Year and a half ago, Steve paired the ZMA with the DM947s most of the time for demos (decfest). Is this still "the best match"?  I loved them and thought they sounded better than my beloved hdt's.  So, since the 947 are still on sale, I'm looking at them again with a seriousness that makes my wallet shake nervously.

I see others try and return other brands of speakers. I wish to avoid that whole merry go around.  I know the zma & 947 combo is very good. Just wondering if anything has changed in the last year or so.

Any opinions and thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

"Real ones"....no respect for the "craftsman."

My "monoliths" have become my go to speaker now.  Air and soundstage can't be beat.  ZMA sounds very good paired with these and still my favorite combo.  I think it is still Steve's favorite as well.

I heard HR-1's at Ravens and did not like them with the ZMA.  Bass seemed bloated.  Later though, I heard that combo at Zenfest and thought it sounded pretty darn good.  So I don't know.  Monos are much lower price though.

The 947s with the wave guide are a different animal from the sound I am getting.  Midrange comes through more cleanly.  

I did upgrade the caps to a Mundorf though and that helps the highs a lot.

@ Pal ~ so the Monolith's are you preference over the El Caminos then?

BTW, I think Raven is probably right about the "real ones" sounding better.  I know my dimensions are not right.  I just built the base cabinets one weekend on a whim based on pictures and knowing the DM945 dimensions.

I didn't even paint them because I thought they might sound really bad.  They didn't.  They sounded really good.  So I painted them and have been cycling them in and out of various setups for a while now.

They sounded so good, in fact, that I felt guilty and contacted Steve and told him I owed him some money for ripping off his ideas.  He said no problem and that I didn't owe him anything.

I believe he should patent this design if he hasn't already.  I tried this with my micro-monitor Siverline Minuets and it worked.  Deeper bass, huge soundstage.  You can turn any rear ported monitor into a floorstander.  

Everything Steve says in the promo blurbs is true.  I don't know how he came upon this design, but it's brilliant.  The decoupling is key.  I've built the DNA's with a very similar horn pattern and you don't get the same effect.

Also SteveC, not to confuse things, but my second favorite speaker with the ZMA is the 944.  I saw these on eBay or one of the other sites a few weeks back for $700!  They are dynamic enough to handle what the ZMA is capable of.

That's interesting E. . . I'll always choose great treble over holographic myself, which explains where I am today. Holographic and sound staging is cool but doesn't seem like "real music" to me, but an artificial thing for audio playback only. A little dab does me. But the frequency balance has to be right, timbre and tone all seem to be the key for me.

I like to listen to live music too, both in person and on recording. It's just that live music doesn't sound the way recorded music does to me, soundstaging and all that seems not real but something different, and I've heard some amazing playback of that sort. It's cool but it isn't something I'll obsess about.

Different strokes I guess.

Yeah, I mean holographic sound, soundstaging, as reproduced by audio equipment, is not like real music at all to me. So I don't obsess about it the way others do and I prefer the best tonal and timbral presentation to get me closer to the way music sounds in real life.

Steve C. doesn't need my help, you have him on the ropes!

Not to hijack the thread (again), but to your point Lon:

http://www.dagogo.com/how-important-is-soundstaging

I am pretty happy with the other stuff.  Just doing the soundstage thing now.  Obsessing a little on it now, but then I will let it go once I think I'm there and just listen again.  I am pretty close.

Quote:


I find that article infuriating - the whole article seems to be this guy doing his best to convince himself he was on the wrong path - and there is so much broken logic.

You all know I'm all about the holographic imaging. But this guy makes it sound like you can't have both. Palomino's system is agreat example. I think his system is smoother and I'd go as far as to say more "musical" (especially with my ZMA in it!  :D )   But Palo's also got his room *down* and is approaching that mind boggling holographic sound that you have that "out of body experience" that Steve talks about.

You can have both! You just can't let yourself get so distracted by one you condemn the other.

Jeeze LR, don't take it so personally!  ;)  

Like Lon, I tend to live with my music and rarely sit down and listen.  I have more of a fill-the-room sound and not holographic imaging anyway so I might be biased.  But I think he makes valid points and is just shining a light on a trend that he sees and wants to question.  No harm.

