Conrad Johnson Owners.com

Tell me what speakers you are using and think mate well with Conrad Johnson gear.

I'm very happy with my 1973 AR2ax'. Restored with new caps, pots, surrounds, finish.

Peter,

Absolutely beautiful speakers. I have a pair of AR3a from my dad that I am thinking of having restored. All of those Acoustic Research speakers have a great history and I hate to see mine languish. It breaks my heart. You have a lovely system. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Joe! The 3a's are supposedly the all time best of the brand. The 2ax' is it's baby brother. Go for it!

I have some resources it you get interested. pdf's on restoration and a helpful guy in CT that sells replacement pots and caps. All in all, I put $200 of parts into the restoration after buying them locally from Craigs List for $200. The speakers cost me $400 total - best bargain ever!

Thanks Peter. If you could post or pm me any resources you have, I'd be grateful. I know a guy in Pennsylvania. His name is Bill Legall of Miller Sound. I have not pressed him yet as to how far we can take the restoration but I've been thinking about this for a long time.

My username on other forums such as audioshark.org and whatbestforum is the same as here and I recognize your name.

Peter,

Thank you so much for all the great information. I'll do some reading and keep you posted on the restoration.

Please do!

joeinid wrote:Tell me what speakers you are using and think mate well with Conrad Johnson gear.

I have a great affinity for planar speakers. I just absolutely love their detail in the mid and high ranges. If you have a chance, I would try to listen to some planar speakers such as Martin Logan or Magnepan. They are really transparent and give a wonderfully detailed (but not harsh) sound. You should be aware of some downsides however. They have a very small sweet spot. It's really a one listener speaker. Also, placement is a big issue as the rear wave is just as strong as the front so they tend to sound their best a few feet off of a back wall. If you have the space and you do most of your listening by yourself, I would highly recommend doing a listening session as they do sound very nice.

I use a Martin Logan Vantage and I can't say enough good things about it, but there are many speakers to choose from...

I use VMPS ribbon monitor loudspeakers. The ribbon midranges use direct drive with no intervening ringing transformers and have only a single high quality cap (made from multiple parallel caps) in the series signal. The planar ribbon driver with powerful neodymium magnets is lighter than the air that it drives, so it is air damped and exhibits virtually no ringing. It covers the frequency range of 280 Hz to about 10 kHZ, where the signal is handed off to a similar planar super tweeter. When going back to a cone driven loudspeaker, you are going to hear a loss of inner resolution and dynamic range. By comparison, any cone loudspeaker is going to be "slow" with internal vibrations in the cone that must be damped out. The cone drivers that produce bass below 280 Hz are fast enough to not be bothered by this, and cross over to the midrange a bit below the natural box resonance of th enclosure so that box resonance is not as much of an issue, and operate in the floor dip range where the distributed effect of floor dip is shared between the woofers and midrange and tend to cancel each other out a bit. With judicious placement, I measure + or - 3dB frequency response at my listening position, without any sort of equalization in the signal path. VMPS also used QSO (quasi second order) filter design that behaves like 6 db filters at crossover yet gives -12 dB protection below crossover frequency. Those that use single poles for phase linearity in the crossover region must do so at a much higher frequency to protect the driver, and will get harsh at high volumes levels anyway. A prime example is the Vandersteen 2Ci speaker which I also own, which sounds really good until you crank them up and compare to VMPS ribbon speakers. And yes, they play louder and clearer than Magneplanar or Martin-Logan. VMPS was originally known for its subwoofers, and using that technology in its full-range models means they blow away Magneplanar, Eminent Technology, Martin-Logan, and Sound Lab in the bass region, for less money as well.

Since Brian Cheney died, VMPS is out of business and the loudspeakers are no longer available new. The supply of spare neopanels is also similarly gone except for robbing them from some of the lower priced VMPS loudspeakers that used only a panel or two per side. THe CDWG waveguide that Brian patented gives 180 degrees of dispersion across the midrange and tweeter, in the last models of loudspeakers that were produced. Mine is an earlier version without the CDWG. VMPS won "best of show" on several occasions, against much higher priced loudspeakers. The reasonable pricing of VMPS ribbon monitors tended to make snobbish audiophiles ignore them, and Brain's attitude toward the high end audio industry in general did not make him too many friends in the industry. His loudspeakers are an insider cult favorite in audio, and will be for many years to come.

I have to agree with the Admin on this one. I think electrostatics really show their magic with CJ equipment. I know Magnaplaners have a smaller sweet spot but are good speakers. One of the reasons Martin Logan has a 30 degree "bend" in their panels is to enlarge the sweet spot quite a bit. I know my imaging is fantastic.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Jeff

I just figure I chime in on the Martin Logan curvilinear electostat panel. I owned the Martin Logan Vantage speakers which employed the "bent panel". I can say that it does allow for a little more variation in seating position compared to the flat Magnepan 20.1's I use now. With that being said, I think planar speakers are still fundamentally a one person listening speakers. I'm not saying that you can't have multiple people listening, but being even a few inches off the sweet spot will effect the soundstage dramatically. Even with the Vantages at about 15 ft away, a 6 inch movement of my head to the left or right of of center made a very noticeable shift in the soundstage. I think the MG 20.1's are even less forgiving. The reason I say this, is that like everything else in life, there are pros and cons. The transparency of planar speakers are hard matched by any other speakers in their price range, however, if you do most of your listening with more than 1 person in the room, they may not be the best choice.

Focal 1027 be

Quad 989

@diwakarv
Very cool speaker. Which finish do you have? I have seen some of the most beautiful wood veneers on the Focal 1027.

@Joe
Big fan of planar speakers. Awesome.
By the way, I think your link is not good as it's asking me for username/password.

Yep, you're right. We'll have to do without a picture I guess. Also with my keen computer skills, I managed to post it twice. Sorry about that.

Update: Okay, figured out how to do it (see previous post). Still don't know how to delete the duplicate entry, though.

Joe Appierto wrote:Yep, you're right. We'll have to do without a picture I guess. Also with my keen computer skills, I managed to post it twice. Sorry about that.

Update: Okay, figured out how to do it (see previous post). Still don't know how to delete the duplicate entry, though.

Took care of the duplicate post for you.

The quads look awesome. Tell, me do you have any issues with imaging as I see that the walls are different behind the two speakers? I know my magnepan's are very finicky about placement as dipole speakers tend bounce that equally powerful rear wave off the wall.

Perched on the ledge behind each speaker is an Acoustic Revive RWL-3 diffuser panel. The speakers stand about 3' into the room and even before adding the panels, I'd thought the Quads were very good at imaging. However, it did improve once they were in the mix and low level detail increased as well. You can read more about the panels http://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/ ... l3_01.html. While not inexpensive, I think they've been worthwhile.

Well, my TAD CR-1's are sold and I have Harbeth 30.1 now with 40.1's coming soon.

I love rosewood -- very nice looking, Joe.

I agree that really looks beautiful. I bought my Hsu Research sub with a very similar rosewood veneer (which I think looks very nice) but that looks much nicer.