Prime Time

Brumjam

Two weeks ago I sold my Vivid Audio speakers and have ordered some rather tasty horns

http://www.tuneaudio.com/prime.html

These are made to order to so I have a 5-6 week wait for them to be delivered. Can't wait!

I spent a few hours last week with a pair of these in my living room and they were magnificent. They work really well in my room and benefit from being close to the back wall, certainly much closer than any non horn speaker that I've owned.  Tune Audio can finish the speakers in any colour or wood veneer of our choosing, so we have narrowed the choice down to a couple of veneers which are going to be photoshopped to give us an idea of what the final finish will look like.

OverallI I would say these speakers are less clinical sounding than my previous ones.  The Vivid's mids/highs remain the most articulate and beautiful I've heard, BUT only with great quality recordings.  Anything less than perfect gets exposed and makes for a slightly less enjoyable listen.  There's also only so much bass that can be delivered by a smallish enclosure - no such problem with the Prime's which do scale with ease.  

I knew after hearing Paul's old Horning speakers (at their new owners place) that my next speaker was likely to be a horn design.  There's something inherently musical about the sound produced by horns that makes me spend less time analysing the sound and more time listening to songs 'as a whole' if that makes sense.

Pics etc to follow when they arrive. 

uglymusic

:-SS

PAC

Good choice Brumjam...I heard some of these last year (at least I think it was these!) and they were great through the magical midrange area as you'd expect.  Didn't have the bass of something like the Fidelios but you wouldn't expect them to (in terms of absolute extension and power) but they were clean sounding and went plenty low enough for most tastes.  Interesting that there's no information of frequency response unless I missed that on the technical bumff.

I liked the Hornings.  They were flawed in some respects (bass response needed ample amplification despite the sensitivity claims.  The amplification also needed to utilise some feedback to keep bass in control and maintain stability but the speakers had a magical mid range and treble which didn't shout at you unlike many others do today.  I think you may find that the Primes are more coherent than the Agathon Ultimates.  They should work well using just about any valve amp too...just make sure it's Class A!

Brumjam

Thanks Paul.  You didn't miss the frequency response - it's not on the website and I'm not sure what it is. They seemed to go lower than my Vivid's which went down to 42hz +/- 2db - not by a huge amount, but enough to give bass satisfying weight without exciting room nodes.

Class A valves you say?  Like the Art Audio Quintet I recently sold? #-o   I might look into Shindo power amplification at some point.  With my previous speakers I had to dismiss low watt power amps but now they're a possibility.  It will have to be a mighty fine amp though to see off my valve pre/nCore power combo. 

PAC

Efficient speakers such as the Primes have something going for them.  Several things in fact.  Most can sound dynamic at lower volumes because the design doesn't need loads of watts feeding the bass, although there's a limit to the dynamics unless driven to a certain level.  They also retain something very definable that lower sensitivity designs dont when partnered by Class A valve amplification, which again if decently designed has something in spades I'd call "musicality".  Its the quality that llows you to immerse yourself in music and forget hifi, and the combo of high sensitivity speakers and class A valves seems to have that in abundance for most listening volumes.

Yes, the Art Audio Quintet would have been perfect! The Consonance Cyber 10 is also a worthy contender for those speakers;  My present amp, the EAR 869 se would also be a great choice.  That's the thing, you have loads of choice.  The Jolida 300B would be a stunner with them I reckon as would the newer JD3402 or even the older JD302CRC.  Take your time, choose with your ears and your wallet, not your eyes and I reckon you'll be a very happy bunny.

Brumjam

Here's a Photoshop render of my speakers in olive ash:

uglymusic

Very nice.

Docfoster

There's something totemic about a good looking speaker, and that is one. (I haven't looked up the various definitions of "totemic", but I want to say) totemic in every sense.

RobHolt

Those look interesting.

Th spec mention using amplifiers with no/low feedback but doesn't say why.

One possibility is that such amplifiers have very low electrical damping and this can help fill-out the bottom end of a small bass horn with a high-ish sensitivity driver.

One alternative is to use power resistors in the loudspeaker lines, so might be worth trying that with the current amplifier and noting the effect. Bass dynamics, bass level around the main driver LF resonance and also levels around the crossover point are all impacted. The same trick works to good effect with other hight sensitivy designs such as Lowthers and Klipsch.

Docfoster

Those look interesting.

Th spec mention using amplifiers with no/low feedback but doesn't say why.

One possibility is that such amplifiers have very low electrical damping and this can help fill-out the bottom end of a small bass horn with a high-ish sensitivity driver.

One alternative is to use power resistors in the loudspeaker lines, so might be worth trying that with the current amplifier and noting the effect. Bass dynamics, bass level around the main driver LF resonance and also levels around the crossover point are all impacted. The same trick works to good effect with other hight sensitivy designs such as Lowthers and Klipsch.

"Look" "interesting". What are you looking at...?
;-)

RobHolt

Those look interesting.

Th spec mention using amplifiers with no/low feedback but doesn't say why.

One possibility is that such amplifiers have very low electrical damping and this can help fill-out the bottom end of a small bass horn with a high-ish sensitivity driver.

One alternative is to use power resistors in the loudspeaker lines, so might be worth trying that with the current amplifier and noting the effect. Bass dynamics, bass level around the main driver LF resonance and also levels around the crossover point are all impacted. The same trick works to good effect with other hight sensitivy designs such as Lowthers and Klipsch.

"Look" "interesting". What are you looking at...?
;-)

http://www.tuneaudio.com/prime.html

Brumjam

Today I'm taking delivery of two very different amps:

1)  Temple Audio Bantam Gold (volume control removed)

2)  WAD KEL84 (early example)

My Hypex amps have been sold as they didn't gel with my speakers, so going to try a few low-power amps before I make the leap and buy something final (yeah, right).

The Bantam is brand new so I've plugged this in to warm up which will take a few days.  If I'm honest I am really looking forward to trying the WAD amp with my speakers.  Come on UPS....pull your finger out!

uglymusic

There is no final solution!!!!

But, good luck anyway ;-)

Brumjam

Well, it's seemingly a knock out by the Bantam in the first round.  I think they missed a zero off the price of this amp.  Quite a remarkable bit of kit for £190....and this is on the standard SMPS supply after a few hours use.

uglymusic

:-O

Brumjam

The Bantam is now being powered by a regulated power supply from Maplin.  It sounds...... .  Total cost of £240 for the amp and power supply.  Now that I'm sold on the virtues of a linear supply for this amp, I just need to find one that has the WAF factor. The Maplin bench supply is definitely reserved for lab benches only.