Can it really be this easy??
The new speakers arrived just before lunch so I took the time to hookup. They are on the rounded (plastic?) feet they come shipped with on a wood floor. Old speakers are Vistas.
I expected weak, harsh, weird sounding, etc. But I got the opposite! Immediately, they beat the pants off the Vistas in every way! Thanks to those of you who helped in answering my questions and concerns re 13A vs 11A.
Right now the 24/7 break-in marathon has begun. I had to get back to work so they are running unattended, but I made sure the system was on long enough to provide the assurance that all was well. The Krell amp warmed up slower than normal, which means these speakers are friendlier than the Vistas. Martin Logan told me that they would be very efficient. I'm used to the Krell getting warm quickly, even at the break-in volume currently employed.
I gotta say, these things are instantly more dynamic, and exhibit way more detail than I'm used to. They simply sound "easy", very easy to listen to. And this is with only less than a half hour of play.
Sorry if I sound like I'm gushing, but I really am initially pleased. Photos after I do some house keeping with the wires. More to come . . . .
Hours of break-in: Ongoing . . . .
Note: I've only been playing music peaking at or above 90dB, not using pink noise.
0-25 hours: Some freqs are much more pronounced (Santana's long sustained guitar notes:Moonflower album) and zing right out at you and consequently way too loud. Bass is a little sloppy.
At 40 hours things are way smoother with respect to certain frequencies being much louder and piercing. Bass is more apparent and is now evident of being in need of correction. I'm pretty amazed at how low the bass gets, no subwoofer needed or wanted for my music listening.
50 hours: Even smoother sounding. Elevated listening volume can go as high as you dare and still sound great (still need to calibrate the bass). I prefer, however, to listen at more moderate levels and this is where the 13A demonstrates some authority over the Vista's 9" panel and 8" single woofer. At moderate volume, there is plenty of musical detail and bass. Very natural sounding. Exactly what I've been wanting.
53 hours: Calibrated the bass with PBK. Bass is more accurate sounding, a bit punchier, less boomy, maybe a bit quicker seeming.
65 hours: Not as much of an incremental difference, but there is still improvement. I use a couple Santana albums as the go-to for sounds that were shrill with not many hours on the break-in. Lotus album, Incident At Neshabur at 8:20 there's a couple peak volume guitar notes that "zing" right out at you, now they are not shrill, or harsh, or so over the top loud, they sound appropriate for what I've been used to since first listening to this album when it was released 45 years ago. The album is overly bright, not well recorded. The same kind of zingers which presented badly during less break-in hours are on Moonflower: Dance Sister Dance during the guitar solo at around 3-1/2 minutes, then again during a long sustain note at 5:10 which peaks louder at 5:22, these sound great now. There are more of these "singing" notes in Europa, especially during the last minute, these sound perfect now.
90 hours: Well the squirrels are back again . . . oops, sorry, that's a commercial. Getting close to needing to calibrate the bass again. I currently have them too close to the wall on purpose to see how they would do, I'll move them away if the next calibration doesn't sound quite right. There is about 12" between the rear woofer and the wall. I expected an issue with the panel being too close and causing back-wave reflected disturbance, but so far it's not been apparent - not saying it's not there, just not apparent enough to notice. My Vistas needed every tweak I could give them to sound good. These Expressions seem less like their ancestors and more like "regular" speakers, . . . maybe an overstatement but since I'm used to ML's that's what it seems like.
Sounding fuller in the midrange than the Vistas, which I hoped, and frankly expected, would be the case.
I've been listening to classical (thanks Peter), Tom Waits (great standup bass and piano), Andreas Vollenwieder (but this sounds good on a lot of systems, fantastic now), Eno, SRV, Allman Brothers, Santana (of course!), Art Of Noise, Sade, No Doubt, Ella (do I really need the last name??), Chic Corea, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles, and everything seems appropriate for these speakers. Even some recordings which are overly bright sound smoother. Classical works better on these than my Vistas, very happy about that. The dynamics seem much better than expected as well. I feel like I'm seeing a new vista (pun intended) musically speaking.
About 110 hours: I found something to indicate there is still some taming of the shrew needed, which I fully expect to be the case for a bit. Grand Funk Railroad: Closer To Home, when the singer sings "I'm get-TING closer to my home". It's the TING that is piercing through above all else. It's not distorted, just very sharp sounding.
