Hey Michael, i wish you lots of enjoyable hours relaxing listening to music in your "retreat". what does your family think about your ongoing efforts to find "the sound"? - i imagine you have a paradigm in your head about what you would
ultimately like to hear when you listen to music. i wonder a lot what that is and where you got it from. i got it from playing in the band in school and college. before i started in on chemistry and zoology...
for me i have a "stereo" in every room of my house except the bathrooms pretty much. a mid-fi set, Tivoli radio with Tivoli sub's, a boombox, and a pair of
sonus fabers in a second bedroom with a levinson integrated. to be totally honest i LOVE to listen to PERFORMANCE TODAY on public radio in the evenings on the Tivoli set while relaxing in bed. they have contemporary as well as every other genre of classical music, much of which was recorded before a live audience. i go to their web site later sometimes to get the exact name of a piece so i can add it to my collection. and the radio sounds really good, i should be totally ashamed to admit this, but the reality is i listen to a lot of other radio shows, too: Jazz with Bob Parlocha late at night, Pipedreams (organ music of ALL genre's), and so on. the big stuff in the living room is great,
but i don't HAVE to listen to only the most pristine form of music available in the house. i guess i am a real oddball for sure.
BTW, the VR9's with the new subwoofer amplifiers are noticeably better in the low bass area- tighter, deeper, cleaner. this also allows the midbass and lower midrange to come out of hiding a bit more as well. the new midrange driver sounds like the old midrange driver- which is good considering A. i liked the original driver very much and B. it's not "broken in yet" , so it might
get somewhat better (hopefully a whole lot better, eh?). who knows? I am just relieved to have them back and set-up where they were before- not that easy since they weigh considerably more with the new stiffer/heavier cabinets.
you may "love" getting a bunch of crates and having delicate equipment being hauled all over the place with a ton of packing material to be surgically removed, etc etc. I OTOH do not cherish this part of being an "audiophool".
my 1st set of components- a Fisher receiver, speakers, and garrard turntable- cost under $400 and i set it up myself. nowadays the CRATE for one of the speakers costs more than that. i am becoming incredibly nostalgic for a simpler time.
but yes, shit yes, my system does sound really REALLY good. just not (damn!) as good as yours.... all the best on your quest! D.

french_fries October 23, 2012 11:35

Ron,

i forgot to mention that i expect to have the dart 458's in 3 to 5 weeks.

mikelavigne October 22, 2012 09:23

Ron,

5 months ago i ordered the darTZeel NHB-458 monoblocks.

i love the sound of my current amplifiers, the dart NHB-108 stereo, but i decided to get the monoblocks. 2 years ago i had the 458's in my room for a month and fell in love.

the new MM7 speakers are quite efficient aty 96db, 6 ohm. but there are things the monoblocks do which are unique to them. i'm excited about putting these speakers and the 458's together.

so while i'm sure that almost any amp can handle the MM7's, i'm already locked and loaded in my direction.

mikelavigne October 22, 2012 08:56

Mike - will your amplification requirements change with these new speakers and if so what would you suspect would be some of your potential choices?

rgd October 22, 2012 07:36

Great pictures.
Thanks Mike.
With the bass towers.....this will be indeed be a sight?

halcro October 21, 2012 22:36

current listening distance 'ear to tweeter' is 116".

tweeter to tweeter currently is 110".

my ears are about 19 feet into a 29 foot long room. the room is fairly large; 21' wide, 29' long, 11' high.

this is a very temporary set-up as i only have the main towers, bass towers will arrive in the next 10 days, at which time many things might change.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 19:09

What is your listening distance.

pcosta October 21, 2012 18:56

i finally had some time to take some better pictures of the MM7 main towers in room;

room view 1

room view 2

room view 3

single main tower

side view

close up 1

close up 2

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 18:32

Paulo,

nice system! congrats.

based on your reference, i seriously considered the Vicoustic panels....so thank you.

i considered the Wavewood for my rear wall and door area which right now has no treatment. i need a product that is less than 2 and 1/2" deep since it will be mounted on my door which must open wide and the door stop allows for a depth of 2 and 1/2". the Wavewood is close enough. the other product i'm considering is the RPG Futterfree which will also work.

