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"New member trying to hook up with fellow PL Andromeda III owners"

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A Work In Progress
Hi all - Found this forum while searching the net for "Phase Linear Andromeda III" sites. I have owned this speaker system since new in early 1977 and it is still in my listening room today as my main system. I have owned many high end systems in my day but of all of them I have to say that the PL Andromeda IIIs have been my most enjoyed. I currently drive them with an older SAE P500 amp (1,000 watts of pure and very clean power) that gives them plenty of "breathing room". They really do fill up my room with very real and life like sound on every type of music I feed to them. The bass module is currently being re-coned simply due to 33 years of use and from hanging there in their downfiring position all those years. I hope to have it back by the end of this week. If there is anyone on this forum who either owns or has owned this speaker system I would enjoy discussing it with them as to their likes and dislikes, etc. Bob Carver was ahead of the times when he introduced it and even with todays' newer speaker technology it still holds it own and then some. I say this with some authority as I have also owned Infinity Servo-Statics, Bozak concert grands, Advents, Tannoys, Rectillinear IIIs, along with JBLs and several other high end speakers over the years. Don't get me wrong here, there are for sure other high end speakers today that can reproduce sound more accurately than the PLs do. But at what cost? Tens of thousands of dollars! Anyway, don't mean to rattle on, I just hope to find a few folks on this forum that can identify with this speaker system, what it was and what it still is. Hope to hear some feedback on it.

Regards, Terry

PS: I am currently in hopes of procuring another PL system from which I am going to have the bass module also re-coned and then hook it into my current system thus giving me one bass module to run with each panel. May be overkill but I am sure looking forward to trying it out.
 
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Yes Got em here, love em!

I think Speakerlabfan has them as well. I'm not using my motion control module with mine but may in the future. I travel a good bit but listen to them as much as I can when I come home.:D
 
Barrac said:
Yes Got em here, love em!

I think Speakerlabfan has them as well. I'm not using my motion control module with mine but may in the future. I travel a good bit but listen to them as much as I can when I come home.:D
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When you use the motion control module you will find you can create and alter your own sound stage by varying the width and the depth. Opens things up a bit and is handy when going from one type of music to another, etc. Glad you are enjoying it when you are able to. There aren't too many owners of this system around anymore, it is great to hook up with those such as yourself, that own it and use it. Thanks for the reply, let me know if I can help you answer any questions you might have. Having owned mine for all these years I am very familiar with it and how it works, etc...............

Regards, Terry
 
Hi guys and welcome to AK, TSOQ. :wave:

Love the PL Andromedas. They are definitely keepers for me. I have them setup in an upstairs bedroom with a Mcintosh MC 2205 amp and Phase Linear Preamp and the Motion control module.

These speakers are pure heaven for me, I especially enjoy listening to CDs and uncompressed digital audio via USB using a Cambridge Audio DACMagic DAC unit.

Looking forward to following this thread and hearing from other PL Andromeda owners - as you say they are special speakers. Keep us posted on your setup.

:lurk:
 
Hey there SpeakerLabFan - Being from the area where PL started did you ever have the opportunity to visit either the Edmonds or Lynwood facilities when they were in busiiness? It is great to finally hook up with others who own the PL Andromeda III system as I was beginning to feel like the Lone Speaker Guy after a guy I knew in So. Calif who owned it also, moved back east and I lost track of him. Anyway, I have done some tweaking to mine over the years that included repositioning one of the tweeters to fire forward as in the updated Phase III system that followed. Also recolored the cloth on the panels to black as that blended better in my listening room. As mentioned prior, I am in process of having my bass module re-coned after all these years and am anxious to get it back this week sometime. Found a guy in the Sacramento area that was able to do this. Also am working on buying another complete system and will have that bass module re-coned also and then using an interconnect diagram I drew up on paper, I will hook it into my existing system and have one bass module running with each panel. I am really anxious to hear how that will sound in my listening room. Will post updates here on how it comes together. My SAE P500 amp should be able to handle everything just fine as it was designed to operate down to 2 ohms and by adding the second bass module I would suspect the impedance will drop a bit overall. Thanks for responding to my post, more to follow soon.............

Regards, Terry
 
TSOQ said:
Hey there SpeakerLabFan - Being from the area where PL started did you ever have the opportunity to visit either the Edmonds or Lynwood facilities when they were in busiiness? It is great to finally hook up with others who own the PL Andromeda III system as I was beginning to feel like the Lone Speaker Guy after a guy I knew in So. Calif who owned it also, moved back east and I lost track of him.
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Hi Terry. Yes I've lived in the Seattle North End off and on through all of Phase Linears history and I wish I had stopped in to the facilities. I was certainly aware of the product as the Speakerlab demo rooms used a big Phase Linear amp. I recall driving past a couple of the PL locations, one of them was right off of 220th street near Interstate 5, with a cool looking Phase Linear sign out front. The original location where Bob started is in downtown Edmonds near the IGA grocery store, I think there's auto garage/coffee shop in that building now.