To the point of this thread, I am completely happy with my ZMA and HR1s.  Killer combo once all broken in.  I opted for the HR1s since Steve warned me that if the Monoliths are close to a wall, unpleasant bass things can happen.  I don't have the option of moving my speakers very far off of my wall.

I don't disagree, but I think when you have the tone and timbre and dynamic details right all this unfolds well with good speakers* and positioning in a decent room. . . . To obsess beyond that has quite diminishing returns for me. The extremely "holographic" thing seems hyper- or super-real to me, not natural, NOT what I hear in real performance of music, and I don't seek it out obsessively. Might be fun with leafy substances etc. but I'm also not seeking that frame of mind out.

We're all different, which is why there's not one system, one set of recordings, etc.

*My speakers, two pairs of HR-1s of different vintage, and a pair of ERRs, are very good at presenting spatial information in an untreated room, this may be part of the reason I don't pursue these sort of 'effect' more enthusiastically.

Well, you know which side of the Camp I'm on....with a Moniker of Stone of Tone.........for 20 years.

I miss Harvey dearly!
http://www.meta-gizmo.net/

My Acoustic Zen Adagio's gutted of the horse hockey x-over's they had. Now, in Full Range, with a single Mundorf  Mcap Supreme to each Tweeter/crossed at 4.5k-is Heaven of Tone an Timbre.
http://www.meta-gizmo.net/Tri/adv/STONEO_TONE.html

NATURAL MUSICAL TONE AFFECTS THE BRAIN IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS.........you don't have to be a Stoner to get it....... . I'm not/nor was Harvey.


Dynamic's (my Adagio's)? Forgetta bout' it.....off the charts cohesive baby!
(Hey, I grew up in the Hudson Valley, just north of NYC).

Soundstage does not suck either...........Room Treatment/True. But don't obsess!

Peace, waiting for my Yggy fun! (Schiit)





Listening Room:
Room Treatments from Michael Green & Home Brew
Sony as Transport (DVP-NS57P)/Sandwich weighted for Isolation
Illuminati D-60 Digital Coax IC

*************************************************
Decware DSD DAC / Recorder (@ -20 Ref Level @ 16/176.4)
Yggy coming! (Schiit Yggdrasil)
*************************************************

Kimber Select KS1030 IC RCA
Decware CSP3 w/Jupiter Caps (NOS/Platinum/Telefunken 6922/E88CC .....for Input Tube)
Kimber Select KS1030 IC RCA
Decware Zen Mystery Amplifier (NOS/Platinum/Matsushita/National PCC88/7DJ8.....in A12 an B12 Input Tube positions)
Kimber Select KS3033 Speaker Cable

***Acoustic Zen Adagio - Black Pearl (Modified)

XLO Pro Power Cords to CSP3 an ZMA
PS Audio P3 Power Plant / Pangea AC-9SE from wall to P3
(Transport, ZDSD an CSP3, Regenerated/118, 119 an 120v are used/Multiwave off...ZMA on HC Output)


Decware SE84CS (NOS Svetlana SV83's from 1980's-not the New Sensor knock-offs) ...when SE Pentodes run in Triode/Decware Style...needs to be in the System!




***Acoustic Zen Adagio's x-over's Modified/Full Range with Mundorf MCap Supremes-on Tweets/4.5 cross
(Gutted: 3rd order Linkwitz/Riley's....with all crappy parts = gone).

[Mr. Lee's custom - w/less distortion under-hung neodymium shielded woofer's designed to his specifications in Germany & his in-house designed and made tweeter's.....Floor Spiked/78lb's each and at 48 inches tall.....can cause a Quake in the Room through these Transmission Lines when desired. Bass: deep - tight & musical at any Volume level with tonal balance].

btw, my dm947s arrived today.  I've been listening to Hammer Dynamics speakers for the past few months.  they are 4 cu foot beasts with a 12 inch modified eminence, a simple, but physically large crossover, and some dome tweet.  crossed over way up high like 10k.  nearly single driver.  

But still, the dm947, even without breakin were just what I remembered.  they are clear in a way those big hammers cannot be (which makes me wonder about zu's and tektons and other similar large diameter "single" driver speakers)  do they all lose mid/high clarity?  

anyway, the dm947s are singing!