Mike, congrats!
A couple of questions, and I apologize if I missed these:
- what is the purpose of the towers MM7 use? how is this kind of design different than using multiple subwoofers? also, don't multiple subwoofers give spread around the room give you more flexibility to even out the bass humps?
well, these are issues I have thought about a lot. why 4 towers? this might ramble a bit.....
there are multiple reasons.
(1) -4- 11" ceramic woofers in each main tower. I priced them......$1500 'each' to buy. 96db, 6 ohm efficient. very low excursion. covers 35hz-250hz. these drivers are the heart of the MM7's to my thinking. and these drivers are where the MM7's become like a 2-way or planar. most cone speakers have a crossover point in this mid-bass region and this region is also where the power of the music lives. yet with these 4 woofers you have such an easy load for the amp, all this cone surface, super light and stiff ceramic, and this extreme linearity in this normally really marginally linear area which is where all your vocals, drum kits, pianos, really the power of everything is here. and you cannot have -4- 15" powered subwoofers in the same tower with -4- 11" woofers. they won't fit. super fast and nuanced.
(2) true integrated 2 tower speaker system. neither tower can be used by itself. the main towers roll off at the bottom. even though the main towers extend into the mid 20hz region. if you shut off the power switches on the bass towers and just listen to the passive main towers on 2/3rds of the music something obviously is missing. the music is incomplete. this roll off is where you get such coherence, and the lack of perfect roll off from any full range speaker system--sub matchup is why when the going gets heavy those cobbled together speaker sub systems show their limitations......compared to a true integrated complete system like the MM7's. it's why Bonzo marveled at everything holding together so seamlessly and with such ease as the music got cooking. it's a ground up coherent design in 2 towers. then you have the added benefit of the subwoofer drivers being on the same plane as the main tower drivers and that just adds to the coherence. you need 2 towers for all that driver surface. and you add the mass of 2 towers which grounds everything.
(3) an active, adjustable bass tower allows for a much easier load for the main amplifier. yet does not compromise the purity of the main amplifier to everything above 40hz. again; when a main amplifier sees an easy load then everything stays more linear. that 1st watt is more robust and magical. nuance holds together when things get cranking. it comes down to headroom, headroom, headroom. nothing stressed, nothing edgy or not in a comfortable part of the design envelope. the music breathes. listener fatigue is reduced. more musical choices present themselves as fun. and....an easier load expands the choice of amplifiers to include so many modestly powered tube amplifiers. for me, the 458's don't need this level of easy, but the musical message still benefits with the easy load. harder loads do reduce musical nuance and ease and add to hardness and edge on peaks.
(4) 4 towers does allow for multiple set-up choices. those towers can go behind the main towers or really anywhere. so it is very flexible depending on the room.
as far as multiple subwoofers around the room as an alternative I suppose when I hear something like that entering the realm of the MM7 performance my perspective could change. but there are so many barriers to that happening that i'll just keep my mind open but not expecting to ever hear it. no matter how many of those subs you use, the absence of the mid bass performance from the woofers of the MM7 will render those subs as not ready for prime time. and the less than ideal roll off down low of the main speakers chosen will be a source of lack of coherence. sure; you could add dsp or drm and lose signal path purity, or add some outboard analog crossover and add congestion there.....but it will not get to where the MM7's are.
and multiple subs around the room cannot be vertically arrayed in the room like the 7 foot tall towers can. those bass towers have 4 separate pods of two 15" subs each with it's own adjustments and 1000 watt amplifier. so they are plenty flexible if that is what is needed. it's just a better tool for the job than adding a sub to a full range speaker. and for 200 large it should be just that. you could even separate those -2- 7 foot towers into -4- 3 and 1/2 foot towers (each with it's own adjustments) if you wanted and place them anywhere in the room. so all options are open to you.
I'm not saying that adding subwoofers to full range speakers cannot result in great even amazing sound. many people have such systems and really enjoy them. I'm not somehow dismissing that approach. I'm only saying that it's not the ultimate solution. there is a better, less compromised way......in a relative sense. so we are talking degrees of good or degrees of excellence here. not good and bad.
at the end of the day, the best ground up, fully integrated uncompromised approach has the highest ceiling. then it's a matter of execution of concept. can a full range speaker with subs added around the room be better executed than an uncompromised ground up 4 tower approach? good friggen luck and have at it!
- you mention that you have made 50% improvements in recent months, but your system and room have been in tact for several years. What specifically have you done to get such large improvements, considering the fixed variables?
Bonzo gave you a link answering this.
- did I understand your post correctly, when you say that PCM on Trinity dac is the best digital you have heard, even better than "up-calculated" DSD?
Thanks!
the Trinity dac had been my top digital experience; yes.
however; I think I commented somewhere (or multiple somewhere's) in the last week that I think that my current Lampi GG combined with the HQ Player inside the SGM Server is better on PCM than my recollection of the Trinity dac through my CAPSv4 server. likely it's also slightly different. anyway I think I prefer it. could my system progression possibly influence this perception. likely it does to some degree. in a few weeks when my GG returns upgraded with the 512dsd, superclocks, top RTR PCM and new tubes then we will see what that jump up does for things.
