Tyler Acoustics Taylo 7u

BlueFox

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

A full Clarity MR upgrade? $1,800 in caps alone... the extra binding post bring it up another 400...

I spent another 1,000 on mine and the difference is well beyond Wilson Audio Sophia range - only speaker my auditory memory has heard better is the Alexandria.

That is interesting. Especially since I have been looking into making the jump to "better" gear, and the Wilson Sophia 3 is what I am looking at for being the first part.

Of course, I guess I could mod the Sophia and make it compete at the $30K to $50K level. :biggrin:

If I understand the Wilson literature correctly they have an access panel on the back to allow for cross over resistor changes. So, they either believe in mods, or it is for more of a room tuning thing. I am still researching this.

VR3

Wilson Audio en-capsules their crossovers in a resin to reduce resonances. You can't upgrade them your self, my understanding.

I can tell you a set of Tyler's modded which if you acquire them used will not cost anywhere near a Sophia will sound as good if not better and not to mention be a hell of a lot easier to place in a room.

bopicasso

Im a sucker for a good deal. I think the 1k I spent on the tyler acoustics taylo 7u w/ 8' biwired speaker cables was a hell of a deal. If they do not impress me over my dynaudios, I will in turn sell them for a profit.
Upgrading the cross overs is something that does not interest me. I do appreciate the advise though. I am not one to tinker, if the gear doesnt suite me then it is time to buy something else that does.

george daniel

Trey,, I recall the thread you posted sometime ago,, IIRC the crossovers are secured to the inside of the speaker,, not on a board per say,, so I'm guessing it was very difficult to do? I'm thinking about upgrading my 7U crossovers,,but,IIRC you made a seperate "outboard" box for yours,,yes?

treitz3

Russman, I believe that you are out of line. Yes, the speakers are slmmin' stock. Will they satisfy the owner for countless hours on end? Yes. Are the speakers perfectly fine just leaving them stock? You bet. Does one NEED to upgrade? Absolutely not.

That said, if you want to bring your listening experience to the next level? Upgrading the crossovers is definitely a must, especially with Tyler Acoustic speakers, as they respond very well to upgrades. Now Trey also added No-Rez lining, diffraction-be-gone and put a tile slab under the speaker to his setup but the difference between the stock speakers and the upgraded speakers would be IMO a 22-25% or more jump in sonic performance. Not just squeaking the last 4-5% out, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on cables or other tweaks to collectively offer you that last 4-5%.

Trey spent $1,000.00. He now has brought his speakers to the multiple thousand to the multiple tens of thousands of dollar speaker category. All due respect, I don't think you need to ask me how many speakers I have heard....at any price point. I'm more than qualified to offer my observations. That said, it's just not the kid who touts the sonic changes. All of those who have had the pleasure of observing Trey's rig after the upgrades unanimously agree.

I'll offer you a review I have written about on another forum I frequent....

" While I have not heard the Tyler Acoustics Woodmere yet, I do own a pair of Tyler Acoustics Linbrooks, Signature Series. A buddy of mine has the super towers.

We both have had [basically] the same type of rig running up until recently. The main difference is that he uses SS amplification while I run primarily all tubed gear. Generally, in the past, no matter the gear we ran, it all boiled down to basically just a different flavor of a sonic signature. Nothing so dramatic that you would like one rig more than the other, just different flavors.

Oh, my manners....welcome to the forum.

I will tell you this. The Woodmere's are on my short list of things to own and when I get them, they will be my last speaker. I am a big fan of the Seas Millennium Tweeter [which is in the Linbrooks]. One step down, or "up" if you judge by price only, is the Revelator tweeter. That tweeter was in my last set of Tyler Acoustic speakers, the 7U's. That's the tweeter that got me hooked on Ty's speakers. I attended an audio event down in GA where they [7U's] were set up in a rather large living room. You could actually see BB King walking across the living room and you didn't even need to close your eyes. That's when I was hooked.

This is the first time I've admitted this on a public forum but the one gripe I have with the Linbrooks is that the lower registers? Well, they need to be up top as well as where they are located. That's why I want the Woodmere's. I already have everything the Woodmere's have to offer, and more. Hear me out. I have the Millenium tweeters, 4-7" Seas magnesium mid-ranges [2 per speaker] and 4-8.5" Seas aluminum cone woofers [2 per speaker]. All of which, the Woodmere's have but the Woodmere's have the 10" woofer and not the 8.5". BUT, in lieu of, I have added the 10" Seas aluminum cone woofers enclosed in custom built sub woofers [by Ty], each with a 1000w amp. It sounds pretty damn good and offers hours on end of sheer listening pleasure.

Am I satisfied? Nope. Is it better than most systems I have heard to date? Yep. For many reasons I may get into later, when time permits.

Allow me to go back to my buddy's rig. What he did was remove the crossover from the speaker altogether [which is an option on the Woodmere], upgraded all of the crossover components with the exception of the inductors, lined the enclosure with no Rez and added diffraction be gone. Remember when I mentioned that we had about the same rig, just different flavors? Not any more. Holy crap, my rig sounds like **** now. Before he did these things, both of are rigs were completely enjoyable and flat out wonderful to listen too.