The new speakers arrived just before lunch so I took the time to hookup. They are on the rounded (plastic?) feet they come shipped with on a wood floor. Old speakers are Vistas.
I expected weak, harsh, weird sounding, etc. But I got the opposite! Immediately, they beat the pants off the Vistas in every way! Thanks to those of you who helped in answering my questions and concerns re 13A vs 11A.
Right now the 24/7 break-in marathon has begun. I had to get back to work so they are running unattended, but I made sure the system was on long enough to provide the assurance that all was well. The Krell amp warmed up slower than normal, which means these speakers are friendlier than the Vistas. Martin Logan told me that they would be very efficient. I'm used to the Krell getting warm quickly, even at the break-in volume currently employed.
I gotta say, these things are instantly more dynamic, and exhibit way more detail than I'm used to. They simply sound "easy", very easy to listen to. And this is with only less than a half hour of play.
Sorry if I sound like I'm gushing, but I really am initially pleased. Photos after I do some house keeping with the wires. More to come . . . .
Hours of break-in: Ongoing . . . .
Note: I've only been playing music peaking at or above 90dB, not using pink noise.
0-25 hours: Some freqs are much more pronounced (Santana's long sustained guitar notes:Moonflower album) and zing right out at you and consequently way too loud. Bass is a little sloppy.
At 40 hours things are way smoother with respect to certain frequencies being much louder and piercing. Bass is more apparent and is now evident of being in need of correction. I'm pretty amazed at how low the bass gets, no subwoofer needed or wanted for my music listening.
50 hours: Even smoother sounding. Elevated listening volume can go as high as you dare and still sound great (still need to calibrate the bass). I prefer, however, to listen at more moderate levels and this is where the 13A demonstrates some authority over the Vista's 9" panel and 8" single woofer. At moderate volume, there is plenty of musical detail and bass. Very natural sounding. Exactly what I've been wanting.
53 hours: Calibrated the bass with PBK. Bass is more accurate sounding, a bit punchier, less boomy, maybe a bit quicker seeming.
65 hours: Not as much of an incremental difference, but there is still improvement. I use a couple Santana albums as the go-to for sounds that were shrill with not many hours on the break-in. Lotus album, Incident At Neshabur at 8:20 there's a couple peak volume guitar notes that "zing" right out at you, now they are not shrill, or harsh, or so over the top loud, they sound appropriate for what I've been used to since first listening to this album when it was released 45 years ago. The album is overly bright, not well recorded. The same kind of zingers which presented badly during less break-in hours are on Moonflower: Dance Sister Dance during the guitar solo at around 3-1/2 minutes, then again during a long sustain note at 5:10 which peaks louder at 5:22, these sound great now. There are more of these "singing" notes in Europa, especially during the last minute, these sound perfect now.
90 hours: Well the squirrels are back again . . . oops, sorry, that's a commercial. Getting close to needing to calibrate the bass again. I currently have them too close to the wall on purpose to see how they would do, I'll move them away if the next calibration doesn't sound quite right. There is about 12" between the rear woofer and the wall. I expected an issue with the panel being too close and causing back-wave reflected disturbance, but so far it's not been apparent - not saying it's not there, just not apparent enough to notice. My Vistas needed every tweak I could give them to sound good. These Expressions seem less like their ancestors and more like "regular" speakers, . . . maybe an overstatement but since I'm used to ML's that's what it seems like.
Sounding fuller in the midrange than the Vistas, which I hoped, and frankly expected, would be the case.
I've been listening to classical (thanks Peter), Tom Waits (great standup bass and piano), Andreas Vollenwieder (but this sounds good on a lot of systems, fantastic now), Eno, SRV, Allman Brothers, Santana (of course!), Art Of Noise, Sade, No Doubt, Ella (do I really need the last name??), Chic Corea, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles, and everything seems appropriate for these speakers. Even some recordings which are overly bright sound smoother. Classical works better on these than my Vistas, very happy about that. The dynamics seem much better than expected as well. I feel like I'm seeing a new vista (pun intended) musically speaking.
About 110 hours: I found something to indicate there is still some taming of the shrew needed, which I fully expect to be the case for a bit. Grand Funk Railroad: Closer To Home, when the singer sings "I'm get-TING closer to my home". It's the TING that is piercing through above all else. It's not distorted, just very sharp sounding.
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