I went to T.H.E. Audio Show in Irvine last week. I shouldn't have gone.

I met Andrew Jones and listened to his new $500/pair ELAC bookshelf speakers with his $500 subwoofer. Sounded better than many big buck systems on display at the show. Bravo to him for putting out quality audio products at a decent price ... sort of the Axiom model.

If you have more self-control that I do, I highly recommend you go to one of these shows and listen to the speakers, amps, and systems. I have bought a lot of gear, on the internet, based on reviews. Many reviews are no more than "advertorials" that is, paid for glowing reviews of mediocre products. Some reviewers are obviously hearing impaired or perverse. Go listen for yourselves!

I listened to the highly reviewed $60,000 Von Schweikert VR55 with Constellation electronics. Axiom should go to the shows, as I think Axiom has speakers which sound better.

I heard a pair of $58,000 Legacy speakers with Raven electronics and heavy room treatments. Wonderful !!

Then, I wandered into the Emerald Physics room and was gobsmacked by their EP2.8s with DSP, tri-amped, no room treatments. At first I thought they sounded at least as good as the Legacies. Then, I realized their sound quality was incredible, celestial, transforming, LIVE.

I heard myself say, "I'll take 'em" or something like that.

I picked up a pair of Emerald Physics EP 2.8 speakers in the ginko boloba or cocobolo finish with DSP and some mono blocks. I have never heard anything like them. They are sending the designer down to set up the speakers, DSP and amps for me next week. I will definitely throw some brontosaurus on the BBQ for him. Mark is one of the funniest, most intelligent people I've met in years.

Anyone interested in a pair of brand new Axiom M100s in real Cherry with Chestnut finish and outriggers? PM me if interested.

Best regards.

With an open baffle setup you will rely heavily on front wall reflections to acheive the desired soundfield. There are many issues with this.... Hopefully the DSP limits rear firing energy below 500hz or so. They look cool.

I don't know Serenity Now. They had the EP2.8s set up in a hotel room without any wall treatments, no bass traps, just the speakers.

I don't know how to post pictures here anymore, but below is the link to a picture of the speakers in the hotel room.

Will you have them by the end of July? I'll be back in Anaheim the first week of August.

Should be here soon. Come on by.

Do you have them yet? Curious about their placement flexibility. (Acoustics obsessed.) Would love a thread about your journey of setup to enjoyment on these open baffles. Something to learn from.

Received a text message from Mark Schifter, he is booking his flight to SoCal this Monday. As soon as they are here and set up, I will report.

I am really looking forward to spending some time with Mark. He is one of the funniest and most intelligent people I have met in years, and I have met many!

I will fete him, grill Brontosaurus steaks on the Weber, invite over my audio obsessed friends to listen to the new set up, make them all drink beer and hope to have a wonderful time.

Yes, we, the acoustic obsessed, have our moments. I am very much looking forward to making a home for the new Emerald Physics EP 2.8s, in the beautiful ginko biloba finish, and related electronics, and laughing with joy at the Good Sounds!!!

BTW, I have bicycled through PEI, eaten potatoes from that red earth, watched the tides run, and had a really good time there.

Mark Schifter? Name sounds familiar

Mark finished serving time for 14 counts of Felony?

Yes, that's correct. He ran into trouble has and was not able to meet all his obligations. He contributed a lot to charity and brought us and designed some awesome audio equipment, including dynavector carts, great speakers and amps.

He is a remarkable fellow.i am looking forward to hosting him.

Those are some gorgeous looking speakers. Looking forward to your thoughts once you live with them for a while.

Me too.

I'd like to be done with the waiting part and start the enjoying part.

I've made a few changes. First, the room treatments. I've posted pix in the 'room treatments' thread. Second, I picked up a Sonic Frontiers SLF 1 preamp (sonic gold!). Then, I swapped out the digital monoblocks for another Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15 tube amp which I picked up used (came with the wonderful Svetlana Winged-C 6550 tubes).

Then I swapped this ASL for my modified Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT with upgraded copper V-Caps capacitors but swapped in the Svetlana Winged Cs from the new (used) ASL amp.

I have not received the cross over which will allow me to tri amp the Emerald Physics speakers yet.

I have an Axiom EP600 in this system.

The sound? GLORIOUS! Real. Best system I've ever heard.

Next steps.

When the Emerald Physics DSP 2.8 digital processor comes, I will Tri amp with the Yamaha M80 (I have 2, maybe 2 of those and the tube amp for 3)

I've ordered the Hana low output mc cartridge with nude shibata stylus for the MMF 7.1 turntable. I picked up a Moon 110LP mc phono stage.

That should do it.

Oh, except, I picked up a vintage (beautiful) Amber 7 tuner which just arrived, and that'll go in the system.

Sources:

MMF 7.1 turntable
Sony DVP CX777 ES CD/SACD mega changer
Amber 7 tuner
Dedicated Computer for high resolution digital audio

Then I'm done.
Really. No, really.

I will post pix as soon as my ISP email is back up and running.

Sounds great. Too bad I live on the opposite corner of the continent or I would find some pretext to come over and have a listen

Bridgman, if you come to southern California you are welcome to stay at my house anytime.

Congratulations on find your sonic nirvana with a speaker that has a wildly fluctuating response curve, a beaming midrange and a design team that includes a convicted felon.

As you also adore highly distorted tubed amps, this is not a surprise.

Enjoy!

Thank you for your kind thoughts.

Maybe a bit too much Johnny Walker Red tonight?

Trouble with the wife?

Dog die?

I hope all is well with you.

ooh, the pre-edit would'a been juicy.

So 2x6 how are you liking the setup now the DSP has been fixed. Did it resolve the 800hz issue?

I don't get drunk, my wife is a gem, my dogs are healthy, and all I did was post facts along with congratulations.

You prefer sound that lacks accuracy. Many people do. Relax and enjoy it.

Is there a back story here. Wow craig that was some pretty insulting stuff, not what I expect from you or anyone who hangs here on a regular basis.

I always enjoyed posting with craigsub. I thought his post was insulting and gave it some thought. I love music and am obviously an audio enthusiast. I post about my hobby and talk about my equipment and impressions, what's worked and what hasn't. I always figured this site was a good one for me because it is pretty low-key and populated with some like-minded folk. Disputes about whether shoe laces make good interconnects and tube amps and vinyl are usually pretty tame compared to some sites.

Nevertheless, I figure perhaps I've talked about my stuff and my quest a bit too much.

I am going to back out of this site for a while.

Ola Serenity, I changed "your wife run away?" with "trouble with the wife?" nothing too juicy.

I checked my PMs and the only interaction I had with craigsub regarded his concern about my posting with yabasta, as to more, well, that's why they are private messages.

Anyway, enjoy the music!

2X6, though I don't always agree with your choices I do respect them as being yours. I like what I like also regardless of what the graphs and charts and waterfalls tell me. I love my Axioms for my movies and they are pretty good at music but I still prefer my HPM 900s and my Vinyl for listening pleasure , though they were not made by felons they still sound good. I find digital music to sound canned, to my ears. Don't let one insult drive you away,some people are short on tact. Hell I have people come to my shop driving Chevrolet's, I realize they just don't know better but I don't insult their car. LOL

Welcome back craig - haven't heard from you for a while.

I too enjoy my tube amp; however, being a modern design, I don't notice any distortion like an electric guitar tube amp can induce by over driving the tubes. One would have to drive it pretty hard to make it audibly distort but by that time one's hearing would be in jeopardy.

I still prefer CD/SACD music to anything on vinyl, simply due to its superior dynamic range & lack of surface noise & clicks & pops. Well recorded & mixed digital music (sometimes hard to find), such as all of Clapton's productions over the past decade, are nothing but superb. My tubes, CD/SACDs, M2s & EP400s are simply spectacular on that system - to me & to anyone else who has heard it.

Still snow on my palm tree out here on the left coast, ha!

TAM

Tam - I have been swamped between work issues and a son healing from the three broken vertebrae in his neck/back.

The type of distortion you are talking about with a guitar tube amp would be a "grunge distortion" effect, and deliberate.

The distortion in a "regular" tube amp has been proven to be there, over and over, for 50 years. This type of distortion gives amps what is known as a "warm sound".

Floyd E. Toole is the best known source for this type of information, and The Audio Critic did 100's of tests over a 30 plus year period.

2x6 speeds - the monoprice amp you love has over 10 % THD when delivering over about 3 watts. This type of distortion in a tube amp gives lots of "warmth".

The Emerald Physics speakers rate their frequency response within a 3 dB window of the "target curve", instead of a flat response.

I have the latest generation of Klipsch LaScalas. They have a lot in common with the Emerald Physics speakers - high efficiency, compression driver tweeter, exciting sound, and a widely varied response curve.

Combined with a tube amp, they are great sounding, but not accurate. I don't mind it, as it's fun on occasion. I know I am listening to distortion and a widely carried response curve, but don't let it stop me from enjoying. You shouldn't let it stop you, either.

My comments were nothing personal. I didn't mention your wife, nor your dog. I kept the discussion to the issues of the amp, speakers, and the designer.

The only personal part of my post was about the designer being a convicted felon. The man is a convicted felon. He raised over $100,000 for children's charities on his website that never reached the charity in question. The fact that he did this is not your fault. However, he still did it, and people deserve to know the truth, especially when thinking about spending hard earned money.

Enjoy your system, and I hope you understand there was nothing personal towards you in my posts. There is the science side to this hobby, and there is the art side, and plenty of room for both.

I searched the net for the specs on my Yaquin MC-100B integrated tube amp. Distortion is listed at <1.5%. Now I know that that doesn't tell us a lot; however, will this level be actually be audible; ie, cause 'warmness'?

Several articles in the forums mentioned that it sounded very much like a SS Amp. As I've stated before some time back, after the placebo effect of having a new toy wore off, I found that I didn't notice much, if any, difference in what I was hearing from my CD/SACDs at normal listening levels. Same as when I made a full change of the tube compliment (10 tubes) to a different brand. According to the tube enthusiasts, I should have I guess - but I didn't.

Mind you, in low light, 10 tubes glowing has a certain 'cool factor' & helps to heat my house at this time of year, ha!

TAM

Tam - It would be interesting to have the amp tested to see what the distortion level is at a particular frequency and also at a particular output level.

Total harmonic distortion is measured in relative decibels, then converted to a percentage.

1% THD is actually measured at -40 dB. A 100 dB fundamental will have a 60 dB of total Harmonic Distortion - probably not audible to most people, but possibly adding a bit of warmth.

A highly regarded tube amp from Manley was rated at 40 WPC with a THD of 1%. When measured by Bascom King, it hit over 10% THD at 38 watts. This is now a -20 dB level. Most Tube amps have "almost all" of the THD in the second harmonic.

For example, in the case of the Manley amp, at volume, a 100 dB, 100 Hz tone will have an 80 dB tone at 200 Hz. It won't sound distorted in a "bad" way, but rather will be warm.

A tube amp and SS amp "should" sound identical, unless one is either adding distortion or has a fairly wide response curve.

It is usually the Tube amp with the wider response curve, which again lead us to that warm sound.

I would wager a lot of money that people who love the tube sound would have a much harder time identifying the tube sound under blind tests.

It's a great conversation to be had at an event like a "home theater meet".

To your specific amp, based on what you posted about your experience with it, it seems to have a pretty linear response curve and lower distortion.

And yes, looking at the tubes is going to add to the experience. They just look awesome!

Ah yes. Sonic Frontiers. A company that no longer exists. Well, they sort of do. They use to be 5 minutes from my house here in Oakville. then the two owners had a fight and one wanted to stay true to the purist tube sound, and the other wanted to go solid state. Then the company got chopped up and sold off to Paradigm and their work became Anthem.

Craig, I hope your son is making improvements in his recovery.

Mark - Thank you for the kind words. His recovery has been remarkable. He started at a local university this fall, and joined a fraternity. Overall, we have been well blessed.

Thank you again!

Good to hear he is recovering nicely. Those kinds of injuries can be very painful and debilitating. You truly are fortunate that he is able to recover and return to school.

That's great news, Craig.