jdmccall
Super Member
I'm sitting here listening to a pair of Bose 161's and an Optimus Pro SW-12 subwoofer (more accurately a bass module), all powered by a 30-yr-old Akai 60W integrated. And I absolutely can not believe how good they sound cranking Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys and The Beatles at quite loud levels. And no, I'm not drinking. I'm not high and I'm not completely deaf, although to be honest, my top octave is pretty much gone. My frame of reference includes Large Advents, ESS amt-1b's, Bose 901' IVs, klipsch cornwalls, Amrita Reference Standards, klipschorns, B&W 703's, MFSL OML-2's, Energy RC-50's, Polk LSi-9's, Klipsch La Scala II's, RBH MC-6CT's, Bose 901 VI's and currently, Klipsch RF-82II's. And I just have to ask myself "why?". Not that the little 161 and Optimus rig is better than any of my previous speakers, but dang! If they're this good, shouldn't that be good enough? Especially in light of well, how light they are...and tiny and did I mention cheap? No way they should be sounding like this. J .Cash, J. Lennon, Brian Wilson, all right here in the room. Maybe old Amar really was onto something with the cube thing. I've always pooh-poohed the Acoustimass designs as being a bit of smoke and mirrors / "give the people what they want" marketing, but the proof is in the listening. Yes, auditory memory is notoriously poor and my hearing ain't what it used to be. But I can't overstate how much fun I'm having listening to this little giant-killer of a rig right now! And it's all created with thrown together left-overs and under achieving bottom-feeders of the audio wars.
And now for a little disection of the carcass:
The room is our basement man-cave/video den; a difficult room at best, that's laid waste to many a fine loudspeaker. It measures 16 x 18.5 x 8.75'. The speakers, that I originally bought for surround duty, are sitting on top of a pair of app. 45" tall media cabinets that themselves sit about two feet out from the corners, along one long wall of the room. This places the little 161's approximately mid-wall vertically, centered around three feet from the corners, and about 12.5 feet apart. The central listening spot places my noggin about five feet from the back wall, dead center of the room length. The mighty Optimus Pro SW-12 sits two feet back from the right front corner of the room. Sources have been a Teac CD recorder and a Technics belt-drive turntable fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-311EP cartridge. Ultra high-end, all!
I did a little measuring with my trusty Radio Shack analog spl meter after I first set the system up. Actually, at the time, I was mostly interested in the bass balance, so I did not measure the rest of the spectrum. Bass was a bit lumpy, which has been a characteristic of this room unless the subs are placed in the back corners. But, since my HT sub currently resides in the only available back corner, and also considering the high crossover frequency from sub to sats (250 to 350 Hz depending on who you believe), this sub had to go near a front corner. Output was strong at 200Hz, with 160 and 125 being down considerably from that. It came back below that before rolling off below 50Hz. Not particularly impressive numbers. Subjectively, with music, bass was full and powerful but wooly and a bit loose, yet very lifelike sounding. Mids were very present and again, lifelike. A definite impression of real singers in the the room, in the flesh. Highs were a bit spitty with only so-so air. But my hearing makes me a poor judge of that.
In spite of my critical ear finding plenty to be critical of, the overall take-away from just relaxing and listening to the music is still a big "wow, I can't believe how great these sound!".
Comments, critiques and character asassinations may commence.
And now for a little disection of the carcass:
The room is our basement man-cave/video den; a difficult room at best, that's laid waste to many a fine loudspeaker. It measures 16 x 18.5 x 8.75'. The speakers, that I originally bought for surround duty, are sitting on top of a pair of app. 45" tall media cabinets that themselves sit about two feet out from the corners, along one long wall of the room. This places the little 161's approximately mid-wall vertically, centered around three feet from the corners, and about 12.5 feet apart. The central listening spot places my noggin about five feet from the back wall, dead center of the room length. The mighty Optimus Pro SW-12 sits two feet back from the right front corner of the room. Sources have been a Teac CD recorder and a Technics belt-drive turntable fitted with an Audio-Technica AT-311EP cartridge. Ultra high-end, all!
I did a little measuring with my trusty Radio Shack analog spl meter after I first set the system up. Actually, at the time, I was mostly interested in the bass balance, so I did not measure the rest of the spectrum. Bass was a bit lumpy, which has been a characteristic of this room unless the subs are placed in the back corners. But, since my HT sub currently resides in the only available back corner, and also considering the high crossover frequency from sub to sats (250 to 350 Hz depending on who you believe), this sub had to go near a front corner. Output was strong at 200Hz, with 160 and 125 being down considerably from that. It came back below that before rolling off below 50Hz. Not particularly impressive numbers. Subjectively, with music, bass was full and powerful but wooly and a bit loose, yet very lifelike sounding. Mids were very present and again, lifelike. A definite impression of real singers in the the room, in the flesh. Highs were a bit spitty with only so-so air. But my hearing makes me a poor judge of that.
In spite of my critical ear finding plenty to be critical of, the overall take-away from just relaxing and listening to the music is still a big "wow, I can't believe how great these sound!".
Comments, critiques and character asassinations may commence.
