My Audio Adventure!!!!!

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

TODAY WAS AWESOME! My Dad said on a rainy saturday (which it was) we would go to Tweeter. So....we went to Tweeter! I heard the following speakers

Martin Logan Prodigy speakers, from the smallest to the biggest.
Klipsch Speakers
Mcintosh Amps
B&W speakers
Definitive Technology speakers
Mirage
B&K Amps and Receivers
and some more

I will reveiw what I thought of some them below (short reveiws since I only listened to each of them shortly)

Martin Logans are first up. They were driven by a B&K amp and Pre-Amp:
I really liked the biggest model, they had superb highs and clear mids. The bass although punchy was not the lowest or the loudest. This speaker is for someone in their mid 30's or 40's; as it does not play very loud (atleast I didn't think it did) and it is very accurate. Only problem I saw was that once you left the sweet spot thats it, you left it and it sounded terrrible.

Klipsch Speakers, from Entry bookshelfs to Top of the Line towers, I ran these at first with a Denon 3802, then with my receiver the Pioneer Elite VSX-41:
With the Denon, The Klipsch TOTL towers were etchy on the highs but had clear midrange and a good amount of bass. I really liked this sound and didnt find it all that bright - but then again I wasn't listening to these speakers with rock music (since I didn't choose the music, Tweeter did) The Klipsch were great none the least, I thought the bookshelfs for what they cost were no better than my Polk RT35i speakers. Klipsch Entry level speakers are a joke, their Top of the Line speakers are awesome in some sense, but no better than any Polks I have heard. With the Pioneer Elite the Klipsch TOTL towers were clear in the highs, and had a more defined midrange with punchier bass. I was really surprised as the PE cost (retail) 300 less than the denon. I was really disapointed with how the Denon sounded overall and I am now glad I didn't buy it.

(I heard these speakers at Sound Systems down in Charolette)
B&W ran by a Mcintosh Preamp, Amp:
The speakers weren't all that much better than the Klipsch for what they cost, I am not sure what model they were, but they had the tweeter on top with a black glass like case housing the midrange with a rectangular bottum, they had a clear midrange, EXCELLTANT highs and punchy tight lows. They sounded better than Klipsch in all aspects but the B&W's didn't slam them. Overall for the Price I'd rather buy a pair of Polk LSI 15's with an Adcom amp and PE receiver as a preamp, haha. It was awesome overall, the Mcintosh amp was HUGE, nothing joking about that amp, it was definetely a monster! Probally the cleanest sounding amp I have heard.

Next up is Def Tech, I was watching Signs with this setup, it was being ran by a Denon 4802. I was VERY impressed with this setup. I loved the sound, the Center channel was an absolute monster, with tilted drivers firing upwards and drivers fireing forwards the soundstage was absolutely awesome. Voices sounded crisp and clear, and sound from the center was where it was supposed to be. The mains, lord, the TOTL def tech speakers are worth ranting about, I have never heard a speaker setup such as the TOTL def tech's that fillled up a room with that much sound. I couldn't believe it literally, it was simply mouth dropping! Probally the best speakers I heard all day, if I were to build a dedicated Home Theatre system in my future house Def Tech would be my ticket. I love the sound, totally effin awesome!

Now, on to the Subwoofers!

At sound system I heard Velodyne's TOTL, and some Def Tech subwoofers and a Mcintosh subwoofer.

First up, Mcintosh sub.
The mcintosh subwoofer can not be blown, when you turn it up the interal amp turns the mcintosh down, it sounded flat and I didn't like it, for 2,000 dollars I would of rather have bought a tire, terrible in my opinion. It was just flat, no volume but it had very low exstention.

Next up, Def Tech subs.
Unlike their speakers, their subwoofers blow, well for movies they would work well, but for music, their not near accurate. Their boomy and loud in a sense. I just wasn't impressed with their subwoofers, they just seemed boomy and loud like a blown car audio subwoofer, nuff said.

Next up, Velodyne TOTL.
They had a small Velo for 1,500. They also had a huge one for 700.
The big one, although loud was not nearly accurate. If you turned it up it was sorda distorted. The salesman which unlike most CC workers knew what we was talking about, said the big Velo was his favorite subwoofer. In my personal opinion it was lacking in many ways.
The small sub, however is a TOTALLY different story. It was accurate, it had that bottum end, and it was loud. It held its own ground overall, being 1/4 the size of the bigger Velo, it put the bigger velo to utter shame. It was hilarious. It shows size does not matter all the time in subwoofers. However, for 1,500 or so (don't remember the price exactly) I would rather have a bigger subwoofer, with a bigger driver from a different company; because obviously there would be way better subwoofers for that price. IMO.

Now.......Back to Tweeter (in the reveiw)
First up, Mirage.
I gave mirage a quick listen, nothing specail here, etchy highs and muddied midrange, quite disgusted by how it sounded really.

Next Up, Boston.
Sounded a whole lot like Polk. Although I favored the Polk's as they have way way way way better bass than the Boston's. IMO. The highs were a tad better than the Polk's but not near as exstended as my RT35i's go. Overall I would rather have Polk, but that is just me.

The kicker, While listening to the Martin Logans, I asked the manager while he was in there if they were going to carry Polk LSI since they were dropping Klipsch. He told me that they would not carry the Polk's as they sounded alot like the Boston's. He also said that they would pick up the Yamaha line since they have horn tweeters also. Now from what I heard, the Boston's weren't all that much better than the RT line that i have heard, there is no way the LSI series dosn't smash the Boston's. I think he is speaking more as a manager trying to sale something rather than a person judging a speaker. IMO. Well I am out, I thought I would share my audio adventure with you people. I hope you enjoyed my reveiws. Short, but I didn't get an exstended listen on anything.

rs159

Amazing. Simply amazing. Most teens would say "Ok, this is louder than the other one so it's better" Happy listening MX.

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

Thanks RS.

You want to know what was cool? I was talking to the manager about the subwoofers (this was in Sound Systems, not Tweeter). Me and Him were talking about the Mcintosh and all the other subwoofers and their designs, etc. When we got through he asked me how old I was, I said 14 and he is like in 2 years you come down here and I'll give ya job. I was like... ! He gave me a magazine on B&W, it is totally cool, it explains detail to detail about B&W's history and detail to detail on the Nautilus. I have read it about 3 times, its really cool.

rs159

You lucky ****. If anyone has seen my profile, my job is professional urine taster (JK). Audio salsemen sure beats the hell out of that!

danger boy

Mx nice reviews. thanks for it.. i think in my part of the country people here don't appreciate audio as much. We don't have any Tweeters or any of the other "upper" end home audio stores. We have PLENTY of car audio places.. there are dozens of them here where I live. We have the usual BB, CC etc.. with really only two home audio places.. neither of which carries Polk Audio speakers.

so I appreciate your taking the time to write your findings. What a great day you had with your dad listening and demo-ing some nice speakers. You're a lucky guy.

goingganzo

diy subs cant be beat. if polk made a decent sub they might sell some more. but thene it would cost as much as a high end sub caues if the markup.

rs159

Hey gonzo, just put a Polk car sub in a box with a plate amp! (I'm not stupid, I know car woofers are made for cars, with so much cabin gain it actually IS funny)

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

Mofos high jackin my thread, can't believe it! lol! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Strong Bad

Nice reviews MX!

I'll have to stop by a Tweeter around my way in my travels to check out the Martin Logans. I've always wondered what the hype was in those ribbon designs.

You're lucky. When I was 14, I had a Rat Shack boom box that I thought was the ****. Carried that thing around with me while walking the neighborhood blaring it in my face. My dad had no interest whatsoever in audio other than "Turn that damn thing down!"

Honestly though, even though that thing sounded so terrible, I enjoyed it for what it was but always knew what kind of sound I really wanted. 21 years later and I'm sporting something I never thought I would have in my wildest dreams...a sweet set of SDA-SRS 2.3's. And I'm still not satisfied!

John

SPEAKER7

nice review........you must have felt you were in stereo heaven as in walked in the store and didbnot know where to start looking first.



dc.:D

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

Speaker I wasnt really in heaven until I walked into an entire room of Def Tech speakers. I remembered that Entry level tower I heard and I swear I went banana's when I walked in there! LOL! They had the TOTL, the MOTL, and the BOTL! I heard them all, the BOTL was very impressive also, the MOTL I thought was also very impressive, but the TOTL - MY GOD! IT BLEW ME AWAY! NO SUBWOOFER THERE! you know why? Each speaker has an effin subwoofer built in. The mains hit down to 13hz, and have a 18 inch side firing sub per speaker! The center hits down to 19hz, it has a 10 inch sub! The surrounds have either a 10 or 8 inch sub and hits down to 23! TALK ABOUT A SYSTEM! IT KICKED ARSE! THE SOUNDSTAGE ROCKED! SOUND WAS FLYING EFFIN EVERYWHERE! The treble was smooth, the voices were clear! Everything sounded P-E-R-F-E-C-T! IT WAS EFFIN WILD!!!!! lol!

pjdami

Mx,

Nice review dude. That's the best thing to do; go out and see and listen to what's out there. My problem when I do that is that I usually end up walking out the store with something (impulse buyer).

Like I said very nice review on a bunch of different equipment (you have very good music memory recall too) and you'll gain a lot of respect from others with this thread and post.

P.

SPEAKER7

if you like loud and deep music.......try a pair of Paradigm studio 100's with separates and have it cranked........however, the Lsi's will probably sound a little better but for the price paid here in Canada it's not too.



dc.:D