Used acoustic portrait ms 301

[sivasarjun]

Hi,all,
What is the realistic price for 3 year old acoustic portrait ms 301?
How is it sonically compared with lyrita and audire fullrangers.
I am planning to use it with the topping for now.Will buy a tube amp(most probably lyrita) later.Budget constraints you see.
Regards.

 

[rikhav]

Hi Siva
Not sure about the prices but the AP speaker should be very different sonically because they are 2 way speakers and the Lyrita and Audire would be full range (no crossover involved)

You should listen to the said speakers and then only decide as their sound presentation would ne hugely different

Also go through the site of Lyrita and Audire. Both the companies have many different full range speakers

A topping would work best with a full range speaker due to the high sensitivity

 

[rallynut]

the monitor series was one of my choices for spkrs prior to my getting my rig,and didn get them due to a myriad no of reasons,primarily finance at the time.still,having heard offerings from the acoustic portrait stable,am quite sure they will be more than just sonically competent,even a bargain,esp now.as for comparos,as rikhav mentioned,FR and multi-driver spkrs have different philosophies in their application.some love one camp,some the other.its like a "heads,..i win,tails,..u lose" situation.subjective u see .listen and go with ur hearts desire.cheers

 

[arj]

A topping would work best with a full range speaker due to the high sensitivity

Are you really sure of that ? I would say it will work perfectly with the AP also , i have run a 6W T amp with an 89dB speaker to ear blasting volumes at well below the maximum.
if the topping were an SET it may have been valid...

 

[sivasarjun]

Yes thanks for the inputs,
Would upgrade to a set or push pull and I want to be future proof.Yes I know that once started you cant stop this journey.Still.

 

[rikhav]

Are you really sure of that ? I would say it will work perfectly with the AP also , i have run a 6W T amp with an 89dB speaker to ear blasting volumes at well below the maximum.
if the topping were an SET it may have been valid...

Hi Arj
I wanted to convey the OP that full rangers being 92 to 94 db would work the best with a Topping Amp
Also i tried looking for the specs of the AP speaker but could not get it on the internet.

 

[iaudio]

Another thing to consider is that the Topping has a high damping factor which I am told is not so desirable with a single driver/full range speaker.
However, when I heard the Topping with Lyrita H1, it sounded very good. OTOH, I am not sure the same synergy was there between tp20 and Audire Io2s which also are Fostex based.

 

[captrajesh]

How is it sonically compared with lyrita and audire fullrangers.

You are trying to compare chalk and cheese. Now don't ask me which is what coz that depends on "to each his own"

I am planning to use it with the topping for now.Will buy a tube amp(most probably lyrita) later.Budget constraints you see.

Due to low damping factor of tube amps, I reckon you would get boomy base with the 301s.

i tried looking for the specs of the AP speaker but could not get it on the internet.

I have their brochure and am quoting from it:-
Impedance 6 ohms
Crossover point 2800 Hz 18 dB slope
Sensitivity 91 dB
Freq response 36 Hz to 20 KHz +/- 3dB
Power Handling 100 RMS
Dimensions H39" x D10.5" x W9.5"

 

[sivasarjun]

Confused.High damping factor not suitable for fullrangers,low damping factor boomy bass ,how did I get into this?
So I will look for tube amp+fullranger I think.

 

[iaudio]

sivasarjun, See basically Tube amps( which usually have low damping factor) go well with Fullrangers and SS amps with higher damping factors go well with Multi driver speakers.

In the latter the amp needs to have iron control ideally of the drivers, which would not do well in a full ranger as there is just one driver to do the entire set of frequencies.

Now all I posted above is my rudimentary knowledge of these systems, so take it with a bag of salt.

Ultimately, if you wanna go with tube amps, I would say go for Lyrita harmony one with topping tp20 and when you have the budget, get the Lyrita SET integrated from Viren.

If you want to listen to the AP speakers, let me know when you are in Cochin and you can do so at my place.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Hi Siva
Not sure about the prices but the AP speaker should be very different sonically because they are 2 way speakers and the Lyrita and Audire would be full range (no crossover involved)

Also go through the site of Lyrita and Audire. Both the companies have many different full range speakers

A topping would work best with a full range speaker due to the high sensitivity

I wanted to convey the OP that full rangers being 92 to 94 db would work the best with a Topping Amp

Another thing to consider is that the Topping has a high damping factor which I am told is not so desirable with a single driver/full range speaker.

Confused.High damping factor not suitable for fullrangers,low damping factor boomy bass ,how did I get into this?
So I will look for tube amp+fullranger I think.

Guys, there is a confusion here. The single driver speakers we are talking about here are NOT fullrangers. Full range speakers are a totally different ball game.

Coming over to Acoustic Portrait speakers, the MS-301 is a very decent speaker. You can pay about 25k for the used speaker if it is in good condition.
They would need decent amplification. See to it that you dont pair it with an aggressive/bright sounding amp because they use a metal dome tweeter which can get excited relatively easily.

If you are going with tube amps you may need something around 30 watts (push-pull).

 

[rikhav]

Guys, there is a confusion here. The single driver speakers we are talking about here are NOT fullrangers. Full range speakers are a totally different ball game.

Hi Dr. Bass
You mean a full range speaker is a speaker which ideally covers whole frequency spectrum. Mostly 20 to 25 hz to 20khz

If thats the case, my apologies of calling single driver speakers as full range speakers

 

[Dr.Bass]

Hi Dr. Bass
You mean a full range speaker is a speaker which ideally covers whole frequency spectrum. Mostly 20 to 25 hz to 20khz

If thats the case, my apologies of calling single driver speakers as full range speakers

Yes Rikhav, if a speaker approaches that kind of extension we are in the realm of full range.

 

[iaudio]

Dr. Bass, I don't fully understand(I do get it that all single drivers are not full range). Here's the link from Lyrita Audio, where it is mentioned that the said speaker is a single driver, full range speaker.

Loudspeakers

 

[arj]

No way can it be a full range..it might not be what Viren meant since the freq response below is given as 40-18khz (not sure if that is the 3dB point though, as in my limited understanding one driver cannot do that who thing without distortion).
any full range Has to do the 20Hz thingie and there is no way you can do that with a single driver.

 

[keith_correa]

The so called "full-range" drivers strive to cover a wide band of frequencies as possible. Just because they are called "full-range" that is not to say that they can cover or should cover 20-20kHz. Actually a more apt term for them should be "wide-range" or "wide-band"

 

[captrajesh]

See to it that you dont pair it with an aggressive/bright sounding amp because they use a metal dome tweeter which can get excited relatively easily.

Your observation regarding the speakers due to their metal dome tweeter is spot on Dr.Bass. I paired my AP bookshelfs, which has the same tweeter with the following amps, source being the Marantz CD6003. What I found is this: -

1. Class D Audio CDA 254 kit Power Stereo Amp - Sounds nice with very good micro-dynamics and sugary sweet mids. There is palpable immediacy to the sound.

2. Linuxguru's LM 3886 based kit Stereo Amp - Good overall presentation, beautiful sounding vocals, great instrument separation but somewhat forward sounding and a trifle bright in presenting high frequency content.

3. Vintage Luxman L-80V Amp - By far the best sounding combination with prominent larger than life mid range presentation, good sound stage.

4. Technics SU-8022 Amp - Nice slam but overtly sharp and bright presentation. The worst combination; listening fatigue crept in soon.

 

[iaudio]

The so called "full-range" drivers strive to cover a wide band of frequencies as possible. Just because they are called "full-range" that is not to say that they can cover or should cover 20-20kHz. Actually a more apt term for them should be "wide-range" or "wide-band"

Yes, but they are called 'full rangers' in common speak, are not they?
As Arj pointed out, the may not be able to 20hz to 20khz but they try to cover a 'wide band'.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Yes, but they are called 'full rangers' in common speak, are not they?
As Arj pointed out, the may not be able to 20hz to 20khz but they try to cover a 'wide band'.

Exactly iaudio, in common speak things can get casual. I will not be as strict as Arj to define a fullrange. But then however lenient I try to get, in true sense the single driver speakers under discussion are not full range by any stretch of imagination. They are rolled off in both extremes to a significant degree and it is a mechanical roll off so nothing can be done about it. This is not to say they are not good speakers, just that the association of "full range" with these speakers is not appropriate IMHO. It is misleading.

As far as wide band is concerned, 100hz - 10khz is definitely wide band, just an illustration.

 

[keith_correa]

Yes, but they are called 'full rangers' in common speak, are not they?

Yes. Absolutely!