i am remiss for not having completed my two posts of recent trips to VSA in Riverside, CA to listen to the Ultra 9 setup in Leif's post above. I first heard the speakers along with Steve Williams when they had less than 24 hours of break in time. As expected it was hard to tell what they would sound like once broken in, but as is frequently the case, there were hints for 10-15 seconds at a time that clearly demonstrated aspects of their potential. I was definitely disappointed that the speakers were so raw, but this brought on an unexpected bonus--the speaker's ability to be adjusted to suit unusually environmental challenges, including as I rapidly learned, new Accuton drivers breaking in. While Leif was able to correct a remarkable amount of the speaker's nonlinearity while breaking in, the sound was a moving target forcing Leif to continually adjust the speaker, which he was able to do surprisingly well.
What I was able to do was get an accurate sense of their physical presence, which is more like art than a speaker. In VSA's front listening room, which is too small for the 9's, it is clear that the speakers can and do easily overload the room with regard to output, and in particular bass output, making it impossible to sense just how good the bass will be when the speakers are broken in and have room to breath.
At Axpona 2018, I heard the Ultra 11's for the first time with an incredible array of VAC Statement electronics bi-amping the 11's. Even though this setup was breaking in with new speakers, new MB Ultra interconnects and speaker wire and was anything but stable, over the next 10+ hours that I listened to digital and incredible vinyl thanks to Greg Weaver, I knew I was hearing something that I had been seeking for years, but could not properly describe and certainly had not heard previously. Leif tried his best to help me understand what I was hearing by explaining that the key factor was the incredibly low distortion from the multiple custom VSA Accuton ceramic drivers, VSA beryllium tweeters and VSA super ribbon tweeters, all connected with MasterBuilt Ultra wire, which further reduces distortion and all connected to each other via a very special and complex crossover that is not my right to elaborate about and constructed with absurdly expensive components and all connected with more MB Ultra speaker wire.
Of course I assumed that I truly knew what Leif was talking about by much lower "distortion", but I now realize that I did not and probably still do not fully understand the true impact of the tremendous distortion reduction. What I did know is that I wanted a pair of Ultra 9's which Leif assured me sounded the same as the 11's with a slightly smaller sound stage and would actually fit in my listening room. So I put a deposit down on the first pair of production Ultra 9's, which also meant I was committing to sell all of my MIT SHD IC's, my reference Spectral electronics, my Vivid G3 speakers, JL F113 subs and replace them with MB cables and speaker wire, and likely VAC electronics.
While this would be my single biggest cash outlay ever, including buying houses, I was so excited there was an overall positive mood shift that would not go away, until I became the innocent victim of a medical witch-hunt trying to make me a prime cause of NJ's drug problem, which of course is absurd. I mention this terrible scenario, which has now gone quiet for the time being because it showed me just how much I wanted these speakers. Everytime it sounded like shutting my psychiatry/addiction medicine practice might be imminent , forcing me into premature retirement, and thus altering my financial planning which included the necessary budget for this audio shift. It is probably not something I should not be proud of, but my reactions to each of these seemingly likely threats always factored in whether or not I would be able to move forward on the audio front.
Although with the incredible help of Damon and Leif, we decided that I should put my order for the Ultra 9's on hold and save my money and use it to retire prematurely. Ah, but that would be too rational for an audiophile who had historically repeatedly sold himself on the necessity of various audio purchases. While you would think the instability of these newly birthed speakers still in the neonatal nursery would have made me more resolute about having to cancel my order, each day I remained in practice, I became more convinced that these speakers would provide me with sufficient pleasure that a premature retirement would be offset by this massive audio gain.
I knew that I was selling myself on something foolish, because everyone I knew repeatedly told me so, including Damon and Leif, not to mention Steve and Marty. Then I talked to Lefi and learned that the Ultra 9 prototypes were going to be shipped at last to their owner and decided to make an unexpected trip to Riverside to hear the now somewhat broken-in speakers. What a difference a month can make when a speaker is being broken in 24/7. While I would not say that all was well with regard to break in and the room was still too small, I knew that it was my "duty" as a person to trying to take the high road during a time of great unfairness, that I had to move forward and put my final speaker order back into active mode.
Now my biggest decision is black or white? I am leaning towards white because I think that it might make the speaker appear less massive and more like works of sculpted art. I am open to color thoughts, but would prefer that mental status thoughts be put on hold.
We will at Axpona and the L.A. Audio Shows though.
