Ray, I'm not sure what the model of the Anthem amp was, but he said it was $2500 retail. The overal sound was almost tube like in the mid range, but with great bass and dynamics....very musical and not so audiophile! I'm messing with a pair of Carver Pro ZR1600 digital amps at the moment, I have one driving the maggies and the other I just sent to Empirical Audio for an upgrade. If it sounds as good as people say after the upgrade I could be happy for a while.....well a week or two at least! Mejames, I've been seriously thinking about some room treatments, so when he quoted 50k I felt more like crying than laughing! I may end up with a pair of good headphones!!
hello Rooze,wow 50,000 ,and the guy turned down 10,000!!! any idea what amp your getting next?your desciption of the paradigm/anthem room sure got me going,ive not yet heard the sig.line yet my local dealers not sure if hes going to get them yet,did you notice if they were using the new anthem statment amp?id love to hear it!i keep bugging my dealer to get one.sugg names for your post;one day at a time ,to all the amps ive loved before,he he ,thanks for the info,happy hunting!
Hey Ray, it's a real can of worms with the room being a bit on the large side and having the planars. I visited a local company on the weekend, they work directly with ASC on room treatment projects. I gave the guy a rough outline of the room and he quoted me a minimum of $50,000 on the spot!! After I regained my composure I offered him $10,000 and said 'I understand that it won't be perfect, but you could perhaps do it in 3 stages, as money becomes available'....and he turned me down!
The wall behind the speaker is a bit contentious, the ASC guy said he thought it should be as flat and reflective as possible, with no diffusion or absorption. However, the speakers fire into a large window on the opposite side of the room, and he thought that was a big problem. So I may start by moving the speakers across onto the other wall in front of the windows. Boy this is driving me nuts!! I also just sold my amps and I'm back to square one, messing with different amp options.
Incidentally, since you are using Studio 100's.....the room treatment guy specializes in Paradigm / Anthem. I heard the newest top of the line speaker (J8 I think) with Anthem electronics in a nicely treated room with 9 grands worth of ASC panels....sounded excellent! There $3500 sub was incredible to, seemless integration with the mains and deep, deep bass.
Maybe I'll dump the maggie's and start over.
Cheers
PS - I gotta change the subject line of this post....
hello Rooze,have you given any more thought on room treatments?i just built a pr. of side wall absorber panels with good results,good bang for the buck!maybe treating area behind your speakers would be a good starting point,how is the bass in your room? cheers
Rooze, give yourself some credit, since I certainly do. You have not only embraced mediocrity, but you have forced yourself upon it, and built a lasting relationship. With all the drama involved, it must be close to love by now!
The 'content' comment was from two weeks ago, you know how that goes!! Anyway, it's all relative, and it's all about degrees of contentment, degrees of perfection etc etc.
One might be content, but only partially or momentarily so. One may also strive to remove many forms of 'contentment' from ones life, since being content, in certain situations, may lead to complacency. Living in constant fear of becoming complacent drives me to avoid contentment for any prolonged periods, at all cost. Therefore the new amplifier becomes pivotal, and unavoidable, in my plight to live a full and challenging life. Others, may accept and embrace mediocrity into their lives, avoiding challenges for fear of failure. Not I however. The new amplifier will be a bold and proud statement, a beacon of hope and light in an otherwise dark and hopeless world. So you see, it's unavoidable really.
System edited: Now trying Gortz MI3 biwires in place of the Chord cables, also have cables from Sonoran, Audio Insurgents and AudioTruth, which I've been trying. Got the new power cord installed, running between the fuse box and direct to the Krell. Made a nice difference, thanks to CVH for the parts and expertise. Made some basic mods to the speaker wiring, bypassed the fuses and the tweeter attenuator, and replaced crappy maggie binding posts with Cardas posts. Sonic improvement very noticable...more upgrades to follow to x-over.
For improved dynamics and bigger bass you might try a powered Vandersteen 2WQ sub. Two is supposed to be even better. Filtering the low bass from your Maggies will free your main amplifier to produce more horsepower. The Maggie/Vandersteen combo is a time-honored tradition with lots of Maggie owners.
Thanks ThinKat - it's such an odd shaped room that I'm not sure where I would start with acoustic treats - perhaps some diffusers on the wall behind the speakers....I'll hit the asylum and see what I can find.
by all means keep the maggies. it appears and sounds like you may need some room treatments. if you're handy at all, and it sounds like you are, you can construct your own pretty inexpensively. also check out the maggie users group for suggestions.
Nate....i should have cleaned up the cat vomit from the middle of the carpet before I took the pic's. Things starting to sound pretty good, got the power cord made earlier today, planning to install that tonight.....bloody expensive thing, upwards of $300 in parts and 6 hrs of toil.(includes 3 hrs driving round town looking for heatshrink....."what, you put wires in it, you need it how long?")
Get yerself and Greg over for a listen when you have a couple hours free.
