justinsweber

Cardis on the binding posts... really incredible stuff. Alt would be the parts express units.. The cards is nice in that you can up a wrench on it to bite down on spade lugs or use banana; no bare wire. If you want bare wire, use the parts express units. Grill pegs were used. The top hats, big are they are, were almost too small. I had to sand the ends of 1 LF crossover to make it fit. Still taking it in... The sound stage is huge! I compare it to being live in a 100seat theater and in the 10th row. Able to pick out distinct instruments/passages yet have clear focus too. It has the largest sound stage Ive ever head... even comparing to Wilson XLF and Alexandra's. Im not quite sure where to place the mid range just yet. For most music -15 seems right... on crappy music it seems over full with the bass. So its a work in progress... I was pushing my .75watt amp to clip. Tomorrow Ill put 50 watts tube and SS on hit for a more realistic presentation. The Tweeter is all the way back but seems too hot. We have the DE120TN in there now, but will be swapping out to the DE120 or DE110 in the next week. The Circletrac generally seems to throw more HF (Needing more padding the the elliptical HF) but thats my subjective option. As for an general presentation, its like the cornscalas I own (Eliptrac 400/DE750 crossed at 500hz, but 3 times larger.) The sound stage is there at 10 away, but give it 20-25 and you swear you're in a concert. All listening has been done in a concrete floored garage. Ill bring in side one night for a more realistic demo.

Long slog but we are now playing music. Sound stage is even larger than the Eliptrac 400s.

Dave installed a pair into some LSI I had... the result was incredible... completely different sound... I was able to crank it up without have it become fuzzy.

Looks great. Congrats on your choice.

I have a Emotiva Steath. Ive used the XDA-1 and XDA-2. I thougt the XDA dacs are great in thier price point. the Steath is a better sounding DAC to me with a nicer remote (fits in the hand better). If I were to do it again... the Oppo DAC is amazing and has many more options.. bluethooth and Airpolay. A significant plus of the Emotiva side is the analog in... having it allows it to work as a pre... analog in for table, digital for CD.

Looks great!

The speakers are going into a design space, moving them around was a real concern. If they become a permanent install, the casters are mounted to a baseplate via t-nuts and are easy to fill. The footers on the top hats are more of an aesthetic touch... if they end up hurting the sound, they will be removed. The footers have a bit of suspension to them when is nice when moving the top hats. The horns are massive and I worry! The baseplates are being installed today, all t-nuts for the woofers, riser will be mounted, and the Cardis binding posts installed... All that’s left is crossovers and wire loom.

Drivers in safely inside the tophat. Waiting for the ES300/ES4500 and then we can play some music.