i also seriously considered relacing my RPG Skylines with the Vicoustic Multifusor Wood 64 since i love the look. but i decided the wood would end up being too absorbtive and change the tonality. the Skylines are refective mostly and do little absorbing; so they are neutral sounding.

anyway; i agree on the Vicoustic products as great choices and they will be ones i will continue to consider. i may end up with the Wavewood on my door area.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 11:32

Fred,

the Rockport was gone by the time i got the Anna this past February. however; i did use the A90, which should behave approx the same as the Anna in terms of compliance, on the Rockport without issue.

btw; we have determined that 1.97 grams seems about right for the Anna.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 11:19

David,

the 'celebratory' bottle of scotch is 'The MacPhail's' Collection 'Speyside Single Malt' 30 year old from Glenroths Distillery.

i agree that the Q7's being a single tower may work better in some rooms logistically than MM7's. however; i suspect many Q7 owners will add subs; which will then equal the floor space of the MM7's. the MM7's are much taller and heavier which could also enter into the equation for some.

plus; no doubt that amplifier choices for the MM7's are much wider compared to the Q7. and that is ignoring any performance perspectives, only logisitics.

enjoy your new flat screen. i always get my son to come over and do installs and set-ups on stuff. i can do it but it takes me forever to do what he can do in minutes. i guess he got his brains from his mom.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 11:15

Mark,

i did charge my camera batteries prior to delivery of the main towers, thanks for the heads up. i also charged up the batteries for my power screwdrivers. :)

i do always appreciate having help with remembering things.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 11:05

Mark,

thanks.

i'm holding off on the celebratory scotch until the bass towers are set up. :)

i hope you enjoyed the trip to Legacy.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 11:02

Bill,

there is a latch system where an arm rotates and locks onto a latch firmly. this latch system is designed to attach one wall to another so it is designed to pull very heavy objects together and attach them firmly. the speakers come with an 18" long thick heavy allen wrench which fits thru a fitting to rotate the arm and lock it in.

the system works well. my MM3's had the exact same system and i owned them for over 5 years with zero issues.

the great thing is that each section is a completely finished unit so each driver gets exactly the environment that is ideal.

that 'blue thing' as far as i can tell is a reflection from the window. i did not see anything else that it could have been. sorry for my sucky photography. Jonathan Tinn, who sold me the MM7's, insisted i take pictures as i went along, but i did not stop and take the time to make sure they were decent. you can see the results. :)

even though i saw them in March at the designers home in San Diego, having these 84" tall speakers in room was startling. the great thing is the elegance of the look and the build quality. they look 'right' and 'organic'. i love the way they look. i expect that the bass towers, at 86" tall and wider and more massive might really hit me.

the dart monoblocks are still 3-6 weeks away. this week i might get a more definite delivery time for them.

stay tuned.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 10:58

thanks Teck, can't wait to get your impressions.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 10:44

Jason,

thanks. and agree that those crates are bomb proof at protecting big heavy things. the only thing is that my 61 year old body is still feeling the effects of all that work. and next week it will 8 crates (instead of 'only' 6) to unpack and then 8 sections to assemble. i wonder how long that will take to recover from. i'm sure the adrenline will kick in pretty strong.

no pain, no gain.

the last day of listening has been very rewarding for me even with the restrictions of not having the bass towers yet.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 10:42

Mike,

yes, Xmas, Fathers Day, and my Birthday for many years have all come early. :)

see you soon.

mikelavigne October 21, 2012 10:37

Mike: thanks for sharing the pics- how do the pieces stay together- are they bolted?
and what's the blue thing sitting on top of one of the woofer cabinets once in your room?
Those things look humongous!
Looking forward to listening reports as you break them in.
Are your Dart monoblocs in place? (sorry, I didn't go back in the thread to see).
Best,
Bill

whart October 21, 2012 08:29

Hi Mike, great pictures and I must say very professionally packaged, many loudspeaker manufacturers could learn from this type of packaging. Very reassuring to see from my point of view as a Audio distributor and from word go offers confidence that the audio product will arrive safely to the intended client. Exciting times ahead for you I am sure, happy listening.

