HiFi - The Glass Ceiling

Unless the the KEFs somehow blow these away, I just can't see me letting them go.

You could put the Atakama's on their side as a temp measure.

Yes, they are well suited to the room and I've got them right back to the wall for now.

Bass is a little hefty at times but they are sat on the floor at present.

I also have little wires from the spring sockets to CMC binding posts for now.

Regardless of how things pan out, these speakers deserve better binding posts and internal wiring.

So far, I am really impressed

Cautions towards treble being strident and bass being light are looking like being completely departed from my experience here.

Silky top end, utterly unfiltered but very refined mids and very pleasing depth to the bass, although it could be tighter in truth. Again, they are on the floor so that will change when raised.

I didn't think I'd get speakers that could get me to where the 880s did, but these are taking me further as they work fat better.

There's more available too. This is fun!

Hee hee, typos are great aren't they lol

lol you actually took the blocks up from the driveway? That's the sort of thing I would do.

Best speaker stands ever!

Id go another brick up, looking good Oli.

They give a nice, solid foundation to the sound.

Bigger, as the tweeters are now closer to ear height.

Bass has tightened a little but bricks are pretty shite for preventing the transference of energy. Floor is still a little excited but i can get to that.

Thats for the Three Brick high version!

lol

Hahaha, i like it.

A mountain to climb?

Erm....ok, so:

Now they are off the floor, there has been a large improvement.

The imaging has caught me off guard. Based on what i heard with the similar shaped (but leagues away) Pioneers i had, the image was pretty decent, but tended to hang around the speakers a bit. They never entirely disappeared neither has anything else i have had here. with the Yams, it's like the dont exist. Seriously, i was sat there listening to Terry Evans play some acoustic blues and i couldn't pick out where the speakers were in relation to the sound that was radiating from them. Madness

I played a few arty farty tracks and there was a saxophone playing. I heard him breathing while he played. I havent heard it that clearly before with anything.

The bass is pretty tasty too. I read a lot about how bass light they were, how shrill they could be and you know what, it's just not the truth here. Straight away you can hear their quality just shining through. Possibly the most invisible speaker i have ever heard.

The Kef's will have to match this and do more for me to let these go. I have no doubt they will sound superb, but there is magic in these Yams. If they knew how to do this level of performance 30 years ago, why arent there more speakers like this and improving on it?

The KEF's still have a chance, a slim one, but a chance

Wow....44 years!

Older than me lol

Well, i am informed by the gaffer that the KEF's have arrived. However, me being at work until 20:30, and then back in at 06:00 tomorrow means any audition will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

Really looking forward to comparing the qualities of both sets of speakers.

Well, they have and they haven't.

I spent an hour with them this morning and did some very critical listening. The notes (i can remember) looked a bit like this:

• Great width to the soundstage. Lacks depths. flatter than the Quadrals and the KEF Q1. Totally as expected. Non-issue.
• Speakers are totally invisible at times.
• Tonally - very true to life
• Bass - Somehow feels a little like an after thought at times and i am pretty sure i can hear the PIO caps. Upgrade?
• Vocals - Almost the perfect embodiment of "human" in their replay. Awe inspiring.
• Elton Johns - Rocket man....Wow, development of notes from the piano seems to linger forever. Superb decay
• Treble - Wow...Cymbals have never sounded like this. Like they should sound
• Balance/Scale - Seems to be a small characteristic change between the 12" driver and the mid and treble. Fuller..fatter? Not sure yet. Still think better caps (PP) will help, and a rewire. Good scale though and go much deeper than i expected. Good overall.
• Room interaction - Meh...who gives a Sh#t. Seriously, the bricks are conductind the energy too well. Need to fix but not anywhere near as bad as the 880's
• Looks - Never gonna win a beauty contest, but they dont impose. I'm ok with them

There is a huge grin abound when i listen via the Yam's and they are totally my kind of speaker but the concern i had over soundstage depth has been reinforced. It's not a huge problem for me as tonal quality, transparency and communicative quality are what matter most, but having heard it, it's hard to ignore that it's now missing.

I also won't rest until the Xover and the wiring is changed. I think those PIO caps are softening things a little. Ithink they can be crisper and more revealing with the right components inside. Iwould'nt be looking to alter any values, so it's fairly simple.

The KEF's are in with a real shout. The sub will give them precense, scale and authority. The big battle hear will be transparency, tonal quality and communication. I have high hopes that modern day speakers will prevail as the NS1000 will be easier to recoup my money on lol

When no one's in play The Race by Yello full tilt. Not the remix version. Itll blow your mind.