AsciLAB A6B @ Purité Audio

[Matt_Holland]

Mental note not to invite Matt Holland around for tea.
Keith

I should state that I have only poked the one tweeter. A clean record for the last 29 years. Please resend your invite for tea.

 

[Purité Audio]

Once a poker…
Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

A potential A6B customer took a pair home with him to compare to his KEF R3 Metas ( which admittedly are cheaper than the A6Bs)
He just wrote to me and I quote,
‘We just pressed play after listening to the KEFs for comparison and we were both immediately in agreement that the A6Bs are clearly superior .
No question about it.’

 

[Curvature]

A potential A6B customer took a pair home with him to compare to his KEF R3 Metas ( which admittedly are cheaper than the A6Bs)
He just wrote to me and I quote,
‘We just pressed play after listening to the KEFs for comparison and we were both immediately in agreement that the A6Bs are clearly superior .
No question about it.’

I wonder if that customer would be open to more controlled listening. The A6B has a lot more bass than the R3. If they high pass at 1kHz and set the same level, I'd like to know if their opinion holds. The A6B is certainly smoother up top.

 

[Lars Risbo]

high pass at 1k and both will sound very thin. Don’t follow what is meant by controlled listening. you mean if you EQed both to the same response?

 

[Purité Audio]

I imagine if he only wanted to hear 1kHz and above he would have bought Linn Kans.
Keith

 

[Matt_Holland]

A potential A6B customer took a pair home with him to compare to his KEF R3 Metas ( which admittedly are cheaper than the A6Bs)
He just wrote to me and I quote,
‘We just pressed play after listening to the KEFs for comparison and we were both immediately in agreement that the A6Bs are clearly superior .
No question about it.’

Were levels matched?

That’s great though. R3 are terrific speakers but I suspect the A6B bludgeon it in the bass.

 

[Purité Audio]

I very much doubt they were, and the R3 are two thirds of the price, but the A6B are really spectacular speakers, their bass is incredible but its not just the bass, their clarity, tonality, really you have to hear them for yourself.
Keith

 

[Lars Risbo]

much lower midrange IMD too is my guess.

 

[WeekendWarrior]

An interesting comparison would be A6Bs vs C6Bs with a pair of subs. Unless you went crazy with the subs, the latter would be cheaper and allow sub placement to mitigate room modes.

I've gone for the latter, and have a pair of C6Bs, courtesy of Keith, paired with two subs.

 

[Curvature]

high pass at 1k and both will sound very thin. Don’t follow what is meant by controlled listening. you mean if you EQed both to the same response?

I meant a few basic controls like rudimentary level matching, similar speaker positioning and listening to one speaker at a time.

To diminish room impacts, filtering above 1kHz allows comparison of directivity, although on-axis response will still confound the impression somewhat. Matching on-axis FR to roughly 2dB, in line with the ITU standard for listening tests meant to detecting small impairments, would further increase confidence.

Any kind of effort at controlled listening is worthwhile. It's a lot to ask, though, no doubt about that.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I very much doubt they were, and the R3 are two thirds of the price, but the A6B are really spectacular speakers, their bass is incredible but its not just the bass, their clarity, tonality, really you have to hear them for yourself.
Keith

Seems like the A6B will also probably play a good deal louder than either the KEF R3 Metas or even the C6B. Have you really cranked them yet to see if you can hit those 105 db peaks? Or do you see that as being just downright reckless?

 

[Purité Audio]

I have had them. playing pretty loudly, dangerously loud ,enough so you have to really raise your voice speaking to the person sitting next to you.
For me they sound excellent and like a really well designed large three way.
When the C6Bs are back in stock I will make the C6B/sub A6b comparison.
If you don’t really have space / or just done want extra boxes then the A6B are pretty much perfect.
Keith

 

[WeekendWarrior]

When the C6Bs are back in stock I will make the C6B/sub A6b comparison

I'd offer to help, but:

1. I'm not sure how to do this in an ASR sensitive way
2. My single LA90D is probably not man enough for the A6Bs
3. I'd be scared that I'd prefer the A6Bs!

My guess would be that at sensible volumes there'd not be too much difference, but look forward to your results.

