noob wants to buy Purity, has some questions

[EasyRider]

Hey guys, my first post here.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a Magnolia/BestBuy store in KC and heard ML Purity or Source for the first time and really liked them. I was not familiar with the ML line so not sure which one it was. Wife's impatience didnt help any

After some research I decided the Purity model is the one I would like and it fits my budget. But I have a couple of questions that some ML experts might be able to answer...

Quick background: Moving into new house in about 2 months, 15x28 basement room will be media room. Front half will be a home theater setup, back part of room has stairs going up. Otherwise it's just walls and a couple of doors. Currently I have infinity beta 50/360 with a yamaha 663 receiver.

1. How big or little is the sweetspot? ... I keep reading that if you stand up the sound could sound muddled. The speakers will be placed about 9ft apart. At the store I was standing and they sounded great... again didn't really have the time to give them a good listen.

2. Are they hard to setup with regards to getting the best sound quality to the listening positions? Does anyone have any links or suggestions for the best placement? I want to make sure they will work with my room.

Any places in the Kansas City area where I can hear these again? I live in Omaha and don't mind driving down 3 hours for a weekend. I see that these are put together in Lawrence... can I just show up at the factory?

Thanks for any feedback or help.

 

[Webinattor]

Re: the factory....My parents live in Blue Springs, MO and during one Christmas a few years ago I went to visit them. On a lark, I called the factory, explained I was an owner and visiting locally...could I stop over?

Much to my surprise, they said I could...so my father and my son and I went and they gave us a tour of the whole plant and everything. Was a really neat experience. At the time they were just coming out with their first subwoofer, so those were all over the place. It was interesting to see people in the plant using "theater center channel speakers" to listen to the local FM radio station. LOL.

 

[tonepub]

Here's the main point with the Purity and your questions are excellent.

They aren't terribly hard to set up, anywhere from 15 min to an hour, depending on how picky you are and what your room placement options are.

The sweet spot is about 1 1/2 people wide, but very narrow from top to bottom. Because of the revolving base, you set em up to sound good standing up or sitting down, you can't have both.

However, having CLX's and Spires out in the main listening room, I'm amazed at how much of the ML sound you can get for 3000 bucks in the Purity. They are pretty incredible. If you already have a receiver, you may want to think about the unpowered version of these, or consider a higher quality source as a front end with the Purity. I'm currently using the BelCanto CD3 and the whole system is amazing.

Let us know what you come up with!

 

[Nikos]

tonepub great post. But I don't think that a receiver can drive the ML Source like the ice modules the purity.use tubes (cd or preamp) and purity will sound amazing.
Nikos

 

[Nikos]

2. Are they hard to setup with regards to getting the best sound quality to the listening positions? Does anyone have any links or suggestions for the best placement? I want to make sure they will work with my room.

the will work with your room. you can adjust the bass (0 +6 -6db) so the distance from the front wall will not cause bass problems. moreover their curved panel eliminates the side wall reflections.
Nikos

 

[tonepub]

tonepub great post. But I don't think that a receiver can drive the ML Source like the ice modules the purity.use tubes (cd or preamp) and purity will sound amazing.
Nikos

I agree, but if our person asking the question doesn't want to get rid of his receiver...

I've been very excited with how much the Purity offers in such a small package. If you share your living space with someone who doesn't want a lot of wires in the house, this is the answer.

 

[EasyRider]

I agree, but if our person asking the question doesn't want to get rid of his receiver...

I've been very excited with how much the Purity offers in such a small package. If you share your living space with someone who doesn't want a lot of wires in the house, this is the answer.

tonepub thanks for the insights... Initially I will keep my current receiver for a couple of months until I move it to the bedroom or office. There are just way too many things to spend your money on when moving to a new house

I read over the Purity manual and am now a bit more informed on how to set them up and feel pretty confident they will work in my space.

To me it seems like the Purity is designed for people like me... people that might not have high end amps and other separates but would like a good quality setup.

 

[tonepub]

Does your receiver have preamp outputs?

If so, it might sound better than you think,
just using it as a preamp. Worth giving a try...

 

[tsmooth]

Does your receiver have preamp outputs?

If so, it might sound better than you think,
just using it as a preamp. Worth giving a try...

Yes, the 663 does have preouts. You can feed about anything into the Purity and it will sound good. I used my iPod mini with a stereo jack into a pair of Purities and the sound was surprisingly good.

Sorry, I don't want to assume you know, so I will explain preouts if you don't (you are a self proclaimed noob ). Basically, you can use a pair of RCA cables out the back of your receiver and plug them directly into the Level Line input of the Purity. This elimates the need for speaker cables and allows you to use the Purity's internal amplifier with great results. In turn, this takes strain off of the receiver to more easily power the center and/or rear and back surrounds if need be.

To answer your questions:

1) As tonepub said, the sweetspot is only a person or two wide and starts to degrade as you move vertically. The Purity and Source have a removable base with like 13 degrees of rear tilt. If you have a normal size couch, everybody will be pretty happy. If you have elevated seating, rotate the base so the speaker tilts back (you probably saw this in the manual with the speaker, great diagrams). The sweetspot is more of an issue if you are trying to have a bunch of people listening to two channel music. For movies, HDTV, etc add in a solid center channel speaker and all your guests should have a good listening experience.

2) Search the site for “placement” and “flashlight” and you should find some good information. You want the inner 1/3 of the panel lined up directly with the sweetspot for proper imaging, etc. Also, no panel speaker likes to be close to the front or side walls, so with the size of your room you should place them 4 to 5 feet from the front, and 2 to 3 feet from the side. As you stated, 9 to 10 feet apart should be good for the size of your room. From what I remember, you want the distance between to be about the same distance to the main listening position (can somebody verify that?).

For more information, the site www.realtraps.com has GREAT information. It will give you the science behind speaker and furniture placement distances, ideal room size, and room acoustics.

Research up and have fun.

 

[OneLiterPeter]

I agree with TSmooth and the others.

...and if you're looking for a great deal on a pair of Sources.

Send me a PM. I have a pair that are only 2 months old that I'm looking to sell.

and BTW... They sounded awesome hooked up to my Yamaha RX-V663. :rocker:


Admin's... Sorry about the sales pitch.