Too laidback?

[lugano]

I second fully Rich's opinion. You have a very musical amplifier and cables, no doubt about it, but maybe the combo is too musical for such an open space.

Try a pure SS with big balls and lots of wattage, on loan from a HiFi shop, and see if you get the kind of detail you're missing.

I suppose that moving everything into another (smaller) room, just for checking, is not an option, or is it ?

 

[paulo m]

I second fully Rich's opinion. You have a very musical amplifier and cables, no doubt about it, but maybe the combo is too musical for such an open space.

Try a pure SS with big balls and lots of wattage, on loan from a HiFi shop, and see if you get the kind of detail you're missing.

I suppose that moving everything into another (smaller) room, just for checking, is not an option, or is it ?

One thing I will try on the next few days (gladly it is a long weekend) is to (again) move the system to the short wall of the room. I have done it one time last year, where I put the speakers some 7 ft away from the short wall and was impressed with the results: In timbre and body it was quite good, and it really seemed that musicians were in the room. That was done with a weaker CDP and set of cables (Arcam FMJ 36, Audioquest Bedrock + King Cobra) and actually raised other issues that I was unhappy with. That and some concerns about the division of space in this room led me to go back to putting the system where it is now.

I've considered getting more substantial SS and tube amps on loan just to see how it all comes together, so I will revisit that idea. I did that with the CDP and shortly after I was pulling out my chequebook. Same applies to trying it out in a smaller room; definitely something that already occurred to me, but the wife factor led me to postpone that.

Thanks again to all for this valuable input,
Paulo

 

[cleon]

have you try to change speaker cables and interconects ? they really make a big difference....cardas,siltech or mit...
you can also try this...http://www.rpginc.com/...

 

[paulo m]

have you try to change speaker cables and interconects ? they really make a big difference....cardas,siltech or mit...
you can also try this...http://www.rpginc.com/...

Yes, I have tried a few different cables (Audioquest, Synergistic Research, Nordost) and ended up settling on the Pure Notes for the Nordost-like performance at a fraction of the price. Speaker cables and interconnects are quite low on my list--I'll probably upgrade the amp and then maybe the speakers before I get new cables. But power cables, that's another matter, I intend to get some aftermarket PCs soon. As for room treatments, I'll use plants before I try diffusors, and it's on my plans to get some TriTraps from GIK Acoustics.

Paulo

 

[paulo m]

So I went and moved my system from the long wall to the short wall on my living room. Timbrally, the improvement is huge! I now have the speakers a staggering 8 ft from the wall, 3ft from the sides, and these things are really airy. I guess not having that backwave really helps. This airiness makes me not really care about the laidback character I reported earlier.

However, there are still some issues and in fact I may have erroneously conflated these with the laidback-ness I didn't like: somewhere in the 100-300 Hz (I haven't measured, I'm just thinking in terms of the keys on a piano) there seem to be a few dips that cause certain frequency bands to appear veiled and muffled, accompanied by peaks that make other bands appear overly pronounced.

I am going to attack this in the next few weeks with some room treatment, which has to be somewhat discreet as the wife already has given me enormous latitude by conceding a whole third of the room for placing the system and all cabling . Further improvements will be to replace the stock Sovteks in the preamp section of the Pathos with Teles, which will bring a sweeter midrange. If that fails, along with any attempts to address it with a different amp even at 3x the price of the Pathos, I'm going to be ordering the upcoming CLX and add a Depth or Descent to them (I may do that anyway, the thought of fullrange bliss is totally irresistible )--on this note, has anyone noticed that the manual for these makes explicit reference to the CLX?

 

[benleeys]

....... I'm going to be ordering the upcoming CLX and add a Depth or Descent to them (I may do that anyway, the thought of fullrange bliss is totally irresistible )--on this note, has anyone noticed that the manual for these makes explicit reference to the CLX?

Paulo,

I have the Descent i. This sub was apparently designed to eventually mate with the CLX. It has provision for a crossover point that is marked "CLX".

 

[theWB]

It has provision for a crossover point that is marked "CLX".

What is that frequency? Does anyone know?The Descent has a switch for 40 and 70 hz.

 

[benleeys]

What is that frequency? Does anyone know?The Descent has a switch for 40 and 70 hz.

The lowpass switch has frequency stops at 30/CLX, 35, 45, 55, 65 and 80Hz.

According to ML, "An optional internal module will be available with low-pass filtering custom tailored to the MartinLogan CLX full-range electrostatic loudspeaker, targeted for release in the fall of 2007".