Visit to Clarisys Auditoriums + CH Precision System in Spokane, Washington
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
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One of my Dutch friends has at least 2 of them...for his Scintillas.The unicorn of Amps ....
Never heard it but the all SS project 18 was significantly worse sounding than the hybrid models.
Don’t know. This was before he launched on his endless project. I recall now I heard the 16 also on my Calipers because they brought it over just after buying it in Switzerland. I tried to buy the same one but they beat me to it!Is his system finally up and running?
The Lamm M1.1 hybrid Monos drive the Scinnies effortlessly and sound much better than a completely refurbed KSA100 Mk2
those are excellent amplifiers. I had them for about a month driving my Magicos.
I have no doubt that is the case. At the time I bought the Apogee/Krell system I had never heard of Lamm. Were they around back then?
I was over in Switzerland last weekend to help Florian collect the Auditoriums from Roy's place (a nice trip to France) - I also helped with the original installation at Roy's back In December.
I've known Roy for many years and insisted to Florian that he got the 'world exclusive' on the Auditoriums, primarily because he's probably the only reviewer in the world who has experienced most of the industry's top 'flagship' speakers in his own space.
Suffice it to say, the first 'passive' review was highly complimentary, the follow-up 'active' review (due soon) will be very special indeed
I hope you enjoyed your time listening to the Auditoriums, I had lots of fun setting up the room with Florian last weekend (moving those speakers around is certainly a good workout !) - he mentioned that he had a guest coming over from the UK, so we wanted to get the room just right for you - I trust we succeeded ?
Apologies for the delay - it's taken a while to process my thoughts as the system is so different to what I'm used to in many different ways.
First off, huge thanks to Florian and Daisy for being such fantastic hosts - it was an honour to spend time with someone so knowledgable and passionate about music and audio, and I learned a huge amount from my afternoon.
The first thing to say is that I was hugely impressed by the build quality of the speakers, as well as the Clarisys team's approach to product development and client service. The idea that everything is upgradable, and that installation must be done by either a dealer or Clarisys themselves to ensure perfect placement shows their commitment to delivering for clients, which I think is fantastic.
In terms of sound, the first thing that strikes you is the speed of the speakers and overall system. However, this speed doesn't sound thin in any way, which I find can often happen but instead for example, gives a zing to acoustic guitars which in turn leads to a fantastic sense of realism to the performance.
The second is a huge but realistic sound stage which starts in line with the speakers and stretches back. For symphonic works, this gives the best representation of an orchestra I have heard.
I was also very impressed with the bass. There is proper depth and definition well into the 20-25hz region, so for example in Flight of the Cosmic Hippo the super-low notes are very clear in pitch rather than a muddy complex that is often heard. The bass has decent impact too for timpani & bass drums - O-Zone percussion group for example was very impressive - but clearly not to the extent of large-volume cones & subs.
There is also a cohesion to the sound across the frequency spectrum, and I know Florian and the team have strong beliefs in the use of consistent materials and design across the panels which pays off.
The final point is how well the speakers scale. This is something I feel my current speakers lack at extreme, particularly in classical and wide dynamic range pieces, and there were no problems with this system, although we did max out the volume on the first movement of Mahler No2!
Now for the challenges. The first is that the room Florian has put together is an incredible listening space but is so different to mine (which in itself is not small at 11m x 5.5m) and I suspect most peoples, that a lot of imagination is going to be required for people to think how it might work in their space.
The second is that while I found the system deeply impressive and it does a number of things mine doesn't, I didn't fall in love with it. Having thought about this a lot, I am pretty certain this is due to the electronics rather than the speakers. I have spent a lot of time building my system to have what is for me an ideal combination of speed and transparency but with harmonic richness which is critical for me to engage emotionally with the music, and it is this which I found somewhat lacking. For example, orchestral violins didn't have the fully fleshed out tone which I look for.
This became apparent when I got home and listened to my own system - I preferred the tonal qualities of mine, but couldn't help wondering what the Clarisys speakers would bring to the party!
Once again many thanks to Florian for a fantastic afternoon of listening.
First off, huge thanks to Florian and Daisy for being such fantastic hosts - it was an honour to spend time with someone so knowledgable and passionate about music and audio, and I learned a huge amount from my afternoon.
The first thing to say is that I was hugely impressed by the build quality of the speakers, as well as the Clarisys team's approach to product development and client service. The idea that everything is upgradable, and that installation must be done by either a dealer or Clarisys themselves to ensure perfect placement shows their commitment to delivering for clients, which I think is fantastic.
In terms of sound, the first thing that strikes you is the speed of the speakers and overall system. However, this speed doesn't sound thin in any way, which I find can often happen but instead for example, gives a zing to acoustic guitars which in turn leads to a fantastic sense of realism to the performance.
The second is a huge but realistic sound stage which starts in line with the speakers and stretches back. For symphonic works, this gives the best representation of an orchestra I have heard.
I was also very impressed with the bass. There is proper depth and definition well into the 20-25hz region, so for example in Flight of the Cosmic Hippo the super-low notes are very clear in pitch rather than a muddy complex that is often heard. The bass has decent impact too for timpani & bass drums - O-Zone percussion group for example was very impressive - but clearly not to the extent of large-volume cones & subs.
There is also a cohesion to the sound across the frequency spectrum, and I know Florian and the team have strong beliefs in the use of consistent materials and design across the panels which pays off.
The final point is how well the speakers scale. This is something I feel my current speakers lack at extreme, particularly in classical and wide dynamic range pieces, and there were no problems with this system, although we did max out the volume on the first movement of Mahler No2!
Now for the challenges. The first is that the room Florian has put together is an incredible listening space but is so different to mine (which in itself is not small at 11m x 5.5m) and I suspect most peoples, that a lot of imagination is going to be required for people to think how it might work in their space.
The second is that while I found the system deeply impressive and it does a number of things mine doesn't, I didn't fall in love with it. Having thought about this a lot, I am pretty certain this is due to the electronics rather than the speakers. I have spent a lot of time building my system to have what is for me an ideal combination of speed and transparency but with harmonic richness which is critical for me to engage emotionally with the music, and it is this which I found somewhat lacking. For example, orchestral violins didn't have the fully fleshed out tone which I look for.
This became apparent when I got home and listened to my own system - I preferred the tonal qualities of mine, but couldn't help wondering what the Clarisys speakers would bring to the party!
Once again many thanks to Florian for a fantastic afternoon of listening.
That room is enormous. I know scale and volume can be mighty impressive when pulled off, but isn't there a chance the merest imbalance or deficiency in a system in such a space will be magnified manyfold?
Or are the tonal deficiencies you here purely linked to the spkrs and ancillary gear?
Or are the tonal deficiencies you here purely linked to the spkrs and ancillary gear?
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