My Last Speakers For A While (really) - Legacy Signature III's are here! (w/ pics)

TroyD · June 2006

Cliffy,

I'm just getting warmed up.

BDT

mantis · June 2006

TroyD wrote:

Cliffy,

I'm just getting warmed up.

BDT

warmed up for what?

Dan

mrbigbluelight · June 2006

stay up past my bed time to get on the laptop.

.....better than cable TV.

reeltrouble1 · June 2006

I never really have given a rats **** to what finish is on a set speakers, its simply about the sound for me, those Legacy's do look great, certainly something to be proud of, congrats on your baggin them. So how are you digging em??? As for wire thats up to you, does not bother me in the least to see some wire connected to electronics.

RT1

mulveling · June 2006

reeltrouble1 wrote:

I never really have given a rats **** to what finish is on a set speakers, its simply about the sound for me, those Legacy's do look great, certainly something to be proud of, congrats on your baggin them. So how are you digging em??? As for wire thats up to you, does not bother me in the least to see some wire connected to electronics.

RT1

I prefer speakers & electronics to be aesthetically pleasing since they take up a good part of the living room - apparently I'm not too picky on cable organization, though

As for the sound (certainly the most important part) - man, they already sound totally awesome; definitely better than all the speakers I've previously owned or auditioned. As great as they are now, I've heard them extensively over many sessions in the previous owner's setup, and I know they're capable of even more. My setup will never be quite as good as his dedicated room with dedicated power lines, Parasound JC1 monoblocks, killer Scoutmaster vinyl rig, and a good solid carpet over concrete floor, but I'll be fine

New amp, new cables, getting those carpet spikes on the bases, possibly a plasma TV (giving me more placement options for the speakers) and some acoustic treaments will be in the works in the near future.

Current system is:
Meridian G08 for CDs
Denon DVD-2910 for movies
HGA Silver Lace ICs on the G08
Bogdan Silver Princess ICs on the Denon
Melos SHA-Gold Reference preamp
BMC Pinnacle Gold XLR ICs to amp
PS Audio HCA2 amp
basic stranded ofc star-quad 11awg speaker cables with solderless Monster plugs

TV is a Sony KD-34XS955 34" widescreen HDTV (has the same fine pitch tube as the 34XBR960). Still the best image quality I've seen; too bad about the hassles of a huge tube.

Plans for gear changes:
- Snagged a Sunfire 600 Signature 2 amp on agon, to replace the HCA2
- Possibly replace the Melos with a BAT VK3i (previous Sig III owner used a newer BAT pre)
- Upgrade cables to biwire run or dual single runs of LAT SS800 or SS1000 cables (previous owner used SS1000 biwire)
- Possibly some better constructed XLR cables to the amp. The BMC's have a cheap handbuilt, high school kiddie project look and feel to them (plus their ridiculous pricing scheme irks me).

haimoc · June 2006

Yes, Legacy Audio Signature speakers are execelent speakers, but heavy. A good Krell amp will make them sing. Congratulations.

organ · June 2006

omg, AWESOME rig and congrats on your speaks!!!!

I love the layout too. I bet that room works to your advantage for good sound.

tonyb · July 2006

Have a pair of new Jungsten balanced IC'S if your interested for cheap.
The Bat pre is a good idea,also look at CJ stuff.Tubes and Legacy's seem to go together well.Sunfire??hmmm...don't know about that one.will it do the top end justice?Look into Macormack amps,anyone who owns one keep them for life and they can handle the bottom end of those beasts you have.Plus they do a great upgrade on their amps that every owner raves about.Let me know about the IC's,I can send them your way for free if you want to try them out first.

cmy330go · July 2006

Those are really sweet! Not long ago in Chicago at Music Direct I had listened to the Focus 20-20's and was just blown away by them. If yours sound anything like those I'm sure you're in for many years of enjoyment. Assuming you can chase off the upgrade bug.;)

mulveling · July 2006

OMG - system almost finished! Today for the first time I hooked up all the final electronic components. The last piece to arrive was the BAT vk-5i; UPS delivered it this afternoon, a day ahead of schedule. The Sunfire Signature arrived Saturday but I didn't get a chance to do more than test it for 2 mins since I was involved in a wedding. Meridian G08 still there, but I'm strongly considering acquiring a Sony SCD-1 so that I can have 1 high Q source dedicated to the speaker rig, and the other to the headphone rig. I don't know which source would go to what rig yet. Still would need to sell a bunch more stuff to grab that SCD1 though - and the pile of audio gear I don't use is really starting to dwindle (finally).

