The Loft is a 15.5 x 10 ft space on the 4th floor of our small California home. It's a dedicated 2-channel music environment that consistently delivers great great listening experiences. A mix of room treatments from ATS Acoustics and GIK Acoustics bring the RT60 down to about 320ms and make the room sound bigger than it is. The Fritz monitors have perfect integration with the brilliant SVS 3000 Micro subs. Eyes closed, I could swear that I'm listening to Dunlavy SC-V towers…the soundstage is floor to ceiling, wider and deeper than the room, and beautifully coherent. The space never fails to receive accolades from visiting listeners. Although modest by high-end audio standards, I feel fortunate to have put together such an enjoyable system.
I would definitely buy the Fritz Carrera 7 BE's again. He's using a different BE tweeter now than the one I have, but I'm sure it's also excellent. The unique series crossover that Fritz uses (no capacitor in the tweeter circuit) makes the speakers easy to drive. Very high driver quality for the price. The -3 dB point is specified at 36 Hz, but in my small room, I've measured closer to 32 Hz without subs. Subs are helpful for room pressurization, but they are not required for you to be able to hear all of the notes.
Driver integration is among the best I've heard, but I do wonder if off-axis response would be a bit smoother if he were to add a waveguide to the tweeter. Overall, I could not be more pleased. I've had a dozen different speakers in this room, and the Fritz are the only ones so far that have stayed.
Thanks for the kind words, @fredapplegate . The room is literally the biggest component but also seems to be about 70 to 85% of what we hear. I spent most of my 30+ years in this hobby optimizing that last 20%. It took me a while, but I'm glad that I eventually learned to pay attention to the rest!
Thanks. I should run another sweep, but I'm pretty sure that I'm above 300 ms at lower frequencies. In a small room like mine, staying at ~300 ms below the room transition frequency is not easy…would take a lot more bass trapping than I currently have deployed. :)
I do power down the preamp when I'm not listening, but it has not been an issue. I'm using a Topping Pre90, which is fairly well-behaved with power on/off, so I don't have to power down the monoblocks before switching the preamp on/off. Sometimes, I hear a faint "click", but concerning…and certainly no big "thump". I suppose it depends on the preamp. If your tube preamp has balanced outputs, it may not be an issue.
@milpai - I love the Orchard Audio monoblocks. They are kind-of funky, as a product. For example, there's no power switch, mute button, or 12V trigger, yet it's crucial to power them down before changing any connections because the output is differential (the negative terminal is not referenced to ground). These are optimized for speakers with an 8Ω load, so they are not the most flexible either. However, they are incredibly clean and engaging. My previous monoblocks were the Wyred 4 Sound mAMP, which I still have but should probably sell at some point. They were fine but not nearly as transparent or revealing as Leo's amps.
