heliumflight
Well-Known Member
Managed to break out early from office today, and took the opportunity to visit Helium at his den in late afternoon. Luckily, today was his 'off' and think, most likely got him off his ritual afternoon nap. It happens, Helium is attached to a BPO of a well-known computer MNC ... so, gets his quota of regular night-shifts. In other words, is a pucca night-bird.
Currently, he has two pairs in use ... one, a vintage B&W DM4 and the other, a spanking new Denton. Both connected to a vintage Sansui 317 (Speaker A & B) through an amp built-in selector switch.
The Sansui 317 needs no introduction ... was one of the top-of-the-line amps in its days (80s) ... 50W/ch @ 8 ohms ... high current integrated amplifier. I would, to this day, buy blind in case I can get hold of a seller hiving off his Sansui AU 717 or 919. Sansuis are also known for their excellent bass output.
Now, it is this 'bass' which, in my observation could not be reproduced correctly from the Dentons. The mid-woofer was behaving odd. There was bass boom and it was grossly interfering with the mids. This was only happening when the music was bass heavy. Otherwise, the Denton's performance on the mid-centric music with the usual highs were very good indeed. Possibly, the Sansui was a mis-match with the Dentons.
In stark contrast was the DM4s .... beautiful SQ with the Sansui. Very pronounced lows with good decay, excellent mids and highs, with an open airy feel to the music. Helium informed that the DM4s was 1970s manufacture ... that makes them pretty vintage stuff! With the Sansui amplification at work, the DM4s ate alive the new Dentons!
So, the possible causes for this difference could be ....
1. The Dentons have not broken-in as yet ... just 2 days old.
2. The Dentons being rear ported, need better placement with more open space from the rear wall. The DM4 is front ported, so little or no placement issues.
3. The Sansui amplification is a bit too laid back for the Denton. A brighter amp might be more suitable.
A big thanks to Helium to invite me over on his 'off' day, at such a short notice. Its a joy to meet people who are so engrossed with their music. Incidentally, he is looking for a buyer for his vintage multi-driver Akai speakers which were mated to 2A3 tubes (sold now).
Thanks Avidyarthy for your impression. Glad to have a music lover at home. I worked on the feedback and repositioned the speakers so that the boom was gone. We had primarlarly come to enjoy Dentons. I agree that Sansuis warm signature was taking away the sparkle from the music. Maybe if I can get my hands on a high current Marantz amp, then it would shine. Denton are excellent speakers make no doubt of it! It was only when we compared it with the vintage B&W, then I agree there was no comparison at all. That I always knew

