You're looking at a different kind of "All Out Assault", this one based on utilizing a fuller expression of current excellent technology, as opposed to a limited expression of such. Some go for a cost-no-object expression of one technology. I have chosen to pursue a superb expression of different technologies. I have derived far more pleasure doing so than seeking one rig to satisfy my longings to hear beautiful systems.
Photos represent some of the speakers, components and cables I have reviewed over the years. I have spent time predominantly with four technologies in speakers; Full range hybrid dyanamic, Full range ESL, and Omnidirectional hybrid. I have branched out to horn hybrid as well.
I have moved to file and streaming playback exclusively utilizing Tidal and ROON. However, I maintain CD as backup source. I find a shocking disparity in performance of digital based systems.
This is a dedicated room, built by myself and tuned for two channel, but wired for 7.1 surround. I listen to 2 ch. audio approx. 95-98% of time. The surround and video compliment is not noteworthy, as a result. I upgrade them only every several years.
Source, amplification and speakers have all been reviewed and are highly recommended. The sound quality of the system is moving steadily toward SOTA.
Continuing development of Scott Kindt's DLT (Disproportionately Large Tweeter; my term) designs. The Grand Aspen is the new flagship, extension of the Capella (previously called the Lagrange L5 MkII, seen below).
The Grand Aspen is a six-way speaker with built in active, oppositional, slot loaded subwoofer. I will be giving this speaker an owner's review to appear at Dagogo.com
Legacy Audio Whisper DSW Clarity Edition
Bill Dudleston realized my concept of a fully configurable speaker able to be employed as both passive and active. The result is what I call a "crossover speaker," which can be configured; 1. Fully passive, with as little as one stereo amp and three sets of speaker cables; 2. Hybrid active/passive, using the Legacy processor for the bass and the Mid/Treble passive, and 3: Fully active, using six channels of outboard amplification.
The speaker has been retrofitted for a review of upgrade internal cabling and capacitors. The result is the Whisper DSW, which Bill Dudleston of Legacy measured a 2 dB improvement on the Bass!
PureAudioProject Trio15 PAP Horn 1
Wonderful two-way hybrid horn reviewed for Dagogo.com. I enjoy the flexibility of the speaker in the crossover and "internal" wiring. My special utilization of the speaker is in Landscape mode, the realization of a dream for an alternative sound which I have pursued for about five years. The Horn 1 in Landscape impressed the entire audio group of which I am a member; they all placed it among the very best systems I have made. It truly is a stunning application of an affordable speaker with high end sensibility.
Alternative application of using Sound Anchor custom stands to hold speakers sideways. This results in a far wider soundstage superlative for live music recordings. Note that the orientation of the horn of the Horn 1 speaker is normally horizontal, so the Landscape mode/application results in the speaker's horn turned vertical, similar to large horn speakers such as the Volti Audio Alura.
PureAudioProject Quintet15 Horn1
Largest of PureAudioProject (PAP) offerings, this one outfitted with the horn driver. Features upgradable crossover components (cap, resistor) and "internal" wiring.
This speaker is especially beautiful sounding with the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra Amplifier. Both products reviewed for Dagogo.com
King Sound King III
The King III is a full range ESL with a performance which takes back seat to no magnetic planar speakers. With subwoofers they are a formidable ESL experience.
Aspen Acoustics Capella Speaker
Craft speaker made by a Colorado physics teacher. This is the pre-production model. Uses what I term the unique DLT (Disproportionately Large Tweeter) configuration. It has the punch of a dynamic speaker with the generosity of a panel speaker.
A more formidable model, the Grand Aspen, is under construction and will be replacing the pair of Capella speakers in my possession. The Grand Aspen features an enhanced DLT array, as seen on the Aspen Acoustics website.
See review of smaller model, L5 MkII at Dagogo.com
Kings Audio Kingsound King Tower
Omnidirectional hybrid dynamic/ribbon speaker system not available in N. America. and perhaps entirely disconintued by Kings Audio. Added to my collection as an expression of Omnidirectional speaker technology.
Perlisten D212s Subwoofers
Pair of Perlisten Audio D212s Subwoofers as reviewed by myself for Dagogo.com
I enjoyed the Legacy Audio XTREME XD Subs for ten years. Perlisten incorporates room correction in the subs, allowing me to maximize different genres of speakers used in reviewing. These are impressive devices.
Exogal Comet DAC and Ion PowerDAC
This is an unusual combination of a DAC (Comet) with an additional complementary extended DAC with integrated true digital amp (Ion). Together, they include everything needed in the front end of a system except for the source. The Comet can stand alone, but the Ion is dependent upon the Comet, it cannot be used separately.
This combination is thrilling in its performance to cost ratio. One of the most outstanding products I have reviewed in ten years! The digital amplification is especially notable for its ability at 100wpc to drive more difficult speakers to listening levels of about 88-90dB.
Eastern Electric Minimax DSD DAC Supreme
Latest EE DAC featuring DSD and continues to offer opportunity to roll in discrete opamps. Allows contouring system to any selection of components.
