A small upgrade in speakers... The CLXArt a true masterpiece!
- Thread starter Big Dog RJ
- Start date
Thanks Jk mate.
That was our old little shoe box, which we rented for 14yrs! ... since 2005. Around Sept 2018 was when I got the CLX's but a lot has changed since:
1. Now the system resides in our new place (built in Sept 2019) much larger area for the CLX's to breathe and reveal its true performance.
2. The Mac sacd player is now replaced by Esoteric digital gear.
3. The CJ monoblocks were upgraded to the full SE version plus their Class A bias was modded, including the preamp (took nearly 3yrs).
4. The CLX's now rest on the Iso Acoustics Gaia II's.
5. The Nordost cables were all upgraded to Frey2 and Tyr2 level, still use Heimdall2 IC's.
6. The Rega TT RP8 was upgraded to RP10 parts (belt and internal motor plus power supply unit).
7. The ML BF210 has been added to assist with the lowest frequencies. Although the CLX's can reproduce down to 40Hz, there are certain tunes I listen to on vinyl, where there's organ music and synthesised bass which the BF210 reproduces beautifully (as you're well aware of...)!
8. All the gear rests on Solid Steel audio racks, including separate amp stands dedicated for each monoblock. Overall, this helped in further vibration control and noise reduction, absolutely quiet!
So, it's basically quite a different dimension since Sept 2018... the only thing remaining the same are the CLX's! I've posted a few pics of our new place with the new set up, those are the ones pictured with the BF210 in the middle. Since 2022, those were the final upgrades. I've reached my limit! Ah! Those famous words...
Cheers mate, RJ
Ahhh my man RJ,
So happy for you my friend, and so impressed of all your upgrades in such a short period of time. Truly super impressive. Actually I loved to see your ”old” system setup too… I think it looked great
. Yes you did send me a coulpe of pics of your ”new” system around the new year, and it looks amazing. I love the BF-210 centred between your majestic CLX’s?…. -though I would love to lend you my two BF-210 subtowers to check if your new house is build acording to earthquake standards - HA HA HA?!!!I have said many times that I have reached my limits, and that I was never going to have anything more than a 2-channel stereo system… and see what has happen to me… I was caught by the most dangerous virus on earth…. -The Hugly Bugly Hifi-virus Nr.10
, the worst sort of it’s kind, haha!!I don’t think anymore that there is such a thing as a limit in hi-end hifi… I have lost the ”limit” faith, hehe.
Lucky me, I have the best wife’y on earth, who let me have my music and hifi hobby going with a lot of folks coming over for ”swedish fika” and listen to beautiful music and talk about all this technical nerdy stuff that we boys talk about, haha. So much fun.
I hope you have the best hifi weekend now, RJ.
All the best
/ Jk
So nice that your CLX’s have remained the fundamental in your recent system journey RJ , believe me when I say that were it not for space constraints in our current house over the next 3/4 years that I would have held onto my recently departed CLX Anniversaries as the mainstay of a second system
Hi there again RJ,
Check this out?..!!!
Little love to my Martin Logan Stage Center !
Dear Martin Logan friends, This morning I gave my Stage center speaker a great deal of love and affection. The Stage has been sounding a bit strange for some time and has given off some distorsion sound from the tweeter, but not directly and not all the time I’ve been playing, so it has been a...
www.whatsbestforum.com
All the best
/ Jk
Ah yes, I do remember you saying that sometime back... my apologies though, for the love of mankind I can't quite remember what exactly you're using now. Do you still have Stats or other panel types? and what was the rest of the gear... sorry if I missed it.So nice that your CLX’s have remained the fundamental in your recent system journey RJ , believe me when I say that were it not for space constraints in our current house over the next 3/4 years that I would have held onto my recently departed CLX Anniversaries as the mainstay of a second system
Always happy to learn something new!
Cheers mate, RJ
Hey RJ :
Having been exceptionally pleased with the musical performance of the ARC REF10 / REF250SE electronics and of course the CLX Anniversaries for quite a good while I began to feel the urge for a change of direction and have just recently moved to a full Aries Cerat electronics and a pair of Aries Cerat Symphonia Aeris LE horns.
Oh! very nice one indeed! Especially moving from ARC gear plus CLX's to Aries Cerat ... look out! That's some serious level stuff.
I would certainly consider this in the ultra-high-end category, for when I did get the chance to audition the Aries Cerat for the first time, boy was that something else! Truly remarkable gear and virtually designed and made with no compromises. I guess that's the price you pay and that's exactly what you get!
