Open Baffle Experience

right on thanks

Since both "russbutton"and "eric_squires" both mentioned the active crossover in Linkwitz designs, I thought I might elaborate on my last post.  I was fortunate to be good friends with one of  Linkwitz's collaborators on the "Orion" loudspeaker.  He was nearby and I frequently visited as he tinkered on improvements to the design. Siegfried had signed off years prior after deciding that he'd taken the "Orion" to its limits but my friend continued to work painstakingly at them nontheless.  On every occasion the work centered on changes in the active crossover.  We all are familiar with companies that promote their careful matching of components during the build and how significantly that care can impact performance.  Well --- he had a substantial stock of components and hand-matched them before putting them into service, hence the values were as close to perfect as possible.  Every change was followed up by long, careful listening sessions.  Most changes were subtle and a few were remarkable.  I'm positive that my active crossover was altered/improved at least a dozen times over probably a 5 year period, so I can't honestly say that I have a standard Orion crossover at this point.  He was Linkwitz's builder of most of the crossovers for the Orion and as such, was intimately informed of its performance specifications.  As "russbutton" also stated, the Orions are my "forever" loudspeaker as well.

You bring up a serious benefit od dsp based crossovers

 Dabbling with qith passive crossovers is expensive as hell.  You can easily spend 5x more on the parts you don't end up using.

I have Spatial Audio Lab's X5s and I love them. They are easy to drive and I haven't even done anything really to set them up. They sound even better when the equipment behind them is improved (duh). 

@jaytor do you think the GR Encore Studios are worth the price? They look interesting but are kind of pricey when there are a lot of good speakers below $2,000.

@soix I'm thinking you heard the X4s. Right now Spatial Audio Labs is only producing 2 models, the X4s and the M4s. I think this is due to parts shortages. The main difference between the X4s and the X5s is that the X4s have a passive woofer whereas the X5s' woofer is active with a hypex amp built on. I do think the X4s (newer) may have newer speakers although I don't know how much a difference that is. 

@dz13 - I assume you are referring to the NX-Studios. I would say that, within their limitations, they are exceptional speakers. The NEO3 is one of the best drivers for upper midrange and treble that I’ve heard, particularly in an open baffle implementation.

These speakers won’t play exceptionally loud, and they don’t go very deep (maybe 65Hz) so if you are looking for deep bass, they need to be used with a sub. They also aren’t as efficient as GR-Research’s other models, but that’s true for most stand mount speakers.

I use them in my bedroom system (approximately 13’ x 15’) driven by a Purifi amp (DIY) and don’t play them particularly loud. With the jazz and folk music I typically play on this system, they are excellent - far better detail and soundstaging than the Totem Mani-2s I was using, with a sweeter sounding midrange, although the Mani-2s handily beat them in bass extension.