maxhifi
Addicted Member
I'd love to hear what these would do with a true high-end amp. Unfortunately anything like that is probably not in my foreseeable future...
Never know, you got these for 4% of list price, maybe an amp is next!
Need a speaker ID please....
- Thread starter zunde
- Start date
Never know, you got these for 4% of list price, maybe an amp is next!
soundmotor
super modified
So do we know anything about the age of these?
Max's info posted earlier in the thread said 1989-93. if they ARE that old, seems they were well taken care of- all the drivers seem to work properly and the grille fabric although not perfect is still in really good shape. I have a hard time believing they aren't more recent than that though.
Also that info he posted calls the company "Fidelity Soundwave." I wonder if the "SFC" on the terminal plates stands for "Soundwave Fidelity Corporation" or something to that effect.
Unfortunately such a lack of info on these and being sold in a relatively restricted area probably means not much info available. My only hope may be for Jim Gala himself to chime in!
Here's an intersting past AK thread regarding their "Silhouette II" model that was apparently a bookshelf/ stand design:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/soundwave-fidelity-corp-silhouette-speakers.712407/
And another thread about the company:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/soundwave-fidelity-corp-rochester-n-y.648986/
I think I might disagree a bit with AK poster Remo in that thread where he says they are laid back- at least mine are quite forward in the mids, of course that could again be chalked up to lack of placement ability and/ or power.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/soundwave-fidelity-corp-silhouette-speakers.712407/
And another thread about the company:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/soundwave-fidelity-corp-rochester-n-y.648986/
I think I might disagree a bit with AK poster Remo in that thread where he says they are laid back- at least mine are quite forward in the mids, of course that could again be chalked up to lack of placement ability and/ or power.
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As promised, some pics:
So I guess these are Model Threes (I swear I did not even see the model designation printed on the terminal plate until I took this photo!):
However a Google search of Soundwave Model Three turned up absolutely nothing. They appear to be extremely similar to the Soliloquys mentioned earlier- perhaps Soliloquy Model Threes?
Here is the other where I almost wiped the whole serial number off
I am really starting to grow fond of these the more I play them, even with lack of proper setup. Someone close by with a high end amp get over here!!
So I guess these are Model Threes (I swear I did not even see the model designation printed on the terminal plate until I took this photo!):
However a Google search of Soundwave Model Three turned up absolutely nothing. They appear to be extremely similar to the Soliloquys mentioned earlier- perhaps Soliloquy Model Threes?
Here is the other where I almost wiped the whole serial number off
I am really starting to grow fond of these the more I play them, even with lack of proper setup. Someone close by with a high end amp get over here!!
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tylerdrew47
New Member
I don't believe your tweeters are Focal, I think there morel and I'm guessing there the same woofers as mine which is peerless.
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/316442-soundwave-silhouette-series-ii-info.html
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/316442-soundwave-silhouette-series-ii-info.html
RemoWilliams
Addicted Member
Missed this thread - zunde, are you still using those Soundwaves? Interesting that they do not actually say Soundwave Fidelity on the speaker terminal base, also they are designated as left and right if you might have missed that, I use them with either a Myryad MA 360 or Vincent SV 236 MK amplifier so my description of how they sound is of course tied in with the components used and that they are set up in a 13 X 26 room. I tend to have them out at lest 3 feet from the back wall even though they are a sealed design.They produce much tighter and defined lower frequencies if kept away from walls.
I have used Paradigm 5 Se, Paradigm Studio 20s, B&W CDM 1 SE, Near 50Ms, Boston Acoustics T830s, Gemme Tonic G3s, and Keswick Audio Research Volante Evolution, the last three still owned and though not a large sampling I can say that they are not forward sounding in the usual sense. But of course equipment and placement will have an effect on the overall sonic characteristics of this speaker though they are quite good. Vero Research ( as they were also known ) did quite a lot of testing including all of the various speaker designs of the time and they did their homework because set up properly with a really good amplifier they have a certain ability that tends to be well, rather addictive. Just when you think maybe they are just ok and then you try something else you begin to realize just how unique they are. Don't forget that I own the original version which have the tweeters mounted along with the two 8" drivers in pairs on the two angled front panels which will account for how I describe the way they sound.
