You’re looking a bit happy there RJ, and the picture says a thousand words... magic stuff! Really happy for you man.
A small upgrade in speakers... The CLXArt a true masterpiece!
- Thread starter Big Dog RJ
- Start date
Cheers for that Maties.
I set them up only around 9:30pm last night, started some tunes from 10pm all the way up to 5 this morning! I just couldn't shut it down, it was as if I was in a transfix... I've got only one more day off before heading back to the grinder but this time will be different because all those extra hard hours I've put it, finally paid off!
Speaking of smiling from the first note I actually cried, again! I don't usually do this at all but this huge amount of stress and anxiety just melted away and I started thinking of loved ones... Then I was wondering why the heck didn't I come across these before, rather than spend ridiculous amounts on other gear that were totally unnecessary. I guess life teaches us things in the most bizzare way... Better late than never!
The silhouette of that person, is not the good wife, in fact that's the naught doughty... Wifey was fast asleep at that time and woke up at 5:30am to find me covering the CLX's with the special black cloth as I do when not listening. Her reaction pretty much summed it up...
uh oh, look out!
Cheers to all, and enjoy your music.
Woof, woof, RJ
I set them up only around 9:30pm last night, started some tunes from 10pm all the way up to 5 this morning! I just couldn't shut it down, it was as if I was in a transfix... I've got only one more day off before heading back to the grinder but this time will be different because all those extra hard hours I've put it, finally paid off!
Speaking of smiling from the first note I actually cried, again! I don't usually do this at all but this huge amount of stress and anxiety just melted away and I started thinking of loved ones... Then I was wondering why the heck didn't I come across these before, rather than spend ridiculous amounts on other gear that were totally unnecessary. I guess life teaches us things in the most bizzare way... Better late than never!
The silhouette of that person, is not the good wife, in fact that's the naught doughty... Wifey was fast asleep at that time and woke up at 5:30am to find me covering the CLX's with the special black cloth as I do when not listening. Her reaction pretty much summed it up...
uh oh, look out!
Cheers to all, and enjoy your music.
Woof, woof, RJ
One of the great advantages of dipole panels is that if you sit close you may only get direct sound
This is one reason they have such transparency, compared to cone speakers
Bass down to where they cut off is very crisp
The main issue I have ever had is lack of midrange warmth, this can be effected even more so by the room and positioning , so it may not be an issue in your room
You must try putting the bass panels close to the wall
As there is little lateral interaction this can boost bass response in a room read the CLX review in Hifi world
Yes, I did notice some of these traits when they were at the dealers place mostly driven by SS amplification. Midrange warmth was lacking a bit, highs were glarey or bright I may add, however bass was a bit more firm, with a massive thump to it and very agile.
Some of those amps used were: Jeff Rowland, Mark Levinson, Accuphase, Luxman, and Pass Labs. Out of all of these, it was the Pass Labs that provided superb level of detail and balance. My good mate Mr. K, who drives his CLX's with Pass Labs and a tube pre by Leben, is a wonderful combination and this was the sound / system that helped me to finalize my decision on the CLX's.
Overall, I'm a tube fanatic and have always been passionate towards stats and tubes or ribbon panels. Back in the day, our last reference system was based on the wonderful Apogee Diva's driven by the awesome CJ premier 8's and ART preamp. That was definitely a special kind of sound that transported me to a special place, which was basically at the venue, right in front of the live event!
That was quite a long time ago and since then, I've been through numerous systems and although they have provided great tunes and wonderful music, none of them were able to acquire the truth in sound, without adding the artifices. Capturing every detail on the recording, provided it's on the recording, and delivering this material in its purest form possible, is like no other.
With the CJ monoblocks that mid-range warmth is so profound that it has an enveloping sound to it. It wraps around your listening position and delivers a full dynamic soundstage with effortless detail and depth, plus the musicality is superb! The drive factor of these monoblocks are just perfect for the CLX's. From the moment I got them and drove the Ethos with these, I knew straight away where I was headed next...
Although the Diva's could play very loud, and driven with 300w of tube power, they handled that quite easily, the CLX's can go equally loud. However, I don't listen loud at all, rather at a level that is realistic, life like and has natural sense of impact and scale. With this particular combination, I couldn't think of owning anything else, it is an absolute marvel to listen to and an absolute joy to spend time with all of the musicians performing at their best.
Having good recordings is obviously an added advantage, as for some of the mediocre recordings, I don't even bother, rather just sit back and enjoy the music.
As I have previously mentioned in my post about the exact attributes of the CLX's being driven by CJ's tube power amps, there is absolutely nothing I would change at this point, as I cannot flaw it in any way whatsoever. The only difference that I can possibly imagine is when we do move into a much larger space, the soundstage and level of depth plus detail will be further enhanced by the added space, and this will be my final choice in speaker placement, since I would have to carefully rethink the exact positioning for optimal performance.
