March Audio Sointuva

[Mutsu]

There is little information out there about this speaker so far from people that own them so I thought I'd start a thread.

I just received my Sointuva's today and I'm extremely pleased with them.

I was looking for a speaker that could go down low, have a flatter frequency response than my current speakers, and had solid wood option.

As I don't currently have a measurement mic, any impressions I give are purely my subjective opinion and would mainly be based on how I remember my old speakers (Tannoy Precision 6.2) sounded.

I got the Sointuva's in Black Butt wood and pictures just don't do them justice, but one is below. Not sure how much they weight, but it's more than I thought they would. The build quality is extremely high.

Versus my Tannoy's the Sointuva's definitely sound more linear to me across the whole frequency range, this stands out more in the bass frequencies that I had previously thought were room modes (certain frequencies were much louder than others and some seemed to cause vibration in the floor). Higher frequencies appear to be more extended too, with drum symbols standing out more.

Bass goes low and is well controlled, they go as low as my Tannoy's (or perhaps lower) but are half the size.

Clarity seems improved versus the Tannoy's too, perhaps this is down the low distortion of the Purifi drivers used.

Overall very happy.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Colonel7]

There is little information out there about this speaker so far from people that own them so I thought I'd start a thread.

I just received my Sointuva's today and I'm extremely pleased with them.

I was looking for a speaker that could go down low, have a flatter frequency response than my current speakers, and had solid wood option.

As I don't currently have a measurement mic, any impressions I give are purely my subjective opinion and would mainly be based on how I remember my old speakers (Tannoy Precision 6.2) sounded.

I got the Sointuva's in Black Butt wood and pictures just don't do them justice, but one is below. Not sure how much they weight, but it's more than I thought they would. The build quality is extremely high.

View attachment 149681

Versus my Tannoy's the Sointuva's definitely sound more linear to me across the whole frequency range, this stands out more in the bass frequencies that I had previously thought were room modes (certain frequencies were much louder than others and some seemed to cause vibration in the floor). Higher frequencies appear to be more extended too, with drum symbols standing out more.

Bass goes low and is well controlled, they go as low as my Tannoy's (or perhaps lower) but are half the size.

Clarity seems improved versus the Tannoy's too, perhaps this is down the low distortion of the Purifi drivers used.

Overall very happy.

Let me know if you have any questions.

That's a beautiful speaker. Looks like the roundover for the baffle is large enough to help with diffraction which is thoughtful.

 

[ctrl]

Looks like the roundover for the baffle is large enough to help with diffraction which is thoughtful.

The roundover helps to avoid abrupt transitions in the frequency responses, but the tweeter, due to its design without any acoustic lens or waveguide, interacts particularly strongly with the baffle.
As a result, the edge diffraction with on-axis frequency response is particularly pronounced.

Source

Of course, the rounding does not help with the directivity mismatch between tweeter and woofer, which must be tried to compensate via the crossover tuning.

Source

 

[Colonel7]

Thanks for the correction and clarification. Are those from the Sointuva or examples from another speaker that clearly illustrate the design choice and associated effects?

 

[restorer-john]

Thanks for the correction and clarification. Are those from the Sointuva or examples from another speaker that clearly illustrate the design choice and associated effects?

From the March Audio's website. Apparently those plots are to be updated with actual production measurements...

https://www.marchaudio.net.au/sointuva-purifi-speaker

 

[ctrl]

Thanks for the correction and clarification. Are those from the Sointuva or examples from another speaker that clearly illustrate the design choice and associated effects?

Source link is below the diagrams , it's from the march audio website.

However, I also have simulations of the speaker that confirm the behavior.
Unfortunately, the crossover frequency is not mentioned on the march audio website. Originally it was once 1.3kHz, but I could imagine that this has been changed.

 

[jae]

Do you plan on getting a mic? It's a cheap investment at $79. Only 2% of the cost of your speaker

Would love to see more pics of them in the room. What are you driving them with?

 

[restorer-john]

Unfortunately, the crossover frequency is not mentioned on the march audio website. Originally it was once 1.3kHz, but I could imagine that this has been changed.

I would certainly hope so.

There is no way on this earth any tweeter in a typical 2-way crossed at ~1.3kHz could remotely manage even half the 250W long term IEC rating specified for this speaker. It's utter fantasy and I call BS on it. Maybe, you could get away with it at 5kHz or above.

For the record, IEC 268-5 18.2 requires a 10 period 33% duty cycle over 28 minute duration. Have you ever looked at a smoked-up tweeter VC?

 

[Mutsu]

I asked for measurements of my speakers and the below is what was provided in terms of frequency response - however he did mention the test environment isn't ideal - was 2m off the ground outside. Also mentioned is the peaks and dips below 500Hz would be much less pronounced in free field measurements He said that in an ideal situation this would be in an anechoic chamber, 10m off the ground, or using a klippel measurement machine. And also that Erin would be have a sample pair in the near future to do this.

 

[Mutsu]

Do you plan on getting a mic? It's a cheap investment at $79. Only 2% of the cost of your speaker

Would love to see more pics of them in the room. What are you driving them with?

