Ascilab Owners – Ask Questions, Share Feedback

[Uncola]

so I have my speakers on 20" speaker stands behind my samsung 49" super ultra wide monitor. I'm not using them upside down as I used my old speakers because then the speaker wire lays on top of the passive radiator. Here's my idea:
idea: if I tape the speaker wire to the side of the speaker, I may be able to avoid having them touch the passive radiator. I have some blue non marking painters tape I can try for this. Once my virtualhifi footers arrive later this month, I think I'll try this out.
They do already sound great and I don't notice any treble nulls from how I have them now. but I'll be moving them when the footers arrive anyway so I think I'll try this little experiment and rerun dirac to see how it affects things =)

 

[MarkS]

My C6B's, ordered on June 14, are scheduled to arrive here in California tomorrow.

 

[fcracer]

My C6B's, ordered on June 14, are scheduled to arrive here in California tomorrow.

Mine ordered June 13th have also shipped and are enroute to Hong Kong. Too bad I’m out of town for a few weeks so I won’t be able to try them until I get back.

 

[MarkS]

OK, got the C6B's out of the box and quickly set up on some 24" bar stools. Running them full range out of a 60W Lyngdorf TDAI-1120, sub off, room correction and all EQ off.

And ... well, they sound amazing for the minimal set up. I'm very impressed.

 

[jEDGEc0m]

Fuelling the hype! I'm checking pretty regularly to see when they are available to order again on the website. I appreciate that they're not taking orders if they aren't in a position to fulfil them in a timely fashion. ...but also concerned that the success and demand will jack up the prices... Hope things aren't too stressful and busy with the AsciLabs people.

 

[jEDGEc0m]

I recall Erin of Erin's Audio Corner (EAC), in his very positive video review of the AsciLab C6B, saying that perhaps a somewhat unusual characteristic of the C6B that might contribute to their favourable sound in his subjective optinion was how the directivity widens a little towards some higher frequencies.

I was poking around on the wonderful spinorama.org (Thanks @pierre !), and noticed that the JBL HDI-1600 has a pretty similar pattern to its horizontal directivity, smooth, but swelling out in width >5khz
(Amir here measured the JBL HDI-1600 back in 2020)

Easily compare loudspeakers measurements

www.spinorama.org

I have the JBL Studio 630, and evidently the dispersion/waveguide is not making quite the same outcome the same as the HDI-1600. The HDI-1600 seem to generally be rather more expensive, and i remain intrigued by the ~1khz crossover of the AsciLab F6b/C6B models.

Even with eq, and amateur-hobby conversion of the JBL Studio 630 to a bi-amped active crossover, I'm not entirely satisfied with the sound - It could be my room (3.5x3.5m), but some narrow frequencies sometimes really come piercing through in a pretty unpleasant and surprising way on some songs.

Great story huh?

 

[Curvature]

JBL Studio 630

Measurements for speaker JBL Studio 630

www.spinorama.org

The on axis is pretty uneven unfortunately. Are you using anechoic EQ based on the review measurements or your own?

 

[jEDGEc0m]

Measurements for speaker JBL Studio 630

www.spinorama.org

The on axis is pretty uneven unfortunately. Are you using anechoic EQ based on the review measurements or your own?

My JBL Studio 630 have been eq'd to in room response at listening position with umik-1 moving mic measurements. I did that in loungeroom when they were using their stock crossover, then there was a bunch of makeshift measurements in the conversion to active crossover/bi-amp, but ultimately they too were eq'd for in room response, in the smaller aforementioned 3.5x3.5m room. (They only got maybe a few hours casual listening on day 1 before eq/correction once in my possession)

I got them for a great price, and was curious to try compression driver and big waveguide, but at the time, measurements had not been available. Indeed, they measure pretty disappointing! but the decent directivity should have made them a pretty promising speaker. To be fair, the sound is mostly still pretty delightful in there, and I do feel like the phantom centre and stereo separation seems subjectively good. (using two "subs" - actually using a pair of 2x8" floorstanders that do well for the job in a small room).

JBL ports are plugged, crossover to the "subs" at 70hz, LR8.

Before ordering AsciLab, I plan to swtich them out to a pair of JBL Studio S26 (passive x-over, metal dome tweeter, small waveguide), and room tuning, see how I perceive the contrast, and whether some of those narrow frequencies that sometimes strike me remain.

 

[Curvature]

My JBL Studio 630 have been eq'd to in room response at listening position with umik-1 moving mic measurements. I did that in loungeroom when they were using their stock crossover, then there was a bunch of makeshift measurements in the conversion to active crossover/bi-amp, but ultimately they too were eq'd for in room response, in the smaller aforementioned 3.5x3.5m room. (They only got maybe a few hours casual listening on day 1 before eq/correction once in my possession)

I got them for a great price, and was curious to try compression driver and big waveguide, but at the time, measurements had not been available. Indeed, they measure pretty disappointing! but the decent directivity should have made them a pretty promising speaker. To be fair, the sound is mostly still pretty delightful in there, and I do feel like the phantom centre and stereo separation seems subjectively good. (using two "subs" - actually using a pair of 2x8" floorstanders that do well for the job in a small room).

JBL ports are plugged, crossover to the "subs" at 70hz, LR8.

Before ordering AsciLab, I plan to swtich them out to a pair of JBL Studio S26 (passive x-over, metal dome tweeter, small waveguide), and room tuning, see how I perceive the contrast, and whether some of those narrow frequencies that sometimes strike me remain.

