The Great Disappearing Act- Monitor Audio ASW Subwoofer

The Great Disappearing Act- Monitor Audio ASW Subwoofer

Over the years, I’ve had several subwoofers in my main system, with mixed results. My challenge has always been finding a sub that blends in with my Klipsch KLF30 towers. They’re wonderful fire-breathing monsters, very powerful and efficient speakers that can make them picky about everything. For the price point they were built in, I will argue them as one of the greatest speakers ever produced, especially for rock and roll.

I started with an Infinity 12”, whose amp died. That sub has found new life in another system as a passive sub, and actually does better than it ever did a powered unit. For quite a while, I ran my wonderful little Aura 8”, which will definitely be the subject of another article, as it is one of my favorite pieces of gear. That little guy keeps up with anything you throw at it, and still stays very musical.

About a year ago, I acquired a beautiful Velodyne sub, and I was very excited. I’d always wanted one. It was one of their more entry-level models, but it’s tough to go wrong with a Velodyne. In it went. Immediately, I had to make adjustments to my listening environment. I needed to put felt pads behind some of the pictures on the wall to cut down on their rattle! This thing literally shook the house. Now, there was definitely a sub in my system!

That’s not necessarily a good thing, though. To me, it was always there. Always. No matter what I did. It was nice, and it sounded very good, but it was always present, and it always let you know about it.

Then, one day, I happened upon a couple subs in my local garage sale site on the cheap. Seriously cheap. A Monitor Audio and a Canton subwoofer. I made arrangements to meet up with the guy in a grocery store parking lot that afternoon to make the exchange. The Canton looked rough, and the Monitor Audio looked pretty nice, and he assured me everything worked as promised. It’s always a risk, but I was willing. I got a good feeling about the guy, which lasted my whole trip home.

As a quick aside here, I will tell you this regarding buying things on garage sale sites like OfferUp, CraigsList, and all the others- trust your instincts. If you’re getting the feeling like you’re about to get burned, you’re about to get burned. Be careful. These are wonderful sources of finding the dream system you want, though, and you should tap them for everything they’re worth!

Anyhow, I got them home, cleaned them up, pulled the Velodyne out, and began my testing. First, the Canton. Oh, what an improvement already! It’s a much more musical sub, more subtle and linear than the Velodyne. I was excited, but I knew this wasn’t going to be my main sub.

The moment of truth was upon me.

In went the Monitor Audio. It needed very little adjustment to sit right it. I crossed it at 80 cycles, as I do with all of my subs. There is a switch on the back for selecting a movie or music mode. I started in the music mode. The magic was instant. *Poof* It was gone. Gone, as in there was suddenly no more omnipresent subwoofer. Instead, there was this incredible melding of the soundscape. It shook hands with my speakers, and decided to become one with my living room right away. I no longer had a sub. What I had was this amazing full range of sound that I had never had before. There were no peaks or valleys, no resonant tones, just music.

I immediately went for my test disc, Genesis’ “A Trick of the Tail.” That first big hit in “Dance On a Volcano” went through me in a way my system never had. There was a depth that went all the way to my front yard. And yet, no apparent subwoofer. The blend was astounding. It was impossible to tell where the four 12” woofers of the KLF30’s stopped, and the 10” of the ASW began.

So, up went the volume. Two tracks forward to “Squonk.” The bass line was moving, but never resonant or overwhelming. As the Klipsches brought out Phil’s descending drum run, the ASW kept right up. This is fun!

I only got about a minute into it before it was time for the real thing. I made sure the sub was exactly where I wanted it, reached over to the Sony ES, and skipped up to track 8. “Los Endos” is always my go-to for testing almost anything. This, especially for speakers, is what separates the men from the boys. Through my Yamaha RX-V757, I can drive my KLF-30’s to hit 118dB at the sofa without a hint of distortion. The Velodyne was always able to keep up with this task. Would the Monitor Audio? I was a little nervous.

I kept the grill off to monitor cone movement, ready to kill this experiment if it began to bottom out. Louder. Louder. Deeper into the song. As the song built towards the end, I went for it. The sub had found its new home, and I knew it was happy. The cone excursion was smooth and powerful, and the blend was still there. It was still one big soundscape in my living room. This was best my system had ever sounded!

Since then, I’ve tried it with movies too. Yes, I’ve engaged that “movie” switch. Ooooh, look out! Sci-fi heaven. The sub becomes a bit looser, a little more aggressive, and does take on more of a “Hi! I’m a subwoofer” kind of role. What a great thing to have. I’ve also tried about everything I can throw at it, musically, and I just continue to fall in love with it.

This begs the question then- what is it that you really want out of your subwoofer? What are these boom boxes really supposed to be doing for us? Yes, the explosions are nice, but if they compromise our musical listening experience, and don’t compliment our soundstage, then I have to question them. I’m just glad to know that there are some real alternatives for us audiophiles who do want or need a sub in our systems

If you have a chance to pick one of these up sometime, this gets my highest recommendation!

The Dancing Girls- Pioneer SX-780 Receiver

The Dancing Girls- Pioneer SX-780

I have a fetish, well… I suppose everyone does… but mine is for VU meters. I don’t know if it’s the hypnotizing movement, the immediacy of the information that it feeds me about my music, or the pleasure of occasionally seeing them bounce a little too high as I blow the dust out of the speaker grilles. I’ve had a fascination with them since my early youth, and had an immediate understanding of their meaning and purpose. I’m talking about those meters that read the power output of your amplifier (or sound lever on your tape deck, etc). Once a staple of hi-fi gear in the 70’s, they became status symbols on the faces of some great pieces, and have caused certain items to fall into great collectability today. Like dancing girls against stage lights, keeping time with our favorite music, they still capture us.

