System #700 (Renaissance ESL 15A)

[Audioseduction]

I feel that Pass Labs is one of the best matches for the Martin Logans! This room is how I get away from it all.

 

[Robert D]

What are the black panels in the front corners of the room? Acoustic panels for sound absorption? One picture shows a small cable running from the wall to behind a panel. Also looks like you have the same panels in the rear corners as well? Just curious. Ive never done any treatments, just use my room as is. Right now I use a home theater/ 2 channel combined setup in my family room.

Your setup looks great. Nice and clean.

 

[Audioseduction]

The acoustic panels behind the speakers are to cut down on the mid & highs coming from the rear of the speakers since they are dipoles. I also have acoustic panels directory behind the listening position. The corners have bass traps. The rug also provides sound absorption to cut down on any sound reflection from the hardwood floor. The small black cable is the network cable connected to the music server.

 

[bikerneil]

That's a beautiful setup. Love the room, and the amps and speakers are fabulous. I'm a big fan of acoustic treatments and believe they are probably the best $$$ you can spend for improving sound quality and stage imaging.

I'm curious - with all of the money spent on best hardware, great cables, etc - why are the speakers so close to your front wall? IMO, if you have ML's you gotta move them away from the wall for optimal sound. I played with that variable for a hundred hours before I found my best spot for bass, imaging, etc.

Nice rig!

 

[twich54]

why are the speakers so close to your front wall?

I suspect George had to deal with the room dimensions he had thus his acoustic treatments to best optimize the sound. Same with his listening position, while it's never good to have your chair up against a wall his panels behind I'm sure help out a lot.

IMO, if you have ML's you gotta move them away from the wall for optimal sound.

Agreed 100%, but again, compromise and treatments are all part of the equation.

Nicely done George !!

 

[Audioseduction]

In this setup, I get a jaw-dropping bass response without sacrificing the mids & highs. Most excellent imaging, 3D effect, and sound stage that goes from wall to wall. It's amazing what one can do with proper acoustic treatment. Dave, when are you stopping by for a listen?

 

[twich54]

Dave, when are you stopping by for a listen?

George, I won't be back to Florida until next March. Hopefully next year I can keep my heart in sinus rhythm so you , Brad and myself can hook up !

 

[Robert D]

George, I won't be back to Florida until next March. Hopefully next year I can keep my heart in sinus rhythm so you , Brad and myself can hook up !

You sound like me. You have a defibrillator/pacemaker too? I'm getting a biventricular device put in next month. I had bad trouble with going into V tach often.

 

[sleepysurf]

Congrats to George for an incredible setup! He graciously demo'd his system the other day for myself and another local audiophile, and we were blown away! His former Summit X system (in his prior home) already sounded superb, but the 15A's in his new dedicated listening room take everything to the next level. The new room is heavily insulated, with amazingly low background noise (<26 dB), so we heard micro-details in the music like never before. IMHO, the panels and woofers of the 15A's are seamlessly integrated, and his entire system (with Pass Pre and Monoblocks, Aurender server, and Aqua DAC) provide the most live sounding and palpable dynamics I've ever heard!

This is the reference sound I'm aiming for with my ESL 13A's, but, alas, will never achieve, due to my family room acoustics (and WAF limitations)!

 

[Len44]

Wow! Just goes to show I have much to learn, especially when it comes to optimizing with room treatments. Certainly agree with your choice of 15A Renaissance Speakers Aurender Server and Pass Labs Preamp and the MonoBlock Amplifiers! Jeeze, what a SYSTEM!!!

 

[khenegar]

i noticed in ur pictures that the 15a’s are perpendicular to the floor do they come that way or are they tilted back like summits?

 

[Len44]

They come this way, not tilted back.

BTW, upgraded from Summits. Dave said it would be a BIG Upgrade...and he was right. Love the sound!

 

[khenegar]

They come this way, not tilted back.

BTW, upgraded from Summits. Dave said it would be a BIG Upgrade...and he was right. Love the sound!

i’m sure it was a big upgrade! what do u like about them over ur summits which i still have and probably will till my dying days?

 

[Len44]

I did not do the upgrade scientifically, in that I added the speakers AND the Pass Labs XP32 Pre and XA160.8 MonoBlocks at the same time, so I experienced at least somewhat of a "double-whammy" in the process. I realize the Pass side is probably a bit more than required, but was what I needed (OK, Wanted) to do. All that to say, I have not done a direct Summit to Renaissance comparison, with the Pass equipment installed, but may be interesting to do this in the near future, and report back.

My thinking is that the new speakers probably have more of an impact on the overall sound quality, but could only speculate regarding the relative contribution of each.

 

[donlduck1]

Would you mind sharing the dimensions of your room? What is the distance between the 15a's? Considering an upgrade from Summits.

 

[Len44]

Room is 32.4 x 17.7 x 8.2

Distance between speakers currently is 11.8. However, I will be "reversing the room", hopefully soon.

Current room setup has a couple of issues, including left speaker with no wall backing, and a break in the wall midway on the right side. Haven't tuned for this, due to the pending room reversal.

 

[Northy]

Wow, what a system - Congrats George. I must admit, I envy you. I truly believe that ML and Pass are a match made in heaven. Are the amps XA 100.5? Upgrading from Theos to one of the Renaissance models is on my horizon. I know my XA30.8 and XP 22 have a lot of potential.

 

[JonFo]

Nice room and system George, congrats!

One question: do the panels behind the seat cover the area down to shoulder level?

I found that treating the whole rear-wall was beneficial in the small media room, where the chairs are also right up against the back wall. In that one, we hung a decorative pattern rug offset 2" from the rear wall, and boy is it effective. Looks good too. see: Media room – quad ML sub setup

 

[GW1800]

Looks like a nice setup. I got to admit I’ve listened at shows to a couple of setups and came away unimpressed with the 15’s. I think it was the room as I did hear at Axpona the 13’s and they were very good. Would be nice sometime to listen in a room like yours to really hear what they sound like.

 

[Audioseduction]

Wow, what a system - Congrats George. I must admit, I envy you. I truly believe that ML and Pass are a match made in heaven. Are the amps XA 100.5? Upgrading from Theos to one of the Renaissance models is on my horizon. I know my XA30.8 and XP 22 have a lot of potential.

The amps are XA160.5 providing 320W of class A amplification per channel.