Maybe try a close range windowed measurement first and EQ individually per channel above 500Hz-1kHz. Then do an MMM for a another filter overlay to fix the bass and for taste.

I bring this up because, like you say, in principle the EQ should work given the directivity of the 630.

 

[jEDGEc0m]

Maybe try a close range windowed measurement first and EQ individually per channel above 500Hz-1kHz. Then do an MMM for a another filter overlay to fix the bass and for taste.

I bring this up because, like you say, in principle the EQ should work given the directivity of the 630.

Thanks for the suggestion - might break out the microphone one of these days before swapping speakers - i guess if there are narrow resonances from the speaker that correlate to what i sometimes hear, they might get hidden by the windowed measurement's reduced resolution?

I did add some narrow filters by ear from evaluating sine tones to tame what sometimes pierces through into my perception - seems to have helped.

Listening to sine tones can be very weird! - was interesting how playing tones from one speaker side, at certain frequencies was perceived to be originating from elsewhere, even as far as completely the other side of the room sometimes.

 

[Curvature]

i guess if there are narrow resonances from the speaker that correlate to what i sometimes hear, they might get hidden by the windowed measurement's reduced resolution

Only below 500Hz or so. You can also try a frequency dependent window (FDW). The idea is to have a sense of the direct sound, which is less flat than it should be in the 630.

Listening to sine tones can be very weird! - was interesting how playing tones from one speaker side, at certain frequencies was perceived to be originating from elsewhere, even as far as completely the other side of the room sometimes.

Continuous single tones with no envelope are never produced in nature. They are an ur-sound, like cosmic horror that overwhelms our feeble ear-brain.

(More seriously that's normal and caused by cancelation patterns.)

 

[jEDGEc0m]

Only below 500Hz or so. You can also try a frequency dependent window (FDW). The idea is to have a sense of the direct sound, which is less flat than it should be in the 630.

Continuous single tones with no envelope are never produced in nature. They are an ur-sound, like cosmic horror that overwhelms our feeble ear-brain.

(More seriously that's normal and caused by cancelation patterns.)

The horror!
Yeah, when I crack out the mic n measure, will be interesting to see what the close range windowed measurement with all the current listening position eq actually looks like. I suspect it will be far from linear.

 

[MarkS]

I'm checking pretty regularly to see when they are available to order again on the website.

They're available now:

ascilab c6b

ascilab c6b passive speaker

ascilab.com

 

[jEDGEc0m]

They're available now:

ascilab c6b

ascilab c6b passive speaker

ascilab.com

Shhhh! You'll generate hype. (and nice to see the price is as before)

Thanks - I did see just a little while ago - and did some evaluations again and concluded, again, that the F6B would be the one for me. Likely. Eventually.

How is your time progressing with yours? (and though if you had said before, I may have read it, but can't recall what speakers you might have had before...)

 

[MarkS]

I've now got them crossed at 80Hz with an SVS 3000 Micro sub and ran Lyngdorf's Room Perfect on the combo. I'm not completely satisfied with the result in the bass, so I need to investigate some more.

My previous speakers were GoldenEar Triton Sevens, bought a few years ago before discovering ASR. Measurements are OK:

SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - NRC Measurements: GoldenEar Technology Triton Seven Loudspeakers

www.soundstagenetwork.com

I was happy with their sound, but was curious to try something that measured better. My expectation was that better measuring speakers would sound "different" but not immediately "better", because my brain had by now thoroughly adapted to the sound of the GoldenEars.

But I was wrong. The C6Bs sounded immediately and obviously better. The old cliche of a "veil removed" applies.

I had been thinking of upgrading to something in the $4K range like the Ascend ELX, Philharmonic HT, or Revel F226Be, but for now I am completely happy with the C6Bs.

 

[jEDGEc0m]

I've now got them crossed at 80Hz with an SVS 3000 Micro sub and ran Lyngdorf's Room Perfect on the combo. I'm not completely satisfied with the result in the bass, so I need to investigate some more.

My previous speakers were GoldenEar Triton Sevens, bought a few years ago before discovering ASR. Measurements are OK:

SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - NRC Measurements: GoldenEar Technology Triton Seven Loudspeakers

www.soundstagenetwork.com

I was happy with their sound, but was curious to try something that measured better. My expectation was that better measuring speakers would sound "different" but not immediately "better", because my brain had by now thoroughly adapted to the sound of the GoldenEars.

But I was wrong. The C6Bs sounded immediately and obviously better. The old cliche of a "veil removed" applies.

I had been thinking of upgrading to something in the $4K range like the Ascend ELX, Philharmonic HT, or Revel F226Be, but for now I am completely happy with the C6Bs.

Good Hype! Thanks

And good to hear that despite the tilt and presumably reduction in treble compared to what you were used to, the AsciLab don't sound weird/dull at first.

Standmount + sub doing the job, vs towers. Cool.

Knowing they measure so near ideal, should be years of listening enjoyment, if you let yourself and money saved, could get a second sub. Enjoy!

 

[Purité Audio]

They just sound ‘right’.
Keith

 

[MarkS]

Knowing they measure so near ideal, should be years of listening enjoyment, if you let yourself and money saved, could get a second sub. Enjoy!

Thanks! A second sub is my likely next move. I'd like to try crossing higher with dual subs.

 

[willip]

by the time I'd gotten a break from work to check my personal email the C6Bs had already sold out again; gotta get better with my refresh finger : /

 

[MarkS]

by the time I'd gotten a break from work to check my personal email the C6Bs had already sold out again; gotta get better with my refresh finger : /

Ouch!