Keep in mind, he's got a "lower" speaker than the Linbrook's if you look at the lineup of Ty's speakers. I'll be the first to tell you that his speakers have surpassed mine ten-fold and now my rig sounds like something you would purchase at K-Mart. EVERYTHING about the music, the feeling, the envelopment, the weight, the dynamics, the clarity, the impact, texture, focus, transients, imaging, detail, effective power, presence, punch, mid-range, atmosphere, well....I could go on for a while about this. Basically, it was as if he had gone from a 20 watt receiver to a 200 watt tube amp, switched from a CDP to an SACD player and purchased all MIT cabling all in one shot. Thing is, he didn't change a damn thing except the speaker.

I'm gonna do the same thing with the Linbrook's until I can sell what I have and get the Woodmere's to do the same exact thing. I'll tell you this....the ONLY speaker I would have traded "up" for was the Wilson Sophia [16K speaker]. After hearing his speakers? Screw the Wilson's.

For the record, he's got less money in his speakers, with all of the upgrades than I do just in my Linbrooks. It's also a lot less than 12K. You could even purchase 2 killer subs, a Velodyne SMS-1 or 2 and a shitload more music for your collection and still have plenty of $$$ leftover.

The Linbrook's...


The super towers...


The Woodmere's...


It all depends on what your tastes are, how tuned your ears are to the subtleties and how loud you prefer your music. Of course, if you know how to tweak things? That will definitely help. There is the Cerwin-Vega crowd and then there are folks that appreciate the accurate reproduction of music."

Key words of the entire review as it relates to this? "Basically, it was as if he had gone from a 20 watt receiver to a 200 watt tube amp, switched from a CDP to an SACD player and purchased all MIT cabling all in one shot. Thing is, he didn't change a damn thing except the speaker."

That is the cold, hard, plain truth. Knowing that, would you still say that a crossover upgrade is over rated? I'm still curious as to why you are commenting on a speaker upgrade, on a speaker that you haven't heard yet. If you have no direct experience, why bother commenting as you know absolutely nothing about nor do you have any experience about what you are commenting on.

The bottom line is that for 1K, Trey got in return one hell of a boost in sonic performance. In your experience, for only a thousand dollars, with the rig he has would you get a 22-25% completely and overwhelmingly positive difference in sound?......................................yeah, I thought so.

treitz3

george daniel wrote: »

Trey,, I recall the thread you posted sometime ago,, IIRC the crossovers are secured to the inside of the speaker,, not on a board per say,, so I'm guessing it was very difficult to do? I'm thinking about upgrading my 7U crossovers,,but,IIRC you made a separate "outboard" box for yours,,yes?

Allow me to answer for him, George. Yes, he has an outboard box. It is very easy to swap in and out components within the speaker now. The crossover networks also have less vibration to them, obviously.

You are correct in that working on the 7U's are kind of a pain in the butt, but doable. I took out all of the drivers when working on my 7U's, just to have more room.

george daniel

thanks Tom,, the x-overs are not on a board,,but are ptp wired IIRC,,yes?

treitz3

The stock 7U's are on a board that is hot glued to the side of the speaker. They are also PTP. Removing the board from the speaker is actually quite easy, if this this is something you want to entertain.

george daniel

pm me your numbah please

treitz3

It's on it's way bro'.

bopicasso

From all the talk about upgrading the cross overs. Maybe this would be something I would think about doing in the future. Its good to know that these speakers are capable of so much more.

george daniel

Just got off the phone with Tom,, tomorrow I'm gonna take a peek inside,,I'll post pic's,, according to Tom,, this is not a very difficult upgrade,, I do know firsthand that the caps and resistors inside the stock Taylos line are components that can be improved upon.I'll keep ya'll posted .

VR3

Check my thread on my monitors... Pop the crossover out with a chisel... Modify it... Glue it back in

Ricardo

Tylers are very good speakers. They use "above average" drivers and decent box designs. Also xovers have "avobe average" components when compared to other mass market speakers around their price point.

I believe in upgrading xovers. both better components and better designs (never my designs, 'cause I know $hit about what a capacitor or inductor do. And not interested in learning at the moment).

Spending over 30% of the original MSRP of a speaker in xover components? I think that is silly (And I'm pretty sure I've done that BTW).

Now, saying that this will bring said speakers to compete with speakers that cost 10 times or more? Have you heard the term placebo effect?

VR3

Yes I have heard of the effect.

I can tell you it is not going on.

When I first upgraded my speakers I did one speaker first - took two weeks then did the other. Even with one speaker the upgraded side of the staging was IMMEDIATELY better...

You guys can doubt all you want. I give all the credit to the Clarity MR capacitor. It is amazing.

Face will testify to that.

But I have heard the B&W 802 the Wilson Sophia... the Alexandria, the JM Lab Utopia

With the upgrades I feel my speakers are right in line with no issues.

