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User211

User211

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Just read my first paper printed CLX review in Hi-Fi+ over here. They love it! Just realised the Art frames cost a wopping £25K, more than the Anniversary at £22.5K. The basic frame (like Jeff's, I think) comes in at £16K. That makes the art frames a £9K extra - my god, are they really worth that? Not to me.

£16K... hm...:devil: Satan sez buy. My more rational side supersedes the devil's advice, however!

BTW: since Stereophile won't review it, we'll take the above as a class A+ rating!
 
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You can usually find Hi Fi+ and other British audio magazines in the US at the larger book stores. The CLX review is only available in print but maybe they'll post it online once issue #61 is a couple of months old. The British mags cost about three times as much as the US mags but their content is much better with more photos.
http://www.hifiplus.com/
 
Actually, the linear frame price of £16K does not agree with the website price of £19,750 - so it is probably a misprint.

Ricardo of Absolute Sounds (the UK importer), I welcome you to justify the UK pricing. The dollar price translates to around £11.5K.

And ML - if you took up European production, your sales would be amazing. Much better than they are now over here.
 
User211 said:
Just read my first paper printed CLX review in Hi-Fi+ over here. They love it! Just realised the Art frames cost a wopping £25K, more than the Anniversary at £22.5K. The basic frame (like Jeff's, I think) comes in at £16K. That makes the art frames a £9K extra - my god, are they really worth that? Not to me.

£16K... hm...:devil: Satan sez buy. My more rational side supersedes the devil's advice, however!

BTW: since Stereophile won't review it, we'll take the above as a class A+ rating!
Click to expand...

Justin, is there any way you could post a few quotes or summarize the review? I am curious about how the Brits feel about the CLX.

I was looking at some British audio magazines at a bookstore, and the quote they used about the CLX in one of the ads was that it was an "extremely detailed speaker." This implies "analytical" to me, but I could be wrong. Is this what the British like?


Thanks!
 
David - there's no way the CLX is analytical in the same way as, say, an ATC is. Sure the CLX is detailed - but it presents that in a natural and convincing way - it doesn't "disect", like an ATC does. At least with Jadis JA200s that is true - it undoubtedly will sound more analytical with some solid state designs, to my mind.

I'm not sure there is a Brit sound unless it's in the classic sense e.g. BBC LS3/5A, Quad ESL 57, Spendor BC1. Other Brits may disagree. But I guess we might be guilty of trying to sound accurate when, in fact, in some cases (like ATC, I think) we just sound bad!

But basically, he was very impressed with the integration between the panels - and so he should be because it sounds "of a piece" to my ears - more so than pretty much anything I have heard except for other full(ish) range stats or planars, say. He noted it doesn't go low, but said you can do something about that. Very impressed - best ML he has ever heard by some considerable margin. I agree!

David - if you PM me your e-mail address I'll give you even more detail:)
 
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Here's a little more info on amp choices for the CLX from the review:

Amps rated as excellent:

Emille KI-40L - that's a 40 Watt tube amp! http://www.emillelabs.com/en/products/products_c.php?idx=2
ARC REF110 http://www.audioresearch.com/Reference110.html
Hovland RADIA http://www.hovlandcompany.com/products/electronics/radia/default.html
Belles MB-200 - gave up finding a manufs. link, but didn't try to hard.

Best tried:

David Berning Quadrature Z monos - an OTL design. http://www.davidberning.com/products/qz - also, check out the vacuum tube car amp on the site!

That's 3 tube against 2 solid state - but it probably just depended on what he had to hand.

He states that the large radiating area makes a nonsense of the sensitivity rating - is that how you get away with 40 Watts? Hm... comments, anyone?
 
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I know we will probably try the CLX with about ten different amplifiers...

But I'm suspecting a terribly good match might be the CJ 275 watt tube
monos. Unfortunately I'm not getting those until after CES.
 
Will be interesting to see what you think works in both lower and higher power realms...

Me? I'd like to get that 18 Watter and an SPL meter, then crank the amp to see what sort of levels are possible before it starts committing sins.
 
I'm listening to the Spires right now, with no sub and the Luxman 590A II.

It's pretty impressive and has way more giddyup than a 30wpc amp has a right to have. But it's all class A and weighs about 80 pounds!

I could easily live with this system if I didn't do this for a living....
 
tonepub said:
I'm listening to the Spires right now, with no sub and the Luxman 590A II.

It's pretty impressive and has way more giddyup than a 30wpc amp has a right to have. But it's all class A and weighs about 80 pounds!

I could easily live with this system if I didn't do this for a living....
Click to expand...

Does this mean your Spire review is nearing completion? (Nag, nag!) I'd be particularly interested to read how they compare with the Vantages...
 
User211 said:
Will be interesting to see what you think works in both lower and higher power realms...

Me? I'd like to get that 18 Watter and an SPL meter, then crank the amp to see what sort of levels are possible before it starts committing sins.
Click to expand...

With a little luck I'll try them out with my Ascents this autumn/winter ....
 
miljac said:
With a little luck I'll try them out with my Ascents this autumn/winter ....
Click to expand...

I'd be really interested if you have an SPL meter. So often I read reviews of how puny rated amp X managed to drive insensitive speaker Y - but do they ever say how loud it went quantfiably (spelling?) BEFORE it audibly started to strain? Er...
 
User211 said:
I'd be really interested if you have an SPL meter. So often I read reviews of how puny rated amp X managed to drive insensitive speaker Y - but do they ever say how loud it went quantfiably (spelling?) BEFORE it audibly started to strain? Er...
Click to expand...

I do ....

getting somewhat impatient to see how they match the Ascents. I'm currently using the Vacuum State SVP-1 and 80W EL34 monoblocks.
 
I'll be going to Pompano Beach next Friday, Oct 24th for a second listen. This time, with the electronics from Lake Wobegon.
 
SundayNiagara said:
I'll be going to Pompano Beach next Friday, Oct 24th for a second listen. This time, with the electronics from Lake Wobegon.
Click to expand...

Will someone explain what Sunday is on about here? Does he mean fictional amplification, as in the 18 Watter that drives a CLX?

English you see. Really not sure...
 
User211 said:
Will someone explain what Sunday is on about here? Does he mean fictional amplification, as in the 18 Watter that drives a CLX?

English you see. Really not sure...
Click to expand...


I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing he is refering to ARC which is located in Minnesota which is also the home of the afore mentioned fictious Lake Wobegon.

If you can get US National Public Radio on the internet, check out a Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keilor is the creator. It's a mixture of comdey sketches and old fashioned (bluegrass, gospel, some country) music. And stories from Lake Wobegon. I even heard Garrison doing Honda commercials on the radio (Classic FM, London) when I was over there last year for a few months.
 
Fictious or not, I have heard the dpa300b driving a pair of Acoustats .... 18W or not ... great sound!
 
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