Post by monkumonku on May 27, 2013 23:53:57 GMT -5
I finally had the time this Memorial Day weekend to dial in my Xref subs with the three Stealth 8's and pair of Airmotiv 5's I recently purchased, so here's the review:
I'm using the Stealths as L/C/R across the front, and the Airmotiv 5's as rear surrounds. They're crossed over to 3 Xref subs, 2 12" and 1 10"for both stereo and 5-channel playback.
Why use subs with the Stealths in stereo? Because their location in the room has some bass frequency issues.
The Stealths are on 9" hardwood stands that were custom-made by GWiz Products in Pennsylvania. I found out about them from another Lounge member, Flyhigh. He was very helpful when I asked him some questions about the company. The stands themselves are of excellent quality and I have no hesitation recommending them. They're made by veterans and the only "drawback" is waiting for them to be produced since they're all custom-made. I have the Stealths toed in directly at me in my main seat. 9" sounds low, but that was in consideration of the center channel, which is below the TV, and Lonnie strongly recommended having the fronts at all the same height (excellent recommendation). The stands have a 1" tilt and for all intents and purposes, the tweeters pretty much are aimed at my ears (yes, I'm short, I know...). The L/R are 82" apart from the center of one to the center of the other, and the fronts are 48" from the wall. My chair is 10' from each speaker. So it's not an equilateral triangle but it will have to do. Connections are via XLR's from Monoprice.
Two-channel music was courtesy of my Sonos box (44.1 kHz flac files) connected via coax cable to an XDA-2, and that connected via balanced XLR's to the XSP-1. Multi-channel was via an Oppo 83 HDMI output to the UMC-1, and the subs and L/R outputs connected to the XSP-1, switched to HT bypass.
After dialing in the subs, the settings on the XSP-1 were in bass management mode, with the lo pass at 1:00 on the dial and the hi pass at 12:00. The Stealths gain was set at +6 and everything else set flat; the Airmotiv's volume control was turned all the way up.
So... stereo listening... I listened to a variety of tracks that I am familiar with. Prior to this I was using OMD 28's that I said I would keep for a long long time until they didn't work any more... we'll just gloss over that for now.. ;D and power was from a pair of XPA-1's.
How do the Stealths compare to the OMD 28's? Different sound signatures, but both are excellent. The Stealths have a very much in the room, up-front character, lots of detail and great imaging. They do an excellent job of picking up the atmosphere of the recording. The OMD's are omnipolar, so they give an impression of the sound being spread across the wall, and also a "big" sound. With the Stealths, I feel like I am in the front row and the OMD's are more in towards the middle - sort of like the difference between Grado and Sennheiser headphones (but Grado's can be very bright and can also get harsh at times - not so with the Stealths).
Because they are so detailed and have a forward character, one might think the Stealths could be fatiguing but they are not. Nope. The ribbon tweeters are beautiful. Lots of detail - every little nuance in the voice and breathing comes out, as do the fingers on the guitar strings, etc., but very natural and not harsh at all. They handle sibilance well - you can hear it but it doesn't come across as overly hissy.
Some vocals sound absolutely amazing through the Stealths, like the singer is right there in the room. They do a good job on male and female vocals, and instruments as well. Gregory Porter's voice on "On My Way to Harlem" (from "Be Good") is extraordinarily lifelike. Diana Krall's vocal on "Danny Boy" (Chieftain's "Tears of Stone" CD) is soulful and you can hear every little detail in her voice. Dave Grusin's piano on the title track from The Firm original soundtrack CD is fabulous - the bite and also the bass from the piano comes across very convincingly. Dala's "Horses" from the Emotiva sampler CD has gorgeous vocals. They sound good loud, too (well, "loud" for me which may not be all that loud for some of you, but for me it's loud). The guitars in Santana's "Europa" and Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker"/"Living Loving Maid" are splendid. James Taylor's voice can be problematical as often it comes across too nasal on some speakers or too artificial but on his duet with Natalie Cole on "Baby It's Cold Outside" from his Christmas CD, his voice is very natural and lifelike.
Anyway, I listened to many well-recorded tracks and the Stealths handled them beautifully. Are they better than the OMD 28's? Can't really say, and that's because the characters are so different. The 28's have a big, full sound that also reflects their omnipolar configuration whereas the Stealths reveal every nuance and have a more forward sound. Also, the 28's are 46.5" tall with the tweeter on top and the midrange right under it so the soundstage is quite different height-wise, too, compared to Stealths on 9" stands (25" total height). But given a choice, I'd take the Stealths because I like the lower profile and the built-in amps save me some real estate that was previously taken up by a pair of XPA-1's and an XPA-3. Mrs. Monku much prefers the Stealths. To her they all sound the same but she never did like the "monuments" as she calls them.
