AV123's MLS' new speaker... should I beta?

Joey_V

MLS and I have been talking via email regarding his new baby, the RSL II. This speaker is a $12,000 juggernaut that is coming out for beta in a few months.

Do you think it's wise to demo it? I have to put up a substantial amount of cash and I have asked him for a cdp of his choice and material of his choice to send to me to add to my system.

The price for beta trial is $6,000 but I get full Lifetime warranty and I get all upgrades for free if they every arise.

What do you think?

I mean, it's probably a once in while sort of thing and I do want to see how they stack up against my $11,000 ML Summits... though I'm not sure if I have the finances to house TWO $10,000+ speakers and it might be a little scary having almost $30,000 worth of gear in my living room/listening room...

Here's a pic:


Here are some specs from MLS himself:
2 X 12" metal cone sub woofers with 1K watts per cabinet... All under servo control
2 X 5.25" newly developed metal cone mid bass couplers... These are to die for... One front firing... one rear firing...
1 X 24" ribbon midrange made by a super vendor to our specs... INCREDIBLE
9 X 1" circular ribbon tweeters... these are The Real Deal - and uses a diaphragm way further advanced than anything we have ever seen or heard... 7 or 8 front firing... 1 rear firing...
The XO is a work of art and costs more (per pair) than 5 pairs of x-ls ($200 a pair) alone...

halo

Zero wrote:

While your Summit’s are up there, your Rotel equipment is modest at best. This isn’t to sound insulting as Rotel is nothing to sneeze at; however, it is a tad out of its league on either set of speakers. Ultimately its up to you kiddo. Good luck.

I agree with this statement. I don't think you're getting everything those ML's are capable of with the Rotel gear. Don't take it as an insult - you, of all people, know there is better gear out there. What that gear is only you can say for sure.

Joey_V

Though I dont think the 1090 is anything to sneeze at and everyone who has heard it against some super amps can testify, I agree that to "properly" review a super speaker, one needs to remove any plausibility for weakness within the system chain.

I probably wont take the offer because:

1. I have a hard time accepting a new Reference speaker into my humble home on the premise of not hearing it and not having the option of not electing to keep it.

2. I have worked very hard to get to the level I'm at now and I dont want to go through it again any time soon... though the RSLII looks to be a formidable speaker, it could easily introduce more problems to my audio system (i.e. let's say I sell the Summits in lieu of the RSLII's arrival and I end up not liking the sound at all... this is BETA afterall.. then, I'm screwed).

3. There is a lot riding on this speaker, especially for MLS... and I dont think I'm ready for that responsibility. Not yet atleast. Though I have gone through my fair share of equipment, more than many others, I have more to learn and I have quite a bit of headroom left in my audio adventure.... this Summit system is only my appetizer to the REAL MEAL.

If I were 30 right now, instead of 24, and I had the financial wealth that I expect to have, then I would have no problem of taking this task of being a BETA REVIEWER. But, I think that at this moment, I'm better to be left alone with my own set of super speakers, the Summits.

Voila! That's what a good nights rest does for my mind.

jdhdiggs

Go for it, once in a lifetime. If you have the scratch, go for it.

Ok I'll bite, so what type of job allows you to have a $20K setup at 24? Really curious... I mean if you don't have financial freedom yet, but can afford $20K stereo, well...

PolkThug

jdhdiggs wrote:

Ok I'll bite, so what type of job allows you to have a $20K setup at 24? Really curious... I mean if you don't have financial freedom yet, but can afford $20K stereo, well...

Its Joey V from Chicago! I'm guessing the last name ends in an "i".

Joey_V

Hahahaha... no job no job!

All I got is my summer earnings from several summers past and the scholarship checks I get from medical school.

Stereo, to me, is like a savings account... instead of having $10K+ in the bank, I have it in my little listening room.

Besides, if I ever needed it.... bam... audiogon!