I'm looking forward to that next step, until then I will continue to appreciate what these amazing stats can do in fairly small to average sized rooms, nothing short of marvelous! Cheers, and thanks for your message. RJ
Some of those amps used were: Jeff Rowland, Mark Levinson, Accuphase, Luxman, and Pass Labs. Out of all of these, it was the Pass Labs that provided superb level of detail and balance. My good mate Mr. K, who drives his CLX's with Pass Labs and a tube pre by Leben, is a wonderful combination and this was the sound / system that helped me to finalize my decision on the CLX's.
Overall, I'm a tube fanatic and have always been passionate towards stats and tubes or ribbon panels. Back in the day, our last reference system was based on the wonderful Apogee Diva's driven by the awesome CJ premier 8's and ART preamp. That was definitely a special kind of sound that transported me to a special place, which was basically at the venue, right in front of the live event!
That was quite a long time ago and since then, I've been through numerous systems and although they have provided great tunes and wonderful music, none of them were able to acquire the truth in sound, without adding the artifices. Capturing every detail on the recording, provided it's on the recording, and delivering this material in its purest form possible, is like no other.
With the CJ monoblocks that mid-range warmth is so profound that it has an enveloping sound to it. It wraps around your listening position and delivers a full dynamic soundstage with effortless detail and depth, plus the musicality is superb! The drive factor of these monoblocks are just perfect for the CLX's. From the moment I got them and drove the Ethos with these, I knew straight away where I was headed next...
Although the Diva's could play very loud, and driven with 300w of tube power, they handled that quite easily, the CLX's can go equally loud. However, I don't listen loud at all, rather at a level that is realistic, life like and has natural sense of impact and scale. With this particular combination, I couldn't think of owning anything else, it is an absolute marvel to listen to and an absolute joy to spend time with all of the musicians performing at their best.
Having good recordings is obviously an added advantage, as for some of the mediocre recordings, I don't even bother, rather just sit back and enjoy the music.
As I have previously mentioned in my post about the exact attributes of the CLX's being driven by CJ's tube power amps, there is absolutely nothing I would change at this point, as I cannot flaw it in any way whatsoever. The only difference that I can possibly imagine is when we do move into a much larger space, the soundstage and level of depth plus detail will be further enhanced by the added space, and this will be my final choice in speaker placement, since I would have to carefully rethink the exact positioning for optimal performance.
I'm looking forward to that next step, until then I will continue to appreciate what these amazing stats can do in fairly small to average sized rooms, nothing short of marvelous! Cheers, and thanks for your message. RJ
They will breathe better in a large room, and are less effected by room resonances than cones
But the resonances will drop down in pitch
This may assist your bass, but may rob you of some midrange warmth onlytime will tell
Sounds like the the CJ are a greater match
The warmth of the CJ is probably a plus here
I have always found tubes work better with the CLX than SS, as transformer output tubes love the impedances of the bass panels
I have read the pass labs are a great match but only ever heard twice as pass is rare in Australia
Goldmund also works well with CLX this is the only solid state I have spent time with CLX and worked well much to Joes surprise
The best tubes I ever heard with my CLX were phi 200 running monoblocks so musical
RJ, You sound like one happy furry dog!
What are the dimensions of your current listening room?
What is the configuration of the speakers and your listening chair in that room? How far are the CLXs from the front wall? How far is your head in the listening chair from the rear wall? How far are you sitting from the speakers?
Congrats on the CLXs, RJ. FWIW, my daughter has called me Big Guy since she was little...she is Little Girl (LG).
After owning Monolith I's upgraded twice to get III's for about 20 years, I had an opportunity to get a used pair of CLXs locally. Have had them for several years now and have loved every minute of listenership. I should mention that I have powered both M-L's with Pass amps starting with XA150 monos on the III's and early on the CLXs. I have recently upgraded the amps to XA60.8 monos. I have always felt that there is somethink magical between Pass and M-Ls!
Re bass, I too have a smallish room (12' x 18') with speakers on the 12' wall and spacing about what RJ indicates. The room does open into 2 other spaces...a foyer and a dining room so it does not overload. For laughs I tried a Velodyne F1200 subwoofer with the CLXs and was blown away by the improvement in bass. After reading numerous articles on using stereo subwoofers, I replaced the Velodyne with 2 HSU MK15-MkII subs which currently are crossed over at ~60Hz. Had not realized what I was missing until the Hsu's were in the house! Getting frequencies below ~50Hz of the CLXs made a profound improvement.
