invisible genie of some sort in another dimension. It is all controlled by an ipad. He also has a lot of other goodies that I didn't get to check out so I'll just leave that out. So onto the look and feel of things. The living room is nice and large and very nice looking. Just exactly the kind of space that I would want! The Ipad remote control is just amazing. It is compact, full color and easy to navigate with a large screen. PERFECT. The USP-1 was a lot more imposing and solid than it looks in the pictures. There's no getting around that it is a serious piece of work. And I like it. I can't even imagine how big the xsp-1 must be! The Cornwalls, some may have seen his pictures but what they don't show you is that they are in great condition, have a GORGEOUS finish to it and are much larger than you would expect. They are more than twice as wide as my axiom m80 towers. I have not seen a finish like that on speakers and it's obvious attention was paid to them. He also has some nice absorption panels which undoubtedly helped the sound. The cornwalls were very different from my system. They had a more relaxed feel to them and since they were closer together when accounting for distance the soundstage was slightly smaller simply due to placement. It was obvious listening to them that he knew what he wanted out of his sound and knew how to achieve it. It had a warm and pleasing image coming from between the speakers and voices sounded good to my ears. Also due to his larger area and distance from the speakers instruments were able to project foward in specific space so you can easily tell which instrument was placed before which. That was impressive to me. The cornwalls were also able to be played at much lower volumes and still have the details come through where you don't feel like maybe one should turn them up some. The horns played very differently from what I imagined horn speakers to play like. I expected a loud, brash and right in your ears (sort of a pleasing rock sound). This was pretty much the opposite of what I experienced. The treble behaved well staying within the soundstage without unnaturally jumping out at you. The cornwalls were also idling a lot as it was obvious that they could probably bring the roof down. So it's possible that I didn't experience their full capabilities. But what I heard was nice to the ear. Though they didn't have as much depth behind the speaker, I believe they made up for with depth in front of the speaker which is something my speaker/living room does not do. Overall the way I could describe his system is well I honestly don't know as they were so different from mine! It usually takes me a long time experiencing a speaker to accurately describe it. But they were nice . Their area of focus appeared to be definitely in the important mid-range. Thoughtful would be a word I guess to describe the sound. Onto the def techs. The deftechs are certainly more similar to my speakers in sound signature. He angled them outwards and I was instantly skeptical. I instantly thought the center image would be lost especially in terms of treble. But man, he was right about the outward angle. It had a more omnidirectional and wider soundstage with more treble extension than the cornwalls. Just like the cornwalls sounds were able to come from outside the actual speaker. It also had surprising bass for a bookshelf speaker. I kept forgetting that it was them playing in a large room and not the cornwalls. The bass IMO was better behaved than the cornwalls but also a different sound signature so it's really hard to say who is the winner there. They had phase plugs on them and an interesting bass radiator on the top. I feel that the cornwalls would be easier to listen to for longer periods of time and at lower volumes than the def techs. It was hard for me to hear a difference between the Jolida dac and the xda-1. I was also surprised to hear no "tube" sound signature. But it was likely because I was listening in an unfamiliar environment with different equipment than mine. I'm a firm believer that it takes time and familiarity to hear subtle differences and IMO this illustrates the point. The Jolida looked GORGEOUS. His setup was very clean looking and aesthetically pleasing. I also got some really cool goodies to try out! So I'm excited about that. In other news: after troubleshooting my DAC distortion issue at 80 volume, we came to the conclusion that my XDA-1 is faulty in some way. We switched out everything A/Bing one by one. Passive pre-amps, pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, power cords, even two identical XDA-1's and the tube DAC. And yes, my specific XDA-1 - not his - is faulty. So thank you very much for the lovely couple that had us over and even treated us to a fantastic suishi meal! His wife even gave my wife a most interesting flower, one that I had never seen before called a passion flower.
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Post by creimes on Jun 7, 2013 7:52:57 GMT -5
Very cool guys, it's nice how we can meet here at the lounge and eventually some are able to get together on a more personal level and enjoy this great passion of ours.
Chad
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Post by drtrey3 on Jun 7, 2013 8:35:50 GMT -5
Great write up. I am going to be in Bush, Louisiana this next week and would love to take you guys out for a frosty beverage if we can work the schedule. Kind of a warm up for Emofest. Let me know if we can work that some late afternoon/early evening during the week.
Trey
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Post by jdskycaster on Jun 7, 2013 9:24:00 GMT -5
Thanks for posting. These types of reviews are refreshing. No hyperbole, no sales motivation, just an honest opinion. Someone needs to crap on this thread quick to put it into proper perspective... (Yes, that last sentence was intended as a joke)
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guitarforlife
Sensei
Just another busy day in Northern Wisconsin.
Posts: 947
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Post by guitarforlife on Jun 7, 2013 11:09:01 GMT -5
Hey, Great thread!!!
I wish I lived closer to anyone so I could set up a stereo play date. This type of thing to me is very COOl. Take care.
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Post by tweed on Jun 7, 2013 14:21:49 GMT -5
Great topic and thread.
This is real life stuff. I am sure that many of us do not have a special listening room. As nice as that would be, we make due with what we have and manage to get some nice results.
Hearing first hand what different people's systems are like also shows that there are many different paths to good enjoyable sound.
Thanks for the review.
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Post by boomzilla on Jun 7, 2013 16:13:47 GMT -5
Great write up. I am going to be in Bush, Louisiana this next week and would love to take you guys out for a frosty beverage if we can work the schedule. Kind of a warm up for Emofest. Let me know if we can work that some late afternoon/early evening during the week. Trey Hi Trey - I'm working Monday & Friday of next week, but could get together any other day for lunch or supper. I don't know Garbulky's schedule, but I think he has an out of town trip planned soon. As to Garbulky's impressions of my system, they're interesting. Since my wife and I both prefer low-volume listening, and the Cornwalls "come alive" at lower volumes better than the DefTechs, I plan to keep the Cornwalls. I actually plan to keep the DefTechs also - Within two years we hope to downsize to a much smaller house. At that time, I'll probably let the monster Cornwalls find a new home & take the DefTechs out of the closet for the newer house. The DefTechs seriously need a touch of equalization/room-correction for their lower frequencies. Everyone I've read that reviewed them (or any other speaker in the DefTech Studio Monitor series) commented on how well they do with room correction. Therefore - Cornwalls for now (au-naturale in a 2.0 setting) and DefTechs later on with the XMC-1 for a 5.0 system. Thanks, THANKS, THANKS to all who have nagged, coached, insulted, mentored, and guided me through the last few months of audio-angst trying to sort my room & system out. I genuinely appreciate all the constructive criticism and useful information. It has created one of the most enjoyable systems I've ever owned. The last one I owned that sounded this good was in the 1970s. It was a Russel-Coco modified AR turntable with a Black Widow uni-pivot tone arm running a Denon 103S (Shibata stylus) phono cartridge through a pair of Sony step-up transformers into a (Boomzilla-modified) Dynaco PAS preamp into an Adcom GFA-1 power amplifier and a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10 loudspeakers. Sonic bliss... Anyway, I'm going to be spending a LOT more time listening and a lot less bothering youse guys on the Lounge. I already hear your multitude of sighs of relief... Happy listening - Boomzilla
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Post by brubacca on Jun 7, 2013 16:21:38 GMT -5
Since you have a USP-1, it is time to release that Vinyl again! Now you'll have something to tweak for the next year.
Seriously, Congrats on finding a system that you like. I am always amazed at how hard it is to make the whole thing come together.
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Post by Golden Ear on Jun 7, 2013 16:23:16 GMT -5
Garbulky, what kind of distortion like "hiss" sound?
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Post by garbulky on Jun 8, 2013 1:22:50 GMT -5
The distortion is a clipping sound. Like a poor quality amp that has run out of juice. Noticeable in Norah Jones "Don't know why" as well as others.
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Post by Dark Ranger on Jun 9, 2013 11:52:03 GMT -5
In other news: after troubleshooting my DAC distortion issue at 80 volume, we came to the conclusion that my XDA-1 is faulty in some way. We switched out everything A/Bing one by one. Passive pre-amps, pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, power cords, even two identical XDA-1's and the tube DAC. And yes, my specific XDA-1 - not his - is faulty. So, that's a perfect excuse for Mr. Garbulky's upgrade to an XDA-2! I enjoyed reading the review of each other's systems. Thanks for sharing with us. It's great to interact with others on a forum, but to do so in real life, that's a wonderful experience indeed.
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Post by garbulky on Jun 9, 2013 11:56:15 GMT -5
In other news: after troubleshooting my DAC distortion issue at 80 volume, we came to the conclusion that my XDA-1 is faulty in some way. We switched out everything A/Bing one by one. Passive pre-amps, pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, power cords, even two identical XDA-1's and the tube DAC. And yes, my specific XDA-1 - not his - is faulty. So, that's a perfect excuse for Mr. Garbulky's upgrade to an XDA-2! I enjoyed reading the review of each other's systems. Thanks for sharing with us. It's great to interact with others on a forum, but to do so in real life, that's a wonderful experience indeed. I agree DR!
