The Scintilla are truly amazing speakers.

[JarreYuri]

Hi all!
I just wanted to give You a heads up on my current testing rally.

After a lot of years I got a bit tired of test reviews and forum testers.
So I bought a pair of Apogee Duetta Signature, Apogee Scintilla, Infinity RS1b and Magnepan MG 3.6r to be able to make some serious A-B-C-D comparison.
Doing this with 2 Yamaha PC2602M 1 Carver Sunfire 300x2 and 1 Carver Sunfire 200x5 all of which is capable of driving the worst load of them all, the Scintilla.

For now the Scintilla's are holding their own very well even compared to the Infinity RS1b with their bass columns.

Cheers!

[christoph]

Hi yarre

Interesting thing

Please keep it coming...

Cheers, christoph

[Vansloneker]

How about the w.a.f. with 5 pairs of speakers in the room...?

[Graz]

Comparator anyone?

[JarreYuri]

How about the w.a.f. with 5 pairs of speakers in the room...?

No problem at all!
They are in a different house!

[JarreYuri]

Maybe I'll have some time too to finish the full repair/restoration of a pair of Quad ESL 57 I have promised my brother and throw those into the equation.

[User211]

Get the 57s done right and they are very good speakers. They will be leagues apart from Scintillas sonically though. Very different indeed.

[artm]

Well, I certainly applaud the effort.

However, you say "After a lot of years I got a bit tired of test reviews". I totally disagree. A well executed review will lead you to the right path in selecting any of these speakers AND the associated gear that WORKS well with them. I have always relied on the better ears and knowledge of reviewers - the good ones, of course.

Who is to say that your Yamaha and Sunfires are most suitable for any of these - especially Scintillas? There's also other issues in performing even a simple A/B test, lilke room position, but for curiosity purposes I say go right ahead.

As for the Quad 57 being "...leagues apart from Scintillas sonically...", well, I must disagree. Although I've never heard a 57 a do have an ESL-63 and it is every bit as good as a Scintilla, IF used within its limitations. Granted, there are more limitations on the ESL versus the Scintilla but each is exemplary in what it does best.

I recall hearing Sade the first time on my ESL and it was a WOW moment, as it has been with numerous other female vocals. If only they would play louder and last longer..wait..then I'd have Scintillas!

[JarreYuri]

Yes, the QUAD ESL 57 are very good but in a rather narrow frequency span. So taking that into account.

Amplification is a thing that I believe at least SHOULD be done without hearing that an amp is there. Or else it's a coloring amp and that falls beneath my demand.
The Carver Sunfire 300x2 was a very long time the reference amp for the Swedish sound society (a kind of extreme sound club) and I for now tend to agree. It's an extremely underrated amplifier.

And also, I will not in this test fall into the abyss of tailoring a complete system just to adjust for a speakers shortcomings.
A loudspeaker is still the major sound coloration part of a complete system.

So a speaker will have the same conditions as the other and as they are almost the same size the room will be of rather negligible influence even if they all possibly could perform in an even bigger room that I currently have.
But at this point the results show that they all work very well in their environment.

In the world of calibration engineering (my current occupation), having the same condition for every object is MANDATORY.
Or else You can never ever prove an accuracy of a calibration or an analysis.

Cheers!

[User211]

ARTM - a 57 is a very different beast to 63. I much prefer 57s TBH. I actually don't like 63s but don't take that as a personal thing - I just don't like them.

When I said 57s are leagues apart I simply mean in terms of sonic character they do not sound like a planar magnetic speaker. If you think they do I cannot relate to your viewpoint.

[artm]

Jarre: In the world of calibration engineering (my current occupation), having the same condition for every object is MANDATORY. Or else You can never ever prove an accuracy of a calibration or an analysis.

Yes, I agree - if we are talking about test equipment, for example. But we are talking about speakers which must be tested under conditions best suited for their design - and these conditions are NOT the same for the models in question.

Even analyzing something as basic as frequency response would not yield meaningful results with this setup simply because each speaker needs its own optimal and recommended environment.

What I would do is have each speaker positioned right and test at the same position in your room. Now that would be informative. Oops, I just realized you're trying to do A/B comparisons. Difficult to do with two of these large speakers in this size room, impossible with four!

I would be very interested to see you try the individual testing I noted above.

[JarreYuri]

Well, the room is larger then it looks.
I just didn't want everything I have got to show in the picture.

A/B comparison is not too big of a problem. Only moving them around is!!!
I am not doing an A/B in the sense that they are hooked up at the same time.
If I would do that I would just use 1 speaker of 2 makes at a time, making a mono comparison. This because of having 4 speaker at the same time will make each pair react with the other pair.

Cheers!

[Al^]

This should be interesting, I've owned the RS-1b, Maggie 3.5R , I have RS 4.5, Scintilla, Dsigs and Diva's, first off the bass towers of RS-1b suck compared to the 2-12's of the 4.5, secondly the emim crossover arrangement also is annoying with sounds burping out at different heights, I've ran the 4.5's along side the 1B and the 4.5 was the winner here. Thats why I still have them!. Maggies 3.5R are a get by. Scintilla's have the best bass of the 3 ap models. Dsigs are nothing special, Diva's need room, lotsa room, the bigger the better and played in the dark. My fav's of the bunch RS 4.5 on vocals and rock and Scins on orchrestral and HT. JMHO. Al

[JarreYuri]

Hi Al!

The funny thing was that the guy I bought the RS1b from had a pair of RS4.5 for sale too!
We never hooked them up though. Mostly because they were on the other floor. hehe
So, I can't really confirm or deny Your experience comparing the bass on the RS1b and the RS4.5.

On the other hand, my experience with the RS1b along with the rest of the bunch I have seems to be that they are pretty good AND articulate.
The only downside so far (a fast hook up) is that there seem to be a transition problem between the panel and the woofer tower where I get a drop in frequency output between the two.
I have to investigate further with placement and the integrated bass/ribbon EQ.

Other that that, the "ribbon" part of the RS1b seems somewhat related to MG3.6r in the upper frequencies. Very detailed indeed.
I never found the way that Infinity decided to x-over the mid "ribbons" to be burping in any way.
Somehow they decided to make the panel a point source. Maybe because they saved on the number of tweeters on the panel.

Nevertheless, I have an enjoyable task ahead of me.