Classic Audio T1 and T3 field coil loudspeakers

just refreshing this thread with more recent anecdotal and subjective feedback, as it is well deserved

simply hearing the Classic T series loudspeakers, as said, is worth the trip.

Muhammad could not go to the mountain, so the mountain was brought to Muhammad.

no. I’m not Muhammad. not even close. yet the above edict was fulfilled at the February 2019  Florida Audio Expo  when John Wolf demonstrated his T1s and T3s with Atmasphere power, Tri-Planar Tonearms and Purist Audio Design cabling.

the setup resided in by any account a very large room, within the Expo Venue. a room size Bill Gates might have in his house, a true auditorium. 

on my first day at the Expo, I had decided to make a ‘bee line’ to this exhibition given all the hype I’ve heard from folks on these pages and elsewhere about Atmasphere and Classic Audio  pairings.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was on tap as I entered the room and the sound was immediate and engrossing. and why shouldn’t it be? there was a ton of money behind those sounds, but then isn’t there always when a startling reach out and grab you audio moment is heard?

reading and re-reading the above posts my expectations were fairly lofty but the presentation satisfied them all but one.

I spent much of the time there speaking with Mr. Wolf about the diffs between his T1  and T3 and the associated options for the T3.

I regret not taking the time to get into the sweet spot but felt I’m not a player for the T1s anyhow and did not want to delay another from it.

In our conversation John laid out as much info as I could retain and then some and was as   ?    plesant a person as one could hope to meet.

all of the audio adjectives listed here are accurate. I’m not a fan of panel or electrostatic speakers in general, though I can appreciate what they are capable of having heard many. I don’t care for the shouting attribute which seems more the norm in horns whose designs aren’t quite able to overcome this characteristic.

 I want music to soar and pop when it is supposed to. I want to feel the bottom end whack in my gut. I’m unable to accept a top end which is shrill or edged, bright or inordinately pronounced. and I simply can not live long with a mid range which veils or distances vocals deep into the sound stage or diminihshes the mids in preference to bolstering the lower and upper ends.

and I so love a tight, taut bass line which has a well defined leading edge  where one doesn;’t have to strain to hear strings being strummed, plucked or picked, on a dog house bass or even on electric bass.

despite the cavernous room the bass was remarkable. blended. appropriate or comensurate with the balance of the music. satisfying.

I gotta say hearing the T1 as they were setup the sound hit all of the hot buttons for me. 

for the first time I was not annoyed by the ease  of the demo which was akin to the usual presentation of many panels or stats, ease of the presentation which is surely noticeable, for it was as well sufficiently punchy and tight where and when  ordered. likely, the order of punch or smack elevates in a smaller room. 

it was in a word, unique to everythingn I’ve heard to date. slaughtering all of my preconceptions, groundless resentments, and  conveying not just the music and its melody, but its soul. I keep thinking if the sound were a tad  more strriking  that would be perfect, but as it is or was, is as close to what I could want as a destination arrangement.

“you don’t always get what you want….”

sadly, I was unable to return to hear the T3s later. so in time, there will be perhaps something special to look forward to at another show, or next year at Florida Audio Expo 2020. hopefully sooner.

congratulations Ralph! Thank you John.

Pardon  me, but I gotta go now. I ‘ll need to mastermind a plan to take down a diamond mine, or a major bank somewhere, as it seems I am a bit short on the entry fee for the whole setup.

@cal3713
T3s

natch, ralph is THE source on this matter hereabouts and I whole heartedly agree with his comments based on what I’ve heard from the cA speakers and CA maker John Wolff..

I did hear the T3s this year at FLAX 2020 with Atmas MP1 amps as I recall.

to date, both visits to FLAX events showed the CA & PAD & Atmas using purely TT as source. no digital source was evident.

comparing that little session with what the T1s and atmas top tier ‘nova’ power train supplied, in the same room as last year’s visit where the T1s were then kicking it I found the T3s coming this year in noticeably a step below with their insights and organics. some or all of this account could well rest with the tunes being demonstrated at the time, and or due to the fact atmas number one Nova power plant was not in the signal chain, or these T3s were not outfitted with FCs as were the T3s.

however, this is not to say the quick take event was negative in any capacity. moreover, it simply imformed me the T3s reproduction of the signal they receive will remain without audible violation. and true to the upstream components abilities.

although decidedly horns top to bottom they do not yield usual horn characteristics in their presentation.

These 2020 T3s are quite transparent windows thru which to enjoy your music library regardless its contents and I’d say even with digital sources.

that said I’d not go so far as to indicate they would patch or poor recordings and magically transform them into something better.

I saw a line on CA loudspeakers in an article some time ago which accounted for their sound as being dynamic as point source speakers yet as easy and detailed as panels or Stats.

… and i agree honest injun!! these ain’t your Grand pa’s or even your daddy’s horns.

not sure if the T1s qualify as destination fare for anyone, though were I to own them, given what John and ralph have said here on their ease for fitting to rooms, their utter transparency and tonal honesty, their abillity to run off of lower powered amps, the adjustability for each transducer, and choice of any automotive color possible, i’m hard pressed to see why I would be thinking of some other units to replace them with later.

given the CA horns take the glass completely out of the window for the involving and exciting presentation entertaining different amps and amp topologies from time to time would be far more interesting than chasing replacements.