End Game Speaker Quest - The Final Chapter

[MKR]

Surely the staff could help?

Staff? Anyway, not shipping these bad boys over to Amir, enough risk as it is to be damaged just shipping to me. Nice thought, but ain’t gonna happen

 

[sceptical1]

Ship Amir (Erin) and the klippel to your pad. Pay the airfare and feed him. I have a bad feeling about the measurement results considering the cost of those speakers.

 

[MKR]

Ship Amir (Erin) and the klippel to your pad. Pay the airfare and feed him. I have a bad feeling about the measurement results considering the cost of those speakers.

Uhhh, no. Bad feeling about measurements considering cost? I have no idea what you are even talking about

 

[Matt_Holland]

Staff? Anyway, not shipping these bad boys over to Amir, enough risk as it is to be damaged just shipping to me. Nice thought, but ain’t gonna happen

Both of my comments were a joke.

 

[MKR]

Both of my comments were a joke.

Ah, gotcha! Well played sir

 

[MKR]

I am saying that the measurements will be far from accurate according to klippel because the speakers are not monopole.
Are the speakers really 10k a pair? If so, not a price usually associated with end game. I just assumed they were much more expensive.

Endgame is relative to the person, has little to do with an absolute cost. Regardless, these are far from $10k, not sure where you got that figure. Try north of $20k (I wish they were $10k! )

 

[Matt_Holland]

Endgame is relative to the person, has little to do with an absolute cost. Regardless, these are far from $10k, not sure where you got that figure. Try north of $20k (I wish they were $10k! )

When you consider what you can spend on high-end audio, $20k looks to be a bargain with the amount of customisation involved.

 

[speedygonzalez]

When you consider what you can spend on high-end audio, $20k looks to be a bargain with the amount of customisation involved.

Customization does not mean results. Are these a known and proven brand with good measuring components?

 

[Soniclife]

I am saying that the measurements will be far from accurate according to klippel because the speakers are not monopole.

Why does monopole matter to the NFS?

 

[Duke]

Nope, they are terrible speakers, so don’t buy them

Ha! Well said!!

Some people are open to innovation and have sufficient understanding of the principles involved to do their own analysis and arrive at their own conclusions... which could lead to an in-home audition.

And for others, giving serious contemplation to something "unproven" is too far outside of their comfort zones.

 

[sceptical1]

Why does monopole matter to the NFS?

I was trying to make some sense of what the OP had for speakers. On the Soundfield site we have powered floor standers with planar drivers, previous pictures in the thread show some open back, some not. As the OP says these are a one off design from Soundfield and ultimately not what I had thought.

The klippel measures the direct sound, an anechoic simulation. Like the Magnepan review here, things get messy when dipole/bipole radiation needs to be taken into consideration. The klippel could be right and something like any Linkwitz, Bose, Magnepan design is not the way to make a loudspeaker?

 

[MKR]

I was trying to make some sense of what the OP had for speakers. On the Soundfield site we have powered floor standers with planar drivers, previous pictures in the thread show some open back, some not. As the OP says these are a one off design from Soundfield and ultimately not what I had thought.

The klippel measures the direct sound, an anechoic simulation. Like the Magnepan review here, things get messy when dipole/bipole radiation needs to be taken into consideration. The klippel could be right and something like any Linkwitz, Bose, Magnepan design is not the way to make a loudspeaker?

They are not dipole, they are cardioid. I never said anything about dipole.

 

[sceptical1]

As the OP says these are a one off design from Soundfield and ultimately not what I had thought.

Neither did I. Two paragraphs.

 

[MattHooper]

Great to see the thread come alive again with the conclusion.

So, how do the planars sound? (be warned a bunch of subjective audiophile blah blah follows) …

You know I’m here for it

I’ll be interested in the measurements, but I really like reading about people’s subjective impressions (which can sometimes give me a better impression of how the speakers actually sound).

Astonishing level of resolution and detail (hearing details in recordings I have never heard before)
Disappearing act like I have never heard with any other driver … the speakers are just gone
Larger soundstage, very holographic
Highly precise imaging, but maybe a bit more diffused than the coax
More dynamic
Very transparent… if it’s on the recording, you hear it. And this is one of the cons (though I don’t see it this way, some might), bad recordings are a no go with the planar, a true window to the source

Coax again sounds very, very good, but it just does not match the planar in the areas described above except where noted. I would say it does just ever so slightly have a more precise image, planar just a little more diffused, but it is a subtle difference. Also every now and then on some recordings the coax would call attention to itself. As to the transparency, and some may find this a positive, the coax is definitely more forgiving of poor recordings as it has a “darker” sound for lack of a better word.

Thanks for the description. I got a good feel for how you hear those speakers, and why you preferred the planar drivers. Yours is certainly a system once it’s finished that I would love to be able to hear.

 

[dkinric]

Great to see the thread come alive again with the conclusion.

Agree, it's been a journey. You don't often see a thread about someone buying speakers shut down.

MKR, congrats on the beginning of the end of your quest. It was fun vicariously auditioning high end speakers through you, thank you for sharing.

 

[MKR]

Agree, it's been a journey. You don't often see a thread about someone buying speakers shut down.

MKR, congrats on the beginning of the end of your quest. It was fun vicariously auditioning high end speakers through you, thank you for sharing.

Thank you for the kind words. Outside of some trolling here and there, I have truly enjoyed sharing this with y’all, thanks for the ride along

 

[Pearljam5000]

$1M

That's Ken Fritz level of budget

 

[MKR]

That's Ken Fritz level of budget

Feel bad for that guy, sad story

 

[mglobe]

That would be inappropriate and unethical

For both parties invlolved. And how/why would we believe MKR’s evaluation if we knew he was doing that. Honestly this a conversation that is non-productive, and serves no purpose whatsoever. This is about someone’s journey to find what THEY consider THEIR end-game speaker. For most of us it’s been entertaining and enlightening.

 

[PGansz]

For both parties invlolved. And how/why would we believe MKR’s evaluation if we knew he was doing that. Honestly this a conversation that is non-productive, and serves no purpose whatsoever. This is about someone’s journey to find what THEY consider THEIR end-game speaker. For most of us it’s been entertaining and enlightening.

Sure. But it also seems kinda sus the reaction is so strong to a basic question. Especially since the "discount" could be applied after he'd already chosen this as his setup; there would be nothing unethical about that.

Many of us (probably most) have never heard of this brand until this thread, so acting like they're Kef is kinda weird too.

Edit: And after doing a quick search, MKR has been around the forum posting about Soundfield for months...at worst it's clear shilling. At best he's enamored with the brand which still raises a valid question if he's been around posting about them for months.