AsciLab F6B Bookshelf Speaker Review

[MarkS]

Hi,
I'm thinking about buying a pair of Ascilab F6B.
The room being quite small, I don't think I'll absolutly need a sub.

My main concern is my amp. the Wiim Amp Pro (2x60W under 8Ohms).
Would it be enough to drive a pair ?

If you're not listening to bass-heavy music insanely loud, it should be totally fine.

 

[totti1965]

IMO, there are two different contributions to "soundstage width" in a stereo (two channel) system.

One is on the recording itself. Out-of-phase signals can sound like they are coming from outside the areea between the two speakers (eg, from the region to the left of left speaker). A good test of this effect is out-of-phase pink noise (equivalently, mono pink noise with one channel with reversed polarity). This effect is reduced by room reflections, because they do not have the correct phase relations. Therefore speakers with narrow dispersion are better at conveying this type of "soundstage width".

The second type of "soundstage width" is created by room reflections. This effect is not on the recording itself, and would not be present in an anechoic chamber. Broad dispersion speakers result in more of these reflections. For many types of music (in particular classical orchestral music), these reflections can create an illusion of greater concert-hall realism. Omni and similar speakers produce the extreme of this effect. Floyd Toole himself once had such a system in his own home, specifically for classical music. (He has since moved on to multichannel systems, which he believes give superior results.) I had bipolar speakers for many years, and was quite happy with them.

But now I am quite happy with my C6B speakers. They excel at the first type of soundstage width, and have enough of the second type to keep me happy.

Yesterday I have visited the Burmester Room at „Deutsche HiFi Tage“ in Darmstadt.
My Seat Place was perfect: Second row, middle.

Even though, the overall experience of the US$ 200.000 to US$ 300.000 Stuff was quite impressive, it was obvious,
that at all the recordings the with of the soundstage was far beyond the speakers left from left speaker and right from right speaker.

I can’t help myself: 3 Days before, I have listen to a 1973 Klipschorn at a friends home. ( @Heinz R )
Soundstage a bit to much. Everything to big!
We found out that the midspeaker of the Klipschorn was out of phase after Heinz did some modifications two days earlier!

Can it be, that Burmester uses this cheap trick to simulate a bigger soundstage for impressing not so experienced listeners?

Big soundstage is a Problem, not a goody!!!

By the way: I think, the whole design (MTM, 7-Inches woofer, AMT freestanding in the middle!) was simply stolen from Artist Cloner who charges just less than 1/3 of what the Burmester guys wanted for their Construction. And I am sure:
Artist Cloner knows exactly how to implement Bass and Hights in the Correct Phase!

Artist Cloner Mekanika:

Burmester (sorry, if anyone can tell me how to turn the pics 180 degrees, tell me!):

View attachment 484217

 

[PaulF2020]

Yesterday I have visited the Burmester Room at „Deutsche HiFi Tage“ in Darmstadt.
My Seat Place was perfect: Second row, middle.

Even though, the overall experience of the US$ 200.000 to US$ 300.000 Stuff was quite impressive, it was obvious,
that at all the recordings the with of the soundstage was far beyond the speakers left from left speaker and right from right speaker.

I can’t help myself: 3 Days before listening to a 1973 Klipschorn at a friends home. ( @Heinz R )
Soundstage a bit to much. Everything to big!
We found out that the midspeaker of the Klipschorn was out of phase after Heinz did some modifications two days earlier!

Can it be, that Burmester uses this cheap trick to simulate a bigger soundstage for impressing not so experienced listeners?

Big soundstage is a Problem, not a goody!!!

By the way: I think, the whole design (MTM, 7-Inches woofer, AMT freestanding in the middle!) was simply stolen from Artist Cloner who charges just less than 1/3 of what the Burmester guys wanted for their Construction. And I am sure:
Artist Cloner knows exactly how to implement Bass and Hights in the Correct Phase!

At least they have wooden cable stands, that adds a bit to soundstage too

 

[totti1965]

Hi,
I'm thinking about buying a pair of Ascilab F6B.
The room being quite small, I don't think I'll absolutly need a sub.

My main concern is my amp. the Wiim Amp Pro (2x60W under 8Ohms).
Would it be enough to drive a pair ?

I am shure, it will work :

Peak SPL Calculator

 

[Raiju]

 

[totti1965]

View attachment 484348

Thank you for turning my pic in the correct direction. Much appreciated!

 

[NerroEx]

Hello all,

I am very new here and I don't know much about anything audio related. I am going to be getting an apartment when I move soon, I intend to have at least a medium size living room. I am wondering if I should get these, I have an LG G5 TV and I want to set up my room with 7.1.2 surround. My step dad has some Yamaha receiver (i'll have to look it up later) and I have no idea where to start to buy these things. My budget for everything without a receiver is 1000$ (1500$ USD MAX if I have to push it)

I live in the USA and am not sure how I should go about buying these.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Burmester (sorry, if anyone can tell me how to turn the pics 180 degrees, tell me!):

On Windows {Faststone|Irfanview} are both no-cost apps that will do that.

 

[totti1965]

On Windows {Faststone|Irfanview} are both no-cost apps that will do that.

Thank you! I used to use my iPad 6 for 7 years upside down (Real Racing 3 etc.) because I like to have the loudness control on my right thumb.
Not so handy for taking pictures. I should ask chat GPT for doing the rotation in the apple Fotos App... was to lazy

 

[MarkS]

Hello all,

I am very new here and I don't know much about anything audio related. I am going to be getting an apartment when I move soon, I intend to have at least a medium size living room. I am wondering if I should get these, I have an LG G5 TV and I want to set up my room with 7.1.2 surround. My step dad has some Yamaha receiver (i'll have to look it up later) and I have no idea where to start to buy these things. My budget for everything without a receiver is 1000$ (1500$ USD MAX if I have to push it)

I live in the USA and am not sure how I should go about buying these.