Oh, yes I already ordered one.

I go on vacation from tomorrow though, so wont be able to do anything until I return.

I think Erin's measurements will probably be more useful to most here, I mainly intend to do measurements and correct lower frequencies on my ADI2 if needed. How I need to place the speakers isn't ideal, the left speaker is very close to a wall and the right speaker has a about 7 meters of space to the side of it.

 

[ctrl]

I asked for measurements of my speakers and the below is what was provided in terms of frequency response - however he did mention the test environment isn't ideal - was 2m off the ground outside.

If this is to show the frequency response of your left and right speaker, then it would be better if the on-axis FR was shown without any smoothing and with normal scaling (50dB or 40dB).

Only then you can see in detail how much the two speakers differ from each other. The less the better the stereo image works.

Oh, yes I already ordered one.

That's good, then you can measure yourself and compensate for any differences in sound pressure between the left and right speaker via EQ - if this is necessary at all.
Provided that your speakers are positioned symmetrically in the room, otherwise the small differences between the two speakers are the least of your problems

 

[Mutsu]

If this is to show the frequency response of your left and right speaker, then it would be better if the on-axis FR was shown without any smoothing and with normal scaling (50dB or 40dB).

Only then you can see in detail how much the two speakers differ from each other. The less the better the stereo image works.

Sorry I should have mentioned this was a measurement for one of my speakers and the other line was the listening window 30 degrees off axis.

That's good, then you can measure yourself and compensate for any differences in sound pressure between the left and right speaker via EQ - if this is necessary at all.
Provided that your speakers are positioned symmetrically in the room, otherwise the small differences between the two speakers are the least of your problems

My speakers definitely aren't symmetrical in the room unfortunately. I live in Japan in an open plan apartment, and because it's Japan, sliding doors connect another room that is basically always opened up. It makes symmetrical listening pretty much impossible, best I can do is have an equilateral triangle for my speakers and listening position. Otherwise I'm I'm in the corner of a room with probably 3 times that space extending to the right.

 

[ctrl]

There is no way on this earth any tweeter in a typical 2-way crossed at ~1.3kHz could remotely manage even half the 250W long term IEC rating specified for this speaker. It's utter fantasy and I call BS on it. Maybe, you could get away with it at 5kHz or above.

Found the post again and my memory was wrong, it was only talking about the tweeter being usable down to 1.3kHz:

Due to the tweeter being capable of very low frequencies (1.3kHz) a wave guide isnt required to match the directivity at crossover.
Hope you understand Im not going to talk in too much detail about the xo .

I assume that the crossover frequency is significantly higher, otherwise the directivity will also be too uneven.

 

[jae]

Didn't see you mention it earlier, glad to see Erin is getting a pair. If it weren't for the competitive pricing and availability of active monitors like Neumann, Genelec etc I could see these speakers being much more popular. They certainly look a lot more inviting.

 

[Mutsu]

Didn't see you mention it earlier, glad to see Erin is getting a pair. If it weren't for the competitive pricing and availability of active monitors like Neumann, Genelec etc I could see these speakers being much more popular. They certainly look a lot more inviting.

I'm interested to see the measurements from Erin.

If aesthetics weren't an issue, I would have gone with an active monitor. One of the main reasons for me switching to the Sointuva's was the customizability of look. If I lived alone, or had the space for a dedicated listening room then my options would have increased.

So I guess I'm the target market for this type of speaker.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Found the post again and my memory was wrong, it was only talking about the tweeter being usable down to 1.3kHz:


I assume that the crossover frequency is significantly higher, otherwise the directivity will also be too uneven.

March’s website says the crossover frequency is 1.5kHz.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Maybe someone will get a Puri Bliss to Erin too. Would be interesting comparison to the Sointuva.

 

[ctrl]

March’s website says the crossover frequency is 1.5kHz.

Thanks, I had totally overlooked that.

In that case, I'm very curious about Erin's future measurements.
Because at a crossover frequency of 1.5kHz with fourth order acoustic filter slopes, which is to be assumed, the vertical sweet spot is quite wide, but the, especially horizontal, directivity is a bit uneven (radiation widens strongly from >2kHz) and could sound rather bright if not counteracted with the axis frequency response - I'm already curious, did I mentioned it

 

[PKAudio]

As it is basically 6"+1" on flat baffle, crossover could be 2nd order midwoofer and 3rd order tweeter. That is standard solution, resulting quite often in wider directivity above crossover.
Front baffle tilt would allow for symetrical LR2 and this would provide better directivity pattern, horizontally.

Genelec etc can have better measurements coming from waveguided tweeter, but, if Sointuva was voiced well, it can actually sound better. Bliesma tweeters and Purifi are special, and I am not sure that Genelec tweeters can compete. I assume Genelec tweeters would be Seas design.

 

[Eetu]

Very nice looking speakers. Hope we see 3rd party measurements soon.

I assume Genelec tweeters would be Seas design.

All the drivers for The Ones (83X1) are made by Genelec in-house. Not sure what OEM(s) they use for the 8XX0 tweeters.