First post on this forum, didn't feel like I could contribute much but I feel like I could give some feedback regarding these bad boys.
I built madisound kit, with 2x4hd. Nice project, finish was the most exhausting part (if you are as impatient as I am, waiting for the paint to dry). I have been reading everything I could find from Mr Linkwitz before I decided to go for the kit, and this design made so much sense. There's a lot of material on his website so I won't go into details here but I recommend it to everyone to read it.
Everyone talks about holographic imaging of these speakers. The best way I could describe it is if you could imagine a box speaker as a flat screen tv. It can look realistic but at the end of the day, it's flat and nothing like what you see in nature, you know it's a tv. The sound coming from lxmini has this amazing depth of soundstage and pinpoint imaging. When I listen to Johnny Cash for example you can feel the volume of his voice taking up space between and behind speakers, it's quite remarkable and hard to explain but I have never gotten that from box speakers. Same goes for Diana Krall, Winterplay, Chris Isaac, you name it. Closest to this I have heard was in surround recordings. These speakers really reveal the flaws and compression in poor recordings and aren't forgiving at all. They kinda made me relisten to many recordings and hear them in completely new light.
In my living room (no treatment), roughly 3ft away from the sides and 5ft from the front they sounded fenomenal. Bass extended to mid 40s, reflections didn't influence the sound at all (with the toe in instructions from Mr Linkwitz). I moved them to the den, all first reflection points treated, but the room is not ideal, it's smaller (10x12x8) and I have a nasty lateral null around 80hz. Some bass trapping but it doesn't make a difference. I listen mostly tidal on chromecast audio feeding denon 4300 through optical. Xt32 does room correction below 300hz and I have them crossed at 100 (sweet spot to my ears and based off the null in bass). Crossed to 2 uls-15 mk2 (fenomenaln, don't-need-anything-better subs) positioned in the center of the room left and right wall, the fattest response I could get in this crappy room but I can't locate the subs (it helps that the couch is blocking direct line of sight).
Honestly, I think they sounded a bit better in the living room, my den is too dead for stereo listening. For movies, it doesn't matter, dead + atmos from Xbox is a winning combo. Phantom center is not really cutting it for me since I usually watch movies with my wife and the geometry doesn't work in my favor. I am too close to the speakers (6ft) that when I sit on the side the image shifts. In the living room tho, where the distance was 9+ft, I could easily get away with phantom center with 2 of us watching.
I run them with carver 505, but I have a pair of nc252mp sitting around waiting for the cases from Ghent (which is apparently not leaving China any time soon because of the virus). I do have a hiss in both speakers, which I assume is coming from 2x4hd, and a hum from only left speaker. I am in the process of cleaning up the signal path, I have some nice interconnects coming from Ghent, and I have already made a nice pair of cables from canare 4s11 (since lxminis require 2 pairs each). I am probably going to run additional couple of power lines on different circuits because right now everything in the room is on the same circuit, that might help with the noise, we'll see. The noise is more of a ocd thing, I hear it when the music is not playing sitting 6ft away from the speakers, but my room is very dead and the ambient noise is very low. As soon as I play the music the noise issue is gone.
No baffle, no box, single driver for 700hz and up, very capable woofer without beaming or lobing, it is truly a unique, bold, psyhoacustic based design that you cannot get from any speaker manufacturer for less than a grand a pair. Yes, they are a bit steampunky but I built them specifically for the sound they deliver, and they do deliver! If I ever have a 3000sqft+ room, I might consider some of his other open baffle designs but till then, these speakers are not going anywhere till someone comes up with the design that can rival this masterpiece.
This is my subjective opinion and possibly a buying advice for someone who values good sound without spending too much money and stressing out about +-10db sinad difference for non audible effects that cost more than these speakers and make maybe 1% difference in listening experience.
