MM7's are here
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
Can't speak to the issue of personal mental health, but I will report for duty at Mike's this weekend...for the purely altruistic purpose of informing the WBF community!!
Hah! Altruistic!...we are all going to hold you to that...you BETTER post! and lots of it for those who cannot be there to listen!
There is no 'I' in team
! then we look forward to your detailed posts...and dont hold back. We're all big boys here. I suspect you will be letting the superlatives roll...
i've been avoiding audiophile 'sounds' demo discs. however, i just played one of the true torture tests of bass impact, extension, and tonality and overall energy. 'paramita', He Xun Tain, CD. track 7, Earth Drums. it's a 7 minute endurance test for a system and one's ears and comfort. i've heard it on many systems. i did not use an SPL meter, but likely in the 100-110 db range (maybe higher on peaks) i would guess with walloping deep impactful bass with a high energy pace.
like a warm knife thru butter. child's play. the MM7's simply smirked and did not even breathe hard. total coherence, not a trace of hardness or compression. sledge-hammer impact, but perfectly controlled, both the leading edge, impact, and release. the nuance and micro-dynamics of each note was natural and complete. nice decay and ambience. totally effortless.
even the dart stereo 108 was not even stressed at all only having a 96db, 6 ohm load to deal with. the only limitation was my tolerance for pain. unfortunately us humans cannot endure what might test this beast.
like a warm knife thru butter. child's play. the MM7's simply smirked and did not even breathe hard. total coherence, not a trace of hardness or compression. sledge-hammer impact, but perfectly controlled, both the leading edge, impact, and release. the nuance and micro-dynamics of each note was natural and complete. nice decay and ambience. totally effortless.
even the dart stereo 108 was not even stressed at all only having a 96db, 6 ohm load to deal with. the only limitation was my tolerance for pain. unfortunately us humans cannot endure what might test this beast.
---- Ok ok ok, I want those, I want it all! :b ...How much for all of that?
I'm sold, you did it!
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
you say the over-the-top bass performance is not essential for acoustic music. or maybe that very good bass performance is sufficient.
consider reproducing the full resonant sounds of a concert grande piano. how will you know that all the overtones are truely present in the reproduction? well; one way would be to have the capability of doing 7hz at -3db, and 3hz at -6db. that just might do it. combine that with the enough driver surface in the mid-bass and deep bass to truely convey the complete ambient picture and have no problem pressurizing the room for proper leverage.
then there is the precision and leading edge snap and clarity without any edgyness or brittleness or glare. and that nice sparkle on top.
i'm listening to Ingolf Wunder, Chopin, DG 33rpm Lp, Piano Sonata No 3 in B Minor. no; it's not as good as a real Steinway here in the room. but it gets much of the way there in terms of the scale and power of the piano. the NVS-Telos-MC Anna are doing their part of the equation for sure, but it takes a big boy speaker system to walk the talk of the complete piano picture.
it's likely a digital recording, and i'm not knowledgable enough to judge classical performance, but i do like it alot. i've heard more powerful piano recordings, but this one is quite believable and balanced.
consider reproducing the full resonant sounds of a concert grande piano. how will you know that all the overtones are truely present in the reproduction? well; one way would be to have the capability of doing 7hz at -3db, and 3hz at -6db. that just might do it. combine that with the enough driver surface in the mid-bass and deep bass to truely convey the complete ambient picture and have no problem pressurizing the room for proper leverage.
then there is the precision and leading edge snap and clarity without any edgyness or brittleness or glare. and that nice sparkle on top.
i'm listening to Ingolf Wunder, Chopin, DG 33rpm Lp, Piano Sonata No 3 in B Minor. no; it's not as good as a real Steinway here in the room. but it gets much of the way there in terms of the scale and power of the piano. the NVS-Telos-MC Anna are doing their part of the equation for sure, but it takes a big boy speaker system to walk the talk of the complete piano picture.
it's likely a digital recording, and i'm not knowledgable enough to judge classical performance, but i do like it alot. i've heard more powerful piano recordings, but this one is quite believable and balanced.
---- Ok ok ok, I want those, I want it all! :b ...How much for all of that?
I'm sold, you did it!
let's see; hummmmm......4 + 3 + 7 and carry the 1.....then add a few zeros and a comma or two.......it's alot!
thanks.
i have both towers on spikes onto Wave Kinetics 2NS decoupling footers....which have flat bottoms lined with felt. my floor is clean smooth maple venier wood composite over concrete. with rubber soled shoes with grip to brace myself i can easily nudge them around (pushing from the bottom).....gently of course.....but i can move them a 16th of an inch or a foot.
my friend Andrew helped me set up the main towers last week, and we used his laser to really get them aligned. he is now gone and so i'm not moving the main towers. therefore the bass towers are going to stay where they are for now until Andrew returns or Kevin arrives to do the final setup, Kevin has is own laser alignment setup he will bring.
the bass towers can be very close to the main towers. and when i originally heard them in San Diego last March they were about the same distance apart that they are now in my room. i'm open to whatever positioning sounds best. for now, i'm getting phenominal top to bottom coherence and balance; but i'm on new ground so who knows it could be much better.
