Spintricity - Studio Electric and David MacPherson Continued(2)

for the T3 speakers and 1 for the EA4 Hybrid amplifier. He unpacked the EA4 from its awesomely durable form fitting luggage (available as an option. Recommended if you ever plan on shipping the amp using the beloved UPS or FedEx carriers. Neli, who does our shipping, was just about drooling over the things). The amp was about 50 lbs, light duty for the grunt labor we use around here (me) to carry up the 30 or so steps to the ground floor entrance. Neli and Dave carried up one of the 50 lb-ish speakers and Neli and I the other one.

We\'d been having late afternoon audio-system threatening thunderstorms for a few months now - but finally they are abating. We at least had a pretty good chance of 3 or 4 hours of listening before we might have to unplug everything and ride the storm out. What is it with manufacturers that they can pack and unpack their equipment at the speed of light? No, it is my considered opinion it is not that they do it all the time - but something instead to do with confidence and the facts that they know its weakest points, if any, and if they do accidentally break it, they know exactly how to fix it.

After a quick photo shoot, the speakers were whisked to the Southern side of listening room number 2. Note the carrying technique Neli is using to do the whisking, a technique we observed Dave using.

We put them on the Audio Note Kegon amps driven by a Emm Labs DCC2 and CDSD digital front end. Lots of Nordost ODIN, lots of experience with the sound on our part - we wanted to hear the speakers in an optimal system setup - see what they could do - put them through their paces - take them around the track a time or two and other horse-analogy turn-of-the-last-... type stuff.

Dave is a easy-going kind of guy. So many men regale you with their accomplishments even before you finish shaking their hand. Some are so accomplished, one wonders if there is ever another topic of conversation that they participate in, and certainly none that they initiate. Sometimes I wonder why women put up with us - or gay men with each other. But Dave, whose accomplishments are truly impressive, takes for-ev-er to get around to mentioning even some of them.

so, anyway, here we are at the awkward part of this in-store audition thing - with him worrying about whether we are going to like the speakers or tell him how much they suck, and us worrying about how to put what we think into the context of what we have at the store and our customer base and how to express this to our guest. Plus Neli and I have the added difficulty of having to kind of sort of be in agreement about things. We can\'t go away and talk about what we both thought of each song [or can we?!]. So we kind of start a little sentence - look at each other to see if the other is receiving the telepathic stream of data that lets them know where this sentence is going - and whether they agree with the direction it is going in, or are we headed for one of those embarrassing public disagreements that are so much of the joy of married life.

Sonically there was good tone - I really enjoyed hearing the Kegon 300B tube harmonics through these speakers, and the first class soundstage depth was immediately apparent. They are very dynamic for their 87dB. One might say amazingly so - considering we played them back to back with the 98dB efficient Audio Note speakers.

Classical. Jazz. Pop. Radiohead. The bass sounded a little underdriven. We turned it up. Whoa! The Kegons were clipping big time. First time we ever got the Kegon amplifiers to clip like that. These speakers are tough load for tube amps.

Looking at these small boys - The T3\'s are a little shorter than the Kharma 3.2fe\'s causally hanging out against the walls, I think, Oh! A cool photo would be with these speakers in front of the Edge NL Reference pyramid amps - they really ARE almost the same height!

Swap in the Studio Electric EA4 hybrid solid-state/tube amplifiers. At 400 watts into 4 ohms - the sound was more relaxed and more open sounding in the bass. Between the smoothness of the speakers and the smoothness of the amp - there was less, but not all that much less, harmonic color than with the Kegons. Cool.

Swapped the powercords between the Emm Labs DCC2 DAC/Pre and the EA4 amp, now with the Nordost ODIN on the EA4 and Valhalla on the DCC2. This was my favorite sound of this session - high resolution solid-state digital/preamplifier into the EA4 amp using a powercord that gives them a little more headroom into the smooth T3 speakers.

Somewhere in here Dave started telling us about a Science Fiction story he once tried to publish. I think he was inspired to talk about it because of the giant bookcase we have of scifi in the next room. He has some great ideas in this story - not going to give them away here - but he really should try and publish it.