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Post by garbulky on Jun 9, 2013 12:10:57 GMT -5
Mrs garbulky wrote a review of the system but I managed to lose it. I blame gremlins. I've been trying again but she is asleep now on the couch.
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Post by boomzilla on Jun 11, 2013 4:21:08 GMT -5
Hi Garbulky -
My music server is very similar to yours. My music files reside on an external hard drive. I use a MediaSonic RAID array running RAID-10. It has four two-terrabyte drives. Any single drive (or possibly even two drives) can fail at a time without data loss. Should a drive fail, I can hot-swap in a blank drive and the array will automatically rebuild the backup. I use AIFF (completely uncompressed) format which is very similar to WAV for a PC. The RAID array connects to my computer using a USB-2 connection.
My server computer is an Apple iMac. It runs iTunes. To get the iTunes music from the iMac to the living room is where the "magic" comes in. I have no ethernet cable from my computer room (in the back of the house) to my living room (it's an older house, and in-wall wiring is a pain to run). My wireless D-Link router (in the computer room) just isn't strong enough to reach the living room either. I therefore have turned OFF the wireless part of my computer room router. Instead, I've used a Hewlett-Packard solution called "Ethernet over AC." There is a modem plugged into a wall socket in the computer room. The modem has an ethernet connection. The iMac connects to the HP modem via an ethernet cable. The HP modem then sends a signal over the house Alternating Current (AC) 110-volt wiring. In the living room is another HP modem plugged into a wall socket. That modem communicates with the computer room modem over the house AC wiring. The living room modem outputs up to four or five ethernet cables.
In the living room, I have my Oppo Blu-Ray player connected to the internet via the HP modems. I also have my Apple Airport Express connected to the internet (and the iMac) via the HP modems. Think of the Airport Express as a wireless router with a TOSLINK digital audio output (and a stereo analog output, which I don't use). The Airport Express creates a 802.11g wireless network in the living room. The newer Airports create 802.11n, but my model is an older one.
The Airport Express wireless network allows the iPad (running Apple's free "Remote" software) to see the iMac copy of iTunes (and the music library) in the computer room. The iPad is therefore controlling iTunes on the iMac server computer in the computer room. When the iPad tells iTunes to play a selection, iTunes streams the music over the HP modems to the ethernet input of the Airport Express. The Express then outputs the music in TOSLINK format which goes to my DAC.
If all of this sounds complicated, it is. The bottom line, however, is that it works well. The music never has to stream over a wireless connection. It is all either ethernet or "ethernet over AC" from the computer to the DAC. This provides the most reliable streaming without any dropouts. Should you desire a graphic to better understand this system, just let me know - I'll draw one & post it for you.
The two best things about my system (that make it very different from the majority of computer-based server systems) are the RAID array (which prevents data loss) and the ethernet over AC implementation which allows computer data to be sent via a pair of AC power sockets and without running specialized computer cables. The MediaSonic RAID array box cost about $130 (not counting the drives) and the HP ethernet over AC cost about $120 (refurbished direct from HP).
Cordially - Boomzilla
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Post by garbulky on Jun 11, 2013 7:29:13 GMT -5
Hi Garbulky - My music server is very similar to yours. My music files reside on an external hard drive. I use a MediaSonic RAID array running RAID-10. It has four two-terrabyte drives. Any single drive (or possibly even two drives) can fail at a time without data loss. Should a drive fail, I can hot-swap in a blank drive and the array will automatically rebuild the backup. I use AIFF (completely uncompressed) format which is very similar to WAV for a PC. The RAID array connects to my computer using a USB-2 connection. My server computer is an Apple iMac. It runs iTunes. To get the iTunes music from the iMac to the living room is where the "magic" comes in. I have no ethernet cable from my computer room (in the back of the house) to my living room (it's an older house, and in-wall wiring is a pain to run). My wireless D-Link router (in the computer room) just isn't strong enough to reach the living room either. I therefore have turned OFF the wireless part of my computer room router. Instead, I've used a Hewlett-Packard solution called "Ethernet over AC." There is a modem plugged into a wall socket in the computer room. The modem has an ethernet connection. The iMac connects to the HP modem via an ethernet cable. The HP modem then sends a signal over the house Alternating Current (AC) 110-volt wiring. In the living room is another HP modem plugged into a wall socket. That modem communicates with the computer room modem over the house AC wiring. The living room modem outputs up to four or five ethernet cables. In the living room, I have my Oppo Blu-Ray player connected to the internet via the HP modems. I also have my Apple Airport Express connected to the internet (and the iMac) via the HP modems. Think of the Airport Express as a wireless router with a TOSLINK digital audio output (and a stereo analog output, which I don't use). The Airport Express creates a 802.11g wireless network in the living room. The newer Airports create 802.11n, but my model is an older one. The Airport Express wireless network allows the iPad (running Apple's free "Remote" software) to see the iMac copy of iTunes (and the music library) in the computer room. The iPad is therefore controlling iTunes on the iMac server computer in the computer room. When the iPad tells iTunes to play a selection, iTunes streams the music over the HP modems to the ethernet input of the Airport Express. The Express then outputs the music in TOSLINK format which goes to my DAC. If all of this sounds complicated, it is. The bottom line, however, is that it works well. The music never has to stream over a wireless