Shout out to Revival Audio Atalante 3 speakers

@abd1 Nice take on your Atalante 3s. I used to own the Clearwave Duet 6s as well but feel the Atalnate 3s to be a nice step up from them. I used to have Tonian Labs TL-D1s and their clarity and see thru is very hard to beat. Saying that, I found the Clearwaves to have a darker presentation, like there's too much smoke in the venue. 

With the Atalantes, they have all the resolution and about 95% of the detail but just enough "smoke" to calm down the treble. Unlike your findings, I detect no abnormalities in the treble. No harshness, etch or anything that I would consider irritating, unless I turn the volume way up and then it's only SPL levels that get to me (being in a smallish room). It may all boil down to system synergy (I use a Technics SU-G700M2 and matching SACD player).

I completely agree with you on the balance of these speakers. You can tell they were designed by a person steeped in speaker design. They are the most unoffensive sounding speakers I've heard to date, and I mean that in a good way. Everything I play sounds good, to my ears, without the highlighting of certain qualities at the expense of others. 

Let them break in for a good time (about a month or so) and you may find them even more enjoyable. I related to the dealer how impressed I was after a week and he said to call him back after a month and then tell him what I thought. He was right. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

I sit about 8' from the plane of the speakers which are about 7' apart. I believe that qualifies as near field listening. They work wonderfully in that regard. 

All the best,
Nonoise

@toudou 

I only had possession of the Oracio speakers for a week and it was some time ago but I'll give it my best shot. All of Tony's speakers excel at transparency. If you want to hear everything in a recording you need not look any further. 

What they do lack in is in a bit of heft and weight, the muscle that accompanies the leading edge. You still get tone, timber and some extension but it's on the lean side.  Your mind fills in the rest as the Oracio takes you most of the way there.

With the Atalante 3, I still hear everything I need to and it comes with heft, body and a more saturated sound. That's from the top down. Having more flesh on the bone makes it all the more real sounding and I never tire of it. It's a very fine balancing act and it does it superbly. 

The big plus for the Atalante 3 is the basalt (lava rock) used in the mid woofer. It has a higher Youngs modulus (stiffness) than fiberglass and Kevlar and as a result, it can more faithfully reproduce the mids and upper bass without breaking up at lower points where the other two do. It stay more elastic before going plastic in the depths and volumes needed and sounds all the more convincing because of it. 

Even the shape of the tweeter is unique and coated with a proprietary solution to ensure a smoother and less fatiguing sound. All drivers are made in-house and not off the shelf or "modified" by a mass producer from their present stock. 

Like I said earlier, I'm off the merry-go-round, having grabbed that brass ring and will only consider the bigger brother (Atalante 5) if and when I get a bigger place.  Heck, I'm even tempted to just get them for the depths they can plumb as they are only down -3db @ 28Hz and it'd be a joy to hear some truly and properly done bass in my room.

All the best,
Nonoise

Your act is not going to fool anyone little man. You’ve seen my pics that I’ve already posted in another thread. The first time I posted them you had them deleted. The second batch are still up there. tic, tok, tic, tok.....did Admin contact you yet?

All the best,
Nonoise

@kota1 

Your passive aggressive manner is weird to behold. You really are insane. Soon you will be given a time out or kicked off this site. Enjoy it while you can.

All the best,
Nonoise

I'd give them some more time to break in before getting a newer amp. Mine sounded wonderful from the start but the dealer told me to just wait  a couple more weeks to see how they really sound, and he was right.

Once they've fully settled in, then you can experiment with a newer amp and be better able to judge how they sound together and not worry about having two components braking in at the same time. 

For the price of Rogue separates and the Sugden integrated, there's a lot of competition in that price range. Take your time.

All the best,
Nonoise

A small bump indeed, and still a bargain.

When I bought my Atalante 3 monitors, they went for $2499. As for the ARID and the Hexis looking similar, I'd like to know just how new the Hexis is as Daniel Edmonts' ARID has been around since 2021-22 and he was the lead designer at Dynaudio for 7 years before going solo with his Revival Audio speakers. Who copied who could be up to debate.

All the best,
Nonoise

What? Another very positive review of this speaker? Who would have thought? Thanks for the link. 👍

All the best,
Nonoise

I'm using a 70 watt/channel integrated and have tons of headroom to spare. Your Simaudio should have no problems driving these speakers. Reviews and online comments have users with tube amps with as little as 15 watts driving them to realistic levels. 

The drivers alone are rated at 91db before being installed in the cabinet with the crossover, which accounts for the lowering of the sensitivity. Any well made amp will drive them. Here's a video explaining how much power is used by a speaker rated at "only" 87db sensitivity:

All the best,
Nonoise

I've never had a speaker that sounds as good off axis as on axis with these speakers. I can be in the kitchen (which adjoins the living space in my apartment) and they sound almost as good. Because of the low amount of toe in, my sweet spot is the widest it's ever been.

I believe it has to do with the design of the drivers, the materials he uses. Daniel eschews any use of petroleum products in the driver cones and concocted his own solution to coat the domes to get the sound he wanted out of them. The way they project out into the room must be from all he learned designing speakers for 30 years and not settling for off the shelf drivers.

All the best,
Nonoise

@jcoehler Thanks for those wonderful shots of your set up. I have to admit I’m a bit jealous.😃 The Atalante 5 were the first speaker I was thinking of getting but my room is too small to accommodate them, which is why I gave up on my JBL 4319 monitors. They’re actually smaller than your 5s and even they loaded up my room with too much bass.

Have you found that the grills don’t really take much, if anything, away from the sound? I’m still undecided as to whether or not they do with my 3 series. Aside from protecting the drivers, they way they did it by having two sections add a lot to the looks, in my opinion. It’s quite a design statement.

I noticed that you have them just slightly toed in, which is what I settled on with my 3s. I used to have all my past speakers pointing directly at my ears, or at my shoulders to get the best soundstage but with these speakers I now have them firing at where my hands would be if full extended to the side. That would amount to about a 6-7° toe in.

I noticed when I did move them out that far that the musical info seemed to be more revealing, as if the performer themselves turned to the correct orientation as when performing (if that makes sense).

All the best,
Nonoise

@mrdecibel , Yes indeed, that is what I mean. I've always leaned towards very informative speakers that had that leading edge but it was always at the expense of body and soul. These speakers give up nothing in being informative but they don't hit you over the head with it. 

They just kind of lull you, caressing your ears. I've done more toe tapping, foot wagging and head bobbing and swaying than I've ever done.

All the best,
Nonoise

Great to hear from you. I experienced the same thing with my JBL 4319 speakers. Had them on their low riser stands for four years and tried them up on some stools and that was a game changer. Like you said: more coherent, more info, and more  focused. The only trade off was the loss of that mid century modern look for a more imposing look with them up on the stands. I got used to it rather quickly. 👍

All the best,
Nonoise

Congrats on being a dealer. I hope you enjoy the success that Tone Imports is experiencing. They can't keep them in stock.

All the best,
Nonoise

I was of the same mind but was told by the dealer to wait a week or two and then decide. Impatient as I am, I used the Ayre break in CD with its tone sweeps, white, pink and brown noise and man oh man, did they open up, going from really nice to amazingly great. YMMV, but I doubt it. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

If they're still new, wait until they break in. They just get better and better. 👍

All the best,
Nonoise