thedelihaus
Nocturnal transmissions
Very interesting series of events recently.
I have a set of pre-production Morel USA (now Renaissance Audio) Duets here at my place. These are a prototype of the top bookshelf monitors offered by what was formally Morel USA before some legal wrangling took place and they were no longer allowed to use the Morel USA name (Morel decided to market their own line of speakers worldwide and did not want any confusion betwixt the US distributor/speaker builder and the parent company).
I had no intention to grab any more speakers, but these, my friends, are extra special for many reasons.
•First and foremost, a good acquaintance of mine who has recently passed from sudden unexpected illness was the original owner. Paul was a great fella and I spent many hours chatting about music and gear with this warm, friendly, intelligent man. His wife Mary proved equally kind and gentle and sweet. These are very special people.
•Second, they are built in Brookline, Mass- I have a fondness of all things hifi that were built here in my neighborhood- Apt Holman, Apogee, AR, Boston Acoustics, a/d/s/, etc. I lived very close to the Morel USA headquarters at one time.
•Third, these are early prototypes- the final model was a transmission line design- these are a sealed box. No serial numbers. The sealed box was said to be ideal for the Morel drivers- top of the line drive units (triple magnet tweeter, dual magnet woofer with 3-inch voice coil, hexagonal voice coil wire, etc). The transmission line designs that were finally given the green light go lower, deeper in the bass region and are quite well received, and I'm aware these will not go as low, but I'm interested in seeing what the sealed box can do- supposedly they will perform better, just with reduced low end grunt.
Now, I also have a set of unrelated Morel MLP 202.2 models due to arrive. These are the second from top of the line 2-way models right before the Duets, and are also sealed- always were. It was a chance acquisition but made perfect sense.
Lastly, there is a set of the floor standing Morel Preludes that I hope to bring home too. I need to arrange picking up from my friend Paul's house, which may prove tricky due to my physical limitations, but let's hope for the best. These too, may very well be prototypes- I'm not sure. A two way transmission line tower that reaches mid-30's, and again uses the top of the line Morel drivers, however this pair may be a prototype sealed design as well.
It's somewhat a peculiar acquisition for me. The man who passed, Paul, was a great fella- one of the few I knew outside of our group that was as passionate about music as equally as he was about the gear. I feel, in a way, extremely honored to have picked up this gear, and will think of Paul every listening session. I fondly remember him telling me when he picked these up- literally saved them from being destroyed as they were not the final design (sealed vs transmission line) chosen for production.
What I am hoping for (and ultimately believe I'll achieve) is to find harmony with these speakers in my three applications here at my place, and maybe finally getting off the vicious circle of gear chasing. I currently have some great speakers, making the whittling down difficult, but with this turn of events perhaps I'll finally resolve this.
Now, it's more than just the gear- it's a strong piece of nostalgia, both for my friend Paul and for my fond memories of my dear old neighborhood, which due to events and health related issues that were beyond my control, I had to leave behind.
Paul had great taste in gear- some real premium stuff- Moscode, Audible Illusions, Meadowlark, Apogee, PS Audio, Audio Alchemy, Bel Canto, Linn.
But for me, these humble, locally made Morels are perhaps the perfect fit. They already hold a dear, warm, important place in my heart.
I have a set of pre-production Morel USA (now Renaissance Audio) Duets here at my place. These are a prototype of the top bookshelf monitors offered by what was formally Morel USA before some legal wrangling took place and they were no longer allowed to use the Morel USA name (Morel decided to market their own line of speakers worldwide and did not want any confusion betwixt the US distributor/speaker builder and the parent company).
I had no intention to grab any more speakers, but these, my friends, are extra special for many reasons.
•First and foremost, a good acquaintance of mine who has recently passed from sudden unexpected illness was the original owner. Paul was a great fella and I spent many hours chatting about music and gear with this warm, friendly, intelligent man. His wife Mary proved equally kind and gentle and sweet. These are very special people.
•Second, they are built in Brookline, Mass- I have a fondness of all things hifi that were built here in my neighborhood- Apt Holman, Apogee, AR, Boston Acoustics, a/d/s/, etc. I lived very close to the Morel USA headquarters at one time.
•Third, these are early prototypes- the final model was a transmission line design- these are a sealed box. No serial numbers. The sealed box was said to be ideal for the Morel drivers- top of the line drive units (triple magnet tweeter, dual magnet woofer with 3-inch voice coil, hexagonal voice coil wire, etc). The transmission line designs that were finally given the green light go lower, deeper in the bass region and are quite well received, and I'm aware these will not go as low, but I'm interested in seeing what the sealed box can do- supposedly they will perform better, just with reduced low end grunt.
Now, I also have a set of unrelated Morel MLP 202.2 models due to arrive. These are the second from top of the line 2-way models right before the Duets, and are also sealed- always were. It was a chance acquisition but made perfect sense.
Lastly, there is a set of the floor standing Morel Preludes that I hope to bring home too. I need to arrange picking up from my friend Paul's house, which may prove tricky due to my physical limitations, but let's hope for the best. These too, may very well be prototypes- I'm not sure. A two way transmission line tower that reaches mid-30's, and again uses the top of the line Morel drivers, however this pair may be a prototype sealed design as well.
It's somewhat a peculiar acquisition for me. The man who passed, Paul, was a great fella- one of the few I knew outside of our group that was as passionate about music as equally as he was about the gear. I feel, in a way, extremely honored to have picked up this gear, and will think of Paul every listening session. I fondly remember him telling me when he picked these up- literally saved them from being destroyed as they were not the final design (sealed vs transmission line) chosen for production.
What I am hoping for (and ultimately believe I'll achieve) is to find harmony with these speakers in my three applications here at my place, and maybe finally getting off the vicious circle of gear chasing. I currently have some great speakers, making the whittling down difficult, but with this turn of events perhaps I'll finally resolve this.
Now, it's more than just the gear- it's a strong piece of nostalgia, both for my friend Paul and for my fond memories of my dear old neighborhood, which due to events and health related issues that were beyond my control, I had to leave behind.
Paul had great taste in gear- some real premium stuff- Moscode, Audible Illusions, Meadowlark, Apogee, PS Audio, Audio Alchemy, Bel Canto, Linn.
But for me, these humble, locally made Morels are perhaps the perfect fit. They already hold a dear, warm, important place in my heart.
Last edited:
ara:
