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Post by garbulky on Feb 20, 2022 3:09:40 GMT -5
Yeah Andrew's wife is great in the reviews because she is SO FRANK. Like there is zero leeway given if it doesn't cut the mustard. Very refreshing. It's also funny that almost all the best sh*ttalk is done off camera to the side as Andrew listens. Kristi is a pistol, I think we know who wears the pants, LOL! If you have ever read her comments in the comment section, she can be a mean one, scratch your eyes out kind of gal, like most women. But, I actually listen for her take, Andrew only reviews stuff he likes, and Kristi is there to set him straight, they work good together. Her take on the KLH Model 5 speakers was spot on, even to go as far as stating it would be a better pick over their beloved Klipsch. Having heard the Klipsch myself, and seen the price tag, the KLH are a much nicer and better performing speaker to my ear and wallet, especially when fed healthy doses of power. She picked a winner! My favorite was when Andrew gushed about the Emotiva Bas-x A2 only to have Kristi spend a good part of the review talking about how she didn't care for the looks. Personally I think Emotiva gear looks fabulous and exactly the look I like. But still good to have frank opinions. |
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Post by fbczar on Feb 20, 2022 9:42:59 GMT -5
Great post. I never liked MIT with my equipment, maybe you have explained why. The highs were always somewhat dull with MIT. I have owned TDL Reference Standard speakers since the mid 1990’s. When I bought them I got two 15’ lengths of Mark Levinson 10 which is supposedly Litz cable. Very nice, superfine, supple cable. I plan to use it with a pair of Magnepan 3.7i’s if they are ever actually delivered. I use very short 10 gauge cables from my Emotiva XPA-1L amps now. I remember Fulton cable well. It seemed to be a favorite of Stereophile and Absolute Sound way back when. Thank you. I was very lucky as a young college brat to work at a couple of high-end audio stores that allowed me to meet a bunch of legends (and get gear cheap). Cool thing about Robert Fulton: he also played trumpet (started on cornet), and built church sound systems, both things we have (had) in common. FMI was an interesting company, too. He died too young after a really bad car crash, rear ended by a semi IIRC, but he actually died from cancer in the late 1980's, I think. Maybe 1988; I seem to recall he died the year I got my MG-IIIa's. In addition to his cables, I have one of his record mats someplace. He made some speakers that I heard once or twice but do not remember. I had totally forgotten about ML's speaker cables. They were in the mix of the test I mentioned earlier. One of the stores I worked for (as a tech, they knew better than to let me out of the shop -- usually) sold his gear and he brought several versions of his cable by for us to try. I honestly do not remember them. Nor do I remember much about the TDL RS; I have a vague memory of a big angular sort of box with transmission-line woofers on the sides and a line of drivers on a fairly narrow front baffle? I struggled mightily trying to decide on Magnepan 3.7i, 20.x (not sure the .7 was out then), and a couple of other speakers. I knew Roger Sanders when he was in GA, and now he actually lives only an hour or two from my home in CO, but I've only emailed and spoken on the phone with he and Angie a few years ago when I was thinking about his Model 10. I ultimately picked up a pair (and then a few more) Revel Salon2's and have been happy with them. The Maggies will be a big change from the TDLs... Sticking with short cables and amps right behind them is still a good plan IMO. Be prepared to spend some time dialing in placement; the back wave makes it interesting. I have normally killed (damped, absorbed) the back wave unless in a very large room. It takes away some of their "spaciousness" but the comb filtering drove me nuts ( a short drive). Small world - Don Here is a link to a photo of the TDL speakers: images.app.goo.gl/MmuFDyfXsiziAXrp9I owned Maggie’s back in the early 1980’s and always thought I would try them again. I like the idea of short cables too, but they will also be used for home theater so I thought they might need longer cables if I had to move them for music. We will see after I set them up. |
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Post by donh50 on Feb 20, 2022 12:02:07 GMT -5
Here is a link to a photo of the TDL speakers: images.app.goo.gl/MmuFDyfXsiziAXrp9I owned Maggie’s back in the early 1980’s and always thought I would try them again. I like the idea of short cables too, but they will also be used for home theater so I thought they might need longer cables if I had to move them for music. We will see after I set them up. Thanks, those are what I remembered, more or less. I did not remember the midrange was also transmission line loaded. I do not remember what they sounded like, not even sure where I saw them (maybe at CES). I heard Tympani's in the early 70's and bought a pair of used MG-I's in 1979. I built a servo sub (a novelty then) to go with them; still have it but replaced with commercial subs now. I graduated to MG-IIIa's in 1988 (literally, graduation gift from my wife and self after my master's degree). I almost got 20's then, no room for Tymps, but after the dealer set them up in the same room almost all of the differences evaporated. In my (smaller) room the 3's were perfect. At one point I built wheeled platforms (plywood squares on furniture rollers) to move them out to listen, then back out of the way in our narrow living room. I also taped together heavy black trash bags to protect them from the sun during the day as they were near windows and direct sunlight degrades the panels. Same problem most speakers have, but the Maggies have a big area exposed, and delamination was an issue back then -- I got to repair a lot of Maggies. Though many repairs were because of a fad of bypassing fuses, and big new (unreliable) SS amps, that led to a lot of blown tweeters and occasionally other panels. My Blaze Linear 700 was infamous for shorting the rail to the output and smoking speakers. But my ARC tube amp did it once when an output tube shorted, can't win. I went the other way; after owning Maggies for over 30 years (with a few other systems rolling through), I went back to conventional speakers for a change. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 20, 2022 19:22:31 GMT -5
My favorite was when Andrew gushed about the Emotiva Bas-x A2 only to have Kristi spend a good part of the review talking about how she didn't care for the looks. Personally I think Emotiva gear looks fabulous and exactly the look I like. But still good to have frank opinions. I agree with Kristi - I don't like the looks either. But I'm in the (usual) minority, so it is what it is.  |
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Post by localnet on Feb 20, 2022 20:27:05 GMT -5
My favorite was when Andrew gushed about the Emotiva Bas-x A2 only to have Kristi spend a good part of the review talking about how she didn't care for the looks. Personally I think Emotiva gear looks fabulous and exactly the look I like. But still good to have frank opinions. I agree with Kristi - I don't like the looks either. But I'm in the (usual) minority, so it is what it is. I'm in the same camp too... Getting tired of the black gear and blue lights. I just tore all of that stuff out, two XPA amps, the Denon AVR, etc. |
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hemster
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Post by hemster on Feb 20, 2022 21:31:37 GMT -5
My favorite was when Andrew gushed about the Emotiva Bas-x A2 only to have Kristi spend a good part of the review talking about how she didn't care for the looks. Personally I think Emotiva gear looks fabulous and exactly the look I like. But still good to have frank opinions. I agree with Kristi - I don't like the looks either. But I'm in the (usual) minority, so it is what it is.  All my gear is in a cabinet so I don't spend time obsessing over looks. Life's too short! I'd rather spend the time enjoying some tunes!  |
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Post by rbk123 on Feb 20, 2022 22:03:21 GMT -5
My favorite was when Andrew.... Pretty sure Andrew and Wil Wheaton are twins separated at birth... |
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Post by localnet on Feb 20, 2022 23:20:40 GMT -5
I agree with Kristi - I don't like the looks either. But I'm in the (usual) minority, so it is what it is. All my gear is in a cabinet so I don't spend time obsessing over looks. Life's too short! I'd rather spend the time enjoying some tunes! Unfortunately I do not have that option. But I did downsize tremendously, as you can see by my signature, two pieces of audio gear, and of course the two subs and two speakers. |
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