RudeWolf

Well, my Sony outputs 105W@8Ohms and it weighs 47lbs. I'm just wondering how Jason got away with just using the case for cooling. Other than that it seems like the integrated to get. A fully symmetrical design at this price is unheard of (most usually just use cruddy opamp summing for bal insputs). Not to mention the discrete volume regulator and other whistles. Really anxious to see what their DAC will be like. There is a discrete DAC at DIYA that interests me, but time will tell how the cookie will crumble.

Marantz also has this switch, but sooner or later it becomes obvious that the thermal design falls a bit short to run it Class A all day. As for the Ragnarok there is one thing that bothers me - the amp is too light.

They do and I have tried mine in a 15ft equilateral triangle. The stage gets super huge, but you usually get all kinds of early reflections going on, which can be avoided in near field. Enjoyable, but not their best. Regarding power amps - do get something that can comfortably drive 2 ohm loads. I'd stay away from class D and chipamp based designs. The speaker likes current and has all kinds of kinks in the phase response. A fat Parasound or Adcom might do the trick, but these little fuckers are very transparent, so any glare will come rolling through. For budget solutions try older (80ies) boat anchor integrateds.

My heart still belongs to the Blades.

I was thinking the dynamic bias thing is tied to on the fly current needs. If so then it isn't anything new - Yamaha and pretty sure that someone else did it in the golden era. Should help to reduce standstill power/heat, but all in all I see some potential issues with it. Then again I'm currently running an overbiased TA-730ES and it sounds really good. I'm pretty sure it outresolves the Stello DA-100 Sig.

Usually the larger ones are more prone to it. Here's how it looks - One of the reasons why small monitors image better is that the baffle is narrower for the tweeter/mid assembly. Many designs battle this by putting the tweeter in a different module, like B&W does. The audible difference in theory is improved imaging. In my opinion this is what holds back all of the BBC monitor speakers for reaching ultimate fidelity.

Whilst I respect the BBC monitor legacy and love the sound of respective Spendor, Harbeth etc. units, I feel that they are held back by the enclosure design. Each and every one had baffle coloration, that whilst not being annoying, can get boring (to some) after a while. That being said the large driver speakers sound really terrific.

Amps are not just output power and output impedance.

Take a looksy Both speakers have DACses inside them and Aux-in is run through an ADC circuit. I wouldn't expect LS50 level of performance, but my impression is that KEF knows what it's doing.

Hornet.

Where did the film caps go?

Are the X'es that heavy to lift? If there's one thing I've noticed about orthos - it's how bearable they are with subpar equipment. Give the HD650 a cruddy output stage and it'll put you down to sleep.

Cool builds, guys! Tho, if I'm ever building a KSA5 clone, I'm calling it Krall!

Some people hate the HD800? What else is new... I can't imagine liking it on a bright amp like the Beta22, especially as it highlights any kind of nasty if it is present on the recording. As for the LCD-2 (whatever rev.) it is the polar opposite of HD800. The bassy signature is very likeable, yet I find it too boring. As for the GSX2, if it is anything like the Dynalo I built, it should be good, but not the best. A Beta22 bested my amp for resolution, but the signature was too bright for me.

Then there are those who can't tell apart a finger and a dick. I have precisely one ADG product at hand and judging from that - avoid them. The build quality is very bad, the anodizing went from black to dark brown in one summer. ADG relies on the "moar parts = moar better" approach, which sometimes can work, but their execution leads to mediocre sounding gear. Some top end products are known to sound respectable after some wrestling, but after I've invested couple of grand into gear, I want to sit down and enjoy the music. Not find deformed top covers, missing screws and other goodies. There are better offers nowadays.

I run mine with a Stello DA-100 Signature. It's a swell DAC, however the LS50 can go even further. These are fairly transparent speakers and will let you know if the source sounds cruddy. Id recommend looking for DACs with good soundstaging capabilities. The best I've heard in this regard was a heavily modified ES9018 dac. That being said the chip is notorious for being implemented in a way that makes treble sound very metallic. The DAC I heard used a FIFO reclocker to remedy this. For starter kit I'd recommend a Schiit Bifrost with upgrades.

Is the Squarewave power up sequence that wild? I mean it should take a few secs to stabilize and then an open load is perfectly fine.

I say wrap the kid, or the Lego bricks!

As long they don't wobble like crazy.

The X1 could be a good choice to mate with a external DAC/AMP. Like the Leckerton.

Which are the best for receiving?

Not even balanced.

Well, the clickbait does run strong throughout the article, but it isn't out of tone with the rest of what Vulture puts out. That being said I agree that much of the speaker design is still stuck in the seventies. It is strange that with all the yammering in the article about the time domain accuracy not once was analyzed the actual enclosure geometry. I do think that speaker designers have to employ computer assisted analysis to keep their birdhouses up to date. As for DSP assisted sound production - I still remain skeptical. In two weeks I'll try to audition what Devialet has done with its SAM technology and what can it do for the already brilliant KEF LS50. In addition to that I have some of the best DSP guys operating in my country - Real Sound Lab and SonarWorks. I've been trying to set up an interview with them since forever as they claim to be developing an app based solution for smart devices that does headphone correction. I've heard what these guys can do with two compression drivers mounted inside steel buckets and it was pretty impressive. Yet I feel that we mustn't overestimate what DSP can do. I'm pretty sure the physical speaker design very much persists in the equation. Maybe you could design for DSP and get better results than using traditional methods. Who knows...

Bridged Zamps do sound pretty baws, however doo keep in mind that Kefies can drop to 3.2 Ohms. Each of the Zamps would then see a 1,46 Ohm load. Current wise at everyday listening levels that wouldn't be too bad, however the circuit can misbehave at such loads. I'd try a single Zamp driving both channels. Who knows - that might actually do the trick. I for one avoid bridge amping at all costs. The power output doesn't actually double due to copper loss and other factors, and the increase in conducted current usually increases distortion and crosstalk. Also double power doesn't translate into that big of a loudness increase.

B-b-but what about the avatar pic? Also that sucks like 900HB.