I know what you mean...I've seen other Andromedas in this area listed for sale. There is Dean and Ed, the neighbors in Shoreline, just a few miles from me, who repair and resell Phase Linear gear and they used to have a website which appears to be offline now - Dean used to be a Phase Linear technician. I have talked with Ed on the phone, and I know that he had a pair of Andromedas but I haven't met him. So...I'm that Lone Speaker Guy up here, at least among folks I know. Maybe this thread will flush out other locals.

It has been a gas to demo the Andromedas to audio friends in the past few years - they really sit up and notice when they hear these things. :D

TSOQ said:
Also am working on buying another complete system and will have that bass module re-coned also and then using an interconnect diagram I drew up on paper, I will hook it into my existing system and have one bass module running with each panel. I am really anxious to hear how that will sound in my listening room. Will post updates here on how it comes together. My SAE P500 amp should be able to handle everything just fine as it was designed to operate down to 2 ohms and by adding the second bass module I would suspect the impedance will drop a bit overall. Thanks for responding to my post, more to follow soon.............
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:lurk:
 
SpeakerLabFan - I met Bob Carver back in 1977 when I first purchased my PL-AIIIs. Also have conversed with Dean a couple of times a few years ago when I was having problems with my PL 4000 preamp. His site is down and I was hoping to have him repair it as the left channel was making popping and squealing noises then and now it completely stopped working. I don't use it anymore but would like to get it repaired and possibly set up a vintage PL system someday just for kicks. I have two PL 400 amps also that I currently use in my system today. If I can ever get in touch with Bob Carver I am going to suggest he come out with an updated Andromeda system using today's technologically advanced tweeters, mids and woofers but in the same design as the older one is. Wonder what it might sound like if he did reintroduce it in an updated form? A few years back I was even thinking about attempting to build a system like this myself but the dollars just haven't been there to take on a project like this. Maybe someday tho.......................
 
The sub-woofer unit is hiding behind the panels in this picture

room004.jpg


a portion of one of the panels with the back grille covers removed...

IMAGE_00447.jpg


A write-up on the Andromedas here: http://www.phaselinearhistory.stereomanuals.com/speaker_page.htm
 
TSOQ said:
SpeakerLabFan - I met Bob Carver back in 1977 when I first purchased my PL-AIIIs. Also have conversed with Dean a couple of times a few years ago when I was having problems with my PL 4000 preamp. His site is down and I was hoping to have him repair it as the left channel was making popping and squealing noises then and now it completely stopped working. I don't use it anymore but would like to get it repaired and possibly set up a vintage PL system someday just for kicks. I have two PL 400 amps also that I currently use in my system today.
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For repair on your Phase Linear gear - Bob, and Rita, a former Phase Linear technician, setup a repair shop in Snohomish, WA. I think it's now a $200 flat fee for repairs. This is where I met Bob last year when dropping off some gear for repair. Here's the website/contact info: http://www.ritasvintageaudiorepair.com/

TSOQ said:
If I can ever get in touch with Bob Carver I am going to suggest he come out with an updated Andromeda system using today's technologically advanced tweeters, mids and woofers but in the same design as the older one is. Wonder what it might sound like if he did reintroduce it in an updated form? A few years back I was even thinking about attempting to build a system like this myself but the dollars just haven't been there to take on a project like this. Maybe someday tho.......................
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Cool ideas. again.... :lurk: :D
 
TSOQ Welcome to AK, great folks on this forum.

Wide range of collectors here, some with a nice set of Advents and a Pioneer SX-750, some with your dream systems; all will enjoy your real-life hands-on knowledge, triumphs and foibles...

