This system took me a couple years to complete.Over the years of upgrading I have come to what I would say is my reference system.
My dedicated listening room measures 15'x 22'.With a custom cieling made from MDF frames and then covered with speaker cloth.Doing this gave me the look of a drop ceiling but with the extra height all the way up to the floor joist.Sound treatment is from Aurelex.My speakers are positioned out into the room about 8' and fairly close to the side walls 30"....
The speakers are the Artemis EOS signature W/large bass modules.I heared these in the late 90s and had to own them.With the right gear and of course the right material the sound that these speakers create is spectacular.I have not heared every speaker on the market but from what I did hear these are still one of the best for "imaging"...
As for the amps,the Pass X-600 have the power and control that I was looking for with a touch of warmth.These amps are very dynamic with no sense of strain in anyway(you'll ony strain if you try to move them)...
The Pre-amp is the Pass X-1.It is my latest addition to the system and I'm still trying to put a 'handle on it.As for right now all I can say it is VERY transparent and a great synergy to the amp...
CD player is a Sonic Frontiers CD-1.Since day one I always thought this player gave you a sense of whats happening within the recording,For the money it is a fanastic sounding player...
Cables are all MIT...
To sum up the sound I would have to say it's very "Holographic" with lots of detail...
I Still have the Sonic Frontiers cd-1.After about a year of looking at reviews and searching on the internet I'm still undecided what to get for a new cdp.Feel free to pick my system apart.
Mapman'Thanks for the responce.There is something about the industrial design with those Pass amps that got me the first time.As my girlfriend says they look like they where design for a bachelor.
Hey Lapierre' Thats a great question about the jumpers!I never really thought about trying to make it simpler.I just thought it is what it is.Now you have my mind spinning with ideas...Hmmm.
Spaz that's too bad to hear about the company, I bet a CAT JL2 Sig. Stereo amp would work well with them. Regarding maintenance for tubes depends on what you go with and if you decide to get caught up into tube rolling which I personally don't. I have a ARC REF 3 pre and have no desire to tube role, I currently have a pair of CAT JL3 Sig. MK2's mono blocks and have no desire to tube role on these either. Really no maintenance with either of these except you will have replace tubes every 2-3 years depending on how much you listen of course, my REF3 owning it for two years cost me a total of $150 to re-tube it completely which isn't much.
It's been a long time but I believe they were Accuton not sure which model, I know they were ceramic because they were so delicate and I went through a few and when I sold them the guy got three matched pairs. You have owned these for six years and have never blown any tweeters, you are very fortunate.
I'm sure if you Google the speakers you will be able to get some info. and go from there. I Googled and came up with the info. below talking about the Thiel tweeter.
We had written very favorably about the Thiel tweeter (also distributed under the brand name Accuton), as used in the Artemis Eos
Dev' Thanks for the comments.As for the speaker manufacturer,There gone.From what I understand the company had a Fire and they never started back up.I've own these now for about 6 years now.I first had them running with a set of cary 'Slam 100s'.They sounded good but with no control with the bass.Tubes seem to be the way to go with these speakers but I can't take the maitenence that goes along with tube gear.I also had a SF line-3 for a pre-amp and the tube rolling just got to me!Since you had these speakers in the past do you know what tweeter they use??
Spaz I thought I would never see another pair of the Artemis EOS Sig. speakers as they seem to have just disappeared. Is the manufacturer still around making these? or did you just happened to have owned these for a long time like from the 90's as you had mentioned? Reason why I ask is I actually owned a pair of these for six years back in the 90's and was absolutely thrilled with what they could do. I did have issues with the tweeters (ceramic) blowing which were expensive to replace every time. They were having issues with the cross over, I actually got the bass modules also but they just did not blend to my liking so I ended up getting top of the line powered Entec subs and was amazed. If the darn tweeters would not have kept blowing then I would most likely still have them today.
I had some numerous electronics hooked up to them when I owned them, Jadis, Rowland, Sonic Frontier, Cary, Stealth to name a few.
Your PASS X-600 is a nice piece but the PASS X-600.5 is a improvement as I use to own it most recently set-up with my Eggleston Andra 2's and ARC REF3 pre. and did a comparison. If you like PASS which is great product you should check out the XA 160.5 and see what your thoughts are, I find the XA series to be more musical and the new designed amps are supposedly able to handle a wider range of loads more effectively.
You have allot of options to try, have you ever tried them with tube amps? Due to you owning solid state amps you could introduce a tube pre to see what your thoughts are.
Nice getting to see speakers that just seemed to have vanished
