maxc1158@ucselx.sdsu.edu (Greg Penetrante) (05/03/91)
Carl Writes...> >Finally, does anyone have any comments on the Spica Angelus speakers? >Listsened to them recently, three-dimensionality, imaging, was >very good, tonal balance a bit cold, disembodied. Source was cd, with Adcom >amplification, which may explain this. > Welcome to the world of CD players. Most of them can sound somewhat cold and disembodied. I don't know of any CD player, short of an outboard D/A converter, that could be really hitting LP's where they hurt. The Adcom could also be a bit on the cold side when coupled with the Spica Speakers. I've auditioned that particular combination and Adcom's don't mate well with Spicas.. A Tube amp or the Muse Model One Hundred would be a better match for a Spica.
donald@CSI.COM (Donald Maffly) (05/06/91)
In article <11684@uwm.edu> you write: > > >Finally, does anyone have any comments on the Spica Angelus speakers? >Listsened to them recently, three-dimensionality, imaging, was >very good, tonal balance a bit cold, disembodied. Source was cd, with Adcom >amplification, which may explain this. > >Carl I like the Angelus, alot, although I must confess that own a pair of TC-50's. I would tend to agree with how you described it: imaging excellent, but a bit cold. The TC-50 on the other hand is much warmer through the mid-range, though the imaging not as quite as good. One reason I'll never buy an Angelus though, is that the bass is very disappointing. Better to go with TC-50's and perhaps add a sub-woofer later. If you are serious about the Angelus, I saw a used pair going for the unbelievably low price of $525 in the back pages of Stereophile, recently. -- Donald Maffly
rshapiro@arris.com (Richard Shapiro) (05/06/91)
In article <11716@uwm.edu> maxc1158@ucselx.sdsu.edu (Greg Penetrante) writes: > >that could be really hitting LP's where they hurt. The Adcom could also be a bit >on the cold side when coupled with the Spica Speakers. I've auditioned that >particular combination and Adcom's don't mate well with Spicas.. A Tube amp or >the Muse Model One Hundred would be a better match for a Spica. I went through a number of solid-state amps to use with the Angelus and was never altogether satisfied -- I *knew* I wasn't getting as much out of them as I might. Finally, I settled on a hybrid amp: the Counterpoint SA-12. I've been very pleased with the combination. The shrillness and relative thin-ness of cds is still there, but I'm not sure it's really fair to blame the speakers for this. With a good analog front-end, the Angelus, driven by the Counterpoint, are unrivaled at the price (which is why I bought them, of course). The SA-12 is no longer made, unfortunately, and the successor was just torn to pieces by Stereophile (for whatever that's worth).
tmajni@sequent.com (05/08/91)
In article <11821@uwm.edu> donald@CSI.COM (Donald Maffly) writes: > >I like the Angelus, alot, although I must confess that own a pair of TC-50's. >I would tend to agree with how you described it: imaging excellent, but a bit >cold. The TC-50 on the other hand is much warmer through the mid-range, >though the imaging not as quite as good. > >One reason I'll never buy an Angelus though, is that the bass is very >disappointing. Better to go with TC-50's and perhaps add a sub-woofer >later. If you are serious about the Angelus, I saw a used pair >going for the unbelievably low price of $525 in the back pages of >Stereophile, recently. > I like the Angelus a lot as well. My major complaint is not the same as yours though. WAF (wife acceptance factor) is quite low. The local dealer curses "the damn thing" because only single guys buy it, and sure enough my wife hated the things. I did have a picture of them in my office which a woman I work with commented on them as "sexy". When I asked if she would allow them to live in her living room she said NO! Oh well, so much for Spica Angelus. I have a much more basic problem with the TC-50s. They are too sensitive to power overloading and can be easily damaged. When the TC-50s are hooked to small high quality amps like Naim or the baby VTL the image produced can be hauntingly real. Bass is a major problem with these units, but Spica does make a subwoofer for them. You should be able to get better bass from the Angelus though. I have a set of baby Thiel CS-1.2s that reportedly have the same problem. They are down 3db at 50hz and drop like a rock from there. I have done several things to get better bass response out of these speakers: 1. Got a really good amp - replaced Adcom 555 with Threshold S/200. While Adcom is supposed to have good bass, it isn't nearly as strong or well defined as Threshold's. Thiel uses Threshold for R&D as well as demo as CES shows - there is a reason. 2. Put in a dedicated 20 amp line from breaker box to plug with 12 guage wire. Most homes have 15 amp lines with 14 guage wire. This increased the power available to the amp, which cleaned up the lows even more. 3. Put in good speaker wire. I am now using 8 guage silver plated copper with teflon dielectric, twisted with shrink tubing over the entire length. Connectors are crimped and silver soldered. This increased the damping factor which improves tightness of bass. I thought bass was less with these wires at first, but close listening showed that is was more defined, and not as flabby. 4. Upgraded the power supply in my CD player. I found a 15 volt computer power supply with tons more current than the player will ever use. This increased the imaging and added a lot more definition and weight to the bass. I am sure that I'm getting more out of these Thiels than 95%+ of the owners. First off, most would not hook $1250 speakers to $6000 of electronics and wire. Better electronics can make a major difference. The Threshold was the most dramatic of these changes, with the other three being equivalent in effect. None of these changes where subtle. The last three didn't cost more than 2% of the Threshold (each less than $60). I am currently working with a local speaker designer to come up with a passive woofer to mate with the Thiels. It will probably be an offshoot of the Aria 10 design by Joesph DiAppalito for Focal, the speaker driver manufacturer. Initial testing shows that these puppies will be 3db down at 22hz! I plan to have the highs roll off in the 60hz to 80hz range. Getting the crossover right is going to be the most difficult part. The port will most likey have to be disabled in the Thiels with some sort of plug to get melding of the two right. Tim Majni
kevins@eng.auburn.edu (Kevin Sullivan) (05/11/91)
In article <11949@uwm.edu> tmajni@sequent.com writes: >I like the Angelus a lot as well. My major complaint is not the same as >yours though. WAF (wife acceptance factor) is quite low. The local dealer >curses "the damn thing" because only single guys buy it, and sure enough my >wife hated the things. I did have a picture of them in my office which a >woman I work with commented on them as "sexy". When I asked if she would >allow them to live in her living room she said NO! Oh well, so much for >Spica Angelus. > Hmm. My wife thinks they look great. (She's an artist, so I guess that means they look great, or they "work".) They've been standing about three feet into our living room for almost two years. I love these speakers and I'm a bass player. The bass on these speakers doesn't rattle the walls but it's _very_ controlled and I like that almost as much as the imaging. >You should be able to get better bass from the Angelus though. I have a >set of baby Thiel CS-1.2s that reportedly have the same problem. They >are down 3db at 50hz and drop like a rock from there. I have done several >things to get better bass response out of these speakers: > > 1. Got a really good amp - replaced Adcom 555 with Threshold S/200. How about Aragon? Someone recommended the 8008 to me but I haven't heard it on my speakers. They also said a new amp was coming out called Acuris (sp?) that was similar to but less expensive than the Aragon. Anyone know about this? While I'm asking for advice, I'm looking for a new CD player. I've listened to the NAD 5000 and CAL Icon but in different cities on very different components. Has anyone compared these? Opinions? >Tim Majni Kevin Sullivan