[Nick Dangerous]

Yes, it's true. The Oris horns are on the auction block: Horns, drivers, amps, preamp, and cabinets. It's been a lovely ride. I've learned more about audio than I've ever cared to know. Yet there is a time and a place for everything and the Oris no longer fits into the picture.

I'm not pregnant, ill, moving to New Zealand, or gone insane. Quite simply, I don't have the space. The Oris needs an "acoustically friendly" space to perform at its peak and the house I recently purchased has no "den" to speak of. Believe me, I've TRIED to make it fit. No dice. I'm NOT moving again anytime soon (five times in the last four years!). Ironic that I've spent a couple of years building it and now I have nowhere to put it.

My "solution" (i.e. compromise) is to go with a modest stereo system and get my high-end jollies from an AKG-K1000/AudioValve RKV headphone combo. It's the setup I always said I'd buy if I ever had to part with the Oris... and here I am.

Things learned along the way:

#1 - Welborne Labs vs. Bottlehead = I prefer Welborne

I built two pairs of monoblock tube amplifiers to couple with the Oris, a 2A3 model from Bottlehead (Paraglow II) and a 45 from Welborne Labs (45 DRD Ultimate). Of the two companies, I prefer Welborne by a significant margin. It isn't a simple 2A3 vs. 45 argument. Everything about the Welborne kit was an improvement from accuracy of manuals, overall fit and finish, circuit topology, ease of construction, parts quality, and finally (and most importantly) sound quality.

I like Welborne Labs because Ron is as obsessive-compulsive as I am about quality in every sense. The 45 DRD monoblocks look as good as they sound.

#2 - Not for beginners

The Oris is not a hornspeaker kit for beginners. In fact, I'd say it would give even intermediate kit-builders the willies. Bert Doppenberg has indeed created "the world's best sounding speaker kit", but it is a royal pain to get all of the individual elements working together in harmony. Sanding and painting the horns, building cabinets, tweaking filter resistor values, creating DIY magnet speaker wire... and doing it again and again... very repetitive, annoying stuff. I highly recommend purchasing a completed kit rather than going it alone.

#3 - Ultimate sound quality?

Yes. It's still the best sounding speaker I have ever heard. People have literally wept in front of it. Far and away better than anything available in Tweeter, Marvin's Electronics, or Ultimate Audio... $50,000 price tags notwithstanding. It doesn't sound "good" or even "great". It sounds real.

#4 - What stereo are you getting in its place?

I've always been fond of Axiom Audio for delivering a quality product at a low price. I've ordered a pair of their floorstanding M60ti speakers which I will couple with a Hsu Research STF-2 subwoofer. Powering the speakers will be a Panasonic XR50 amplifier.

Yes, Panasonic. Seems beneath me, right? Maybe not. The XR50 is one of the first "digital amps" that promises higher-than-usual sound quality. Reports from the Audio Asylum are very positive. It's cheap enough for me to give it a go. I don't expect true "hi fi" performance, but it should suffice for casual listening. The AKG/RKV headphone combo will satisfy my needs for critical listening.

There you have it. Bottom line: Don't buy one unless you have the space!

 

[rickcr42]

somebody !

Quick !

Call the Paramedics !

Th eboy is obviously ill and something needs to be done and FAST !

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Photos from Audiogon:

 

[Jahn]

oh lordy. that's crazy. both the speakers and the idea of getting rid of em!

 

[taoster]

That's the big pitfall with speaker setups. It doesn't matter how good the speakers, amp, cd player etc etc are. If the room size+acoustic isn't right, there is no improving.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Actually, I could fix the situation with a DEQX processor, but it is about $3000. Couldn't justify that when I'd be buying it just to "fix" a room.

 

[rawhit]

uh...may be build this ?
I'm very interested in building the orions or some similar dipole speaker. Less room interaction than other speaker types

 

[elnero]

Nick,

This sounds similar to what happened to me. When my wife and I moved into our new home we found space to be at a premium, especially in the livingroom. I finally had to let my Swans speakers go. This was a particularly painful experience because I loved those speakers dearly, I worked for the company, helped in some minor ways in their design and built parts of the speaker myself but unfortunately I was never able to afford to pair them with gear of similar quality and they required quite a bit of space to shine. Ironically it was the sale of the speakers that allowed me to move up from a budget DVD player as a source and also get the RS-1's.

We now have a modest stereo in the livingroom consisting of a DVD player, old Mission Cyrus I integrated and a pair of Paradigm Atoms. This serves for predominately background music and movies, like you will soon, I get my real music fix from my headphone system which at the moment is set up in the computer room but will probably be moved to the livingroom or bedroom in the near future. In all honesty I couldn't be happier but then I'm one of those people that actually prefers headphones to speakers.

Good luck with your new endevour, I hope you find your new setup as musically satisfying as I have mine.

 

[gbeard]

Hi Nick,

I recently sold my reference system. This is one of the systems I just bought:

Pioneer 578A
Panny SA-XR50
Hsu VT-12 Ventriloquist system
Hsu SFT-2 Sub

It sounds pretty good.

gb

 

[chadbang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taoster That's the big pitfall with speaker setups. It doesn't matter how good the speakers, amp, cd player etc etc are. If the room size+acoustic isn't right, there is no improving.

Oh, how painfully true. I idolize my Spica TC-50s, but ever since moving to a new (smaller) apt I just can't make them work. Tried foam insulation, every trick I could think of -- no luck. Sometimes there's no substitution for SPACE.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

That's the big pitfall with speaker setups. It doesn't matter how good the speakers, amp, cd player etc etc are. If the room size+acoustic isn't right, there is no improving.

actually if you can fit speakers into a room you can literally force the room to cooperate with enough time,money and acoustic treatment.Maybe not the best solution but a solution.

i had to give up my subwoofer in my present digs because it just would not PHYSICALLY FIT in the damn room !
So the search is on for something that can replace it and mate with my system sensitivity/acoustics.
This is no easy task and i am most likely going to have to make a comprimise down the road or go without.Neither something i am willing to accept really so the search goes on...............

 

[Wmcmanus]

Nick, what a shame you have to give these up. I read your Audiogon ads and was sorely tempted to take it all off of your hands, but I'm having the same problem with space. At times, I think about ripping my entire roof off and adding a complete second floor so I can set up 4 or 5 more audio rooms!!! People have done crazier things...

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Rawhit: Those speakers look very nice! Although it is true that dipole bass is less sensitive to room interactions, open baffle speakers must be placed "just so" to get the correct reinforcement from the existing walls.

Elnero: Thanks for the sympathy. It's good to know I'm not alone in my pain.

Gbeard: How funny! That's almost exactly the system I'm getting, except Axioms instead of the HT HSU speakers. What do you like best (and dislike) about your setup?

Wmcmanus: I've thought about knocking down a few walls, but my house value would suffer for it. Mortgage company would be pissed this early in the game, that's for sure. When and if I move to a larger house, I'll insist that it have a proper media room.

 

[daycart1]

Hi Nick!,

Glad to see you back in headphone land! I hope you found the whole thing worthwhile in retrospect. Too bad that storage until your next big house isn't an option...

 

[Sovkiller]

Nick:
Right now we have a lot of options for the K-1000, including the new T-amp for real cheap ($30.00), it is supposed to sound very good with the K-1000, why not giving it a try first, maybe a tweak here and there, and leave for later the expensive toys as RKV.....