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Post by mack71 on Jun 29, 2018 19:05:41 GMT -5
You will be very happy with Xpa1 gen 2. I had for 2 months DI was better with Xpa1 than with Xpr1. Ulfberhts is a higher league. They're On The Way! My set has been shipped -- 4 and a half weeks after order. Let's hear it for Emotiva -- beating its shipping estimate by two weeks and more. Have got a set of Tekton Double Impacts all tuned and ready to sing with the XPAs. We'll see how much better they sound over the XPA-1Ls that has been feeding them for a year. Will not be offering the 1Ls for sale -- they're too good and there is no reason not to have a spare set of monos in the garage... ...now if I can keep from ordering the new Tekton Ulfberhts to take advantage of the XPAs 1000 watts... |
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Post by craigl59 on Jun 29, 2018 19:44:45 GMT -5
mack71:
Have you heard the Ulfberhts? The reviews are limited as are, apparently, sales. Listen mostly to large orchestral textures and, so, am intrigued by the power handling capabilities and, supposedly, effortless full range and huge soundstage.
Think it was a mistake for Terry London to review the Ulfberhts as he was so closely associated with the DIs. This gave the impression that he was the official voice of Tekton. A thread that discussed this in part was removed from Audiogon after it became excessive in many ways.
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Post by milt99 on Jun 29, 2018 19:45:55 GMT -5
They're On The Way! My set has been shipped -- 4 and a half weeks after order. Let's hear it for Emotiva -- beating its shipping estimate by two weeks and more. Have got a set of Tekton Double Impacts all tuned and ready to sing with the XPAs. We'll see how much better they sound over the XPA-1Ls that has been feeding them for a year. Will not be offering the 1Ls for sale -- they're too good and there is no reason not to have a spare set of monos in the garage... ...now if I can keep from ordering the new Tekton Ulfberhts to take advantage of the XPAs 1000 watts... Me too. I also have a pair of XPA-1Ls and as stated earlier, I will be bi-amping my Revels. Used XPA-1Ls for sale are as rare as Hen's Teeth as my Mom would say. Now I have to get my ass in gear and finish the floor in my living room. |
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Post by counterpoint on Jun 29, 2018 20:48:40 GMT -5
They're On The Way! My set has been shipped -- 4 and a half weeks after order. Let's hear it for Emotiva -- beating its shipping estimate by two weeks and more. Have got a set of Tekton Double Impacts all tuned and ready to sing with the XPAs. We'll see how much better they sound over the XPA-1Ls that has been feeding them for a year. Will not be offering the 1Ls for sale -- they're too good and there is no reason not to have a spare set of monos in the garage... ...now if I can keep from ordering the new Tekton Ulfberhts to take advantage of the XPAs 1000 watts... Me too!  I was expecting them to ship in the 2nd week of July. Now I need to hurry up and get a bigger equipment rack. I also want some more musical main towers so I'll be saving up for some Salk Soundscape 8s or Philharmonic 3s. Although, I may need a bigger house first.  |
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Post by rbk123 on Jun 29, 2018 21:38:15 GMT -5
...now if I can keep from ordering the new Tekton Ulfberhts I'm thinking he missed a couple of spots where he could have put some more tweeters.. |
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Post by craigl59 on Jun 29, 2018 22:13:55 GMT -5
rbk123
Yep. lots of tweeters -- but I'm listening to the DIs now and they do a superb job of handling the upper mid-range with incredible speed and accuracy. Think this (low) tweeter array with the super tweeter in the middle has value and might be duplicated, as in the Ulfberhts, with success.
HOWEVER...
..would love to hear from someone disassociated with Tekton who has heard the Ulfberhts -- for an extended period.