They are currently out of stock: https://ascilab.com/category/f6b/68

Our host here @amirm has plans to become the US dealer. Either way, likely unavailable until January.

But: you cannot get a decent 7.1.2 system with a $1500 budget. You would be much better off just getting two good main speakers and a subwoofer, and then eventually adding other speakers for the other channels as budget allows.

Find a Best Buy or other store that has home theater systems set up and go listen to them to get an idea of what's available and what it costs.

 

[NerroEx]

They are currently out of stock: https://ascilab.com/category/f6b/68

Our host here @amirm has plans to become the US dealer. Either way, likely unavailable until January.

But: you cannot get a decent 7.1.2 system with a $1500 budget. You would be much better off just getting two good main speakers and a subwoofer, and then eventually adding other speakers for the other channels as budget allows.

Find a Best Buy or other store that has home theater systems set up and go listen to them to get an idea of what's available and what it costs.

Thank you for this information! If I bought some ELACs and just had a 5.1 for now, would it be a bad idea to mix those with the ASCILAB F6B's? I'm moving to Virginia and there is a CrutchField store there, It's 2.5 hours away but I would definitely be down to take a Saturday out to drive there to listen to the stuff they have there and maybe get some advice too. I'm so sad that i'll probably have to get a new receiver for the "above" speakers D:

I guess for right now, I can use 2 speakers that my grandmother left me (idk what they are) but I would buy a pair of ELAC Debut Reference B6.2 Bookshelf Speakers and a ELAC Debut 2.0 C6.2 Center Channel Speaker.

 

[Bucking]

How well would the ascilabs speakers in general work for home theater since they have quite low sensitivity?

 

[Ktacos]

How well would the ascilabs speakers in general work for home theater since they have quite low sensitivity?

I wouldn't consider 85 low for a bookshelf speaker, about average. Sensitivity doesn't matter much as long as you have the wattage to get the speaker to the level you want. These speakers should be great for any home use case really.

 

[tw 2022]

How well would the ascilabs speakers in general work for home theater since they have quite low sensitivity?

they should be ok in a small room ... I wouldn't do a large living room with 5 of them...but as the above responder said: wattage fixes this to a degree...

 

[MarkS]

Thank you for this information! If I bought some ELACs and just had a 5.1 for now, would it be a bad idea to mix those with the ASCILAB F6B's?

I would stick with ELACs, they are excellent speakers,.

I'm moving to Virginia and there is a CrutchField store there, It's 2.5 hours away but I would definitely be down to take a Saturday out to drive there to listen to the stuff they have there and maybe get some advice too.

Excellent plan.

I'm so sad that i'll probably have to get a new receiver for the "above" speakers D:

Be sure the old one won't work for you before buying a new one. If it's not actually broken, it's probably fine.

I guess for right now, I can use 2 speakers that my grandmother left me (idk what they are) but I would buy a pair of ELAC Debut Reference B6.2 Bookshelf Speakers and a ELAC Debut 2.0 C6.2 Center Channel Speaker.

Good plan. But you might prefer a sub to a center channel if budget does not allow both. If possible, get the Crutchfield people to demo both options.

 

[NerroEx]

I would stick with ELACs, they are excellent speakers,.

Excellent plan.

Be sure the old one won't work for you before buying a new one. If it's not actually broken, it's probably fine.

Good plan. But you might prefer a sub to a center channel if budget does not allow both. If possible, get the Crutchfield people to demo both options.

Ill def check out the receiver and see what it is capable of. Maybe I can use it for a simple setup in my bedroom worst case scenario or something. I saw a pic I took of it months ago and it's only 7.1, I don't think it can do atmos above speakers D:

I looked up the place and it looks so exciting. I don't mind stretching the budget if need be. Can't wait to check that place out!

 

[jEDGEc0m]

I wouldn't consider 85 low for a bookshelf speaker, about average. Sensitivity doesn't matter much as long as you have the wattage to get the speaker to the level you want. These speakers should be great for any home use case really.

Yeah, I agree. In practice, I've found the AsciLab F6B have more volume for given input power than other speakers that claim higher sensitivity, probably because I don't have to eq them as much, particularly in the ~+3khz zone where a lotta speakers seem like to get a little hotter. and also the sensitivity figure is genuine, instead of uh, optimistic.

 

[a4eaudio]

How well would the ascilabs speakers in general work for home theater since they have quite low sensitivity?

I wouldn't consider 85 low for a bookshelf speaker, about average.

Yes, 85dB 2.83v/1m for a bookshelf with a 6-inch driver is average or maybe even a little above average. (They are 84dB per Ascilab's product page.)

Sensitivity doesn't matter much as long as you have the wattage to get the speaker to the level you want...

...but as the above responder said: wattage fixes this to a degree...

This is true theoretically about sensitivity, but not true when discussing a typical 6-inch bookshelf. The woofer is rated at 40W (which is the power handling of the voicecoil) but is going to reach xmax at around 20 watts. Max SPL is probably around 94-95dB and this shows up in Amirm's distortion plots in post #1. Almost any amplifier is going to provide 20 watts, so more watts isn't going to get you more SPL than the 6-inch woofer can produce, its just going to give you distortion or a blown speaker.

While 95dB sounds like a lot, this is at 1 meter, so if you want 20dB peaks at 2.5 to 3 meters you need bigger speakers. As tw 2022 points out, these look great for smaller rooms, but whether they can perform in a larger room really depends on the use case.

 

[Bucking]

But sadly no matching center channel :/

 

[CheapBastard]

Is there anyone here that have mine combo f6B and fosi Audio V3 mono?

-And tried another combo than V3, and it was better?