Multi-channel: First SACD I played was Pink Floyd's DSOTM, track #6, "Money." Wow, that sounded great. All I can say is wowzers. ;D
Didn't do that much multi-channel stuff. I always watch a couple of scenes from Kill Bill when evaluating movie sound: the scene in which Uma Thurman visits Sonny Chiba's sushi restaurant, and a subsequent scene in which Uma Thurman battles Go Go Yubari. Again, wowzers, sound was so crisp and clean. The OMD C2 center is excellent and the best I had ever used but the Stealth 8 in the middle is just as good. Having the 8's across the front all at the same height made for a very convincing show during these two scenes. By the way, the Airmotiv 5's are no slouches either. Again, different character from the omnipolar OMD 5's; I like them both. The Airmotiv's give more direct sound, though, which some people may not like as they prefer more diffused surround rear channel sound but to me it doesn't matter.
I watched Joss Stone's rendition of "People Get Ready" from Jeff Beck's "Live at Ronnie Scott's" BD. Beautiful (well, her plus the sound). It's like she is right out in front of the speakers. All the instruments were crisp and clean, every note in the bass line from the amazing young woman bassist distinct with just the right timbre, courtesy of the Xref's.
The other music track I watched was from Lee Ritenour's "Overtime" BD, his rendition of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." I think this is an exceptionally well-recorded disc and it comes across sounding fantastic through the Stealths and Airmotiv's.
In summary, if anyone is on the fence about the Stealth 8's, just jump down and buy them. You have a 30 day trial period so the only "cost" would be return shipping if you decide not to keep them but I doubt you'll be sending them back. These are marvelous speakers. So much detail and not at all fatiguing. I can't think of any shortcomings except they don't have grills so you have to be careful if little ones or drunken fools are around.
I'd say they fit the description of studio monitors because they are so revealing - reproducing the sound in a realistic and natural manner. $1,500 a pair that includes separate 200 watt amps for the tweeter and woofer in each speaker is a bargain price for something this good.
I'm using the Stealths as L/C/R across the front, and the Airmotiv 5's as rear surrounds. They're crossed over to 3 Xref subs, 2 12" and 1 10"for both stereo and 5-channel playback.
Why use subs with the Stealths in stereo? Because their location in the room has some bass frequency issues.
The Stealths are on 9" hardwood stands that were custom-made by GWiz Products in Pennsylvania. I found out about them from another Lounge member, Flyhigh. He was very helpful when I asked him some questions about the company. The stands themselves are of excellent quality and I have no hesitation recommending them. They're made by veterans and the only "drawback" is waiting for them to be produced since they're all custom-made. I have the Stealths toed in directly at me in my main seat. 9" sounds low, but that was in consideration of the center channel, which is below the TV, and Lonnie strongly recommended having the fronts at all the same height (excellent recommendation). The stands have a 1" tilt and for all intents and purposes, the tweeters pretty much are aimed at my ears (yes, I'm short, I know...). The L/R are 82" apart from the center of one to the center of the other, and the fronts are 48" from the wall. My chair is 10' from each speaker. So it's not an equilateral triangle but it will have to do. Connections are via XLR's from Monoprice.
Two-channel music was courtesy of my Sonos box (44.1 kHz flac files) connected via coax cable to an XDA-2, and that connected via balanced XLR's to the XSP-1. Multi-channel was via an Oppo 83 HDMI output to the UMC-1, and the subs and L/R outputs connected to the XSP-1, switched to HT bypass.
After dialing in the subs, the settings on the XSP-1 were in bass management mode, with the lo pass at 1:00 on the dial and the hi pass at 12:00. The Stealths gain was set at +6 and everything else set flat; the Airmotiv's volume control was turned all the way up.
So... stereo listening... I listened to a variety of tracks that I am familiar with. Prior to this I was using OMD 28's that I said I would keep for a long long time until they didn't work any more... we'll just gloss over that for now.. ;D and power was from a pair of XPA-1's.