Discrete Opamps Staccato, Burson, Sonic Imagery, Sparkos Lab
Discrete opamps rolled into Eastern Electric Minimax DACs and Kinki Studio EX-M1+ Integrated Amplifier
Iconoclast Cables and BAV Power Cords Iconoclast/Belden
Current reference cable line. See review at Dagogo.com
Owned/Reviewed Spkr Cables Various
Have owned: Audioquest, Harmonic Technology, XLO, etc; Reviewed cables for Dagogo.com include: Iconoclast, TEO Audio, Clarity Cable, Silnote Audio, Snake River Audio, Wire World. etc.
Outlaw 950 Surround Processor
Has nice variety of surround settings, 2 component in, plenty of other inputs... Only thing I wished it did was to convert s video to component.
Rotel RB-976
A lovely little workhorse amp! Configurable from 3-6 channels; a wonderful flexibility for surround applications.
Magnepan MGM W
Very affordable planars for surround. They only play down to about 100khz, but acceptable for surround. Awesome feature - they can be mounted upside down (will sound the same) to accomodate wiring near top of room.
Legacy Audio Silver Screen
Black piano finish; complementary driver set to Focus HD; dual 7" bass, 4" planar mid, 1" tweet
Tice Audio Solo/Solo High Current
I'm using two Solos, and one is High Current for power amps. Gotta have someting like this to open up the system's sound...but price might be a bit steep for some people. I will accept an offer of $1,000,000.00 though.
Furutech GTX-D (G)
Audiophile grade outlet featuring copper internals and gold plated sockets for power cord pins
Plateau AV 42
Wonderfully solid, black for AV use. Affordable. Nice to have on casters when you have to move it.
Panasonic PTL-500U
Upgrade from PTL-330U; this unit has high def capabilities.
Auralex Propannel 2x4'
Room tuning sound absorbing pannels. Made a shockingly huge difference in my two channel listening! Some of best audio $ I ever spent!
Can you post 1 or 2 photos of the new subwoofer positioning, etc....? Have you ever tried them at the rear of the room behind the listening position or off to the side of the room?
Doug,...great speaking with you this past week as always. Congratulations on all your recent moves with the system and whatever will come next into your room!
Thank you again Doug....always enjoy your writing style and dedication laying down your experiences and what you see and hear! I'd be interested in more comments on your SILNOTE related experiences. They seem to have a lot of models and I'm wondering which ones you've heard in-depth and could share (here or email) particularly regarding Analog ICs...
Good Morning Doug! I am interested in Legacy at the show reports of course (have heard the Vs twice, most recently 2 weeks ago at Legacy in a non-show environment). I'm just as interested though in reports on alot of other equipment at the show as the list was very long w.r.t. number of rooms, equipment offered, etc...and there is a slim fraction of info available, pictures, etc....on various pub sites, none on many others that did attend the show which is a bit mystifying. I had to be out of the country on business starting that weekend so I was not able to attend. Looking forward to your various reports!
I was thinking intently about making the switch to tubes a short while ago as there are several offerings out that which do a great job in SET as well as pentode mode with good levels of higher power. I was set to pull the trigger on demo'ing Ayon or VAC or VTL or Manley or NAT given some great advice I received from many members here however in the end, it came down to the honestly of a distributor of one of those product lines who knows my speakers and others from Legacy very well and advice from Legacy saying the best performance I could get out of the AERIS, and some day the V or Whispers would be from great solid state amp (Maker, AVM 8.2, etc...) so I returned to my home-state with SS and Tom Maker's offerings; I'm so glad that I did as the new Maker Audio NL14 Stereo (I have the 1st one in N.America) is beyond words in the improvements it offers over the NL12.1 that I know, love and owned for many years. I'm very happy I stayed SS so that I could experience what this amp has to offer; it has all the punch of SS and dynamics' related finesse as well as muscle with tube-like harmonics and other attributes that I will not do without. You may want to grab of these amps for a review, or the NL14+ Monos (or the upper-line pyramid REF amps in mono or stereo and give them a listen.
All that aside, if you are going to chase SET for a while, there are a few that are very interesting to me from the upper line AYON non-integrated line as well as the big NAT Emiiters and the new Magma that seem to have SS-level punching power while still SET with a rather unique approach/choice of tubes and ability to also run in pentode mode. Let's talk on email/phone for more particulars of what I've tracked down.....
Good Morning Doug! When will Dagogo be posting their Axpona 2015 coverage (nothing is up as yet)? In general, looking over all the show coverage, there is precious little out there in terms of deep/real show coverage for most of the equipment out there; hoping Dagogo will be posting more.....have a great weekend!
Legacy will build AERIS with a 6-post terminal plate that will allow a full range of external amp options so you can obtain a pair that allow for circumventing the onboard ICE amps if you wish in favor of your own standalone stereo or mono amps. With the 6-post terminal plate you can choose to run the bass and sub-bass drivers through 1 stereo amp or set of monoblocks or even choosing to have 2 stereo amps or 2 sets of monoblocks to run the bass and sub-bass channels with their own independent amplification!
