USP-1 Review/Comparison

[stuofsci02]

VisN,

I am very glad the USP-1 helped out! I thought that it might. I can't imagine a better preamp for anywhere near the price.

As for the CM7, they may start to become harder to find. Now they have been replaced by the CM8 about 2 months ago. Before really looking for the CM7 hard you might want to listen to the CM8. If you don't find it a worthwhile improvement to the 683, I would not suggest the time and effort to find the CM7s.

I do think they are substantially better then the 683 for music. If I had the money when I got my 683s I would have opted for the CM7.

Cheers,

Stuart

[Erwin.BE]

VisN,

I just want to confirm that the CM7 are indeed wonderful speakers. But keep in mind that these only have one 165 mm woofer where the 683 has two of those. I did compare them back to back in the shop and the CM7 was much more refined. And since it was the LR in my 5.1 setup, the lack of deep bass or scale didn't matter since I have the REL SW.

You should consider adding some carpets to your room or perhaps some designer baffles suspended from the ceiling. The thought of your tiled floor gives me the shivers. But I suppose your warm climate favours the craving for cold hard surfaces, LOL. I am building myself and I love clean lines (Bauhaus). But I will be integrating sleek sound absorption zones into the drywall cladding.

[stuofsci02]

Jan 6, 2011 7:01:35 GMT -5 Erwin.BE said:

VisN,

I just want to confirm that the CM7 are indeed wonderful speakers. But keep in mind that these only have one 165 mm woofer where the 683 has two of those. I did compare them back to back in the shop and the CM7 was much more refined. And since it was the LR in my 5.1 setup, the lack of deep bass or scale didn't matter since I have the REL SW.

You should consider adding some carpets to your room or perhaps some designer baffles suspended from the ceiling. The thought of your tiled floor gives me the shivers. But I suppose your warm climate favours the craving for cold hard surfaces, LOL. I am building myself and I love clean lines (Bauhaus). But I will be integrating sleek sound absorption zones into the drywall cladding.

I didn't realize you had CM7 also, although I now see in your sig CM speakers. How do you like them compared to your other speakers?

[VisN]

Erwin,

Thanks for the CM7 endorsement, I might be able to source a used pair for about R2500 ($350) more than a 683. Yes we are blessed with warm weather for most of the year and the tiled floors help a great deal in coping with the warmer weather. I'm also a huge fan of the clean uncluttered look though I do have a rug on the floor of the listening area.

Accurate, tight, refined bass suits me fine since the one thing I find really disconcerting is any kind of bass bloat. It is for this reason that I've never used a sub. I did buy a REL once but returned it after 2 days because the bass just didn't integrate and became a bit too noticable. In hindsight I realise that I did not set it up correctly. I have a cheap Velodyne sub at the moment but I've not used it at all.

[Pauly]

Uh oh, I can see a full Rythmik sub pimping very shortly if a certain somebody notices that post lol.

[VisN]

Well Pauly I'm prepared to enterntrain anybody's reccomendations.