We continue listening for awhile - talking a little between each song. More stuff about doing the sound boards, sound reinforcement speakers and archival mastering for the Utah Symphony Orchestra. OK. So THAT is cool. It was after a series of long recording sessions that he decided to build his own studio monitors because the ones the studio was using were giving him Ear Fatigue.

"Love to hear the EA4 amps on the Adagios..." Always on the lookout, we are, to hear appropriately priced amps for these $4.2K Acoustic Zen speakers. The $145K Edge Reference on them right now are just NOT... quite... what the average person would put on these speakers. The Edge were driven by the Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player/linestage . The EA4\'s did the amp-thing well, and were somewhere between the Kharama MP150 dynamic wonders and the more laid back big Edge pyramids. In our experience, people interested in the Adagios have unpredictable and wildly varying sonic requirements: hot, cold, dynamic, laid back, aggressive, resolution-centric ... The speaker *sigh* can be any of these things, just need to put the right amp (and source/cables) on them.

We, in our infinite wisdom [well, maybe not infinite], think the sound should be right in the middle of all these extremes - and that is smack dab where the EA4 put the sound.

Dave wanted to hear his T3 speakers over on this system? Noooo problem. Out go the Adagios to the sides of the room. In come the T3. Cool! Photos of the Edge Reference amps silhouetted by the T3 occupy the next few minutes.

So here we have the Prestige driving the EA4 amps on the T3 speakers. For some reason we start swapping power cords in and out. A stock Belden-clone, A $300 Acrolink, and the $11K Nordost ODIN. Hey, at least we proved that power cords make a difference. The Acrolink added some resolution and slightly more midi-dynamics. The ODIN took the sense of feverish confusion and gazillion layers of gauze wrapped around our heads and replaced it with the clarity and wonder from the best day in our lives. Oh, you think I exaggerate do you?

The Adagio has a more overtly detailed presentation than the T3. Studio Electric is fine with that - they are all about being able to play at realistic volumes without the midrange becoming unpleasant. Dave did the sound boards for the UB40 Reage band. He described how to make 110dB+ tolerable to the audience for hours at a time, the midrange frequencies around 3K to 5K Hz are attenuated, sometimes by as much as 6dB. This is because the ear is much more sensitive to those frequencies - and at volume they can make the music sound aggressive and harsh. They also, at the same time, bump up the ultra highs around 12K Hz or so, to add a little \'tizz\' on top.

Not sure if the T3 uses these same frequency attenuation/boost techniques - but these facts help explain the goals and reasoning behind the T3 design.

A case in point, we finally made it upstairs and played the Marten Coltrane Supreme system for Dave. Neli put on Dire Straits at around 90 - 100dB. Well, she said later, Dave talked about how he liked to listen to music fairly loudly, so, she played it load. The guitar can be a little piercing - but in a good way. It sounds like my previous guitar did through the Cow Tipper guitar amp with NOS tubes. But Dave found it to be too aggressive. I guess if you listen to loud music for 6 to 8 hours at a time - perhaps realism is a little too much real. For those kind of decibels and listening durations you want a more approachable sound. When we listened at a more conversational volume, Dave seemed to like the Coltrane Supremes just fine - at these volumes the ear is not as sensitive to the midrange frequencies. Or maybe he was just trying to be nice. Having seen Dave many times at shows, he is indeed a nice and approachable person and we look forward to seeing him again at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this fall.

OK, whisk out the amps and speakers back down to his car. Dave was so kind to drive out here and demo his equipment. We spent about 8 hours if I remember correctly. And it went by way too fast.

for the T3 speakers

and 1 for the EA4

Hybrid amplifier. He

unpacked the EA4

from its awesomely

durable form fitting

luggage (available

as an option.

Recommended if

you ever plan on

shipping the amp

using the beloved

UPS or FedEx

carriers. Neli, who

does our shipping,

was just about

drooling over the

things). The amp

was about 50 lbs,

light duty for the

grunt labor we use

around here (me) to

carry up the 30 or

so steps to the

ground floor

entrance. Neli and

Dave carried up one

of the 50 lb-ish

speakers and Neli

and I the other one.

We'd been having

late afternoon

audio-system

threatening

thunderstorms for a

few months now -

but finally they are

abating. We at

least had a pretty

good chance of 3 or

4 hours of listening

before we might

have to unplug

everything and ride

the storm out.

What is it with

manufacturers that

Exposé

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