They finally made it!

[tonepub]

Ken's a bud. He actually writes for us on occasion.
Did a nice article on Italian Wine earlier in the year,
the review of the Leica M8 last issue and the Loiminchay
pens this issue.

He's got a great piece on the London Audiojumble for
next issue!

 

[Dougster]

When's Ken going to get a hold of the Spires. He had great fun reviewing Summit and Vantage in Hi Fi News . . . He likened Summit to 911 and Vantage to Boxster amongst other things (!) and clearly liked both of them. His reviews are always entertaining and he's careful to find positives in products.

 

[tonepub]

I guess with that in mind, the CLX without the Descent is a standard 911
and with is a GT3.

Not a Ferarri, but very close in performance for a third the price.

I've never been an advocate of the "giant Killer" thing in HiFi, but I've heard more than my fair share of 100-150 thousand dollar speakers and the CLX with the Descent (and the crossover board) gives you a huge helping of what the money no object guys have it's stunning.

 

[Cherian]

Reminds me of what Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear said about the 911 and the boxster.

"Lets face it the only reason you buy the boxster is because you cannot afford the 911. So every time you drive the boxster it reminds you that your life did not work out the way you planned."

 

[RichTeer]

I've never been an advocate of the "giant Killer" thing in HiFi, but I've heard more than my fair share of 100-150 thousand dollar speakers and the CLX with the Descent (and the crossover board) gives you a huge helping of what the money no object guys have it's stunning.

Do you use a pair of Decents with your CLXes, or just the one?

 

[User211]

"However, where the quad really falls down is with dynamics. It just doesn't have the sheer punch that the CLX does."

Personally, I think this is an area the in which CLX does not excel. It presents things in a very relaxed, laid back manner. It has a very "full" presentation, like it doesn't need a sub, and never will do. But critically, you could acuse it of being a bit thick sounding, as if there is a bit too much "richness" in it's sound. A bit like "I can't reach to low, so I'll make t sound good by being generous elsewhere". And, of course, it doesn't reach that low, and yes, if you want to hear what is going on down there, you will need to supplement it with a Descent i or two.

However, this is a much better presentation than most ever achieve by a long way. I am reminded of Linn in their great days, with a Linn Sondek LP12, Ekos, Karma driving Isobariks via, I think if I remember correctly, LK series amps. This had that sort of upper bass bloom that is very attractive and pleasing to the ear, just like the CLX driven by Jadis JA200 amps.

The CLX soundstage is absolutely vast, and very convincing. For this aspect alone, it destroys most of what is available, at any price. In this sense, it is actually remarkably good value.

I'd like to hear the CLX driven by some high power solid state gear. Specifically, when heard with the Avalon Eidelon's, the CJ is a very "head together" amp, but not a very adventurous one i.e. it doesn't take many risks and is very polite and hard to find fault with.

I personally think ARCs would be the best drivers, though. Their amps have a kind of "get more real than this" feel to them. I have had many years break from hearing a great ARC based system. And it would be a breath of fresh air to hear something as good as the V140s were in their heyday. The best compromise between solid state and transistors I have ever heard. Brilliant amp. A++ rated in my book. If you can pick one up second hand, you will be far from disappointed. Even in the year 2008.

But that is the past, and this is the present. And in that respect, the CLX gets my vote. As a clear winner? Yeah, sure...

 

[SundayNiagara]

"Personally, I think this is an area the in which CLX does not excel. It presents things in a very relaxed, laid back manner. It has a very "full" presentation, like it doesn't need a sub, and never will do. But critically, you could acuse it of being a bit thick sounding, as if there is a bit too much "richness" in it's sound. A bit like "I can't reach to low, so I'll make t sound good by being generous elsewhere". And, of course, it doesn't reach that low, and yes, if you want to hear what is going on down there, you will need to supplement it with a Descent i or two."

Could the .7 ohm impedence dip in the upper frequencies be causing this? When I heard them in Pompano with the Ref 210's driving them, I heard a harmonically rich sound, that was not overly rich in the midrange as you describe.

 

[User211]

Sunday - quote myself - "This had that sort of upper bass bloom that is very attractive and pleasing to the ear".

I was thinking more upper bass than midrange. But I heard them with a classic, and I mean classic, romantic, rich sounding French valve amp. It is hard to draw real conclusions between what the speaker is responsible for and what the amp is responsible for.

As for the 0.7 Ohm impedance at 20 KHz - well, I'd be interested to see some accurate frequency versus impedance plots for the CLX. Most, at the age of 16, can't hear more than 16 KHz, unless I went to school with a bunch of deaf gits. So a much more 'real world' impedance quote would be at this frequency.

I don't personally think that the CLX would be the top priority for people who are particularly sensitive to very high frequency reproduction. Though the highs it does do are very good, they are far from emphasised in this loudspeaker. For such people, ribbon tweeters are probably the works. Not for emphasis, but for excellence of reproduction.

Best post I ever saw you write, Sunday, was:

"Beware of amp sensitivities!".

Brilliant post!

 

[SundayNiagara]

""Beware of amp sensitivities!". "

And I thought it was ignored!

 

[SundayNiagara]

"I was thinking more upper bass than midrange. But I heard them with a classic, and I mean classic, romantic, rich sounding French valve amp. It is hard to draw real conclusions between what the speaker is responsible for and what the amp is responsible for."

Hear them with the ARC amps!

 

[marck]

"However, where the quad really falls down is with dynamics. It just doesn't have the sheer punch that the CLX does."

I heard the CLX's being driven by the Jadis amps at the hifi show at Heathrow too. I asked the same question about having that punch. It seems as though it was more the amps that were driving the CLX's than the CLX's themselves.

A couple of people I was talking to had heard the CLX's driven by some big Krell amps and said that they sounded completely different in respect of having that punchiness.

I did enquire (to Abolsute Sounds) as to why they were demonstrating ML's top of the range speaker with a valve amp with not that much power, instead of a big ARC or krell amp - answer was that it was political (they had not used the Jadis for sometime at the hifi shows).

Unfortunately I do not have room to accomodate the CLX's and so I will have to make do with whatever the Summit upgrade path takes me too!

 

[DrJRapp]

A couple of people I was talking to had heard the CLX's driven by some big Krell amps and said that they sounded completely different in respect of having that punchiness.

Last week when I got to listen to the CLXs it was with Krell electronics. My impression was: wonderfully detailed midrange and smooth hyper-extended highs but definitly a bit hollow and lifeless on the bottom. It was akin to listening to a pair of speakers set up outdoors without the benifit of room rienforcement. The room itself was also very bright with hard drywall walls and way too many bass traps. The sound character also could have been the result of a contribution by the source player, a Meridian 808, and the silver ICs that were being used.

Others have said the CLX needs the warmth of tubes. Based on what I heard and applying some deductive reasoning, I tend to agree.

 

[tonepub]

Reminds me of what Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear said about the 911 and the boxster.

"Lets face it the only reason you buy the boxster is because you cannot afford the 911. So every time you drive the boxster it reminds you that your life did not work out the way you planned."

When I had the good fortune to spend a day with Hurley Haywood (Winner of 24 hrs of LeMans three times and 24 hrs of Daytona five times) a few years ago and we talked about which Porsche was the best one to buy he said this:

"Go get yourself a standard issue stripped Boxster with 16" wheels and spend ten grand on driving school. If you have any talent at all, you will be able to smoke almost everyone that drives a 911. (He also owns a Porsche dealer in Florida). We get guys that come in here all the time that buy 911's with big spoilers, big wheels, etc and they are all poseurs.

There are about four guys on the face of the Earth that can drive a Porsche 911 to 100% of its capability and you are sitting across the table from one of them. The smart guy buys the Boxster every time."

 

[tonepub]

"However, where the quad really falls down is with dynamics. It just doesn't have the sheer punch that the CLX does."

Personally, I think this is an area the in which CLX does not excel. It presents things in a very relaxed, laid back manner. It has a very "full" presentation, like it doesn't need a sub, and never will do. But critically, you could acuse it of being a bit thick sounding, as if there is a bit too much "richness" in it's sound. A bit like "I can't reach to low, so I'll make t sound good by being generous elsewhere". And, of course, it doesn't reach that low, and yes, if you want to hear what is going on down there, you will need to supplement it with a Descent i or two.

However, this is a much better presentation than most ever achieve by a long way. I am reminded of Linn in their great days, with a Linn Sondek LP12, Ekos, Karma driving Isobariks via, I think if I remember correctly, LK series amps. This had that sort of upper bass bloom that is very attractive and pleasing to the ear, just like the CLX driven by Jadis JA200 amps.

The CLX soundstage is absolutely vast, and very convincing. For this aspect alone, it destroys most of what is available, at any price. In this sense, it is actually remarkably good value.

I'd like to hear the CLX driven by some high power solid state gear. Specifically, when heard with the Avalon Eidelon's, the CJ is a very "head together" amp, but not a very adventurous one i.e. it doesn't take many risks and is very polite and hard to find fault with.

I personally think ARCs would be the best drivers, though. Their amps have a kind of "get more real than this" feel to them. I have had many years break from hearing a great ARC based system. And it would be a breath of fresh air to hear something as good as the V140s were in their heyday. The best compromise between solid state and transistors I have ever heard. Brilliant amp. A++ rated in my book. If you can pick one up second hand, you will be far from disappointed. Even in the year 2008.

But that is the past, and this is the present. And in that respect, the CLX gets my vote. As a clear winner? Yeah, sure...

What CJ amp are you talking about?

 

[jtwrace]

There are about four guys on the face of the Earth that can drive a Porsche 911 to 100% of its capability "

This is true for most sports cars...

 

[User211]

Others have said the CLX needs the warmth of tubes. Based on what I heard and applying some deductive reasoning, I tend to agree.

I think so. I'd like to try them with a variety of amps, though. But wouldn't we all Jeff will have to do the hard work for us...

 

[DrJRapp]

I think so. I'd like to try them with a variety of amps, though. But wouldn't we all Jeff will have to do the hard work for us...

So right!!! Jeff (and the rest of the Tone Staff's) commentary is about as close as most of us will get to doing our own in-home trial.

 

[RichTeer]

Jeff will have to do the hard work for us...

It's a crappy job, but someone has to do it.

 

[tonepub]

Talking to ARC to see if I can get some REF210's right now...

 

[marlin]

Tonepub

I live nearby in Sandy OR, Any chance of listening with you? They look heavy you may need help moving them around...
Marlin 503-668-5360