Gordon
Well-known member
This may be a little soon but thought I'd relay my first impressions on the Spire.
I traded in the Vantage at Tweeter under their upgrade program. As most of us know, not the best place to audition but ok to buy if we know what we want. The guy mentioned quite a few Vantage owners have done the same. There were actually 5 pair of trade in Vantages in the store storage area.
The piano finish is a close match to the black glossy finish of the McIntosh gear which I prefered. Laura wanted the plain black so that is what we received. The fit and finish are top notch. I looked over each piece very carefully in light of recent concerns about QC. I did not find any chips, dents, scratches or blemishes anywhere. Edit: I do not notice any hum when they are idle. Very quiet.
Placed them in the identical spot that the Vantages were in. 60 inches off the front wall, 27 inches from edge of panel to side wall and 61 inches between inside edges. Leveled and plumbed the panels to vertical (more on this a bit later). Plugged everything up and waited about 45 minutes.
My pre amp displays in percentage. Don't really know how accurate this is, but I only use it as a baseline. Set it to 20% and hit play. No music. Gradually turned it up and at about 29% music began to be heard. This was unusual, since the Vantage played at this level, albeit very soft. It appears to me that the Spire requires more volume control. I'm not technically qualified to say this but my guess is the larger panel is the reason? The balance control remained at 1 tick to the left. My room is L shaped and the speakers are on the short leg. I required this on the Vantage to obtain balance also.
I removed the sub from the room. I wanted to hear exactly what the Spire would do on its own. With the Spire flat on the floor and the panel tilted back and controls set to zero, the bottom was very defined and solid with some flab which I'm sure will tighten up as I noticed this on the Vantage before break in. When the panels were plumb, the bottom became less forceful which I think is due to my makeshift way of raising the back. Will have to investigate the use of some spikes and cones. I honestly think the sub will not be going back. This may change after the next couple weeks, I'll have to hear.
Mids and highs are a bit forward at this point and I expected it to be so. With that in mind, I must say the detail of the Spire over the Vantage was overwhelming. Detail is what I was looking for and I think I found it. I know it sounds cliche, but I did hear new things in the music that the Vantage only hinted at. The Spire seems to be more direct. Does this meet the meaning of "transparent"? I ask that with all sincerity. Applying terms is not my best subject.
The width of the stage grew a bit but not as much as I thought it would. I have seemed to have lost some depth as well. That was very noticeable to me. Still have a bit of ringing which I think a couple of traps will fix.
My guess is as they break in and I do some positioning tweaks all will be well in Southern Maryland. I don't have any real concerns like I did with the Vantage and my lack of knowledge on set up. This will be much more fun this time around.
Gordon
I traded in the Vantage at Tweeter under their upgrade program. As most of us know, not the best place to audition but ok to buy if we know what we want. The guy mentioned quite a few Vantage owners have done the same. There were actually 5 pair of trade in Vantages in the store storage area.
The piano finish is a close match to the black glossy finish of the McIntosh gear which I prefered. Laura wanted the plain black so that is what we received. The fit and finish are top notch. I looked over each piece very carefully in light of recent concerns about QC. I did not find any chips, dents, scratches or blemishes anywhere. Edit: I do not notice any hum when they are idle. Very quiet.
Placed them in the identical spot that the Vantages were in. 60 inches off the front wall, 27 inches from edge of panel to side wall and 61 inches between inside edges. Leveled and plumbed the panels to vertical (more on this a bit later). Plugged everything up and waited about 45 minutes.
My pre amp displays in percentage. Don't really know how accurate this is, but I only use it as a baseline. Set it to 20% and hit play. No music. Gradually turned it up and at about 29% music began to be heard. This was unusual, since the Vantage played at this level, albeit very soft. It appears to me that the Spire requires more volume control. I'm not technically qualified to say this but my guess is the larger panel is the reason? The balance control remained at 1 tick to the left. My room is L shaped and the speakers are on the short leg. I required this on the Vantage to obtain balance also.
I removed the sub from the room. I wanted to hear exactly what the Spire would do on its own. With the Spire flat on the floor and the panel tilted back and controls set to zero, the bottom was very defined and solid with some flab which I'm sure will tighten up as I noticed this on the Vantage before break in. When the panels were plumb, the bottom became less forceful which I think is due to my makeshift way of raising the back. Will have to investigate the use of some spikes and cones. I honestly think the sub will not be going back. This may change after the next couple weeks, I'll have to hear.
Mids and highs are a bit forward at this point and I expected it to be so. With that in mind, I must say the detail of the Spire over the Vantage was overwhelming. Detail is what I was looking for and I think I found it. I know it sounds cliche, but I did hear new things in the music that the Vantage only hinted at. The Spire seems to be more direct. Does this meet the meaning of "transparent"? I ask that with all sincerity. Applying terms is not my best subject.
The width of the stage grew a bit but not as much as I thought it would. I have seemed to have lost some depth as well. That was very noticeable to me. Still have a bit of ringing which I think a couple of traps will fix.
My guess is as they break in and I do some positioning tweaks all will be well in Southern Maryland. I don't have any real concerns like I did with the Vantage and my lack of knowledge on set up. This will be much more fun this time around.
Gordon
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