On certain pieces of music with deep, heavy bass, I did notice some activation of room nodes but nothing really unbearable. Interestingly, at the recommendation of a fellow audiophile, I put the now extra Velodyne behind the listening position. For all intents and purposes the nodes are pretty much gone!
My most recent discovery that made a HUGE difference in my system was trying the Anticable Level 5 speaker cables after trying his Level 3 and numerous other speaker cables. The increased detail, relative position of performers, width and depth of soundstage and, what I call, immersion in the performance was incredible but confirmed by other listeners. Not inexpensive but the L5 definitely are worth considering.
Happy listening...
After owning Monolith I's upgraded twice to get III's for about 20 years, I had an opportunity to get a used pair of CLXs locally. Have had them for several years now and have loved every minute of listenership. I should mention that I have powered both M-L's with Pass amps starting with XA150 monos on the III's and early on the CLXs. I have recently upgraded the amps to XA60.8 monos. I have always felt that there is somethink magical between Pass and M-Ls!
Re bass, I too have a smallish room (12' x 18') with speakers on the 12' wall and spacing about what RJ indicates. The room does open into 2 other spaces...a foyer and a dining room so it does not overload. For laughs I tried a Velodyne F1200 subwoofer with the CLXs and was blown away by the improvement in bass. After reading numerous articles on using stereo subwoofers, I replaced the Velodyne with 2 HSU MK15-MkII subs which currently are crossed over at ~60Hz. Had not realized what I was missing until the Hsu's were in the house! Getting frequencies below ~50Hz of the CLXs made a profound improvement.
On certain pieces of music with deep, heavy bass, I did notice some activation of room nodes but nothing really unbearable. Interestingly, at the recommendation of a fellow audiophile, I put the now extra Velodyne behind the listening position. For all intents and purposes the nodes are pretty much gone!
My most recent discovery that made a HUGE difference in my system was trying the Anticable Level 5 speaker cables after trying his Level 3 and numerous other speaker cables. The increased detail, relative position of performers, width and depth of soundstage and, what I call, immersion in the performance was incredible but confirmed by other listeners. Not inexpensive but the L5 definitely are worth considering.
Happy listening...
Room dimensions
G'day Ron, nice to hear from you again. Yes very very happy, in fact happy is an understatement, more like "bananas" would be more appropriate!
Room dimensions, I mentioned this before in an earlier post, I'll try to recall approx:
Overall room dimensions are around 14ft wide X 30ft length X 8ft high.
Speaker placement is 4&1/2 from front wall, nearly 5ft actually, with about 1&1/2ft from sides. Angled in as advised by the owner's manual.
Listening position is around 8-9ft, with a sofa in the middle. Right behind the sofa is the dinning table, followed by the kitchen area then some cupboards /storage areas and then onto the back wall, extending towards another room and the back entrance. Therefore, after all signals reach me, they would continue behind until reaching the rear wall which is probably another 15ft behind me...
I refer to this as the shoe box, since everything is in one area -lounge-dinning- kitchen and cupboards... Oh I forgot, little fish tank towards the right half way down from the right channel. The little love jazz!
Cheers mate, RJ
G'day Ron, nice to hear from you again. Yes very very happy, in fact happy is an understatement, more like "bananas" would be more appropriate!
Room dimensions, I mentioned this before in an earlier post, I'll try to recall approx:
Overall room dimensions are around 14ft wide X 30ft length X 8ft high.
Speaker placement is 4&1/2 from front wall, nearly 5ft actually, with about 1&1/2ft from sides. Angled in as advised by the owner's manual.
Listening position is around 8-9ft, with a sofa in the middle. Right behind the sofa is the dinning table, followed by the kitchen area then some cupboards /storage areas and then onto the back wall, extending towards another room and the back entrance. Therefore, after all signals reach me, they would continue behind until reaching the rear wall which is probably another 15ft behind me...
I refer to this as the shoe box, since everything is in one area -lounge-dinning- kitchen and cupboards... Oh I forgot, little fish tank towards the right half way down from the right channel. The little love jazz!
Cheers mate, RJ
G'day mate,
Yes, certainly do agree on the Pass Labs combination, with ML's they are like no other. Which, in fact makes me wonder why the heck in the past ML's used to always be featured with big Krell amps. That combination was around for nearly 15 years, and now it's McIntosh! I sincerely don't think Mac is any good with ML's. Perhaps on other systems, maybe ribbons or Dynamic driver types but definitely not stats. Just my 50cts experience...
I can see where added bass may benefit towards a more enhanced performance, no doubt. However, for me with the combination of the CJ monoblocks running KT120's, the bass is quite deep, articulate and very agile. I'm extremely pleased with it and don't intend to change it in any way, as for me it's the "truth in sound" just as ML claims!