I could probably sell my stuff for...
Summits - $7,500
Rotel RB1090 (6 months old) - $1400
Rotel RC1070 - $350

Not too bad.... I guess I just watch what I spend money on... I spend quite a bit in audio, but I "ball it up" elsewhere too. $100 sushi meals, $100 steak meals, $500 clothing shopping sprees, 24" LCD monitor... blah blah... I really dont know how I do it.

I guess I'm just really really fortunate that the circumstances in my life turned out this way... if it werent for my hardwork in school and the luck of the draw, I probably wouldnt be here talking to you about speakers that shouldnt be in the hands of a 24 year old. Oh.. and the parents pay the cell phone bill only... I do the rest, including school tuition.

When I get out and complete whatever it is I do, probably ER physician, then I'll really launch this audio habit to the next level. It's only the beginning right now I think... we got some ways to go from here.

Joey_V

PolkThug wrote:

Its Joey V from Chicago! I'm guessing the last name ends in an "i".

I'm not mafia!

Unless I completely missed the joke... hehehe....

Shizelbs

If I was you, I would go for the demo.

steveinaz

Zero wrote:

While your Summit’s are up there, your Rotel equipment is modest at best. This isn’t to sound insulting as Rotel is nothing to sneeze at; however, it is a tad out of its league on either set of speakers. Ultimately however, it is up to Mark to make that particular call.

Huh? You're kidding me right, Rotel 1090 power amp is too modest? Please explain this one to me, slowly, carefully.....

jdhdiggs

Joey_V wrote:

Hahahaha... no job no job!

Sweet, good for you! Actually, I went back after I posted and figured out how much I've put into cars, houses, retirement, vacations, etc... and came up with a stupid high number and went *ding* *ding* *ding* that's were all that money went... I kept remembering that it seemed like I had more spending money in Grad school than I do now.

If I was still in an apartment and my wife and I still had our old cars and we didn't dump 30% a year into savings, I could have a wicked stupid setup...

SCompRacer

Joey_V wrote:

Hahahaha... no job no job!

Med school is job enough bud. One of our friends son did med school at Loyola, interned in Boston and did his Fellowship at Rush. He really enjoyed it there and they liked him, but there were no openings at that time. I just heard he returns to Rush in August after his contract is up at a local hospital.

I-SIG

jdhdiggs wrote:

Sweet, good for you! Actually, I went back after I posted and figured out how much I've put into cars, houses, retirement, vacations, etc... and came up with a stupid high number and went *ding* *ding* *ding* that's were all that money went... I kept remembering that it seemed like I had more spending money in Grad school than I do now.

If I was still in an apartment and my wife and I still had our old cars and we didn't dump 30% a year into savings, I could have a wicked stupid setup...

I couldn't have said it better myself. And I still feel like I'm making prety darn good scratch for under 30. If I was only in a region with a more sensible housing market...sigh...

Wes

szhleppy

If you don't do it, you will probably regret it. After all, only $6K in comparison to your current setup??? It seems like the concern you have is that the investment may increase if you feel other components need to be upgraded after your initial trial. Big effin deal!!! You don't seem to have an emotional attachment to equipment...just a quest for improvement. Everything always works out in one way or another...whether you have to sell a current piece or just find a way to afford an additional piece of equipment.

Sure, you feel the pressure to provide an adequate review. But if that is what is expected of you, you can request a trial of various pre and amplification equipment from Mark and others to fulfill your requirement, rather than buy everything on your own to match the speakers. If I was the vendor offering this deal in return for a review, I would want to make sure you had access to the equipment to make the speakers sound their best.

You really have nothing to lose in this. If audio is your primary hobby, go for it.

SRS_fan

Do it - !

There is always one more amplifier to consider that is spun from better material or improved design and as always .... another speaker to consider.

The critical line will be the comparison to the Summits? At the end of the comparison - one set of speakers may need to be replaced ? {It would be a very interesting journey to know which one} - The cost recovery from the sale of the Summits (IF they "lost" ) would ease the pain of the additional spend

Do it....