connection. It is all either ethernet or "ethernet over AC" from the computer to the DAC. This provides the most reliable streaming without any dropouts. Should you desire a graphic to better understand this system, just let me know - I'll draw one & post it for you. The two best things about my system (that make it very different from the majority of computer-based server systems) are the RAID array (which prevents data loss) and the ethernet over AC implementation which allows computer data to be sent via a pair of AC power sockets and without running specialized computer cables. The MediaSonic RAID array box cost about $130 (not counting the drives) and the HP ethernet over AC cost about $120 (refurbished direct from HP). Hehe, it's very different from mine. Mine is simply a desktop connected to an external hard-drive. Well actually an internal hard drive that is made external via a converter. But now thanks to you I have a better interface than I used to have! Thanks for the explanation, I had heard of ethernet over AC but never actually seen one being used. So does the AC communication have to occur over the same circuit? How does it work? I assume it's some sort of HF noise piggybacking on the ac signal. Thanks for explaining it to me. Something I was wondering about....could that be contributing to the Dared hum?
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Post by boomzilla on Jun 11, 2013 7:42:22 GMT -5
Yes, the HP uses an radio frequency (RF) carrier piggybacking on the 60 Hz AC power sine wave. For that reason, I use RF filtering & "power conditioning" for the remainder of the audio system. It probably isn't necessary - today's electronics have their own RF filters, but it's cheap insurance.
No, the Dared hummed both before AND after the ethernet over AC was added. Also, the Dared hum is absolutely, positively NOT a grounding issue. It's got to be some kind of wire routing or shielding issue inside the chassis.
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Post by monkumonku on Jun 11, 2013 9:08:25 GMT -5
Hi Garbulky - My music server is very similar to yours. My music files reside on an external hard drive. I use a MediaSonic RAID array running RAID-10. It has four two-terrabyte drives. Any single drive (or possibly even two drives) can fail at a time without data loss. Should a drive fail, I can hot-swap in a blank drive and the array will automatically rebuild the backup. I use AIFF (completely uncompressed) format which is very similar to WAV for a PC. The RAID array connects to my computer using a USB-2 connection. My server computer is an Apple iMac. It runs iTunes. To get the iTunes music from the iMac to the living room is where the "magic" comes in. I have no ethernet cable from my computer room (in the back of the house) to my living room (it's an older house, and in-wall wiring is a pain to run). My wireless D-Link router (in the computer room) just isn't strong enough to reach the living room either. I therefore have turned OFF the wireless part of my computer room router. Instead, I've used a Hewlett-Packard solution called "Ethernet over AC." There is a modem plugged into a wall socket in the computer room. The modem has an ethernet connection. The iMac connects to the HP modem via an ethernet cable. The HP modem then sends a signal over the house Alternating Current (AC) 110-volt wiring. In the living room is another HP modem plugged into a wall socket. That modem communicates with the computer room modem over the house AC wiring. The living room modem outputs up to four or five ethernet cables. In the living room, I have my Oppo Blu-Ray player connected to the internet via the HP modems. I also have my Apple Airport Express connected to the internet (and the iMac) via the HP modems. Think of the Airport Express as a wireless router with a TOSLINK digital audio output (and a stereo analog output, which I don't use). The Airport Express creates a 802.11g wireless network in the living room. The newer Airports create 802.11n, but my model is an older one. The Airport Express wireless network allows the iPad (running Apple's free "Remote" software) to see the iMac copy of iTunes (and the music library) in the computer room. The iPad is therefore controlling iTunes on the iMac server computer in the computer room. When the iPad tells iTunes to play a selection, iTunes streams the music over the HP modems to the ethernet input of the Airport Express. The Express then outputs the music in TOSLINK format which goes to my DAC. If all of this sounds complicated, it is. The bottom line, however, is that it works well. The music never has to stream over a wireless connection. It is all either ethernet or "ethernet over AC" from the computer to the DAC. This provides the most reliable streaming without any dropouts. Should you desire a graphic to better understand this system, just let me know - I'll draw one & post it for you. The two best things about my system (that make it very different from the majority of computer-based server systems) are the RAID array (which prevents data loss) and the ethernet over AC implementation which allows computer data to be sent via a pair of AC power sockets and without running specialized computer cables. The MediaSonic RAID array box cost about $130 (not counting the drives) and the HP ethernet over AC cost about $120 (refurbished direct from HP). Hehe, it's very different from mine. Mine is simply a desktop connected to an external hard-drive. Well actually an internal hard drive that is made external via a converter. But now thanks to you I have a better interface than I used to have! Thanks for the explanation, I had heard of ethernet over AC but never actually seen one being used. So does the AC communication have to occur over the same circuit? How does it work? I assume it's some sort of HF noise piggybacking on the ac signal. Thanks for explaining it to me. Something I was wondering about....could that be contributing to the Dared hum? I stream .flac files via a Sonos system. The files reside on a Verbatim MediaShare "server" and are accessed the same way as Boomzilla's set up - ethernet over AC. It all works very well, and is better than the wireless connection I was previously using. The connection uses the wiring in the house to transmit information so whatever is on the same circuit is connected. I've never had any sort of hum or other issues.