How do the Stealths compare to the OMD 28's? Different sound signatures, but both are excellent. The Stealths have a very much in the room, up-front character, lots of detail and great imaging. They do an excellent job of picking up the atmosphere of the recording. The OMD's are omnipolar, so they give an impression of the sound being spread across the wall, and also a "big" sound. With the Stealths, I feel like I am in the front row and the OMD's are more in towards the middle - sort of like the difference between Grado and Sennheiser headphones (but Grado's can be very bright and can also get harsh at times - not so with the Stealths).
Because they are so detailed and have a forward character, one might think the Stealths could be fatiguing but they are not. Nope. The ribbon tweeters are beautiful. Lots of detail - every little nuance in the voice and breathing comes out, as do the fingers on the guitar strings, etc., but very natural and not harsh at all. They handle sibilance well - you can hear it but it doesn't come across as overly hissy.
Some vocals sound absolutely amazing through the Stealths, like the singer is right there in the room. They do a good job on male and female vocals, and instruments as well. Gregory Porter's voice on "On My Way to Harlem" (from "Be Good") is extraordinarily lifelike. Diana Krall's vocal on "Danny Boy" (Chieftain's "Tears of Stone" CD) is soulful and you can hear every little detail in her voice. Dave Grusin's piano on the title track from The Firm original soundtrack CD is fabulous - the bite and also the bass from the piano comes across very convincingly. Dala's "Horses" from the Emotiva sampler CD has gorgeous vocals. They sound good loud, too (well, "loud" for me which may not be all that loud for some of you, but for me it's loud). The guitars in Santana's "Europa" and Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker"/"Living Loving Maid" are splendid. James Taylor's voice can be problematical as often it comes across too nasal on some speakers or too artificial but on his duet with Natalie Cole on "Baby It's Cold Outside" from his Christmas CD, his voice is very natural and lifelike.
Anyway, I listened to many well-recorded tracks and the Stealths handled them beautifully. Are they better than the OMD 28's? Can't really say, and that's because the characters are so different. The 28's have a big, full sound that also reflects their omnipolar configuration whereas the Stealths reveal every nuance and have a more forward sound. Also, the 28's are 46.5" tall with the tweeter on top and the midrange right under it so the soundstage is quite different height-wise, too, compared to Stealths on 9" stands (25" total height). But given a choice, I'd take the Stealths because I like the lower profile and the built-in amps save me some real estate that was previously taken up by a pair of XPA-1's and an XPA-3. Mrs. Monku much prefers the Stealths. To her they all sound the same but she never did like the "monuments" as she calls them.
Multi-channel: First SACD I played was Pink Floyd's DSOTM, track #6, "Money." Wow, that sounded great. All I can say is wowzers. ;D
Didn't do that much multi-channel stuff. I always watch a couple of scenes from Kill Bill when evaluating movie sound: the scene in which Uma Thurman visits Sonny Chiba's sushi restaurant, and a subsequent scene in which Uma Thurman battles Go Go Yubari. Again, wowzers, sound was so crisp and clean. The OMD C2 center is excellent and the best I had ever used but the Stealth 8 in the middle is just as good. Having the 8's across the front all at the same height made for a very convincing show during these two scenes. By the way, the Airmotiv 5's are no slouches either. Again, different character from the omnipolar OMD 5's; I like them both. The Airmotiv's give more direct sound, though, which some people may not like as they prefer more diffused surround rear channel sound but to me it doesn't matter.
I watched Joss Stone's rendition of "People Get Ready" from Jeff Beck's "Live at Ronnie Scott's" BD. Beautiful (well, her plus the sound). It's like she is right out in front of the speakers. All the instruments were crisp and clean, every note in the bass line from the amazing young woman bassist distinct with just the right timbre, courtesy of the Xref's.
The other music track I watched was from Lee Ritenour's "Overtime" BD, his rendition of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." I think this is an exceptionally well-recorded disc and it comes across sounding fantastic through the Stealths and Airmotiv's.
In summary, if anyone is on the fence about the Stealth 8's, just jump down and buy them. You have a 30 day trial period so the only "cost" would be return shipping if you decide not to keep them but I doubt you'll be sending them back. These are marvelous speakers. So much detail and not at all fatiguing. I can't think of any shortcomings except they don't have grills so you have to be careful if little ones or drunken fools are around.
I'd say they fit the description of studio monitors because they are so revealing - reproducing the sound in a realistic and natural manner. $1,500 a pair that includes separate 200 watt amps for the tweeter and woofer in each speaker is a bargain price for something this good. 