Ricardo

The important thing is that you enjoy it and are happy with it, no matter what others think. (Even if those others are right....je je je).

Oh, and I will take a Dynaudio over a Tyler (at the same price point) any day of the week and twice on Sunday )

Yes, this might mean a Dynaudio bookie over a Tyler 3-way, 5 driver tower.

VR3

Im sure Dynaudio makes a good product.

At this point, plain and simple - I just do not like large big box store manufactures anymore. I feel at their price point they are a bad value.

Just me

bopicasso

Ricardo.. I own dynaudio audience 70 and I bought the taylo 7u's for a great deal. Do you think this will be a upgrade?
I do love the dyns and would love to try something further up the line, but I have not found a deal comparable to the deal I found on the taylo 7u's. Like I said earlier I am a sucker for a good deal!

Dynaudios were around 1800 new while the Tylers were 3800.

Should be in a different class imo. I cant wait to find out on Tuesday!

Ricardo

I have not heard the Audience line, but I think it was their entry level. You might find the Tylo sound better. You will know next week.

If it was a Contour tower, I doubt the Tylo would sound better.

I owned the Tyler Linbrooks. Very nice sounding speakers. Then owned the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 MkII (monitors). I thought they were better sounding speakers.

bopicasso

I have been watching the dyns on audiogon like a hawk but have not found anything that will work with my current budget. Thanks for your opinion.. The audience speakers are the entry level. They were a significant jump above the Polk Rti8 I was using before them but its time to move on... Cant wait till Tuesday!!!!!!

treitz3

Ricardo wrote: »

Now, saying that this will bring said speakers to compete with speakers that cost 10 times or more? Have you heard the term placebo effect?

That statement just makes me laugh, Ricardo. It absolutely does. First off, nobody ever said that his speakers now compete with others that cost ten-fold. Go back and re-read to fully comprehend, please, as I'm not going to re-type everything.

As for the placebo effect? Give me a damned break. At this point in his audio journey, the "kid" can teach many of the folks here a thing or two, including you. You can take that to the bank. If you heard his rig? You would have learned to shut your flap about the "placebo effect".

That said, if you would like to hear them in person? This year, we will be having a Charlotte get-together. There is a ten person maximum. I advise to get in while you can, or shut it. I guarantee you that your tune will change and you'll be singing a completely different tune altogether once you hear it.

Ricardo

That's fine Tom. I'll shut up.

tonyb

Man, you guys are touchy....the mod crowd and the stock crowd. I see value in both points of view. One thing I would say to the stock crowd, is how many of you guys listen to a stock tube amp without rolling in better tubes ? Change out power cords instead of the stock one that came with the unit ? Tweeks, we talk about them, encourage them, all to squeeze out every last bit of SQ in our systems. Speaker mods, while I believe have value, at a certain point though you have to start asking is the money better spent moveing up the food chain. I guess thats a question only to be answered on an individual basis. Personally, I get Russ's point, when do you stop and just listen to the music ? Are we too wrapped up in tweeks and gear to not enjoy the reason we all bought this stuff for to begin with ? In the end, it's more of a hobby to some than others, and how we enjoy it varies between all us wackjobs. I see no reason not to mod a speaker if you so desire, but also see no reason to drop 1500 clams to mod a speaker without first entertaining the thought of moveing up the food chain. To each his own I guess, no need to throw darts at each camp though.

treitz3

Well, I will say this. The last time I had a set of SDA1C's in my rig? They didn't last that long. While I completely enjoyed the SDA part of it, they sounded like a "party" speaker to me. This was in comparison to the Tyler Acoustics Taylos 7U's. Yes, there was more bass that was felt. Was it more accurate or realistic to me? No, not really. It was worse IMO.

The last time I had the SDA 1C's in my rig, the only upgrade at the time was removing the SL tweeters and installing the RDO's. It just seemed to make the speaker more relaxed and not as bright when turned up loud.

With the differences I have heard in Trey's speakers and the price of the [mostly] fully modded SDA1C's that I just bought? I decided to give them a whirl once again. Besides that, they needed to stay in the family and not be sold off to someone who knew nothing about speakers. Eric spent too much time on them for that.

I'm not saying that I'm expecting the same results as Trey had with his Tyler's. I'm just saying that if his speaker upgrades were THAT significant, then the 1C's deserve another chance in my rig. The curiosity is what got me. We'll see.

decal

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote: »

Decal ---

You really need to upgrade your speakers. If I had upgraded my 7u speakers I probably would have kept them. I am here to tell ya the Clarity MR works magic on the Millennium tweeter.

Not gonna happen my man.They're fine just the way they are.

bopicasso

I have to agree with Decal.. Just because I would die if I ruined my speakers lol..

F1nut

How are you going to ruin your speakers by upgrading the crossovers? If you don't like the results, you can always put the original stuff back in.

bopicasso

I just dont want to experiment with soldering on my speakers. Maybe if I practiced on something else first.

george daniel

I'm goin' in tomorrow.

treitz3

*clears throat*

4 minutes ago is tomorrow... :biggrin: