Any experience with the different LV Auditorium model?

Ah now less refined bass is something that I dont like the sound of. Bottleneck I'll definitely let my ears decide, I'm not one for wasting money

 

Don't take the 'less refined bass' too seriously, the differences are not that great as they seem in my post. There ARE differences to these ears, they are just not terribly obvious in a short listening session.

 

Hi,

I own Avatar OBX R2's and I have just received a pair of OBX RW's on audition. Having owned Mark 1 Avatars in the past, the OBX R2's are, to my ears, quite a significant step up from the Avatars. I do not have any experience of the Auditoriums so cannot comment.
I have not yet spent long listening to the RW's but they are definitely better again although I suspect you need quite a good system to bring out the best in them. I am using the Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD player and Canary Audio 303 Signature monoblocks and they work well together.
I hope to have more time to listen to the RW's this weekend and will post further details after that if people are interested.

Best regards,

Mike

 

definitely interested Mike.

I want to buy a pair of speakers I will live with for a long time.

 

I think you will like Living Voice speakers Ant, they are hard not to like.

They need a lot of space, and need to be freestanding/uncluttered living room though.

 

What is the difference between OBX, OBX-R, OBX-R2 and OBX-RW models ?

 

Sure we are interested! Great system by the way!

 

OBX stands for 'Outboard X-over'. I thin the OBX-R is a revised version of the OBX and the OBX-R2 is a second revision.

The OBX-RW has even better components in it's crossover and most of them have been cry'od.

 

Well I am about to relocate from my lsitening room into the main living room. This is about 14 x 20 feet, 2 leather sofas and a couple of book shelves. Should be enough space.

I'm looking forward to hearing them at the hifi show at the end of this month/

 

Try to ignore the bloated bass that LVs seem to produce at shows since Canary and Border Patrol were ditched in favour of Kondo.

Also, whilst it may be great for selling to rich people with yachts, I'm not sure the battery power is helping, even relative to the awful mains at these events.

 

Its my own view that LV's are speakers that only work really well in certain rooms.

At Def. Audio's headquarters in Nottingham (where they have a large converted mill as a demo-room...its ok for some!!) they sound spectacular in a way that few speakers can match - almost regardless of the amplification.

I was blown away when I heard some boggo-Avatars with my cheap £500 second hand valve amplifier some 5 years ago.

At home I never achieved the same kind of spectacular results, more of an averagey sound.

 

Have to agree with Bottleneck regarding the importance of the room.

Been to Definitive twice, first time was to audition a Sugden Masterclass CD (which was demoed with some OBX's and a Canary valve integrated) and having never heard of Living Voice speakers upto this point or heard a valve amp, I was totally blown away by them - to this day still the best sounds I've heard.
Immediately went home and sold my Ruark Solstice speakers and then went back to buy some Avatars - initially Kevin had them wired up to a Sugden Masterclass integrated but the magic from the previous demo was missing - even Kevin admitted it wasn't sounding good - he blamed the industrial laundrette that is on the same ind.est for polluting the mains However, he then changed over to the Canary integrated again and the magic reappeared - if not quite to the same extent as with the OBX's.

Once I'd got the Avatars home I could never quite get the same magic, although they still sounded mighty fine. My own room at the time was 12ft x 12ft whereas the one at Defintive is pretty big (I'm sure someone knows the exact sizes) with the speakers well apart firing across the room with loads of space behind them and plenty of toe in - if you can replicate that then you shouldn't go wrong.

I subsequently also had a pair of Auditoriums (MKII) which sounded nice on the end of a little Densen Beat amplifier.

 

I can easily believe that Auditoriums work best in large rooms. Their sound is open airy and uncluttered, but perhaps this is helped by the fact that I use them in a room which is 35ft x 25ft.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I moved from asuditoriums to IBX's and can definitely hear a large difference.
Both have a natural easy sound, but the IBX reveals far more bass information and has a more transparent presentation. Vocals in particular are exceptionally sweet, with the scanspeak revelator showing its class.
I use them approx 10 ft apart, and set out 4ft from the wall, and find this works great for me. Many people have said that you need to be very careful with the degree of toe-in, but I'm not sure it makes much difference

 

Hi Peter, that explains a lot.

They really do need a big room - you're very lucky to be able to set them up as you have.

I'm not convinced the degree of toe in is so important, more getting them the right distance from rear and side walls.

In that respect (IMO) they are a bit like Quad 57's - not physically that big, but a little room dominating if you want them set up for optimal sound away from room boundaries.

 

I agree about the room they need... We recently did a show with the OBX-R2 in a VERY large ballroom (about 60 x 60 x 18 feet) and I was completely blown away by the sound.

I do not get that in my 15 x 12 x 9 feet room...

 

Just checked my new room is 14 x 12 x 8, perhaps I should be looking elsewhere.

 

It does sound a little on the small side to be honest mate.

A decent pair of standmounts might be better.

Maybe Proac 1sc - that's always a good one.

 

Its great to visit Definitive, Kevin and Lynn are industry good-guys. One time I went with my Dynavector 1.2 to see if it worked (used with the Kondo pre). Not only did it work, it worked rather better IMO than the Kondo power amp. Kevin didn't say much for a bit.

PS My room is 24 x 21 x 12 - about right!

 

To be honest I have used my PMC FB1+s in the new room and they worked well in terms of balance and bass evenness. Small speakers dont do it for me in any way other than imaging.

 

Thanks. Hope to hear them this weekend during HiFi show..