Legacy Wavelet II
 

I just finished reading a review of Legacy’s Valor speakers in The Absolute Sound (January 2022). It was a glowing review as usual for these $86k speakers. I own the Aeris speakers with the Wavelet and I absolutely love them. This review was the first where they mentioned the new Wavelet II. I’m curious if anyone has had any experience with this new Wavelet? I don’t see it on Legacy’s website yet. The review states the unit can be used on any of Legacy’s speakers and can be custom programmed to work on most other speakers.

Calling SCAudiophile!

I, along with a couple other owners (1 Valor, 1 V speakers) received one of the units each. The sonic improvements overall are a big jump due
to updates of the DAC (now 24/192 for analog in and 32/384 for compatible digital inputs, and the DSP section (upgrade from 56-bit to 64-bit!)
and over enhanced software layers for Room Correction and Omnio functionality add up to a MAJOR platform upgrade and sonic upgrade.

Others may have received it net new or had theirs upgraded in the last month; I only know the 3 owners (including myself) mentioned above directly.

Legacy has not updated the web and will do so hopefully soon. There is mention of rolling it out 'officially' at the Florida Audio Expo so definitely no
later than that.

I would write or give them a call about v2 upgrade path for V1 owners and also net new units.

Happy to talk and share what I've heard as well after the holidays.

Merry Christmas!

While this air is a little too thin for my breath, i am a huge fan of Legacy speakers.
Agree with SCA, give a call; great customer service.

FWIW, Audio Classics has a pair of custom made beauties without amplification that are crazy large and crazy sounding with Mc 901's.

I just ordered a Wavelet II. It should be ready in a month or 2. SCaudiophile listed the updates. Can’t wait!

Congratulations Rick,..based upon what I'm hearing here, you will be very happy!

Mark I’m using a Mcintosh 452 with my Aeris speakers. I see you are running Legacy amps. Would I benefit swapping the Mc for a Legacy Audio i·V2 Dual Mono Amplifier (Stereo) ? Both amps are probably overkill right?

Rick, the McIntosh 452 like so many of their amps is a great amp and a quiet beast,...delivers music with quiet confidence all the time and when needed can really open up the floodgates as it were in terms of filling a room.

Depending upon point of view a amp with that much capacity and full range potential is overkill however from that same point of view, so is the Legacy i.V2!!! (Ultra by default build spec I believe, one board fully dedicated per channel). Many people forget that all that great power on reserve is not only about playing at scale / high SPLs; it's also about control and ability to handle the dynamics of minute, soft passages.

Either amp is a great match for the top (mids and treble sections) of the AERIS speakers (assuming you have them wiring with internal amps for the bass and sub-bass which is the default. When I had mine, I drove them first with an Edge NL 12.1, then a Maker Audio NL14 and later and until I sold them, an Esoteric A-02; all great amps and definitely full-range beasts capable of driving nearly any speaker full range.

The only advantage you MAY hear if you were to give the i.V2 (Ultra by default) a try is the good of having the same exact sonic family profile, speed, damping factor, etc. on the mids and trebles as you do on the bottom half of the AERIS. To me that is worth investigating however if you can do so in a way that doesn't have you getting rid of the 452 first, that would be the way I'd recommend.

As an aside, McIntosh amps have a long history and reputation for pairing extremely well with all Legacy speakers back to the original Focus and earlier and later models.

I don't remember where you are located however you are welcome to come check out the sonic personality of the i.V4 Ultra. I've had good friends who own Accuphase monoblocks, D'Agostino, Pathos amps and i-amps, Pass Labs X250.8's , Primaluna, Ayon, Lampi, various other tube-amps, here and they have all said they find what the i.V4 Ultra puts out to be very unlike the classic characterizations of Class D amplifications and a big surprise. They also use words like excellent, extremely musical, detailed, organic, etc...

Now, my personal answer is this; for many years I swore I would NEVER have so-called Class D "digital amplification" (ironic as Class D amps are analog just like other topologies) in my system going back 10-15 years.

I've learned to never say "never" in this hobby; today I have nothing but
Class D here, and a whole lot of it at that internal to the VALOR and external.
The reason initially cost and space and keeping a complex setup from being
even bigger and more so.

Today, all that Class D amplification is staying because of how amazing t sounds and the list of much more expensive amps I've heard that don't beat it sonically (to my ears) when the i.V4 Ultra is powered and cabled well. There are quite a few SOTA amps that do but they are in the $50K-$100K categories for 2-ch stereo or 2 monos, and I'd need 4-ch (yikes).

Hope that helps....