 

[Purité Audio]

C6bs are superb speakers, none of Jinsung’s designs have disappointed no one as yet has returned a pair.
They have exceeded my expectations and when you think about the designs that are in the pipeline…
Keith

 

[Jiraya369]

An interesting comparison would be A6Bs vs C6Bs with a pair of subs. Unless you went crazy with the subs, the latter would be cheaper and allow sub placement to mitigate room modes.

I've gone for the latter, and have a pair of C6Bs, courtesy of Keith, paired with two subs.

the a6b to my eyes seem to be a bit more linear, has better low end extension and most importantly better distortion handling

all ascilab speakers seem to be designed with a sub in mind as they become class leading, basically, with subs. I'm eyeing the C6B as it's not that much more expensive than the F6B for a far more linear (at least to my eyes) response.

 

[WeekendWarrior]

the a6b to my eyes seem to be a bit more linear, has better low end extension and most importantly better distortion handling

all ascilab speakers seem to be designed with a sub in mind as they become class leading, basically, with subs. I'm eyeing the C6B as it's not that much more expensive than the F6B for a far more linear (at least to my eyes) response.

My subs, which I had prior to the C6Bs, add a lot to the mix, so I agree with your comment about them becoming class leading with subs. I get down to around 20Hz, but the biggest difference for me is the soundstage...my subs are app controlled and I sometimes switch them off which results in a noticeable narrowing of the soundstage. I have one sub at the side of my left speaker and the other diagonally opposite as this worked better than one at the side of each speaker. I think for me the C6B with dual subs would probably work better than A6Bs alone. Of course A6Bs with dual subs would be something else!

Fortunately I don't need to crank the C6Bs up anywhere near where distortion becomes a problem. I'm sure you'll love the C6Bs should you get them.

 

[Jiraya369]

My subs, which I had prior to the C6Bs, add a lot to the mix, so I agree with your comment about them becoming class leading with subs. I get down to around 20Hz, but the biggest difference for me is the soundstage...my subs are app controlled and I sometimes switch them off which results in a noticeable narrowing of the soundstage. I have one sub at the side of my left speaker and the other diagonally opposite as this worked better than one at the side of each speaker. I think for me the C6B with dual subs would probably work better than A6Bs alone. Of course A6Bs with dual subs would be something else!

Fortunately I don't need to crank the C6Bs up anywhere near where distortion becomes a problem. I'm sure you'll love the C6Bs should you get them.

oh wow you have the C6B? NICE! How are you finding them my friend? Erin gave glowing reviews and it just made me wanna learn about em and seeing the data just shocked me, unbelievably good stuff.

I'm curious about something, how close do you have them to the wall? Do you think having them too close to the wall is detrimental? I'm looking to use nearfield and then midfield when im roaming around the room and that's it. But my room isn't too big and I only have 1-4 inches from the wall.

btw what subs do you have?

 

[WeekendWarrior]

I'm enjoying the C6Bs very much. Mine are in modern grey and Keith posted a picture of them in situ in my room, here.

They are about 10 inches away from the wall behind and I have one sub in the left hand corner (you can just see it peeking out from behind the cabinet) and the other is bottom right, but not visible in the picture.

My subs are from a UK company (where I'm from) called MJ Acoustics. You may not need subs at all in a small room/ apartment and your neighbours may not appreciate them either!

There is a picture that gets posted on the forums from speaker manufacturer Genelec that suggests close to the wall can be a good option. If you've not seen it have a look around. In my case I have a bit of EQ to tame some low frequency peaks.

 

[Jiraya369]

I'm enjoying the C6Bs very much. Mine are in modern grey and Keith posted a picture of them in situ in my room here. They are about 10 inches away from the wall behind and I have one sub in the left hand corner (you can just see it peeking out from behind the cabinet) and the other is bottom right, but not visible in the picture.

My subs are from a UK company (where I'm from) called MJ Acoustics. You may not need subs at all in a small room/ apartment and your neighbours may not appreciate them either!

There is a picture that gets posted on the forums from speaker manufacturer Genelec that suggests close to the wall can be a good option. If you've not seen it have a look around. In my case I have a bit of EQ to tame some low frequency peaks.

thank you so much for the great answer, have a nice day!

btw ur username is badass haha