From time-to-time, I’ve been quite the garage sale hound. I should really be more of one, as I’ve made quite some great scores at them, as well as estate sales. One such morning, probably 20 years ago now, led me to stumble across this beautiful vintage Pioneer SX-780 silver face receiver. Since childhood, I’ve always been a fan of silver Pioneer equipment. I grew up around it, and would stare at it in magazines, dreaming I would own it all someday. They always had some of the best advertisements in the stereo magazines at the time. It was fantastic dream fodder for a 10-year-old boy. Now, here was one on the table in front me, for (as I recall) 20 bucks.

I brought it home, and to my disappointment, one channel had weak output. Everything worked, though. At the time, I was taking a history class with a young man who was an electronics major who asked if I wouldn’t mind letting him take a shot at it. All it would cost me was parts. I was pretty broke, and had little to lose, and couldn’t turn down his enthusiasm, so I turned him loose on it. Within a couple weeks, he returned it back to me, with the output stage as good as new, and a big feather is his blooming cap.

The receiver is sheer pleasure to listen to. I have it paired with another garage sale score (to be written about later), my 1978 Klipsch Heresy speakers. They just sit so nicely together. I also have a Legend Audio subwoofer on it, with each set of speakers run separately on A and B, so that I can turn the sub off, should I choose. This setup also allows the Heresys to stay full range, instead of being crossed over by the sub’s output. [*Note- Not all receivers are friendly to this arrangement. Your results may vary.] The sub is a beast, and more of a modern sound, so it’s in the mix very low.

The sound, without getting overly descriptive, is absolutely “vintage.” Even right now, listening to Pink Floyd’s “The Division Bell” through a Sony ES CD player, the tone is more 1978 than anything. I come to this system when I need to be transported back to a simpler time in my life, when my stereo was really the most complicated thing in my life. But, by vintage, I do mean that somehow, even with horn-loaded speakers, the sound sits back nicer than a modern receiver does to me. More rounded, somewhat slower to respond, slightly less snap, warmer, just more… pleasant. Hell, I know this chair has an ottoman somewhere, I could just listen to Pink Floyd here all day. It’s just that good.

These receivers, and a lot of silver face Pioneer gear, have achieved high collectability now, and with good reason. The beauty is timeless, the sound as well. This particular range has power that is greatly under-stated. It’s not just that the Heresys are very efficient, this 50 watt-per-channel unit will produce stunning volume in this pretty large room, and does so very cleanly. The higher models in the line have an even better reputation for doing so, and will put so many modern amplifiers to shame. They just have a beautiful sound, plain and simple.

They also had more versatility than some of their contemporaries, which also makes them a good modern choice, as well. We have the need for more inputs these days, and for those of looking to blend the vintage and modern worlds, this has only boosted the lore of this line. Unlike some of their competitors, the Pioneer gave two tape monitor inputs, in addition to the aux input. This added to the great phono stage and legendary tuners that Pioneer was always known for.

I think that every audiophile needs a vintage system, in addition to their modern two channel or home theater setup, just to keep us grounded to our past, and to the roots of the hobby. It’s amazing what a few Saturday mornings of lost sleep can do for boosting your home collection, if you’re willing to do some fun searching. Happy hunting!

Welcome to The Shoestring Audiophile

The Shoestring Audiophile- Welcome!

Oh, even this term- “audiophile,” how we argue it back-and-forth. What does it really it mean anymore? Is it simply the enjoyment of the hi-fi experience, or does it really require six-figure price tags and ridiculous accouterments? Can I truly enjoy my loudspeakers without cable elevators? You know, those little wooden things that make sure my wires never touch that harmful floor? Do I need to spend more on my cables than I did on my house? Or can I just put together a really good system on a modest budget, and begin enjoying it?

Well, I’m here to argue that we can. I’m writing this for the “Regular Person”, who may not have the income, but certainly has the passion. We are a fading, but not necessarily dying, breed of folk. We are all walks of life, all genders, all ages, and have wide musical tastes.

Now someone is invariably going to look down say- then this isn’t audiophile, this is just pleasant mid-fi. Opinions will always be strong, varied, and tied directly to the wallet of the listener. I will then begin my usual argument regarding the point of diminishing returns. This is the case of having to spend exponentially more to get something incrementally better, and so on, and so forth. While I do love a spirited debate, what we are ultimately talking about is the enjoyment of music, and the art of presenting it in our homes.

I have had the privilege of listening to some of the finest gear made. I’ve auditioned $125,000 speaker systems. Yes, they moved my soul. I recently heard Vienna Acoustics “The Music” loudspeakers ($35,000/pair). It was hard to tear myself away from them. The imaging, the sound staging, the depth of these speakers are just superb… but… still… I really love my system at home. I do. I really do.

I am fortunate to have lots of great gear around to begin reviewing, but will always try to revolve things and keep this as fresh as possible. Much of my focus will be on used gear that can be purchased for a song (which is precisely how I get it), and I will do my best to amuse you with my stories of acquisition. I will also review new gear, cables, and accessories, as I am able to come across it all in my daily needs. I suppose though, that my true love here with be some of the retro gear that I am lucky enough to own, and I will try to detail it as best I can, and let you loose to hunt some of it down yourself.

My goal here will not be to outline all the specifications of the gear, or to amaze you with my use of flowery descriptives of sound, but to hopefully entertain you with my stories of how I acquired some of my treasures, how I do my hunting, and to help you to do your own.

The bottom line of my blog goes right back to the title. I build my systems on a meager budget, and get immense enjoyment from them. If you do the same, or would like to but aren’t sure how, I welcome you to follow this blog, and join me on this sonic journey.