An evening spent 'tweaking' Avidyarthy's ATL Speakers

[avidyarthy]

i'd like a listen as well... esp since I am going the TL way soon, as well!

and once mine arrive, you are welcome to a session!

Come over ... next Saturday.
Am all alone next 15 days (leaving aside office) ... the designated audio room is in a mess ... dust and all ... no AC .... heat .... you would have to overlook all these. Or, wait till 1st week July to avail of the desired environs.
Your choice!

 

[Hari Iyer]

@ CorElement .....

Your Majesty .... you were right. The Krell-ATL combo is tending towards 'tubey' sound. I took a whole day of listening to come to that conclusion ... something, you pointed out in half an hour!

Thats the demarcation, I guess ..... an audiophile versus just another music lover.

Let the break-in happen completely. Around 100 Hrs of playing at moderate sound levels. Then i think it should be like a tube amplifier. I myself have never heard this speakers after a complete break-in and will not be able to anyway comment.

 

[corElement]

@ CorElement .....

Your Majesty .... you were right. The Krell-ATL combo is tending towards 'tubey' sound. I took a whole day of listening to come to that conclusion ... something, you pointed out in half an hour!

Thats the demarcation, I guess ..... an audiophile versus just another music lover.

Haha

I dunno if I can call myself an audiophile either I'm just a sensory type person who picks up on stuff.

But yeah, the sound was tubey, classics will be quite good on them.

 

[avidyarthy]

Possible for you to drop in yet again for an audition of the rectified outfit before the 'shhuuuiiiiiieeeeeee', Mein Fuhrer?!

 

[dillihifi]

Let's see next week I am out. The weekend after that perhaps ???

 

[corElement]

HAHAHA, let's see I got just a few days till I travel, most likely won't be possible but after I come back I can probably bring the bookshelves or something.

BTW I have a suggestion, Replace your interconnect with a silver one. Your setup will benefit from it a lot, and wont suffer the drawbacks of silver as it is on the warm side.

 

[dillihifi]

I too forgot all about it, I would also recommend that you change your I/C with a better quality one.

 

[Hari Iyer]

@ CorElement .....

The Krell-ATL combo is tending towards 'tubey' sound.

Will it be also possible to test it with the Virenji's tube amplifier. Just eager to know if it really sounds like a tube amplifer. I have never heard a tube amplifer before though and just increased my curiosity.

 

[srinisundar]

AVD,

Since anm has bought Thiel CS1.6, can you try one day your Krell with Thiel.. Then you can highlight us how ATL is sounding better than thiel and in which areas.

Regards

 

[prem]

The Thiel and ATL are very different sounding speakers. Its pointless trying to compare them. People who like Thiel will not like ATL and vice versa. Thiel 1.6 is a detailed and very lively speaker and if not mated correctly can sound wrong. The ATL is more forgiving and less detailed.

 

[BLASTO]

AVD,

Since anm has bought Thiel CS1.6, can you try one day your Krell with Thiel.. Then you can highlight us how ATL is sounding better than thiel and in which areas.

Regards

Is the PUN intended??

 

[anm]

The Thiel and ATL are very different sounding speakers. Its pointless trying to compare them. People who like Thiel will not like ATL and vice versa. Thiel 1.6 is a detailed and very lively speaker and if not mated correctly can sound wrong. The ATL is more forgiving and less detailed.

prem - it is currently mated with NAD C375. I am liking it with its own pre and NAD CDP C542
I tried with lyrita pre, but I am liking the nad integrated better. I think the character of speakers has changed slightly - from very bright in my room to decently laid back, with details. Will try lyrita back.
My observation about loose bass with NAD was incorrect, as I did some listening yesterday. I recalled that I was using appletv to play, and its analog outs I did not find any looseness with NAD CDPs analog outs.

I am thinking of buying NAD MDC dac, hoping it to sound very close to what CDP sounds. It doesn't have coax input, but it is fine for me, as I will then use my appletv as music media player, that has local hard disk attached, and sends out bit-perfect digital out on optical.

