After getting to know and understand this unusual product, and having had some time to test out different room locations in a 13x19 room, I can offer initial impressions. I'm running these right now with the balanced analog output from an RME DAC because I don't have a digital switcher for my two sources, Toslink and USB. The RME, located in a closet with my server, and connected with an IR repeater, gives me remote-control capability for both sources from my couch. God forbid I should get up to fiddle with something.
First and most conscpicuously, this is far and away the most tonally balanced speaker I have ever run in my room. Note, I have to EQ down a strong room mode at 79hz, and I won't speak to tonal balance around and below that. But in the rest of the spectrum above about 100hz, neutral. As in, like a feather on the ear, with no way to discern crossovers. Since I've never had a speaker like that, it is an interesting experience.
Drivers: stellar. Detail retrieval out the wazoo. Plenty of headroom, though I don't play anything too loud. Bass is deep and full-range right out of the box, though I used the room boundary setting to dial in my 15" distance from the rear wall.
Imaging: very good front-back, side-to-side limited to the speaker locations. Contrast this with the dipole Orions I just sold, which create a broad, deep soundstage. But the Linkwitz have to be well out in a room and away from boundaries to achieve that. The Dutch need space on the sides but very little behind. My goal was to simplify and reduce the footprint of my system without sacrificing sound quality.
Ease of use: running L and R balanced analog out XLR cables from an RME DAC/pre, super easy. But I already have power outlets conveniently located behind each speaker, minimizing the power headache. I also have PVC pre-laid under my concrete slab and running from my equipment closet to each speaker location. A few minutes with fish tape and boom! they're all connected and ready to rock.
Lastly, something which I'm not sure is good or bad: they sound like studio mastering equipment. The Linkwitz dipoles definitely do not -- they create a shimmery soundfield in which things come and go. With the Dutch, you can hear the difference in the soundfield between stage-miked things and booth-miked things that have been mixed in, often with inconsistent reverb effects. It's painfully apparent that with either classical or pop, the spot-mics are hot. However, with something like an Innocence Mission recording, which seems to be essentially live in a studio, the sound is like you are 8 feet away listening to the recording in process. I wouldn't say you get lost in a multitrack studio recording; you get put at the control board analyzing it. I had this problem with good headphones at first until I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb -- er, music.
More when I know it.
First and most conscpicuously, this is far and away the most tonally balanced speaker I have ever run in my room. Note, I have to EQ down a strong room mode at 79hz, and I won't speak to tonal balance around and below that. But in the rest of the spectrum above about 100hz, neutral. As in, like a feather on the ear, with no way to discern crossovers. Since I've never had a speaker like that, it is an interesting experience.
Drivers: stellar. Detail retrieval out the wazoo. Plenty of headroom, though I don't play anything too loud. Bass is deep and full-range right out of the box, though I used the room boundary setting to dial in my 15" distance from the rear wall.
Imaging: very good front-back, side-to-side limited to the speaker locations. Contrast this with the dipole Orions I just sold, which create a broad, deep soundstage. But the Linkwitz have to be well out in a room and away from boundaries to achieve that. The Dutch need space on the sides but very little behind. My goal was to simplify and reduce the footprint of my system without sacrificing sound quality.
Ease of use: running L and R balanced analog out XLR cables from an RME DAC/pre, super easy. But I already have power outlets conveniently located behind each speaker, minimizing the power headache. I also have PVC pre-laid under my concrete slab and running from my equipment closet to each speaker location. A few minutes with fish tape and boom! they're all connected and ready to rock.
Lastly, something which I'm not sure is good or bad: they sound like studio mastering equipment. The Linkwitz dipoles definitely do not -- they create a shimmery soundfield in which things come and go. With the Dutch, you can hear the difference in the soundfield between stage-miked things and booth-miked things that have been mixed in, often with inconsistent reverb effects. It's painfully apparent that with either classical or pop, the spot-mics are hot. However, with something like an Innocence Mission recording, which seems to be essentially live in a studio, the sound is like you are 8 feet away listening to the recording in process. I wouldn't say you get lost in a multitrack studio recording; you get put at the control board analyzing it. I had this problem with good headphones at first until I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb -- er, music.
More when I know it.