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Post by garbulky on Feb 11, 2014 9:34:23 GMT -5
A short while ago I had the pleasure of paying another visit to our resident B'zilla's house. And as I always end up saying, everytime I show up, he's figured out how to improve his system. He had the deftec's back on the system with no sub. And connected to it was the XPR-2 with the source being an oppo 105. He found a new rack. And I thought his setup previously was aesthetically pleasing but he really out did himself. These racks were narrower and fit each component nearly perfectly. I wish I had a picture because I wish I could make my setup look so neat. I forgot the specifics of each detail but the basic idea is that he used an ipad to function as a remote for J-river which ran off a laptop (a PC!). The files are on a USB hard drive and is streamed over a wired ethernet router straight to the oppo. TThe wifi network for the remote for j-river was created using an apple airport express. So basically his improvement here is that the airport express is no longer a bottleneck for the system with its 48khz capabilities. The data is streamed now over a wired high speed connection uncompressed. Quite impressive. A massive projector screen drops down from the ceiling to watch youtube videos and blu rays as one wishes. The XPR-2 also made me realize that the front panel was not plastic as I assumed from the pictures but very thick metal. Anyway as to the sound. The deftechs do a very nice job in portraying a wide and deep soundstage and giving you a wraparound effect. It's better than what my system can do in terms of the largeness it portrays. The XPR-2 combined with the sabre dacs give a "refined" sound. It also is slightly laid back in a very relaxing sort of way. I heard a vocal CD of christmas voices which just appeared in the middle of the room and depth in the voices portrayed and was absolutely enjoyable in every way. I told him, that I think he had done it. The system was pretty ready as is. I would be satisfied with such a nice sound and I'm very picky about my sound. What his system does, it does right. And lot of other systems I've heard make the error of trying to do more than playing to its stregnths and therefore fall down by revealing issues in the sound that annoy. This system does not. It knows what it does right, and it simply does just that and quite well. A sense of balance if you will. Now he has a huge subwoofer as well as a set of Klipsch speakers. I have yet to hear his new setup! Hopefully more to come
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Post by pop on Feb 11, 2014 9:52:13 GMT -5
I am excited to hear his impression about his new sub too. I am also excited for you to hear it as well. It really is truly amazing, and I guarantee it's going to bring a whole new dimension to his system. Letting my subs carry the load has tripled my performance in my ERM6.3s. I really feel as if they rival 5k plus towers with better bass extension. I am beginning to wonder what might come alive in my speakers with XPA-1s powering them. Cheers.
I live in Austin, Texas not too far away from yall. Only a 6 hour drive.
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Post by garbulky on Feb 11, 2014 14:13:50 GMT -5
I am excited to hear his impression about his new sub too. I am also excited for you to hear it as well. It really is truly amazing, and I guarantee it's going to bring a whole new dimension to his system. Letting my subs carry the load has tripled my performance in my ERM6.3s. I really feel as if they rival 5k plus towers with better bass extension. I am beginning to wonder what might come alive in my speakers with XPA-1s powering them. Cheers. I live in Austin, Texas not too far away from yall. Only a 6 hour drive. I may be in Houston TX for a day next month. Unfortunately due to time constraints it will be impossible to do anything. If you do happen to swing by our way please feel free to drop me a line. I'd be glad to have you visit I doubt my system would be able to compete with yours but it'll still be fun.
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