Eminent Technology LFT-8c Robert Greene review

Well.. I finally did the upgrade to the 8c. I had another project that I needed to complete and it put me back 4-6 weeks, but I’ve been listening to the now 8c’s for a couple days..about 7-8 hrs so far. Listening to Red Garland "Groovy" right now.  Great album. 

The upgrade itself took a little longer than I expected as the mounting holes in the Sound Anchor stands that were mounted on the 8b bases didn’t line up/fit the 8c bass units. Width-wise were fine, but the 8b bass-units are deeper than the 8c’s by 2-3 inches.  I later found out that Bruce has adapter brackets available, but rather than wait for shipping, I made my own out of 1/4 x 1 inch aluminum bar stock, 13 9/16ths inch long.  I painted them black and lined up/drilled the holes and things mounted up fine.  I also installed a newer (than the 2017 models I had in the 8b’s) tweeter in each speaker. This is a very easy swap.

Once all that was done I fired them up...and..hmm..that doesn’t sound quite right??  After some bass unit volume adjustments and checks on wiring from beginning to end, I discovered I still had an external sub (ACI Titan II) turned on..and it was(apparently) 180 degrees out of phase with the 8c’s. Oops. I turned the sub off..and I had BASS..yikes..I turned the bass volume back to the OEM starting point of -14.8dB and things sounded..wonderful.  I’ve made a couple bass-volume adjustments and I’m now at -13dB..it seems about right.   Once that was settled I turned my external sub back on, why not use it..?, and adjusted the phase. The xover is turned all the way down to 35Hz(lowest setting) and it’s integrated well.  I'm also using the OEM time delay of 0.6ms and it seems good.

At this point I’d say things sound..glorious, with or without the external sub. I have in the neighborhood of 800-1000 hrs of 8b listening time since I picked up the 8b’s last August. The 8c’s do sound..tighter..which is what the 8c DSP was designed to address. Having the adjustable bass volume, and dipole bass, is a big & welcome plus.  I’m very happy with the upgrade.  Awesome set of speakers..  (certainly a good bit better than most of the 100+ set of speakers I’ve heard at the Florida & Axpona shows this year).

I’m currently running them with a Dons Sachs DS2 preamp into a Sachs Kootenay KT88 amp (64 watts UL mode)..with no issues. Seems to be a great match, even though Bruce suggests a minimum of 70 (to 150) watts of power. Now that I think of it, I’ll need to try our the 35w triode mode that amp offers and see how it works. 

With many the hours of listening time with the 8b’s and the same front end (Aurender N10 into Mojo Evo Pro DAC), I can’t say I hear any impact of the final 8c DSP D-A-D conversion. 

Eventually, when I get my DNA-1 back from McCormack, I’ll be running the speakers with a SS amp, and tube pre. 

@nogaps That is really good news and you will be busy fiddling, I’m sure. I assume  that you live in a wood construction house. The -13db bass volume setting is consistent with other users’ with similar homes. I am at -18db and -20db as I live in a concrete house. BTW it is more than likely that the bass volume settings will be different for the each channel when dialed in. Will you be using room correction software to fine tune with the parametric settings down the road?
 

I was driving the 8b and 8c with a pair of 100w tube monos’ in triode mode for four to five years. And really with both versions it was plenty. I had a 20w Mactone MH-300 stereo amps and a vintage 20w vintage monos driving the 8bs, and they were fine. The Mactone uses four 300bs’ in pull-push. And I could not decide whether the 20w amp or the 100w amp sounded better. I would be really interested in : a. Whether the 8c sounds better in UL or triode mode, and b. if a tube pre + a SS McCormack would be a better fit. Please report back.
 

I have recently sold my Von Gaylord Nirvana, the 100w triode, and decided to try SET amp with 50w. When I asked Bruce about using SET amps with the LFT-8c, he did not write them off. In fact he said there are users of SET amps with LFT-8s’. 

@ledoux1238  Yes, I live in a stick-built home.  The listening space is actually on a balcony overlooking a great room.  While I wouldn’t mind a little more space, overall, the space I use is quite good from a sound-acoustics perspective.  The speakers are on the long wall and I have no wall behind the listening position. The nearest "wall" behind me is the vaulted ceiling at around 15 feet.  I also have large bass traps in the corners behind the speakers. At some point down the road I do plan on running the REW software on the system(room) and see where things stand.  I’ve looked into setting up and using REW..it seems pretty straightforward to setup and run. I need to get the McCormack back first. 

I did try the Sachs amp in triode mode this morning.  I listened to a Red Garland album recorded in the early ’50’s and thought it sounded a little..dull.  I figured maybe is was just a less than great recoding.  I then tried an album that I knew was a good recording and it too sounded..a little dull.  I turned off the amp and switched back to UL..things sounded normal again.  Soo..triode/35w in this case was a no-go.  

I expect the McCormack will sound better yet when I get it back. We’ll see. It should be back sometime soon..they’ve had it quite a while. 

(..and a correction to my post above..the final DSP conversion would be A-D-A..oops)

@slaw Did you get a chance to demo the 8c?

I took a peek at your system and room. It's a very nice system, hardcore vinyl. The LFT-8cs' will be challenging to position in your room. But with REW software and the built in DSP, it may just be a bit more in time investment. If you still have the Quicksilver V-4s', those would be a nice match with the 8c. 

Thanks @ledoux1238 for posting. Haven't had a chance to audition yet. Life keeps getting in the way. Still have the V-4s and also a SMc 225.