New ESL X’s

JSCIVALLY · Jul 30, 2020

Hello, I just got my ESL X’s and I would like to know what tips I can do to improve on them. I was thinking spikes for the feet, bi wiring for the speaker wire and I did install a new ifi power X 15 vdc power supply’s. Any tips would be great thank you, Jim

R.I.P · Jul 30, 2020

First, try passive biamping. Use Vtl 80 mono for woofer and 225 for panels. Open rear pointed feet 2 complete revolutions. Keep front feet fully closed. ESL X not point towards listening spot. Should point straight ahead at wall with max 1 degree toe in. The above worked for me in my room. Since deviation from one third panel flashlight rule I say no harm in trying. However not biwiring but passive biamping makes a huge difference. Protect them from dust by keeping covered when not in use. Dust spoils panel performance.

Is possible for you to connect both pairs of monoblocks to preamp and separately set gain for each pair?

JonFo · Jul 30, 2020

My first recommendation would be to deploy acoustic treatments, that will make the biggest difference of all in the setup. Some absorption behind them to attenuate the rear wave and can open up the sweet spot, as reflected, delayed energy is mitigated. Also, it will improve the mid-bass by reducing dipole cancelation if the absorber is 2" and offset from the wall by 2", a MiniTrap HF is the ticket here.

ttocs · Jul 30, 2020

The recommendations above will definitely be improvements.

The order in which I have gone in the past with great results is:
Placement
Treatment
Passive Bi Amplification
Spikes, or no Spikes?

Placement is FREE!, and is the most important. When I had my Vista speakers, it was only after deciding to take an entire day to remove all treatments and then move the speakers ALL OVER THE ROOM to find the best spot and orientation! This was the most successful tweak I had done up to that moment. they moved from being 3' from the panels to the front wall to 5-1/2'.

After the speakers were happy, it was now the right time to play with treatments.

Prior to the Placement Day I had already been using Passive Bi Amping. This however, is something that has greater returns at higher volume, at least in my experience, and this is why it's not anywhere near Number 1 on the list.

Spikes/Feet/Couple/De-couple is floor dependent and something that sounds good now, then go back to the other later, etc. For my Vistas I spiked to get more bass. And yes, I spiked into the wood floor - but only after that Placement Day I spoke about above. Up until then I used spikes on top of quarters. Now, with my current speakers, I use "spike shoes" with rubber bottoms under the spikes.

R1200CL · Jul 31, 2020

JSCIVALLY said:
Hello,

Do you use Roon ?

JSCIVALLY · Jul 31, 2020

Hello thank you for the replies, this forum is a great help and I don’t have Roon installed. I have removed the rubber bumpers off the spiked feet and installed the ifi power X’s and I’m in the process of placement of the speakers, also what kind of burn in time should I have for these speakers. Thank you