I think I will never use a USB from a computer. Even if I ever use a music PC, I will use a sound card.

 

[BLASTO]

prem - it is currently mated with NAD C375. I am liking it with its own pre and NAD CDP C542
I tried with lyrita pre, but I am liking the nad integrated better. I think the character of speakers has changed slightly - from very bright in my room to decently laid back, with details. Will try lyrita back.
My observation about loose bass with NAD was incorrect, as I did some listening yesterday. I recalled that I was using appletv to play, and its analog outs I did not find any looseness with NAD CDPs analog outs.

I am thinking of buying NAD MDC dac, hoping it to sound very close to what CDP sounds. It doesn't have coax input, but it is fine for me, as I will then use my appletv as music media player, that has local hard disk attached, and sends out bit-perfect digital out on optical.

I think I will never use a USB from a computer. Even if I ever use a music PC, I will use a sound card.

Borrow the krell and try out in your setup. You can keep it as reference, or if you don't like, you can scrub the idea all together.

But krell & thiel both are very revealing. If only there are no weak links in your setup, these will shine but a lot of things can go wrong and you will be in a loop to upgrade all cables, ICs etc.

If you have any one component more 'forgiving', that will be a boon in disguise. Thiel + NAD and Krell + ATL (alleged) do that in different places.

 

[srinisundar]

Is the PUN intended??

OH, no....

I have high regards for DIY and tweaking jobs, recently had a chance to hear Murali_n preamp against my MF. The cost he has done is less than 5K and you know my MF Pre price costing near about GBP300. His pre size is just like my Pophour size,I could see the voice is so good and it matched against my MF at-least by 75% when played with my vincent monoblocks. Yes there are separation is missing in music, with some more tweaks sure it will match my MF.

Regards

 

[anm]

seems I would need to upgrade my ears first. I can't distinguish between two completely different cd players!

 

[prem]

Hi anm

if you like NAD you must seriously look at NAD C390DD. Its getting rave reviews.

 

[Hari Iyer]

The Thiel and ATL are very different sounding speakers. Its pointless trying to compare them. People who like Thiel will not like ATL and vice versa. Thiel 1.6 is a detailed and very lively speaker and if not mated correctly can sound wrong. The ATL is more forgiving and less detailed.

The speaker you auditioned at my home were not ATL but a mass-loaded classic TL and the cross-over design was also completely different than the one used for Avid's speakers. Hence my own speaker K150TL cannot be compared with Avid's K300TL as the drivers, enclosures and technology are also different though from the same manufacturer. Also i have tried to introduce a concept of Harmonic Balance to the cross-over network in Avid's ATLs which is not present in my own speakers. Hence it should be a good exercise if the Thiel and Avid's ATL are auditioned together if possible. Since i have not heard the Thiel it will not be correct for me to anyway comment on them, but i have read extensive reviews about them and am sure they would sound better than the ATLs given Thiel's expertise, R&D and team work. This comparison will help me to find flaws in my own design and help for future upgrades too.

 

[prem]

Oh i am sorry Hari. I was basing my comments on what i had heard at your place. But i anyway feel you should not be basing your design on how the Thiel sounds. It seems pointless to me. They are completely different designs. Maybe you should hear electrostats or open baffles or single drivers. Their sound will be closer to your speakers.

Its like listening to a single driver and saying B&W has better bass or like listening to a B&W and saying it does not have the coherency of a Rethm. Different designs cater to different strengths.

 

[Flash]

Oh i am sorry Hari. I was basing my comments on what i had heard at your place. But i anyway feel you should not be basing your design on how the Thiel sounds. It seems pointless to me. They are completely different designs. Maybe you should hear electrostats or open baffles or single drivers. Their sound will be closer to your speakers.

Its like listening to a single driver and saying B&W has better bass or like listening to a B&W and saying it does not have the coherency of a Rethm. Different designs cater to different strengths.

Well said Prem.

 

[anm]

Hari - when you design a speaker, what are your "tonality" goals, if any? Do you have a reference speaker/ sound in mind? Or, is it even a correct design goal I wonder. I am asking this based on prem's recommendations above.