jasonparmenter October 20, 2012 11:36

Congratulations!!!!! Can't wait to listen to them :)

teck5 October 20, 2012 10:08

Looks like Xmas came early this year.
Thanks for the pics and will make a trip down soon.
Take care,

rugyboogie October 20, 2012 07:47

the main towers arrived today about 3pm in 6 large wooden crates, which were quickly moved into my garage. i started removing the screws from the bottoms of the crates and my friend Andrew arrived to help. we lifted the tops off the crates, then moved the 6 sections one by one onto a carpet covered piano dolly and rolled them down the hill to my barn and into my room.

6 crates (2090 pounds shipped) sitting in the garage just off the truck

in the garage, they are here, time to get to work

bottom of crates unscrewed, lifted off, ready to be moved to the barn

6 sections in the listening room

then we decided to place the bottom section of each tower in place first, install the spikes and Wave Kinetics 2NS footers and then level them.....thinking this would be easier/better than attaching them all together and tilting them up.....which would make the leveling more difficult. we had a third person coming to assist us and figured with three we could lift the top section on. wrong; we ended up needing a forth helper since the main towers are so tall; 84 inches. with 4 it was quickly done.

bottoms in place and leveled

assembled, still with plastic wrap around grillcloth

OK, time for music

these beasts are big, the scale cannot be appreciated in pictures. 84 inches tall plus a couple inches for spikes and 2NS footers. yet, very organic and elegant. perfect fit and finish. wonderful.

side view

back view with jumpers

my friend Andrew brought a trick laser alignment rig he put together that attached directly to the tweeter bracket with magnets and we did a down and dirty alignment. we listened for 30-40 minutes and went to dinner, came back and listened for awhile and Andrew had to leave. i cleaned up and straigtened up and then went back to listen. i've been listening while messing with these pictures and posting for an hour or so. listened to a few Lps earlier and been doing streaming dsd while typing.

i'll just say even with only the main towers it is pretty amazing, and seems to be changing by the minute so far.

it's now the next morning, sooooo much detail and the view into the music is breathtaking.

more later.....

mikelavigne October 20, 2012 06:59

Mike,
Did you ever mount the MC Anna in the Sirius III? I am just wondering how the weight and compliance of the Anna will mate with my own Rockport. Thanks,

Fred

fcrowder October 18, 2012 09:21

let me guess- Chivas Regal 30 year scotch? i saw a bottle in the liquor store for $150 years ago, but didn't get it. tempting though.
the Q7's can't compare with what you're getting, but for me i'm restricted to two cabinets, and they are beautifully designed. Von Schweikerts are all about performance and can look "lumpy" as a result (i.e. VR7 and VR9). i definitely have a weakness for aesthetics and would love to have "modern art" in the living room instead of "huge speaker- stand back!" oh well, "you can't always get what you wa-ahnt..."
and in the middle of all this i am trying to assemble a flat-screen tv with stand plus AV components in another room since my trusty Toshiba 14 YO TV set played its last re-run of "Friends" 2 weeks ago. the TV came dead on arrival on Monday so i have to wait until next week to get another one delivered. i only watch maybe 10 hrs a week but perhaps with 3-D glasses i can reach out and "put my arms around" Jennifer Aniston.

french_fries October 17, 2012 08:58

Hi Mike,
I know actually you are excited waiting for your MM7, but I can give you a feedback concerning Vicoustic panels. They seem to be very neutral on my room. Sound image is more stable on center and the I feel an increment of the 3dimentional spatial perspective. We are talking about very little changes. My system is composed by Berkeley Alpha (USB and DAC) Spectral gears and Avalon Eidolon. Cables are all MIT and Elrod. I use RealTraps in the corner and at the First Reflection point (I have 1 side wall, only, the other side is open on the rest of living room).
I think Vicoustic is an honest company whith beautiful (and effective) products.
Hope to see soon pictures of your new MM7.
Ciao

caliaripaolo October 17, 2012 05:08