[Review] Meadowlark Ospreys

Meadowlark Ospreys

Thought I give you guys a peek into another little project that's currently work inprogress.
I managed to procure a 12 month old pair of Meadowlark Ospreys in Ebony from the polite version of america, for an agreeble price. With shipping for 95Kg at a very reasonable $410CND The said speakers had 'at least 1200 hours on the by quality valve monoblox' according to the previous owner.
After much hassle with the UK end of the shipping agent (2 days transit & 9 days in a bonded warehouse ) they dually arrived, prefectly packaged & totally un-marked.
We're a bit strapped for space at 'the raunch' currently, so in the lab they went. There's a spare evo 4 here I'm 'helping to achieve its potential ' presently, so that was pressed into service along with a 861Se thats been used as door stop for timpys office.
Osprey
Initial impressions weren't good Treble was very forward, and dare I say dac 64ish, bass although full bodied and room filling, just didn't 'feel right' or intergrate properly, mid band wasn't too bad, but overall a feeling of disappointment.
Not to be puturbed, we pressed on with resolve and determination , taking into account the room and the easy time it had of with valve amps
The Ospreys were left for week on continious play at 'proper volume levels', just with daily checks on the sound and driver/amp temps.
By the end of the second day, things were starting come together, if anyone to tell us were we imagining this please feel free. Even the MD was nodding!
7 days had passed, and the sound had remained constant for the last 2 or so, we felt they were about run in as they were going to get.
Sound had changed quite markedly, gone was the hardness and forward projection, bass had improved quite amazingly, both in depth, tightness and coherence, a much better sound, more even handed, greater presence and vocal tangability too, solid imaging and nice openiness too.
The Meadowlark traits were still there, (I remember the Shearwaters being this way when I first had them), they are for me in stock form, a little dark sounding, nice weight, quite natural and bouncy (with the right kit), very articulate and dynamic, with quite decent room filling ability for their size, plus great timing.
Next the fun starts, remembering the improvement we managed to wring from the Shearwaters, I thought it would be nice to give the Ospreys the same treatment , they were gutted and inspected and laid bare!!!.
Naked ML's
First up careful removal of the drivers, noting exact placement of terminals and wire runs, careful desoldering of the wires (Tara Labs RSC) & storage of removed drivers to a safe place
Front
Removal of the Tara Labs wire was fun!, care unpicking of the hot glue areas were the cables are passed through into the main cabinet (the x/over is located in a seperate cavity behind the black perspex plate that holds the binding posts.
Next the new wires were run, taking special care to ensure enough wire for driver &/or x/over removal in the future, then the x/over was removed and stripped.
Inserted
X/over
Modifications to the x/over were preformed and the whole lot mounted and soldered ready for re-assembly.
Back together
I also hot glued down all the inductor lines and wire runs as a matter of coarse.
I had already 'cooked' all the modified bits I replaced/added to the x/overs before fitment, to greatly reduce 'run in time'
Final check for correct polarity & driver orintation, then back panel/x/over was replaced.
Speakers we hooked up and tested, one at a time, every pronouced a ok', let battle commence
Once again the Evo 4 was roped in along with Wm personal silver beer mat spinner (wanted to give the bass drivers a decent work out), again the Ospreys were treat to warp 6-8 for a 6 day period, with such delights as Paul Van Dyke/Groove armada/Fun Loving Criminals/The Cult/Smurfs Santana.
Immediately, upon first listening, most obviously was that the bass, became much more intergrated, cleaner/deeper and more focussed, the treble was initally hard and nasty (quite common with this type of mod to start with), the mids were much clearer, but at this early stage, just merely observations
So that was then, and this is now.
Well as of the this morning, things have moved on a wee bit
The Ospreys now are generating a huge factor, the whole sound is so much more intergrated, free for the speakers, open, more bouncy and fluid, bass being far, far tighter and with the music, timing is spot on, the treble is open, sweet and delicate were needed, and tremolo arm screeching when required!
Every thing we've thrown at it today from hard core dance to smurf music its coped with admirably, never phased or got them out of step, all this is a bad enviroment & on spikes, no still points or iso tablets.
I feel a little more will come out, but this will be over time, they're comming home next week, for a proper work out and real amp, so we'll see how the fair then.
However has it been worth the effort, an unquivicable and resounding yes, they are great speakers in they own right (One fully run in), now they are so much better.
Still as the saying goes the proof is in the pudding, will keep you updated on thier progess in the comming weeks. Wm
Running

 

Smurfs? I have a "Simpson's sing the blues" CD, but my imaginings of what a Smurfs CD might be like are rather troubling...

Interesting piccies Tone; just been doing a bit of spot the difference with the crossovers .

 

Martin,

Timpy feel that cd I played you, when you popped round last sounds like the Smurfs, man has no taste.
Can you count how many are on the x/over?, you need to look closely

 

looks very nice there tone, bet it sounds good now too. i've been playing with my beasties this weekend too - not sure whether i like them as they are now or if i like them with less wool in them - they were a bit unruly but a lot of fun with less behind the bass driver. i may try getting rid of all the stuffing behind the 10inch adding a bit more behind the mid and whapping a load into the mouth of the port and see what that does. one thing i noticed with the ospreys was that the line wasn;t fully lined - it looked like there was a fair bit of bare wood in there hmmmm....
cheers


julian

 

Looking good Tone.
Is there much improvment to be had over the standard cable? or is it an accumulation of all parts changed?

 

Just slightly, when we did the shearwaters, we just did the rewire first, surpising results in the least, then after adding the Q/F's things just went hand in hand so to speak. So the Ospreys were done in one hit, though I do have some other items in store for them in the not too distant future

 

Good stuff.
Not that the Kestrels need anything

 

Which one? Who owns this smurfs CD BTW, you to Timpy?

Hmm... my guess is 4, but that seems a suspiciously small number for you. I blame the camerman .

 

Tis I that owns the smurfs, and 4 is a very low number, 3 times that amount in total, I shank the photo this time, else they all moan !!!

 

12 per crossover? :mana:

 

Er no, in total for the 2 speakers, even Timpy says I'm not much of a hifi looney

 

Ah, right, I'd meant 4 per cross-over (i.e. how many did I think there were in the picture), so I wasn't that far off then. 6 is still a fair few though!

 

Quick update on the Ospreys
They are settling in extremely well, had some quality listening time over the weekend and got reaquainted with their presenation.
Yesterday they really slipped in the groove and clicked.
One thing can be said of all the Meadowlark right across the board, they produce cohesive musical involvement at all volumes & times even 2.30 in the morning
The Ospreys are no exception, I dragged all the old stuff you never play very often (until your pissed one night or its a party, that needs a laugh )
Plus some new stuff that amazon had kindly dropped through the door last week.
Well I could bore you with its, got more 'x', 'y' & 'z', or that I have Stevie Ray or Elmore James to play 'basement concerts' for me, but I won't.
I'll just say this, these are shaping up to be some of the most musicaly complete speakers I've ever had the pleasure of listening too at any price
And in case you wondering, (cuz I'm sure some-ones gunna ask ), yes the Thwackometer, does need recalibrating by a fair margin.
I feel a little more to come yet, I'll do a full review in a couple weeks, but I have to say, so far I'm impressed, and that doesn't happen very often. Wm