Admittedly no one is going to say there are not better speakers out there , but considering what you can get a pair for today they are a lot of well engineered speaker for the money. It also helps that the owner, Jim Gala, was a trained musician and obviously had a good ear - they even used hand soldered point to point crossovers instead of cheaper and thinner printed circuit boards and a special deep textured spiral open cell foam inside the cabinets - a lot of thought went into them and in fact one of the reasons the company eventually closed down was due to the high cost of manufacturing the cabinets. Even the drivers were custom designed.
Just thought I would mentioned a few interesting facts on them, I actually use the smaller Stiletto as a centre speaker when I use the Soliloquy's in the home theater. You can see them off to the left as I was trying out the Boston T830s - the Sondwaves are also quite good when watching moves, though I cross them over at 80 hz to a couple of SVS subs.I probably have an image of them in use I could post- using some Missions in the second image, the Soundwaves are again in the left corner. Third image with the Gemme G3s
I should add that there was one particular chain of East Coast audio stores that sold the Soundwaves for Jim, just an observation as I have looked into the history of this company as much as I could and they used either Soundwave Fidelity Corp. or Vero Research, they were located in Rochester, New York, also where some other well known audio manufacturers resided. The ones you have are the "Point Source 3 " and it appears they went to a ported configuration from sealed like mine though yours appear to be sealed and closer to the first generation. It even seems the later variations of these original designs included a tweeter firing upwards mounted flush and on top of the cabinet cap and then later on an angled upper section just before the top of the cabinet firing forward with the main drivers in a more traditional front firing array. Seems they were basically modifying the original over the 10 odd years they were in business.
Apparently one person noted that he preferred the original design's sonics when he was given the opportunity to try the revised model. I noticed two pairs on Ebay recently.
I have used Paradigm 5 Se, Paradigm Studio 20s, B&W CDM 1 SE, Near 50Ms, Boston Acoustics T830s, Gemme Tonic G3s, and Keswick Audio Research Volante Evolution, the last three still owned and though not a large sampling I can say that they are not forward sounding in the usual sense. But of course equipment and placement will have an effect on the overall sonic characteristics of this speaker though they are quite good. Vero Research ( as they were also known ) did quite a lot of testing including all of the various speaker designs of the time and they did their homework because set up properly with a really good amplifier they have a certain ability that tends to be well, rather addictive. Just when you think maybe they are just ok and then you try something else you begin to realize just how unique they are. Don't forget that I own the original version which have the tweeters mounted along with the two 8" drivers in pairs on the two angled front panels which will account for how I describe the way they sound.
Admittedly no one is going to say there are not better speakers out there , but considering what you can get a pair for today they are a lot of well engineered speaker for the money. It also helps that the owner, Jim Gala, was a trained musician and obviously had a good ear - they even used hand soldered point to point crossovers instead of cheaper and thinner printed circuit boards and a special deep textured spiral open cell foam inside the cabinets - a lot of thought went into them and in fact one of the reasons the company eventually closed down was due to the high cost of manufacturing the cabinets. Even the drivers were custom designed.
Just thought I would mentioned a few interesting facts on them, I actually use the smaller Stiletto as a centre speaker when I use the Soliloquy's in the home theater. You can see them off to the left as I was trying out the Boston T830s - the Sondwaves are also quite good when watching moves, though I cross them over at 80 hz to a couple of SVS subs.I probably have an image of them in use I could post- using some Missions in the second image, the Soundwaves are again in the left corner. Third image with the Gemme G3s
I should add that there was one particular chain of East Coast audio stores that sold the Soundwaves for Jim, just an observation as I have looked into the history of this company as much as I could and they used either Soundwave Fidelity Corp. or Vero Research, they were located in Rochester, New York, also where some other well known audio manufacturers resided. The ones you have are the "Point Source 3 " and it appears they went to a ported configuration from sealed like mine though yours appear to be sealed and closer to the first generation. It even seems the later variations of these original designs included a tweeter firing upwards mounted flush and on top of the cabinet cap and then later on an angled upper section just before the top of the cabinet firing forward with the main drivers in a more traditional front firing array. Seems they were basically modifying the original over the 10 odd years they were in business.
Apparently one person noted that he preferred the original design's sonics when he was given the opportunity to try the revised model. I noticed two pairs on Ebay recently.
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RemoWilliams
Addicted Member
A few more images of the later design:
Very interesting article on your Point Source 3 speakers by Absolute Sound with some input by Jim Gala, appears to be from around 1997:
sound-wave.htm
Very interesting article on your Point Source 3 speakers by Absolute Sound with some input by Jim Gala, appears to be from around 1997:
sound-wave.htm
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