The new gear replaced the PS Audio HCA2 power amp and Melos SHA-Gold Reference pre. Both fine pieces of gear, but - HOLY COW - the BAT & Sunfire combo is totally on another plane of existence! I feel I'm finally tapping into the potential of these Legacy speakers. I finally have a system that captures the essence of my friend Tom's old rig that I fell in love with (got the Legacy's from him when he dismantled said system - that's his SCD1 I may end up with, too). The Vk-5i is an absolutely wonderful piece of gear, really thrilled about that purchase off agon for $1780 shipped. Has exactly the features I need; no more and no less, of course the sound so far is out of this world - incredible palpability. That's with the cheap (hooray!) stock Sovteks. The Sunfire is not normally an amp I would have considered, but for two things:
1) Tom recommended it and said these speakers pair best with ultra high-power amps.
2) high efficiency/low power consumption, which is important since I can't get a dedicated power line for my rig yet.

So current system is:
Meridian G08 > Black Mountain Gold XLR > BAT VK-5i > LAT IC300 Sig XLR > Sunfire Sig 600-II > 11 awg Star Quad > Legacy Sig III
All that's left is cables and tweaks. I've ordered a set of LAT SS-1000 MkII biwire cables to replace the generic star quad stuff I've got now. Got a pair of LAT IC300 Sig balanced ICs, these are great (excellent construction, & looks - I really HATE tech flex'd cables). May 2nd pair ICs are Black Mountain Pinnacle Golds; sound OK but build Q really sucks. Gonna look into another pair of LATs to replace the BM's. I should mention I feel the BM outfit is a bit shady; they make what are $150/pr DIYFSE cables at best and list the retail price at $1099/pr to impress hapless audiogon'ers. Very few, if any, actually pay more than $200/pr, but it's slightly reminiscent of the white van speaker scam, minus the shady salesmen.

Said friend is taking delivery of some Thiel cs 7.2's this weekend. Crazy! He'll finish it off with a VPI Super Scoutmaster, BAT VK-P10se phono, BAT VK-51SE pre (I think), and Parasound JC-1 monos. I'm a bit frightened to hear that system. He's got a talent for putting together synergistic systems and with the budget he's had to work with this time - I don't want to get spoiled for life, LOL.

SCompRacer · July 2006

That is a good price on the 5i Mike. Many folks agree that the BAT's sound best with the Sovtek tubes. I rolled some Siemens 7308's in my 3i and went back to the OEM Sovtek 6922's. The Russian 6H23 Type 3 is another good choice for the BAT. I went with a quad of them and after some burn in screwed the cover back on. Of course you'll need more than a quad with the 5i....:eek:

Congrats and Njoy.

Joey_V · July 2006

Your friend.... gulp... is nuts. You better not listen to his system.

mulveling · July 2006

No Way!
Right after I buy mine, and today there's a Vk-5i up on the 'gon for $1500! :eek:
Anyways, I still feel I got a great deal at $1750 - mine was recently adjusted, given a clean bill of health, and new oil output caps installed by BAT (at a cost of over $300), and the remote is mint. Somebody needs to JUMP on that $1500 5i though!

The stock Sovteks sound superb but I do have the itch to try tuberolling, even though some like the Sovteks best. I've been advised that the 1st tube pair of 6922's (the pair in the back) and the big 5881's have the most influence on the sound. This'll make tuberolling easier; I'll pick up a pair of those Russian 6H23's some time. For now I can just take the Amperex 7308's from my Melos and pick up some NOS TungSol 5881's - which is said to be the favored NOS combo.

Joey, I help my friend unpack the Thiels later today. He doesn't have anything in the way of a decent source at this time (maybe a $100 DVD player), so hopefully we won't hook them up for a listen

Joey_V · July 2006

mulveling wrote:

Joey, I help my friend unpack the Thiels later today. He doesn't have anything in the way of a decent source at this time (maybe a $100 DVD player), so hopefully we won't hook them up for a listen

Take pics please!

I've heard the 2.4C several months ago and those were sweet sounding speakers... the 7.2 must be a monster.

Take pics!!

mulveling · July 2006

Here's more recent pic of the rig, though since it was taken, I've already rearranged stuff more to my liking:

Joey, sorry man, forgot my digicam on the trip to the Thiels. We quickly found out the 12" woofer on the left speaker wasn't working

Yet it still sounded ungodly with the makeshift system that was thrown together - especially the mids and highs. Man, they're beasts! Apparently the woofer's been fixed by now so all should be well next time. He's also gotten a new Conosance Droplet CD player in the meantime

mulveling · July 2006

Heh, found the relevant pics for you, Joey!!

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=190330

Joey_V · July 2006

Thanks Mulveling!

Tom from headfi.. I remember him and his posts... quite a headphone rig he's got and speaker rig too. Impressive! The 7.2 look BIG!

Early B. · July 2006

Came back from a visit today with Mulveling to check out his Legacys and other stuff. Great guy, great visit. The Legacys are awesome speakers, especially the bass (I'm a big bass nut, BTW). I want all your gear, dammit!

One of the most impressive aspects of the visit was a brief intro to high end headphone gear. I was thoroughly blown away. I can imagine that on some music, listening to those headphones would sound as good as (or better than) actually listening to full range speakers. That's right -- you heard me. There was all sorts of imaging, soundstage, etc. going on inside my head. I was so impressed that I had to stop listening to them for fear of catching the highly contagious newgearitis.

Thanks, again, for the visit.

Toka78 · October 2006

I'm very interested in Legacy's...how would you liken them to SDA's as far as their 'revealing' nature is concerned? By this I mean their tolerance for 'bad' quality recordings...'80's stuff, metal, what have you...I simply have too many records of vary quality to go with super-duper-revealing speakers, but am looking for a happy medium.

Just about everything I've read about Legacy's is good (save for one or two people on other forums with apparent axe's to grind), and from what I can gather seem like the best/most logical leap from the SDA's.

tonyb · October 2006

I can recommend Legacy's to anyone.They really are alot of speaker for the money.As far as forgiving goes,I think the source will play a more important role in that.The Sig 3's and the Focus are my favs.If you are in the chicago area,your more than welcome to stop by for a listen.

Willow · October 2006

You should take the time to post them up on the showcase !!

Joey_V · October 2006

tonyb wrote:

I can recommend Legacy's to anyone.They really are alot of speaker for the money.As far as forgiving goes,I think the source will play a more important role in that.The Sig 3's and the Focus are my favs.If you are in the chicago area,your more than welcome to stop by for a listen.

Ooh ooh ooh! Me me! I want to listen to your Legacys!

Joey

tonyb · October 2006

Anytime my man,give me a shout some weekend or if your ever out
towards Algonquin.

Joey_V · October 2006

Dude... I live in Algonquin. :eek:

tonyb · October 2006

Well **** in my hat bro....I am in the Gaslight subdivision on Zange dr.
Stop by for a beer ...bring a rockin cd....would like to see how the Legacy's stack up against the mighty Summit's.

tonyb · October 2006

Willow wrote:

You should take the time to post them up on the showcase !!

I would...if I lived in this century and owned a digital camera.The wife's b-day is comming up but I think the espresso maker is going to hit the shores before the camera.

Joey_V · October 2006

tonyb wrote:

Well **** in my hat bro....I am in the Gaslight subdivision on Zange dr.
Stop by for a beer ...bring a rockin cd....would like to see how the Legacy's stack up against the mighty Summit's.

WOW!! Does this mean you want me to bring the Summits?

That's a little tricky..

I will send you PM real soon..

Joey

Joey_V · October 2006

tonyb wrote:

Well **** in my hat bro....I am in the Gaslight subdivision on Zange dr.
Stop by for a beer ...bring a rockin cd....would like to see how the Legacy's stack up against the mighty Summit's.

Alright les do dis sheet.

I'm coming over this weekend if you're not busy! Better impress me with your Legacys!

You got PM!

Edit:
Clear your inbox!

Cmastering · October 2006

To all you Legacy droolers... I've got a pair of Sig III's that I need to let go. I have a pair of Focus 20/20 that I use daily at my studio (www.colossalmastering.com), but need to finance my HDTV purchase. They are in rosewood. These will go cheaply compared to the $3950 list... PM with any questions.

organ · October 2006

oh my...
You should list them in the FM section when you meet the required # of posts.

My Last Speakers For A While (really) - Legacy Signature III's are here! (w/ pics)

Comments