System has grown in complexity of late (8/06) however the sound quality has grown as well. Pipedream reference 18's have taken the place of the Aerial 20t's. The "pipes" have a presence not many speakers can match, and give me the big sound I crave. The 4 18" woofers are amazingly fast, tight and tuneful. Bass dynamics and resolution are fantastic.
I'm not visiting your system page again until you bring Nipper back. I'm reporting you to the SPCA. You will have to explain to them what you did with him.
If you like line arrays you need to here the McIntosh XRT2K's. I just sold my pipedreams off... Be carefull when listening to them if the demo is with the new McIntosh MC2KW amps. You simply can not beat this combination regardless of price...
Beemer, As a fellow Pipedreams owner (I have the original 18s), I discovered something very interesting about this speaker. I was poking around some old CES show reports, and one reviewer found that he preferred the soundstage of the Pipedreams with the tweeters on the outside (apparently one of the demo rooms had them set up this way).
So I swapped the left and right speakers in my system to put the tweeters on the outside, then I 'over-toed' in each speaker so the right speaker faces the left ear and the left speaker faces the right ear.
Now voices are suspended more cohesively between the speakers, dead centered, and the soundstage is incredibly wide. In fact I'm discovering many recordings that I previously had no idea contained virtual surround effects (Q-sound like HRTF effects). Also, with the tweeters facing head on, the dark character of this speaker is corrected. It's an incredible improvement with no tradeoffs that I can detect! It's definitely worth the 5 minutes of sweat to swap the position of these behemoths. You can play with the toe in to broaden or narrow the apparent soundstage. Give it a shot.
System edited: Added pic of new Mitsubishi WD-65831 65" DLP TV. This replaced my older Mitsu 65" CRT(gun) TV. DLP is the real deal. Sharp. no lines and does old-school TV (NTSC) quite well. Best, Paul :-)
Thanks for the compliments folks! Answers to questions follow:
The "dog": A good Nipper is hard to find. Ebay's got 'em, but you are better off to look local so you can see in person what you get. That's how I found mine.
The Room: 15'6" x 26' the speakers are on a short wall. Pic makes the room look smaller. The TV is a 65" 16.9 set. It's almost 6 feet tall. The mid/tweeter columns are about 6' out into the room. The woofers are out about 4 feet.
The Pipedreams have a nice active crossover that works well. I can increase or decrease the woofer level on each channel to suit. When I first got the pipes, I put the woofers in the corners. This was too much. Pulling them out in the room and behind the towers tightened the bass right up and the transition between the columns and woofers is transparent. These are the most articulate woofers I've ever heard. You can tell exactly what instrument is making the bass.
Wow, Paul! I turn around for a minute and you've changed speakers again! We seem to be moving in opposite directions, front-end wise. :) I had been contemplating line-array speakers myself. Who knows, maybe I'll do the complete circle someday. Enjoy!
"The slam of brass instruments cannot be heard with planars. I call it cone slam."
Beemer I was reluctant to respond. It is obvious that nothing is absolute. My ML/CLS does a haunting rendition of brass intruments. Most notably the blare of a trumpet and the coherence of a saxophone. It is one of things that let's me know I am on the right track. P.S. congrats on your pipe dreams!
The "pipes" are completely different. I still love the Infinity sound, as I spent over 25 years with it, and still own a pair of RS1b's in the bedroom system.
However........ IMHO today's cones do things they couldn't back in the day. Te infinity planar drivers have a "coolish" sound that does not always serve the music as well as they could. Horns and female vocals come to mind right away. The slam of brass instruments cannot be heard with planars. I call it cone slam.
The pipes are very organic, image unbelievable well, and the woofers have the best integration and clarity combined with the towers. The Beta bass is very slow and undefined, due to the vintage servo drive system used. There is no comparison.
Too bad you are on the other coast, you would be welcome to come and hear for yourself. For the first time in quite a while I have a speaker I feel I can live with for quite a while.
Of course, take this advice at face value. What I prefer may be poison to you. Always remember the completely subjective hoby we both enjoy.