I've always used CJ amplification in one form or another, and have ventured away from it many years ago with Manley & VTL but then came back full circle to very fine monoblocks once again. The next step at this point is to consider the preamp but I am still yet to come across one that can out-perform the humble pv15 to around that 50-60% mark in improvement, then to me the expense is definitely justified.
Until then I'll enjoy to the fullest, as time goes by towards 2019/20, I'm very eager to learn what CJ would be offering then.
BTW, excellent choice with the XA series, simply superb amplifiers!
Cheers mate, and have a good one
RJ
G'day Bonz, how's it going mate?
Have you finalized your system yet? Trust you come across something to your liking and listening pleasure.
Yes, regarding the room, Roberto also mentioned the same thing, saying it was pretty good for CLX's, although I still call it the shoe box...
Everything seems congested in here, with all the furniture and rolled up rugs etc. I'm not sure why the Quads and Maggie's looked much larger or felt larger, especially the Quads. Although the CLX's are much taller they simply disappear!
In our new place, I'll have around two-three times of more dedicated space, therefore I can adjust speaker placement and positioning more accurately and according to ML specs. For the time being, this space is a marvel even at low volume towards the wee hrs in the morning, which I enjoy to great lengths.
Cheers mate, and do let me know how your system is coming along.
All the best, RJ
Subs have come a long way since the CLS days (launched over 30 years ago!). Subs like the better Rels and JL Audio are as good if not better quality low bass than many (most?) speakers can delve out. Plus with the amount of controls, subs can integrate with stats, ribbons and the best cones if set up properly.
I've found the CLX to be tolerant of room position. In my case, they're positioned on the short wall with asymmetrical side walls. I sit about 7 ft from them, with 5 ft between them, and 3 ft behind them to the wall. My rear wall is some 20 ft behind me. This seems to work because there are very few boundary reflections with the CLX.
Very nice one Sefischer1!
Beautiful set up, especially with those awesome Pass Labs amps, stunning stuff mate. I'm sure you're getting an equal equally stunning performance from those Pass amps, probably one of the very best SS designs to fully drive the CLX's to full potential effortlessly.
I would be excited to have a listen but not sure if you're close to Aus Melb at all...
My good mate Kostas, who was the main person responsible for me ending up with the CLX's, drives his pair only with the XA30.8. Rated at just 30w pure class A, it drives those CLX's unlike anything I've ever heard! I think SS class A really grips them.
Superb stuff mate, enjoy
RJ
Beautiful set up, especially with those awesome Pass Labs amps, stunning stuff mate. I'm sure you're getting an equal equally stunning performance from those Pass amps, probably one of the very best SS designs to fully drive the CLX's to full potential effortlessly.
I would be excited to have a listen but not sure if you're close to Aus Melb at all...
My good mate Kostas, who was the main person responsible for me ending up with the CLX's, drives his pair only with the XA30.8. Rated at just 30w pure class A, it drives those CLX's unlike anything I've ever heard! I think SS class A really grips them.
Superb stuff mate, enjoy
RJ
Hey mate, I was wondering what kind of preamp are you using along with the Pass Labs monoblocks? Are you using a tube preamp by any chance, if so what model /make? Sorry if I missed it...
Very interesting to learn, especially from another CLX owner. Cheers mate, RJ
I've been using a Levinson 32 preamp with phono option as well as a Nagra VPS. They just don't make anything like the 32 today and I've come to rely on its' functionality. I've also owned and liked Accuphase electronics.
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I'm very pleased with the PASS class A amps. I previously had: PASS XA-60, Luxman MA800, Classe M600, BAT VK150se, Accuphase A50. I've found that I've liked the MOSFET class A biased units the best and that anything over 50W with guts was more than enough in my listening space.
Because the reverberation time of dipoles is different if you sit relatively close as you are u may well get little influence from room down to 100 hz or so
100 Hz would be a wavelength of about 10 ft. Luckily the CLX barely goes down to about 70. I've successfully mated them with a subwoofer which was blended in at my listening position through the use of an RTA and calibrated mic. Using recordings, we're only guessing. Once set with the RTA, I can make modest level adjustment to suit my taste and listening responses.
The CLX will go lower than 70hz but it is dependent on distance from front wall and floor bounce and ability of amplifier to provide voltage into those high bass panel impedance
Although I too have used subwoofers it does destroy some of the effects of having a dipole
On my CLX you can adjust the bass panels, do yours have that and if so is it set correctly if your bass only goes to 70 hz
Although I too have used subwoofers it does destroy some of the effects of having a dipole
On my CLX you can adjust the bass panels, do yours have that and if so is it set correctly if your bass only goes to 70 hz
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