Posted by Tom Merritt on July 14, 2003 at 07:58:37:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: M-2 Time To Charge Panels ????? posted by Roy on July 13, 2003 at 15:09:28:
Roy, thanks for your insights!! Things have improved since my original post. The seller called me yesterday and indicated that the M-2's had been stored in the crates for 3-4 months prior to sale. The panels were all the way down for sure. He suggested that they will take up to 5 days to fully charge. They were quite literally coming to life over the weekend. My wife hates Wolcotts (cosmetic issues) and was doing her best last nite with a Radio Shack SPL meter to defend the honor of the MA-1's which she loves. She did achieve peaks in the low 90's in our room which is 27x17x10. I was running with a pair of JPS SC NC 6' speaker cables. I do not yet have the impedance mod which I ordered last week before getting the speakers. I'm thinking that with the impedance mod and the MA-1's that I will achieve 95dB peaks in our room. We don't generally listen loudly and our listening habits mirror yours very closely.
Now, to the dc bias adjustment. The seller told me that he ran them maxed to where he had the lock nuts set and could barely hear any crackling with his ear against the speaker. I ran them up to that same point but did not loosen the lock nut. I'm not sure as to how much additional adjustment is available with the lock nut loosened. What I'm experiencing seems to be consistent with what the seller found. It just seemed odd to me that initially I could clearly hear the crackling (although no wear near as prominently as with the old Pristines) and could back the dc bias slowly down to where I couldn't hear it any longer.
In general the speakers are fabulous. My wife who hates panels in general has already fallen in love with them which is quite remarkable. My 17 year old stepson is also amazed and indicates that this is the most noticeable change I've made since we've been in this house which is 7 years. I played some Miles Davis CD's yesterday and they were just incredible. Beyond my expectations really and they were very high to begin with. I think we are going to be very, very happy with these. I do intend to audition some Wolcotts just to compare. I have a really nice pair of MA-1MKII.2's that are fully optioned. They will probably play loudly enough with the impedance mod. They seemed to play louder with the JPS SC NC's than the Zeros w cables at 2X but that was probably because of the panels charging. We didn't bother to switch back to the Zeros yesterday as the JPS SC NC's were sounding so great we didn't bother.
Last comment. There seems to be a diversity of option on whether the best sonics are achieved with direct drive or with a preamp. I see you are using direct drive. Had you done any comparisons prior to arriving at a decision?? I know my Wadia 16 is not the best and I'm thinking of possibly moving to a Wadia WT2000, dCS Purnell and Delius combo. Any thoughts on that??