& try
Merle Haggards greatest Hits ... to Metallica's Garage Days revisited ...This will be the psychoacoustic version of a "medicinal" speedball.

zombie boy 2000

szhleppy wrote:

Sure, you feel the pressure to provide an adequate review. But if that is what is expected of you, you can request a trial of various pre and amplification equipment from Mark and others to fulfill your requirement, rather than buy everything on your own to match the speakers. If I was the vendor offering this deal in return for a review, I would want to make sure you had access to the equipment to make the speakers sound their best.

I'm agree whole-heartedly with this assertion. I cannot imagine them wanting you to beta-test these speakers with anything less than with that equipment which is going to make them sound their best.

Early B.

Don't do it.

You shouldn't have to pay anything for the speakers to test them out at the beta stage, no matter how much they cost. MLS' company needs you to help test and promote his speakers -- you don't need him. If you pay anything at all, it should only be for shipping. Return the speakers after 30 - 45 days.

Besides, it's a high risk purchase. The gear on AV123's website is great, but on the used market, they'll probably only be worth exactly what you paid for them or less. And if upgrades are necessary (which is likely), do you really want to send those huge speakers back to the factory?

wallstreet

Early B. wrote:

Don't do it.

You shouldn't have to pay anything for the speakers to test them out at the beta stage, no matter how much they cost. MLS' company needs you to help test and promote his speakers -- you don't need him. If you pay anything at all, it should only be for shipping. Return the speakers after 30 - 45 days.

Besides, it's a high risk purchase. The gear on AV123's website is great, but on the used market, they'll probably only be worth exactly what you paid for them or less. And if upgrades are necessary (which is likely), do you really want to send those huge speakers back to the factory?

Ditto. Do you think you should pay me for the privilege of diagnosing my illness? That's the most riduculous thing I've heard. Tell him when he wants your opinion, ship the speakers and you'll give him the benefit of comparing his speakers to a top o the line speaker.

halo

wallstreet wrote:

Do you think you should pay me for the privilege of diagnosing my illness? That's the most riduculous thing I've heard.

Actually, I think it's a great idea. Doctor's should pay us for the privalage of allowing them to "practice" medicine on us. When they're done practicing and they have all the answers is when we should pay them. Great idea wallstreet!

wallstreet

Hehe, that's why they do call it a practice. Don't worry, the way insurance companies like to (not) pay provider's, you'll be earning every dime you squeeze out of them.

Joey_V

Thanks for the thoughts and opinions guys... yeah..

Biggest problem I have here is that I dont generally bode well with some of MLS' gear... and I'm not very fond of the time when he introduced a Signature crossover for the Rocket 850, after repeatedly declaring the 850 an "awesome speaker, one that would turn the audio world upside down" or something to that effect.... the hype that came with the RS1000 and the RS850... before the Sig crossover, then the crossover came and now it was awesome/great again!

People started coming out of the woodwork saying how the original 850 wasnt as great sounding as they thought BUT with the $100+ Sig XO, it's GREAT!

I dunno guys... hype is good, but not when it's so overdone.

So... the RSLII is probably a good speaker, but my biggest concern is whether it is actually as good as they (MLS and co) say it is.... I cant just put down $6K speaker unheard and unseen.

I'd rather buy something that I know sounds good like the Sonus Faber Cremona or an Audio Physic Virgo III.

Another thing I dont want is an examination of what I do as an audiophile. I dont want to be overly examined by readers and being critiqued for things out of my control. I know I may not have the absolute best equipment or absolute knowledge of the field of audio.... and I shouldnt be at the age of 24. But these sort of reviews tend to expose that and I'm not here to gain anything if I do this, me thinks.

I'm probably not going to do it.

Joey_V

I see Craigsub is going to do a beta test for the RSLII. Cool.