Audio Espionage - From Usher with love?

[maxg]

Second meeting of the ACA that I have attended this year. Another big system - very big, with one item of interest to Jubilee chasers perhaps.

I won't stay cryptic for long - here are some pics of the system that should explain what I am thinking:

That is the system from about 15 feet away - and that is a 32 inch TV in the middle. Still not got the sense of size? Try this:

Now we are getting somewhere - that is Christos (El Presidente to us) and he is around 6 ft tall. The speaker is, therefore, about the size of the JMLab Utopia - but for one fifth of the price.

As you read that last piece of info I guess I don't have to tell you where they are made. Frankly they could only be made in China for anything less than ridiculous money for one simple reason, this:

And from another view:

What you are looking for is an all wood horn-loaded tweeter/midrange that looks VERY similar to something JBL have recently made. I don't know much of the technical specs about this unit but I understand it crosses over at 800 Hz from the dual 15 inch woofers.

If memory serves isn't 800 Hz where the Jubilee bass bin rolls off? Do we have a possible match here?

I spend the whole time last night wondering what would happen if you replaced the 15 inch woofers with Jubilee bass bins. The sound as it was, was impressive - but not perfect and one of the issues I think was the bass performance.

Interestingly we played with 2 amps during the listening sessions - a big tube amp (211?) with some serious output and a tiny little Tsakiridis 300B SET.

The SET was the sweeter by a country mile - and the midrange was to die for - but it couldn't rock to save its life (surprise surprise - this is a built-to-a-budget 8 watt tube with 4 15 inch woofers in front of it). The bigger amp could rock in spades - but it lost that glorious midrange and was quite harsh on top.

Anyway that mid/tweeter is a separate unit from the 2 bass bins - I wonder if it is sold separately? It looks an interesting Jubilee alternative - you might even be able to get away with no Xover at all!!!!

[charlieboy]

Max,

So who makes these?

[maxg]

The company is called Usher - hence the title of the thread. I think they are at www.usher-audio.com but that could be wrong and I am too tired to follow the link.

[charlieboy]

Ok I found it.

http://www.usheraudio.com/speaker-D2.html

[jt1stcav]

..."Anyway that mid/tweeter is a separate unit from the 2 bass bins - I wonder if it is sold separately? It looks an interesting Jubilee alternative - you might even be able to get away with no Xover at all!"

You're so right, Max...I just spent an hour Photoshoping a D2 horn to somebody's Jubilee. Damn, it looks good![] Wonder how it would actually sound though...[^o)] The color's a bit off (size, too), but you get my drift.

[charlieboy]

Geez for 21,000 a pair you think they could get the bass right with 2

15"s! They do look nice. I think I'm going to go for a listen. I

spoke do a dealer here in California who has a demo pair he says for

much less than a new pair.

[Dirk Diggler]

I listened to a few Usher speakers about a year ago in Atlanta. They are an awesome value, engineered in US by Joseph D'Appolito of the MTM fame and made in Taiwan.

I listened to the huge horn and the 719 monitor and was impressed. But the saleswoman was insanely hot, so take that with a grain of salt.

[Def Leper]

If I was going to put two refrigerators in my living room, I'd at least get the models with built a built in wine tap in one and beer in the other. [] Boyz and their toyz.

[maxg]

Just as an update Tony thinks that mid/tweeter driver is sold separately for around 3000 euros ($3600).

Not a cheap option but what do you expect with that kind of wood on board - oh and there is a choice of finishes so you could probably find a match there somewhere.

That 21000 price sounds high - over here they are 13,000 euros - about $15-16,000 which makes them a more reasonable option.

I would also add that I do not think the bass is problematic necessarily - but the driving amplification may have been wrong for the setup.

According to Tony the system started to play a lot better after 3 hours or so on the 300B amps - he stayed a lot longer than me.

Other than that - I dont think it would ever be a speaker for me - but it was interesting all the same and that mid/tweeter really caught my eye.

[charlieboy]

Max,

I fogot to mention the 21,000 is retail so it's probably inthe range of 15,000.

[jt1stcav]

Just as an update Tony thinks that mid/tweeter driver is sold separately for around 3000 euros ($3600).

For that amount you're probably better off with PWK's design or having one made locally.