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Post by leonski on Jun 29, 2018 23:32:38 GMT -5
mack71: Have you heard the Ulfberhts? The reviews are limited as are, apparently, sales. Listen mostly to large orchestral textures and, so, am intrigued by the power handling capabilities and, supposedly, effortless full range and huge soundstage. Think it was a mistake for Terry London to review the Ulfberhts as he was so closely associated with the DIs. This gave the impression that he was the official voice of Tekton. A thread that discussed this in part was removed from Audiogon after it became excessive in many ways. With 99db sensitive speakers, I don't see how 'power handling', if I understand you to mean one of the big EMO monoblocks, could possibly matter. The Pass XA60.8 which probably has between 3db and 6db of A/B headroom should be plenty. And run essentialy without EVER 'leaving class-A'. There might be some OTHER technical problems with speakers with what I count as 15 tweeters, NOT in a line-array. |
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Post by DavidR on Jun 30, 2018 0:22:06 GMT -5
mack71: Have you heard the Ulfberhts? The reviews are limited as are, apparently, sales. Listen mostly to large orchestral textures and, so, am intrigued by the power handling capabilities and, supposedly, effortless full range and huge soundstage. Think it was a mistake for Terry London to review the Ulfberhts as he was so closely associated with the DIs. This gave the impression that he was the official voice of Tekton. A thread that discussed this in part was removed from Audiogon after it became excessive in many ways. With 99db sensitive speakers, I don't see how 'power handling', if I understand you to mean one of the big EMO monoblocks, could possibly matter. The Pass XA60.8 which probably has between 3db and 6db of A/B headroom should be plenty. And run essentialy without EVER 'leaving class-A'. There might be some OTHER technical problems with speakers with what I count as 15 tweeters, NOT in a line-array. Exactly. Why so many drivers? If you have a good tweeter you should only need one. |
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Post by craigl59 on Jun 30, 2018 0:30:47 GMT -5
leonski:
There are 3 actual "tweeters" in the Ulfberht and they are arranged in a line array. The two outer ones (= one high, one low) are surrounded by "subtweeted" circular arrays handling, mostly upper midrange frequencies. The result is completely coherent and the sub tweeters are phased properly to avoid any conflict. It is similar to the old idea of a mid-range speaker with a tweeter mounted in the middle.
The 21 drivers total a power handling capacity of 1000 watts; this is why the users I have talked with so far are using large SS amps and find that, despite the high sensitivity, a large amount of reserve power can kick in. Know this is the case with the Double Impacts -- I am driving them with 500 watts and the XPA-1L leaves class A after 30. Terry London claims his set of Ulfberhts works great with the 50 watts of the Pass Labs XA25 and this supports the more moderate needs you describe.
Regardless, before deciding on these very large speakers, am trying to find as many who have heard them as possible to get their critical response. Let me know if you hear of any and thanks for the info.
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Post by leonski on Jun 30, 2018 0:52:12 GMT -5
I read up a LITTLE and they use Eminence woofers and I think SEAS tweeters. Good start material
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Post by milt99 on Jun 30, 2018 13:49:36 GMT -5
Umm, is this a XPA-1 Gen 2 thread or a Tekton Ulfberht thread?
Just sayin'...
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Post by craigl59 on Jun 30, 2018 16:50:32 GMT -5
milt99
Right you are.
So on other audiophile sites there is rather a lot of talk about getting improved performance from changing fuses and/or reversing their direction.
So...
...is there a fuse(s) in the XPA-1 and has anyone changed or reversed it to good effect?
My suspicious nature makes me think this is even more of a boondoggle than some of the uber-expensive cable interconnects.
But, who knows?
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Post by monkumonku on Jun 30, 2018 17:03:45 GMT -5
milt99 Right you are. So on other audiophile sites there is rather a lot of talk about getting improved performance from changing fuses and/or reversing their direction. So... ...is there a fuse(s) in the XPA-1 and has anyone changed or reversed it to good effect? My suspicious nature makes me think this is even more of a boondoggle than some of the uber-expensive cable interconnects. But, who knows? There's only one definitive way to answer your question - shell out your own hard-earned money and decide for yourself. Anything else is hearsay.  |
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Post by milt99 on Jun 30, 2018 18:29:37 GMT -5
milt99 Right you are. So on other audiophile sites there is rather a lot of talk about getting improved performance from changing fuses and/or reversing their direction. So... ...is there a fuse(s) in the XPA-1 and has anyone changed or reversed it to good effect? My suspicious nature makes me think this is even more of a boondoggle than some of the uber-expensive cable interconnects. But, who knows? There's only one definitive way to answer your question - shell out your own hard-earned money and decide for yourself. Anything else is hearsay. I have never explored the fuse thing. I'm thinking that the Emotiva amps use a relay or some other protection circuitry than a fuse. Some of those fuses reach stratospheric prices. Like anything else in and out of Audio, you can spend as much money as you have on anything. I first learned that when I looked at my father-in-law's Orvis catalog back in the early 90's. |
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Post by monkumonku on Jun 30, 2018 21:27:23 GMT -5
There's only one definitive way to answer your question - shell out your own hard-earned money and decide for yourself. Anything else is hearsay. I have never explored the fuse thing. I'm thinking that the Emotiva amps use a relay or some other protection circuitry than a fuse. Some of those fuses reach stratospheric prices. Like anything else in and out of Audio, you can spend as much money as you have on anything. I first learned that when I looked at my father-in-law's Orvis catalog back in the early 90's. I believe the XPA-1's use a fuse. I think all the Emo amps do. Personally, the idea that fuses change the character of the sound is a bunch of nonsense. |
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Post by leonski on Jul 1, 2018 1:50:34 GMT -5
A 'filled' ceramic fuse is a good compromise between stock and Off-Scale $$$
In the world of Magnepan, the fix is to simply REMOVE the fuse and holder from the circuit altogether.