...personal communication with the legendary designers is always cool... :thmbsp:
 
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This is my first experience in joining a forum such as this one. Over the years I have been sort of a "closet audiophile" as very few of my friends were really into high end gear and thought that owning a "stereo with around 2,000 watts" was just short of being insane. A few could understand the reason for that much power, the others simply shook their heads and weren't interested, etc. Anyway, way before surround sound and all of today's sound technology, I once had four Rec. III highboys running together using separate PL 400 amps and that now non-working PL 4000 preamp. Back in their day the Rec III was a pretty fair sounding speaker and in fact could stand with some the much more costly and esoteric brands that were available in terms of overall uncolored sound reproduction. Very neutral sounding and they would play "very big and clean" when powered correctly due to being of an inefficient bass reflex design. My sound room back then was set up pretty nice with a modified SAE MK 6 tuner, Crown reel to reel deck, and a Sony PS-2251/Sonus Blue combo spinning my vinyls. Ahh yes, those were the good old days of "stereo". Alas, they are gone but for a few of us who still hold on to some of the "oldies but goodies" (gear that is) and proudly use these components and speakers with high end CD units, etc. I am hoping to get a call today telling me to come pick up my bass module, hope it doesn't rain as I do not want that puppy getting wet. I will take a big plastic cover tho just in case. More to come as soon as I get it hooked back up and shaking the floors again......

Regards, Terry

PS: Not good at posting pics on forums such as this but will try and take one or two of my setup and post them here, if I can figure out how to do it.......
 
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TSOQ, If you ever get up this way you should drop into Rita's and meet Bob. He is a very nice guy that would be happy to spend some time with you. Assuming he has the time to spend. I spent a Saturday with him putting some of his CRM ribbon tweet's on a pair of PL Andromedas. Just to watch him work is a true joy.
 
To all you guys up there in the Pacific Northwest, I envy you!!! The next time i get thru that area I will for sure call and stop by Rita's and hopefully spend a few minutes with Bob................

NOW FOR THE HOORAHS!!!!.........I GOT MY "THWUNK" BACK!!! The guy who had my bass module for re-coning called this morning earlier and told me to come and get it. I was out of the house within the next minute! Got it home, hooked it up and sat my butt down in my favorite listening chair and all I have to say is WOW!!! I had allowed myself to be conditioned to the very slowly deteriorating sound of that sub over the past couple or three years and it wasn not until I found an older CD with some low bass in it that I had forgotten about. Played it and to my dismay, found those notes mushy and boomy. Hence the trip to the speaker guy. Well, it's back sounding like it originally did and I will probably be in my listening room the rest of the day and night listening to all my favorite CDs again. The bass is once again very tight and the response time on heavy bass transients is "right there" where it should be. I am one happy camper right now and in fact am heading right back in to that room to revel in my newly refurbished sub. Life is once again great and all is well with the world.....................

Regards to all............Terry
 
TSOQ, great to hear that you have your module back in good shape and you are back to enjoying your PL Andromeda IIIs in all their glory, and I totally understand being locked in front of 'em for the rest of the day.

I did a listening session myself last night after not having heard them for a week or so, and I was enthralled. :tresbon:
 
There was a spare Motion Control unit for sale on ebay the other day I bid on it trying to snipe it at the last moment but got beat out, I was a little sceptical as it was in PR.
 
......I GOT MY "THWUNK" BACK!!!
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Is that like getting your MOJO working? :D


"Got My Mojo Working" is a 1956 song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole, but popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957 .....(wikipedia)
 
Susurus said:
Is that like getting your MOJO working? :D


"Got My Mojo Working" is a 1956 song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole, but popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957 .....(wikipedia)
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My old Mojo quit working years ago but by the grace of the big fellow upstairs I still have my "THWUNCK". Got in a few hours with new re-coned bass module last night and it sounds awesome once again. This guy really knows his stuff and I feel very fortunate to have found someone like him in my immediate area. I am still amazed at how I was able to allow myself to kid myself into thinking the bass in my room was still okay because it surely wasn't. I've got many more CDs to listen to again with a few still to go that have some really low bass. Haven't listened to the soundtrack of Titanic yet but I know there's a note or two right into the beginning that will creep up inside you and rattle your inards a tad. Will be listening to that one sometime this evening for sure...................

Regard to all...........Terry
 
Congrats TSOQ. I'll bet it sounds GREAT.
To have everyone back together again, in the same room, and playing nicely. Well it's a gift to be sure. Enjoy...
 
Thanks ommp! - I just finished a five hour session listening to some of my favorite CDs. A few more hours and the re-coned bass module will be nicely broken in. I have made contact with more PL AIII owners this past week from your neck of the woods on this forum than I have in the past 20 years or more. Must be something in the air going around up there than never got down this way. Whatever it is it's nice to know that a few PL AIIIs are still alive and kicking some butt in the Pacific Northwest. I see you own a PL amp or maybe even two? Many years ago I had two PL400s, a PL4000 and an SAE MK6 tuner all rack mounted and running the Andromedas. That was a sweet setup. May have to attempt that again someday soon.

Regards to all..........Terry
 
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