Acoustic Portrait Active Setup

[john_k_antony]

Shivam,

Do you mind sharing the specs / model# of the scan speak drivers you are getting in your FS ?

Thanks,
John.

 

[Shivam]

Shivam,

Do you mind sharing the specs / model# of the scan speak drivers you are getting in your FS ?

Thanks,
John.

Scanspeak revelator drivers (7 mid/bass with 1 tweeter)
Not sure about getting a floorstander or a large bookshelf.

 

[square_wave]

I have heard both versions. My suggestion go with the floorstanders.

The reason why AP makes those large bookshelf model is to mount them atop the active subwoofer in the flagship version. If you have a plan to do the flagship version at some point of time, go with the bookshelf version.

PS : Those revelator models from scanspeak are very revealing. Plan to upgrade everything

 

[jenson]

not to hijack this thread...but..have you demoed speakers by Magnepan?

 

[Shivam]

not to hijack this thread...but..have you demoed speakers by Magnepan?

Yes, I have heard them. They do sound nice but not exactly what I like.

The other two speakers which I found similar in sound to AP setup were-
Harbeths and another setup from Linn.

 

[Shivam]

Another twist in the earlier story.

I have come across another upgrade option-
Adding active scanspeak based subwoofers with passive radiators. The active cross-over will have to be tweaked to add a low frequency out essentailly making my setup a 3 way setup with vifa tweeter, old vifa mid-range and scanspeak woofer.

How does this compare to the original plan of all scanspeak driver based 2 way setup?

 

[arj]

Another twist in the earlier story.

I have come across another upgrade option-
Adding active scanspeak based subwoofers with passive radiators. The active cross-over will have to be tweaked to add a low frequency out essentailly making my setup a 3 way setup with vifa tweeter, old vifa mid-range and scanspeak woofer.

How does this compare to the original plan of all scanspeak driver based 2 way setup?

this is what Sivas speaker today is. additionally he has put these drivers in a special Cylinder- sounds Amazing as a 3 way crossover.
If you are going a Full AP system, i believe it is one of the most harmoniously sounding system. the entire setuo including cables have all been designed to work together, and they work together really well !

Are you planning to have the Sub along with the rest of the speaker or do you have an option to place it separately ?

 

[Shivam]

I have two options -

1. AP active three way active system with vifa drivers (old vifa/scanspeak for woofer, vifa silk tweeter) and new subs with scanspeak drivers. The midrange and tweeter will remain in stand-mount bookshelves. Subs will be separate.

2. Upgrade all to Scanspeak drivers in a two way active setup (woofer and tweeter). The setup will be in form of towers.

The cost for both these options is same to me.

 

[prem]

Hi Shivam

Since both pretty much cost the same, go with what Shiva recommends. He knows his speakers best

 

[arj]

1. AP active three way active system with vifa drivers (old vifa/scanspeak for woofer, vifa silk tweeter) and new subs with scanspeak drivers.
.

I really dont know enough about these Drivers to give you the Sound Quality view. But the 3 way will give you a much higher freq range with really Deep Bass, something i find very important.

Maybe gvenu can give you pointers on the 2 way with Scanspeak.

 

[ghatgepatil]

I personally have always favoured a two-way set-up 'minus' any sub-woofer for music.

 

[gvenu]

http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/38878-visit-gvenus-place.html

This is the third system I have from AP which was converted into active by adding two way cross over and one more stereo amplifier. The cross over is integrated within the tube pre-amp. The drivers are all Scanspeak in MTM configuration floorstanding.

If you are heavy bass hungry person go for the 3-way with sub otherwise the all scanspeak 2 -way towers.

Venu

 

[Shivam]

I personally have always favoured a two-way set-up 'minus' any sub-woofer for music.

This has been my taste too.

I do at times miss the 'disco' kinds of beats too but that is not something which bothers me much since I don't enjoy mid-bass kick for a long time. A few minutes is fine but after that it converts to as if something is hammering away my brains.

However recently I got a taste of Bach organworks in another system (a HT setup) with sub and the soundstage was huge. I could hear the organ as if it was there in the room with all the low notes. That got me thinking about the low frequency extension and maybe a little of bass kick (not so much to cause headaches or drown other music).

 

[arj]

This has been my taste too.

I do at times miss the 'disco' kinds of beats too but that is not something which bothers me much since I don't enjoy mid-bass kick for a long time. A few minutes is fine but after that it converts to as if something is hammering away my brains.

However recently I got a taste of Bach organworks in another system (a HT setup) with sub and the soundstage was huge. I could hear the organ as if it was there in the room with all the low notes. That got me thinking about the low frequency extension and maybe a little of bass kick (not so much to cause headaches or drown other music).

Exactly.
The problem is due to the way Subs are setup. focus is more on Chest Thumping bass than articulation !!
a well setup sub(s) can make music far more enjoyable if set up well. Ideally it should not be heard when it is ON and is missed when it is Off

In the end music is made of overtones and undertones (harmonics) the reason a Guitar at 50 Hz and a double bass at 50Hz both sound different is due to the amount of harmonics in each. Hence a fundamental tone at 120Hz has sub-harmonics at 60 and 30 (and 15) and it is this combination which defines Timbre which differentiates an instrument

Familiarly a tone at 25Hz has an overtone at 50Hz/100 which is what you hear in a limited extension speaker so while you hear the sound, it is the wrong timbre

A sub , IF setup right will give you a better experience of not just of the Bass but also the Midrange !!
This has been my experience when i used 2 REL subs.

 

[prem]

Absolutely. I completely agree with Arj

 

[Shivam]

I was also thinking of a third option of 'ready-made' subwoofers connected in parallel to the low frequency pre-out from the active crossover-preamp.

Subs from REL, Magnat and B&W attract me.

 

[arj]

I was also thinking of a third option of 'ready-made' subwoofers connected in parallel to the low frequency pre-out from the active crossover-preamp.

Subs from REL, Magnat and B&W attract me.

Usually the biggest challenge with subs is integration and that also involves response curves of bass drivers .
Best is to go with AP. I do know it is good as the active crossover takes a lot of headache off you

REL are good, but for the price you are better of with siva.

 

[Asit]

this is what Sivas speaker today is. additionally he has put these drivers in a special Cylinder- sounds Amazing as a 3 way crossover.
If you are going a Full AP system, i believe it is one of the most harmoniously sounding system. the entire setuo including cables have all been designed to work together, and they work together really well !

Are you planning to have the Sub along with the rest of the speaker or do you have an option to place it separately ?

I have heard Siva's system at his home, courtesy of Arjun who drove me to his place. That was an excellent experience. I genuinely liked Siva's system, including the speakers of course.

Although with monoblocks etc Siva's system is high-end compared to mine, but there are quite a number of similarities in sonics. From discussions with him that day, I discovered from Siva that his sonic goals are very similar to mine. It was wonderful to notice that two people not knowing each other at all sitting at different places but with similar sonic goals ended up with systems which have more similarities than dissimilarities.

I'd say, go for it, if you have similar musical tastes.

Regards.

 

[jls001]

A sub , IF setup right will give you a better experience of not just of the Bass but also the Midrange !!
This has been my experience when i used 2 REL subs.

+1 to this.

My dream setup in the far future has two subs (or at least one sub) playing tuneful bass unobstrusively.

 

[GeorgeO]

I am also a sub guy-have three 12 inch powered subs two for music and one for HT, with a fourth one on the way!). I have two subs using PRs and they sound a bit different form the normal sealed enclosures(better).