Hey Doug...hope you have been well! What is the difference between tne Nimbus Black and White Models? Same question for the Cirrus Black and White models from Vapor?
Doug....very excited to see the latest round of changes and experimentation in your system! I owe you a call that's overdue to catch up as well. Cast one more vote on Mac for Audivarna Plus on top of iTunes; it's quite special. Through what I must admit is limited testing over the last year or so I am finding I am most happy with files ripped in Apple Lossless format (.m4a file extension/format). When I share them with people or even convert them to other formats, the trueness to the original source material is extremely good and a couple of friends have commented about how well they seem to come over.
AERIS are here having arrived today, are setup and making great music! It's amazing to me how good this sounds on day 1; it's the most amazing OOTB (out of the box) day I've ever had with any piece of audio gear!!! They are drop dead gorgeous to boot!!! Sapelle Pommele Cabernet with Black Pearl front baffle is "THE" way to go :-) !!!
Doug...hope you've been doing well and enjoying your latest audio adventures! I remember seeing a note from you that the Whisper DSW edition is now complete; let us now how those are performing for you and what else you've been working on....
My AERIS pair are on an ESTES Long-Haul truck as we speak(!) they'll arrive in the depot tonight so I could have them on Tuesday morning at the latest if all goes as planned. I will be somewhat sorry to see my Focus SEs leave but it's been just short of 3 great years with them so I am looking forward to the AERIS arriving very much. I'll keep you posted on what I hear as I break them in....
Doug,...as always I enjoy following your system posts and the results of your creative audio journey! Keep the great stuff coming! As you know I heard the Legacy AERIS recently and was extremely impressed by the truly organic and musical performance of the speaker and the tapestry of sound they painted! When you have a chance, please let us know your impressions having heard it or if you have a review scheduled in the near future.
Wow! That is one very impressive looking new speaker Doug! It is a shame they won't be distributing those in NA any longer as (for omni speaker lovers) they look to represent serious competition to other omni speaker brands that have rather daunting price tags.
As always, it is great to hear from you! I will definitely be thinking about giving that DAC a trial soon and will be looking to you for suggestions on the OPamps, etc...The Focus SEs and my system as a whole in the last few months have reached a level of playback enjoyment and musical realism that I did not think I would achieve. I am thoroughly enjoying what emanates from my system and am exploring discs both old/known and new with equal fervor!
Doug: Always great to hear from you! I've noticed similar things for alot of the material I listen to with the Focus SEs. The new cabinets and drivers definitely deliver on this...have a great week!
Doug: As always, it is great to hear back from you. Some have said the Legacy Whisper series (especially the latest) come as close to a panel speaker in imaging and presentation as one can get from a non-panel speaker. Do you have any thoughts in this topic?
Doug: Right you are....the pair that were delivered to me were the pair that were broken in and showed at Axpona so they had some time on them. Over the past month they have broken in further and from the sound of it fully. They are in a word, 'amazing'!
Doug....thanks for the update. On my side, Legacy Focus SEs arrived this morning! This pair is broken in by Legacy and was the pair demo'ed at Axpona. All I can say after the first couple of hours is "WOW"!!!!! They are that much "more" in every category where the Focus HDs already excel. Early indications are that these are (for my ears and preferences) in a class all by themselves over anything I've ever heard over the years let alone at a price point that is made for the real world. Bill D. and Legacy have outdone themselves yet again. You were SO right! :-) !!!
Doug...thanks! I just read the full review of the CD-5; it certainly has your attention and admiration. I'll have to try to hear one somewhere within driving distance. I would love to find an equal to what I have that would result in a simplified setup. The CD-5 however does not do SACD and while I could live with not playing the few DVD-As that I've collected, the vast number of quality SACDs on my shelves have me 'waiting' to find a player (perhaps Ayon will put one out) that combines the CD-5s attributes and capabilities with killer SACD playback as well.
Focus SEs should be here by this coming Friday...I'm looking forward to this particular change in the system VERY much. Have a great weekend!
Doug,...thanks for updating your system! I noticed that Legacy also made extensive use of the Ayon unit at Axpona. Can you tell us more about this unit's sound, construction, etc...as you get to know it further? Thanks!
Doug,...thank you as always for your very detailed feedback and answers to my questions. I am looking forward to this very much! Be well/Happy Listening!
Good evening Doug! I thought I'd check in and see how you are enjoying the Focus SEs after all this additional time. By mid-March I should have switched my HDs for a set of SEs and I am extremely excited and looking forward to the transition. Thanks to Bill and Doug at Legacy for making this possible!
Doug...have you checked out the new Legacy Audio user forum on their website? They've reworked their website and put in a great forum mechanism where I'm sure your feedback and advice to users would be appreciated...
I agree that there is something special about the wall of sound that a high quality planar puts out. I also like to walk behind them in friends' systems over the yeears and still have image definition and relative placement of instruments, etc.....