Would have been a remarkable experience to audition your gear and learn something new yet again. We do have an Aries Cerat importer / dealer Down Unda, I think they have the Integrated amp version set up at the moment but I haven't heard that particular one (I always get the name & model mixed up...). Although, there was one chap very keen on it over here, and he did ask me about this very model, it's the one with the two chassis, amp plus power supply, hefty weight! He wanted to partner them with his ML Ren15A's... not sure if he went ahead with the purchase but that price tag was quite competitive with a few other brands within the same range, for ex. Dartzeel and so on... So I don't know which amps he finally decided on. I must check with him, being a while since we last spoke. I think he was still getting his room ready and cables sorted out. I'm really inspired by their all Class A output design, it's truly unique, and can also handle difficult loads.
Beautiful gear, an absolute work of Art! Well done on the Aries Cerat gear, now just sit back and enjoy those very fine tunes!
WOOF!!! RJ
I have lived with my CLX ART for just under a year now. Mine are done in the piano back finish. Mine also came off the secondary market but we're low hours and in superb shape. Sine Martin Logan are no longer producing a full range panel I thought this would be my best chance at experiencing a top flight electrostatic speaker.
Electronics are Classe Omega monoblock amps, Trinov Audio Amethyst preamp, Cen.Grans DSDac1.0(deluxe) DAC, SOTA Cosmos ECLIPSE /SME V/ Transfiguration Audio Proteus, and BMC Audio MCCI Signature ULN phono stage. Wiring is Wireworld Eclipse 8 speaker wire, Gold Eclipse 8 interconnects, and Pi Audio power cords.
Room is 16x20x8 feet. Because of a dining room I need a pathway and can only get the speakers a little over 4 feet off the front wall. I use ATC wood diffusers behind them, and the Trinov DSP program along with a smattering of GIK Audio acoustic panels.
I originally set the CLX ART in the same place I had some JBL4365 with appropriate toe in based on the mid/high curved panel. I spent months working out how to get soundstage depth with appropriate acoustic space. If I got width maximized I had little to no depth. If I had center depth the sound collapsed on the corners.
What I found is I needed to bring the left speaker in towards the center, remove most of the toe in, and run another DSP sweep. Then I got a very nice stage with natural vocals and instrument with remarkable resolution. I don't achieve as much depth as the JBL achieved, the tradeoff is such a pure and unforced tone. I cannot get more room off the front wall, so I suspect this is the best I can do.
Oh I do use a pair.of Velodyne HGS12 servo subwoofers crossed over at 80Hz. I feel the deeper you drive the bass panelS the lower middle are compromised. I tried 60 to 100 Hz, and found 80 to be the best choice for my room.
These are long term keepers for me and I hope over the years I can find ways to improve the set up. Pics are from when I just dropped them in place, please excuse the messy room.
Anyone know if Martin Logan will be able to use future panels to refresh our speakers when the time comes?
Electronics are Classe Omega monoblock amps, Trinov Audio Amethyst preamp, Cen.Grans DSDac1.0(deluxe) DAC, SOTA Cosmos ECLIPSE /SME V/ Transfiguration Audio Proteus, and BMC Audio MCCI Signature ULN phono stage. Wiring is Wireworld Eclipse 8 speaker wire, Gold Eclipse 8 interconnects, and Pi Audio power cords.
Room is 16x20x8 feet. Because of a dining room I need a pathway and can only get the speakers a little over 4 feet off the front wall. I use ATC wood diffusers behind them, and the Trinov DSP program along with a smattering of GIK Audio acoustic panels.
I originally set the CLX ART in the same place I had some JBL4365 with appropriate toe in based on the mid/high curved panel. I spent months working out how to get soundstage depth with appropriate acoustic space. If I got width maximized I had little to no depth. If I had center depth the sound collapsed on the corners.
What I found is I needed to bring the left speaker in towards the center, remove most of the toe in, and run another DSP sweep. Then I got a very nice stage with natural vocals and instrument with remarkable resolution. I don't achieve as much depth as the JBL achieved, the tradeoff is such a pure and unforced tone. I cannot get more room off the front wall, so I suspect this is the best I can do.
Oh I do use a pair.of Velodyne HGS12 servo subwoofers crossed over at 80Hz. I feel the deeper you drive the bass panelS the lower middle are compromised. I tried 60 to 100 Hz, and found 80 to be the best choice for my room.
These are long term keepers for me and I hope over the years I can find ways to improve the set up. Pics are from when I just dropped them in place, please excuse the messy room.
Anyone know if Martin Logan will be able to use future panels to refresh our speakers when the time comes?
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What a wonderful set-up! For my ears CLXArt + subwoofers (along with Magnepan 20.7s + subwoofers) gets you most of the way to full state-of-the-art (and at great value as a bonus)!