Reducing the number of connections and amount of wire is almost always a PLUS.
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Post by donh50 on Jul 1, 2018 9:49:40 GMT -5
I spent decades in the World of Magnepan as an owner and repair tech at a couple of local dealers. Lost count of the number of tweeters I got to replace (and some midrange panels) due to people removing or hard-wiring the fuses. Good for business, but I am not sure I recall of anybody who could tell in a blind test (not even DBT) if the fuse was in circuit or a piece of copper bus bar I kept around to demo. Thinking back, I am not sure I ever tried reversing the orientation of the bus bar, however...
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Post by craigl59 on Jul 1, 2018 11:21:43 GMT -5
leonski:
Like the idea of the ceramic filled fuse to use as a test. Used to just scoff at these seemingly unscientific approaches but recently have tweaked two fairly heavy loudspeakers with Herbie's Loudspeaker feet. The cost is reasonable (about $65 a speaker) and the improvement was surprisingly strong -- the bass became better controlled and more realistic and the soundstage improved significantly. So my experience has been that it is good to keep an open mind.
For me the difference between the Herbies option and the much more expensive Star Sound Sistrum Apprentice platforms (about a grand for 2) is the difference between "sense" and "nonsense."
A good number of audiophiles are using Herbie-type isolators to support amplifiers (and DACs, and pres, and all other boxes). Cannot fathom a scientific rationale for this but, as above, wonder if anyone has tried such isolators with the XPA-1 to good effect? Already have your answer, Monkumonku, no need to repeat.
donh50:
Have an unused set of MMGs (replaced by Emotiva T1s) that is just sitting idle. I like to experiment for fun and don't mind mistakes. Got any ideas that would make this 10-year old set more worthwhile? Enjoyed your comments about fuses and thanks for the response.
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Post by leonski on Jul 1, 2018 12:46:10 GMT -5
I spent decades in the World of Magnepan as an owner and repair tech at a couple of local dealers. Lost count of the number of tweeters I got to replace (and some midrange panels) due to people removing or hard-wiring the fuses. Good for business, but I am not sure I recall of anybody who could tell in a blind test (not even DBT) if the fuse was in circuit or a piece of copper bus bar I kept around to demo. Thinking back, I am not sure I ever tried reversing the orientation of the bus bar, however... DBT is one of the REAL Hot Button issues in hifi. I've suggested same and been blasted. As it turns out, arranging such a test and getting statistically valid results out of it is staggeringly difficult. As far as I know, IF you never have blown a fuse on your panels, you should be OK removing it. As for the tweeter? I'm assuming you mean the ribbon? Yes, the ribbon is mechanically fragile. But in 'Maggie Lore', the fuse doesnt' help. A strong gust of wind can take out the tweeter. That's why panels come with ribbon protectors for shipment. Due to abuse, I regularly popped the 1 1/2 amp fuse in my MG-1s. But have NEVER popped the fuse in my 1.6s. That's a 4 amp fast blow. And I'm running a LOT more power these days. People that destroy panels are those who don't realize they DO have power limits. Or run amps well into clipping, or are insensitive to mylar slap. The real problems with older panels is Delam caused by that weird 3M77Glue used. The newer 'flat wire' as in QR (Quasi Ribbon) really helps as did a change in glue. I've seen setups with outrageous amounts of power run within limits and cleanly. No problems. |
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Post by mack71 on Jul 1, 2018 16:01:47 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to listen directly, I rely on a few opinions, but I do not doubt that Eric has created great speakers. However, it seems to me that at this price there is a large selection of excellent speakers - it's a matter of taste, preferences, a large room and the rest of the system that will accompany them. mack71: Have you heard the Ulfberhts? The reviews are limited as are, apparently, sales. Listen mostly to large orchestral textures and, so, am intrigued by the power handling capabilities and, supposedly, effortless full range and huge soundstage. Think it was a mistake for Terry London to review the Ulfberhts as he was so closely associated with the DIs. This gave the impression that he was the official voice of Tekton. A thread that discussed this in part was removed from Audiogon after it became excessive in many ways. |
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They're On The Way!
I was expecting them to ship in the 2nd week of July. Now I need to hurry up and get a bigger equipment rack. I also want some more musical main towers so I'll be saving up for some Salk Soundscape 8s or Philharmonic 3s. Although, I may need a bigger house first. 
