The 1.2TL, Project Monolith

ken brydson

audioluvr wrote: »

So who ended up sleeping in the playpen?

I was thinking the playpen would mess up the imaging. Just thinking out loud 🤣

VR3

It really ties the room together 😜

Reagan

I was blown away with the low frequencies delivered. Great job! The other two pairs, namely the Canton Karat Ref 2's and the Mezzo Utopias both had amazing holographic imaging. However, I believe the 1.2TL's owned the day when all is said and done. I would say the soundstage for the Polks wrapped about 200 degrees. I have a bit of homework to do on my 1.2TL's.

VR3

Thanks Richard! I think the real steal of the day was your tuna dip.... Wowza!

I think everyone had a great time, but the excitement in the room when we finally rotated the 1.2tls in the room was definitely palpable!

There was a song where @lightman1 jumped up and said, you just went subsonic!! Lok

Good times!

Gerres26

Damn nice job Trey! Making me wish you didn’t help me carry them out of my house in the first place...but then they would have never gotten to this level, so it makes it all worth it in the end!

VR3

Thank you sir!!

So I had a few minutes to spend with them again just now... I pulled them another 2 inches from the wall, my room is just barely big enough for these beasts.

They beg to be turned up, they just egg you on. They are sitting comfortable at 90db plus, they are just cruising. Endless dynamics and bass, super wide and deep stage.

But they truly excel at louder volumes, I think in a lower volume setting a smaller pair like the crs would be better but in a large room at full tilt, these guys put on a show to be experienced.

It is not as transparent or refined as the Mezzo utopia, but I never expected that to be the case either. What the 1. 2tl does well, I'm not sure any speaker I've heard can do the same except maybe the grande utopia.

Volume, scale, dynamics while retaining great detail and textures with a huge soundstage. They easily throw a 30 ft stage, putting an upright bass in my front yard, a piano in the half bath, no doubt.

invalid

I don't believe there is a speaker made that can produce a soundstage like the SDA's. Even my little sda2a's have a bigger soundstage than my apogee duetta 2.

VR3

I agree in some regards but not 100%. The Cantons and the Utopias both throw out a soundstage easily stretching from one wall to the other (in my room that is 22 ft) and they are extremely 3 dimensional. So while they wont make a piano come up beside you like the 1.2TL, they can easily project ambiance or effects that come up from behind you, beside you, and will project behind the speakers as well with fantastic depth.

I purposely set up my demo this weekend to demonstrate how well a traditional speaker can hang with the SDA soundstage and I think anyone there would agree that all three speakers were extremely equal in that regards.

I am not detracting from the SDA experience, if anything it is a further testament to the technology that you would use it as a baseline to compare everything else to.

In my comments above, that is where the 1.2TL started to walk away from the pack, delivering that out of this world experience with extreme dynamics, volume, wrap around staging. It can truly deliver a "live at a concert" experience in your house, it is insane!

pitdogg2

I concur on the piano. My 2.3tls really make piano's come alive. Hearing sounds out to the side even with your ears but two foot higher than your head. Many friends come to sit and listen to mine and are astonished at the stage depth, width and height. They make comments to WOW that guitar was way out to the side it was like he was just standing there.
I couldn't imagine what those 1.2tl's are like ...

nooshinjohn

Any chance these crossovers can make a road trip? I would love to hear them before they get installed in their final home.

VR3

Considering it took 2 hours per crossover and special tools and brackets... thats a negative!! ayyyeee!

If only it were that easy to move around cinder block sized crossovers!

VR3

A side note, the texture of the duelund caps unlike any cap I've ever heard. They are extremely organic in presentation, tons and tons of texture, zero sibilance or potential for fatigue

JayCee

Would/are you considering them for your Utopias?

VR3

I have priced out the tweeter network, the JDM series is in my budget (an extremely stretched budget) and the CAST series is almost the cost of the parts list of my current mods...soooooo.... yeeeeaahhhhhh

To do the Tweeter and midrange circuit in the Mezzo utopia with the JDM or Cast series would require an enclosure the size of the speakers themselves and cost as much of a SUV.

I run the bypass caps, compared to Jody's build which didnt have them, it has a little more warmth and texture versus a straight CMR but nothing like these 1.2TL. The textue presented is akin to a luthier hand made instrument, just very smooth with tons of tone.

JayCee

VR3 wrote: »

The textu(r)e presented is akin to a luthier hand made instrument

That's just cray cray. The Stradivarius of the cap world! Have seen real Strad's in person...never will I be able to afford one. Not that I can play, either. Sonicap's will have to do.

Guess you can confidently say Sean has the best SDA's on the planet, bar none?!!!

VR3

They definitely sound awesome, I listened for about 2 hours at 80ish db and was immersed in beautiful sound

Gardenstater

So apparently bypass caps DO work, even with high end film capacitors? Should I put the little brown silver mica bypass caps back on my upgraded crossovers with the Sonicaps? Or do they have to be equally high end bypass caps to give benefit?

VR3

The only caps I have used as a bypass and liked were the duelunds, they add a flavor that is very nice on the ears. It should a higher end cap than what you are using if bypassing. The duelund jdm bypass cap is only 22 each so not to bad

hytekrednek

Beautiful work sir! I can't wait to get my Vr3 mod crossovers in and installed into my 2.3tl's. Also have full set of Larry's rings, new RDO tweeters, dynamat extreme, and epoxy for magnets to do at same time. Plus new grill cloth on the fronts. I feel like a kid the day before Christmas. I would LOVE some of those custom aluminum tweeter plates to top them off, if possible. The custom Badge you did for the 1.2's is sweet with your trademark and the build name/specs. VERY COOL

VR3

Thanks Shaun!

CYN - Uh Oh is perhaps my favorite song on sda so far, crazy staging and great bass

Tony M

https://youtu.be/797BYphxr80

gudnoyez

Impressive very Impressive.

honestaquarian

Whoda thunk you could get a crossover that big after what he did to the Utopias?????

VR3

Thanks guys!

Definitely was an experience working with such large parts haha

These will be heading down under soon!

Have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. They do a whole lot right!

Reagan

Agreed! I still can’t believe the levels of clean bass those towers produce.

VR3

The journey to home is getting closer

pitdogg2

Those are going to take a LOT of polyfil 😂

audioluvr

You should drape flags over them and take them to the airport dressed in black. Might get delivered for free.

VR3

I thought about drilling air holes and writing do not feed

ptrooper

Better double check the PR push test , anything over 10 seconds and they might need a few screws loosened so they can equalise faster during their flight.🧐😛