Does that Trinov thing mean you're running the full-range signal through DSP?
Just out of curiosity, as your speaker positioning was evolving, what did straight-ahead (zero toe-in) sound like?
What do you hear is the effect of the QRD diffusion behind the speakers?
Does that Trinov thing mean you're running the full-range signal through DSP?
Just out of curiosity, as your speaker positioning was evolving, what did straight-ahead (zero toe-in) sound like?
What do you hear is the effect of the QRD diffusion behind the speakers?
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Yes the DSP program is full range and takes care of time alignment between the CLX ART and the subwoofers. It can also be bypassed. It also deals with room nodes and nulls. Because it is between source and amplification, yes, it means vinyl signals travel through it and some folks don't cotton with that kind of heresy.
When the speakers were spread farther apart like the above photo I took all toe in out and it did not work. I started out it back in till I got a solid center image but I had minimal depth. ThAt is when it occurred to me to bring one speaker in with 3 inches and start decreasing toe in till I got where I am now. You should see the amount I ended up with in this photo.
The panels addressed echo from the front wall and eliminated a hollow type sound. Worth installing in this set up.
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Yes, that distance from the front wall is really critical. Sometimes you can get away with 4ft... just about to create that soundstage depth.
However, when we finally built our new house and I was able to get nearly 6ft away from the front wall, oh boy did that soundstage depth have magic! It's a beautiful thing to experience this and the CLX's simply disappear.
With earlier models on stats, such as the Quad ESL's, this front wall distance wasn't a big issue. Such that, with Quads they've got those special delay coils, and together with their patented concentric rings along the stat panel, creates a ripple affect. Similar to a point source, so this special dispersion pattern didn't require any critical distance placement from front walls. When I had the Quads, from ESL 63's, 989's, 2805's, 2905's and 2912's, each of them worked quite well in virtually any room setting.
However, considering ML stats, from my previous CLSIIZ's and now onto CLX's, placement is far more critical than any stats or panel type speakers I've ever used including Maggie's and Apogee's. ML stats, and in this case referring to the CLX's, they don't have any fancy gadgetry or circuitry. They act as a Line Source type transducer, so every inch of placement makes a difference.
After acquiring these marvellous stats in Sept 2018, after short listing 3 of my favourites; Avant Garde Duo XD's, ML Ren15a's Audio Analysis Omega's, I closed on the CLX's as the fourth choice. In fact, the AG Horns were the most expensive of the lot! It was only after we moved to our new place in Sept 2019, did I realise the awe-inspiring experience of CLX's in full glory!
As I've said before quite a number of times, having gone through so many different types of audio gear/ systems and various types of speakers, there's no other speaker system I'd rather own, regardless of price. That's it for me.
Although those Genesis Tributes would be mighty fine... perhaps in another lifetime.
A mighty WOOF!
Cheers and enjoy those finest tunes!
RJ
However, when we finally built our new house and I was able to get nearly 6ft away from the front wall, oh boy did that soundstage depth have magic! It's a beautiful thing to experience this and the CLX's simply disappear.
With earlier models on stats, such as the Quad ESL's, this front wall distance wasn't a big issue. Such that, with Quads they've got those special delay coils, and together with their patented concentric rings along the stat panel, creates a ripple affect. Similar to a point source, so this special dispersion pattern didn't require any critical distance placement from front walls. When I had the Quads, from ESL 63's, 989's, 2805's, 2905's and 2912's, each of them worked quite well in virtually any room setting.
However, considering ML stats, from my previous CLSIIZ's and now onto CLX's, placement is far more critical than any stats or panel type speakers I've ever used including Maggie's and Apogee's. ML stats, and in this case referring to the CLX's, they don't have any fancy gadgetry or circuitry. They act as a Line Source type transducer, so every inch of placement makes a difference.
After acquiring these marvellous stats in Sept 2018, after short listing 3 of my favourites; Avant Garde Duo XD's, ML Ren15a's Audio Analysis Omega's, I closed on the CLX's as the fourth choice. In fact, the AG Horns were the most expensive of the lot! It was only after we moved to our new place in Sept 2019, did I realise the awe-inspiring experience of CLX's in full glory!
As I've said before quite a number of times, having gone through so many different types of audio gear/ systems and various types of speakers, there's no other speaker system I'd rather own, regardless of price. That's it for me.
Although those Genesis Tributes would be mighty fine... perhaps in another lifetime.
A mighty WOOF!
Cheers and enjoy those finest tunes!
RJ
That's some great amplification there MP (mister pig). A fine combination
Cheers, and do enjoy those fine tunes!
Woof! RJ
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