OK, here goes...
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4333A (Higher extension of high frequencies than any other here, by an obvious margin. However, I think the 2405s were set a touch too loud, especially with the grilles off. 2231As are tired, and don't drop down as low as I think they should, might also not be as clean/clear as they could be due to spider sag & the questionable old Ashly crossover. I'm also still unhappy with the 800Hz area, right around my crossover point. A new active x-over is likely in the future, at the very least I need to borrow an RTA & calibrated mic. Overall very clean sound, easy to differentiate individual instruments & voices. I honestly think we hurt their sound a bit by having the L7s forward and outboard of them, that plus the grilles off made the horns harsher than what I'm used to in that room.)
HP420 (Placement dependant, strained in the low mids where the 5" driver picks up from ~140Hz, JBL tweeter is nice, aftermarket tweeter is only OK. Not bad, and surprising kick when "Rrroudness" button kicked in.)
L110 (A little dry when played right after the 120Ti/L7/4333A segment wrapped up, but in the assignment I've given it [near-field monitor] that's not such a bad thing. Accurate, solid, non-fatiguing.)
L100 (Sounded good on the Tempest song Mark hard-headedly insisted we use as reference [
]; the tweeters always seem to grate on me, and the free-running woofer irritates me where it fights with the mid. Current config of a shelf near the ceiling and ZilchPlugg stuffing its hole isn't terrible, and the Crown DC300A is solid but not as pretty sounding as the Yamaha P2100 I was using previously.)
L46 (I'm liking these more and more every day. I think the pairing with the Elan Z-Amp is a good one. Placement near the ceiling seems to give me some reflections from the tweets, but I don't hate it. They do seem to be a very localized source, which isn't always good for surround- as in, it sounds like 5 distinct sound sources, instead of a nice, enveloping environment. Velodyne sub is good, but adjacent wall is too flimsy & often vibrates.)
TR225 (Eh. Big Eons. Absolutely fine as vocal monitors in my small studio, and came in handy for a couple of easy outdoor DJ gigs. )
L7 (I'll try to stay away from "...for the money"-type statements, 'cause there's just no question that these are killers for the $200-300 deals we're hearing about. Solid, pleasing, smooth. I'd grab a pair if I had a location for them. Probably could have done them better justice by making sure we were balancing the highs & lows with the power amps, but I can't say that there was anything glaring, just that it was a guess. They need to be out away from the wall, so I'd think you'd need a big, or at least sparsely-furnished room.)
120Ti (We started with these up on barstools as stands, to get the drivers up near the height of the L7s. Mmmmm...only OK, a little anemic. Dropped them to the floor, and the punch showed up. There's certainly a happy medium, if we spent more time with placement. These were outboard of the L7s, which were outboard & forward from the 4333As. Tough crowd, tough room, and these I'm sure suffered for the lack of care & attention we gave to their setup. Played with two of the 60W amps within the 2535s- the amp didn't seem to struggle, but we weren't pushing it. At this point we also did the same with the L7s, with input jumper straps in place.)
L5 (stayed in the wannabeemer mini-van, never came inside. )
NOTE- these next few were heard on small stands, maybe 12-14" high:
L1 (I liked it. Solid, not terribly articulate midrange, but not annoying or vague either. Didn't sound like it looked, never really sounded like a smaller speaker to me. I should have compared it to the HP420s, now I'm kind of curious to hear those tweets in an A/B.)
S38 (I didn't like it. Interesting look & configuration, lacked definition in the mids and might have actually been the worst we heard for high-end extension. Heather mentioned that her previous pair had an obviously different sound, so take that for what it's worth.)
L20T3 (Boxy, kinda like thumpin' on cardboard. Always drew my attention to their size. I think I could do a lot with better placement, and maybe a sub would free up these woofs to offer up some clarity to the midrange.)
...and a couple other speakers were heard here & there:
Canton Karat 20 (I really like these for surround, very natural for voice & sound effects, and they don't bring attention to themselves visually or audibly. Also great for lower-volume music listening, slightly hyped highs & a theater-type sub are a kind of built-in compensation for that use. Strained a bit when compared with the bigger JBLs for higher-volume tests, but didn't embarrass themselves.)
Canton Plus S (tossed quickly on the pile after the L20T3s and L1s, they were good but obviously satellites in search of a sub. Interestingly, these seemed to simply NOT play low freqs it couldn't handle, where the L20T3s tried to push it out & ended up hurting the overall sound. I like these for ambient music in a room, again the highs are a bit hyped so a mellower amp & less in-your-face placement pays off nicely. I've used these consistently for over 20 years, they've been real troopers.)
NHT SW10 sub (Ported 10". I love it for the size, I've had some little electronic quirks with it but think it was well worth the money.)
Velodyne VA-1210X sub (10" front-firing driver, 12" down-firing passive. Beefy. Its current shoved-in-a-corner location is an audio compromise, it's obvious that the left side of the room is heavier than the right. Two smaller subs up front would actually be a better approach, I think.)
M&K V3B sub (12" sealed acoustic suspension. Actually barely even on, under the desk with the L110s. The L110s are running full-range, the M&K is actually only in place to keep me from pushing too much low-end into my mixes- as soon as I can feel the bass against my legs, there's enough in the mix. I like it, but it's got a specific function to carry out in this config.)
je
