Acoustic Zen Archives - Page 5 of 5

November 5, 2006 by Michael

Showroom 3 – Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeakers…

… also breaking in.

Showroom (show area) 3 now has thge Soundlab Ultimate 1 electrostatic loudspeakers as permanent residents and the Acoustic Zen Adagio as guests.

Neli tells me there are a number of people who want to hear the Adagio’s in a larger room, so here they are for now. We still have to fuss with the positioning… and they might even end up against the long wall where we can, because they are front ported, try putting them from very close to the wall to out in the middle of the room.

The Soundlab U1 really, really sounds nice in this system. Yeah, it is an expensive front end – let’s see, about $130K for a $32K speaker – but it makes that system sound quality on a par with some of the best systems we have heard, bar none. Not just in coherence and detail, which the Soundlabs always have, but involvement and suspense and emotionalty and naturalness. Magic? Can’t tell yet, with the show and all this breaking in we haven’t got a chance to just live with it for any length of time yet. It was the introduction of the M10 that really put this over the top.. and we found this out by accident, if you will remember, when we were just trying to break in the M10 at high gain (volumes) and so put it on the hard-to-drive Soundlabs.

The equipment rack for Showroom 3. We have the Emmlabs CDSD SE transport in front, Edge Signature One amps behind it, and on the HRS MXR equipment rack the Audio Note M10 preamp and its two large Galahad power supplies and the Emmlabs DCC2 SE DAC. Lots of Shunyata Anaconda power cords, Jorma Design No. 1 speaker cable, and Nordost Valhalla interconnects – and I think we have a Jorma ‘Prime’ interconnect in here too.

The equipment rack for Showroom 3. One of the Galahad power supplies is on the top whelf – it was the only way we could get 4 things on the MXR rack given that one of those things HAD to be the M10 (for the reasons of curiosity and because we didn’t want to have to step over those big boys every time we wanted to put a CD in the transport).

[No, your eyes do not deceive you, the Edge amps are indeed on the floor. One, they do not sound so bad there, this is not the first time they have visited the carpet. Second, we really do not have enough HRS M3 Isolation Bases to go around – we know we need them, we know we want them, we know we will get them, but for right now… it is on the carpet they go]

As far as how the Adagios are sounding at this point in their breakin process…. see next post.

September 19, 2006 by Michael

Acoustic Zen Adagio

The Adagios arrived yesterday evening…

Now the break in.

They need to name another Excedrin Headache after the break-in processes.

“Got lots of congestion? Experiencing strange rhythm and pacings? Is this something new in your life? Then you got Excedrin Headache #6753. Take two asprin and call me in 200 – 600 hours.”

Actually, it sounds pretty good right out of the box. Speakers disappear really well but there is some congestion, as to be expected (considering their current positioning… aka none… they are doing great).

OK, pics:

Our Acoustic Zen Adagio.

Acoustic Zen Adagio, Kharma Mini Exquisites and SoundLab Ultimate One loudspeakers in listening room #2.

Yes, it is getting silly crowded in this room.

Acoustic Zen Adagio in another wood finish at CEDIA Expo 2006

Acoustic Zen Allegro subwoofer in a lighter finish at CEDIA Expo 2006

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September 14, 2006 by Michael

We will now be carrying the Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeaker

… as well as the Acoustic Zen line of cables (which we have been recommending for years – even though they are not quite in the stratospheric, some might say astronomical :-), price range as the cables we generally prefer here).

But the Adagios are not just a good value, they are an exceptional value. We believe them to be a high-end loudspeaker at a lower mid-fi price of $4300

We have a number of customers (and fans) who get a little short of breath (or their significant others do :-)) when they think about purchasing $50K speakers.

We will also be getting in, hopefully in the near future, the $12K or so Marten Design Miles III and Kharma 3.1c loudspeakers – which are also near-full-range like the Adagios.

And of course there are the Audio Note U.K. loudspeakers at these price ranges for those who just want a speaker to sound good 😀

All of these speakers we have heard either many times or for many hours – and they have our full respect and we have recommended them many times.

Although we specialize in the ultimate cost-no-object high-end audio system, we really do try to help people with systems in all price ranges.

I guess what all this means is that people who actually make it to the store here will soon get a chance to hear that there are a few bargains out there (a very few) and that in the end you get what you pay for – but there can be happiness, satisfaction and pride-of-ownership at every price range.

You just need to stay away from the crap and the glitter and the over-hyped junk.

Just to give y’all out there some perspective, we will soon have loudspeakers here at AF that are $250K, $145K (on sale, somebody buy these now please :-), $55K, $50K, $40K, $33K and now…. $4K.

OK, a picture of the Adagio speakers similar to the ones we will be getting in a few days.

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