[Peter Wieck]

Gary:

You mention the Bose and DBX speakers as your springpoint - I will not insu=
lt you by suggesting they were your inspiration. It has been my experience=
with a number of speakers of (mostly) conventional design that what arrive=
s at one's ears is perhaps, and at best, a third-cousin to the live experie=
nce, and for any number of obvious reasons. fixed-point microphones for the=
most part do not sit where one's ears sit, nor do any given pair (with a f=
ew deliberate exceptions) sit so either.=20

Nor does the typical conventional speaker duplicate the original sound prod=
ucer. A piano string may be from a few inches to several feet long, be made=
of drawn, hardened steel and often be wrapped with hardened brass wire. Th=
is is hardly duplicated by a speaker coil which, at best, might be in the 1=
2" - 14" (diameter) range. Further to this, each producer has its unique ch=
aracteristic, all of which is co-mingled by the reproducer.=20

Nor does the typical speaker duplicated the subtle, for lack of a better te=
rm, "elliptical" nature of live sound. As an analogy, consider even a small=
orchestra of perhaps 10 instruments. One sits in an audience dead-center (=
such as the 'ideal' (term used very loosely) listening room) to the orchest=
ra and one is just as far from the base viol as from the brass. Put a virtu=
al thumbtack on each of those instruments, and extend a string to each of y=
our years. Draw it across the back of each tack so it is a complete loop fr=
om each ear to the instruments, then across the orchestra. If one now moves=
off dead-center, the string will slide and your ears will describe an elli=
pse. Hence the term. And, the basis of the much-misunderstood term "soundst=
age".=20

A properly designed performance stage will not be subject to standing/inter=
ference waves as might a poorly designed stage - and back in the day (datin=
g myself here) I was exposed as a grade-school student to the teething prob=
lems of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center - all kinds of interference and=
standing waves - and where I first learned of the term and began to have =
the inklings of appreciating good sound. This cannot be said of the typical=
rectangular listening venue. Which _WILL_ have such issues even if identif=
ied and minimized by good placement, design and other means.=20

This is a long way of stating that I am fascinated by your design and how y=
our longer-term impression of their performance has evolved. A few years ag=
o, when we moved into our "new" (built in 1890) house, my wife graciously p=
ermitted me to 'set up' in the largest room the library, 16 x 28 x 10. Wall=
s are plaster, floor is hardwood, four french doors, lots of glass. The two=
short walls are mostly shelves, there is a fireplace. The furniture is sof=
t and there are Afghan carpets on the floor. In any case, she also permitte=
d me to install Maggies - the MG-IIIa as it happens, rebuilt to as-new spec=
ifications and with new ribbon tweeters. Pretty amazing beasts. And the clo=
sest thing to a live experience I have been able to produce outside of a pa=
ir of first-issue AR9s that left me when we moved into our previous house w=
ith no possible venue for them. Most of the appeal with the Maggies is that=
I may sit in any number of places (imagine that ellipse) with about the sa=
me sense-of-place one gets in a moderately sized concert venue moving about=
the 'house'. The volume equals the virtual 'string length' if you will, so=
that sense of place/movement about the stage is much greater at lower volu=
mes than higher. I see that you have set up a 'sweet spot', something that =
Bose (at least) advertised early on as being unnecessary with the 901 desig=
n. How does your set-up respond to more than one listener, or perhaps even =
a few of them not sitting on the ideal arc? That, to me, is the single larg=
est problem with so-called 'high-end' installations. They are designed arou=
nd a single head at a single position at a given distance and height. Not v=
ery user-friendly and in my *opinion* far too high a price to pay for a per=
haps dubious result. Although you do seem to have such an installation in =
place, perhaps your speaker design is to increase your options? Might that =
single chair evolve into a couch?=20

Thanks in advance!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA=20

p.s.: Other speaker systems in place and operating a=20

AR3a
Revox Picollo
AR M5
AR Athena