Last edited:
thanks.
never done a video, but i will try to figure it out here soon. remind me about it in a week or so if i forget. it sounds like a fun thing to do.
Last edited:
Holy crap Mike, once the green from my envy subsides I may have to hit you up for a listen niext time I'm out your way....congrats man, your initial thoughts outline what most of us aspire to with this hobby, it's thrilling to read the accounts of someone reaching nirvana!
thanks Roysen, i do think these speakers are a good match for the size and design of my room.....a synergistic match.
regarding cables; i have exactly the cables that i want already.
my darTZeel gear has the advantage of the BNC 'zeel' interface which allows a higher performance than conventional interconnects. and i only use three sets of interconnects in my system since both my phono stages are internal in the preamp; pre to amp, digital dac/transport to pre, and tape repro to pre. i use the Evolution Acoustics 'zeel' BNC's for the pre-amp and dac-amp and i use Herve's 'zeel' BNC's for the tape repro-pre run since they are very thin and i can tuck them under the trim piece between the wood and carpet in my floor.
i've compared very high level conventional interconnects to these 'zeel' interconnects and the 'zeel' are some better.
i do sometimes move my RTR decks around and i do have some interconencts i use for those; but i don't have anything special for that at this time.
for years i used the Transparent Opus MM2 speaker cables. they are one of the great cables. a year ago i compared them to the Evolution Acoustics double run speaker cables and overall i slightly preferred the Evolutions (which my speakers are wired with). there were trade-offs somewhat; but i could sell the Opus MM2's and put money in my pocket so i decided to make the change. then 6 months ago i tried the 'new' Evolution Acoustics triple run speaker cables which was quite a bit better than the double run. and i now have the triple run and am loving them.
regarding power cables; almost all my power cables are the Absolute Fidelity purpose built power cables designed and built by Gary Koh of Genesis. i have those on my tape decks, my sources, and my digital. there are different ones for subs and amps, others for sources and pre's, and others for anything with a motor. great cables....and synergistic with my Equi=tech isolation transformer balanced power grid.
btw; on the bass towers i have 2 Absolute Fidelity power cords on each tower, one 3 meters, one 4 meters. i know from when i used it on the MM3 that this power cord is magical on a subwoofer.
for my amps i use Evolution Acoustics triple run power cords; which are twice as expensive as the Absolute Fidelity and a little better on amplifiers. i have a second one of these triple run Evolutions all burned in and waiting for the 458 mono blocks.
so i'm all set on cables.
Last edited:
i've loved the clear, natural sound of the Accuton ceramic mid-range driver since i owned my Kharma Exquisites in 2001. my viewpoint on that driver was one (small) reason it was used in the original prototypes of what became the Evolution Acoustics MM3.....and a reason i ended up with the MM3's when moving from the VR9SE's.
the issue with the ceramic is the absense of it's own sound or artifact, a lack of distortion. but it's a brittle and fragile material. the MM7's are the first application of the new Accuton 11" ceramic matrix driver which combines ceramic with other materials for additional strength. this gives the main towers phenominal clarity with all those low distortion drivers. how to blend subs with that is a challenge.
the answer is low excursion, massive solid sealed boxes, lots of driver surface, and lots of amplifier headroom in the subs.....and such a low frequency range to need to cover. the bass towers can be made to do a very specific job perfectly.
and they do it.
Last edited:
Do you have any measurements (REW, XTZ, OmniMic) of the bass response with these towers located where they are?
By the way, your room with those speakers is easily one of the best looking two channel rooms I have ever seen. Gorgeous; beautiful; inviting. I have no reason to be in your part of the Galaxy but if I ever am, I'm going to invite myself over.
Stunning. Simply stunning!
By the way, your room with those speakers is easily one of the best looking two channel rooms I have ever seen. Gorgeous; beautiful; inviting. I have no reason to be in your part of the Galaxy but if I ever am, I'm going to invite myself over.
Stunning. Simply stunning!
A belated congrats on receiving your towers! Once your monoblocks arrive, you'll be in music-lover heaven (if you aren't there already)!
I think Mike is already there. He is just waiting for the 77 virgins to come sashaying into his room in the form of the 458 mono blocks.
Mike,
When a long-bearded unkempt fellow shows up & mentions WBF, that's me. I starting my "Forrest Gump" run to your place to hear these. Absolutely incredible!
Lee
When a long-bearded unkempt fellow shows up & mentions WBF, that's me. I starting my "Forrest Gump" run to your place to hear these. Absolutely incredible!
Lee