You hit the nail on the head, I’m happy with the sound of the 452 but also curious about the Legacy amps. I’m guessing one could expect more detail with a good digital amp. I’ve been timid about components that reveal more detail because I was afraid the music would be presented in a way that’s fatiguing or too sterile. So far, Ive been wrong about this. When I moved to a good linear power supply for the wavelet, my first impression was “too clean” but my impression changed, or maybe the power supply did some breaking in, or I just got used to it. Anyway I now love the sound. The next move was to a better Dac and again worried more detail would be too clean and again I was wrong. My amp and speakers really do make some beautiful midrange but if I get the opportunity to compare another amp in the system I’ll probably do so just to feel what signature the Mc is adding.

The Legacy amps will pass through exactly what they are sent and do not seem so far to color or inject harshness like a few Class D amps still do these days. If there is a bit too much upper end detail/briliance due to the increased resolution, etc...you can also have 1 of 8 different saved contour sets of your own making with the Wavelet to make small tweaks on the to some or all of the many parametricEQ groups. Personally I find a group of settings that covers 95% of all music, and don't mess around too much as there are so many degrees of freedom you could almost drive yourself nuts. "KISS" principle, just enjoy the music :-)

One additional item with the Legacy amps...they go super deep and deliver "pits of hell bass" and go well beyond the highest frequencies and give all the detail, air and transients you could ever want while still delivering everything else very well.

Mark, I've been 'studying' (sounds a bit serious, doesn't it?! :D) the Legacy brand.
I can see they really have a very original view on audio.
It also seems they offer real value for money.
80K is still a lot of dough, but it includes top speakers + amps, and pre + DACs in the Wavelet II.
This brings me to the following question: I thought the Wavelet includes a preamp, but you also own the Esoteric.
I understand you upgraded your DAC (and transport) - I did the same, although the Hegel DAC is no slouch either, the Mola Mola is still a level above. Is the difference between the Esoteric and the Wavelet big?

@bart yes, they definitely do. It's shared by a few makers our there including Eikon Audio who OEMs Wavelet itself and a couple of other companies not able to be mentioned that have also OEM'ed Wavelet for their reference installs of their reference lines. Companies like ATC and others have their own take on active speakers that are well accepted and high quality for many years.

The question you ask is probably the most frequently occuring one regarding the Wavelet platform itself over the years.

Wavelet v1 was an multifunction device with a lot of capability packed in:

- basic volume control / basis "preamp" functions
- XLR and RCA analog inputs, S/PDIF, micro-USB input, other digital inputs
- XLR and RCA analog outputs
- 24/96 DAC
- 56-bit DSP for Room Correction, Active Crossover, etc...
- corresponding ADC if Wavelet is presented with an analog input signal

Wavelet v2 is similar but largely enhanced:

- basic volume control / basis "preamp" functions
- XLR and RCA analog inputs, S/PDIF, full USB Type B input, improved digital inputs S/PDIF and others
- XLR and RCA analog outputs
- 24/192 DAC for analog inputs, AES, S/PDIF, Toslink, that are limited to that,
- 32/384 DAC for asynchronous USB
- 64-bit (huge upgrade) 192 sample-rate DSP for Room Correction, Active Crossover, etc...
- corresponding ADC if Wavelet is presented with an analog input signal
- Stereo Unfold ("Omnio") processing for VALOR and it's SUT top and sides open-baffle speaker array
- "Pseudo" Stereo Unfold (i.e. "Omnio" for phantom array) for certain other Legacy speakers...

SO....

In principle, all you need is Wavelet and an external digital input-enabled source and Wavelet can take the place of 3 devices in one. Hook up your part-active (needs some external amps plus internally-powered amps in speakers) or "full active" versions of Legacy speakers. This is where the confusion comes in,...all the unique permutations. Strictly speaking "you don't need" another DAC or another preamp with Wavelet V1 and V2.

However as we know, something with a good volume control section, even a very high quality bespoke analog one, isn't necessarily a full linestage pre-amplifier to the ultimate audiophile standards. As we all know with any pre-amp, you can improve things by using multiple-specialized power supplies, separating them, separating them out entirely and going 2-chassis, 3-chassis, etc...and many other "SOTA" techniques. You can say the same things for various types and specializations of various "DACS". After all, not all DACs, preamps, etc...are created equally.

While Wavelet can readily serve, and V2 is great improved as the only DAC you need for your server, streamer, transport, etc...it doesn't mean putting a top contender DAC (or DACs for dual-mono) in front of the Wavelet doesn't yield even better results often times orders of magnitude better for the initial decoding.

Same for the pre-amp aspects; by going with an external SOTA DAC if it does not have a good volume control section, you can benefit by feeding Wavelet's analog inputs that SOTA DAC-decoded source and then adding to the quality with a much better SOTA preamp.

If presented with a pure digital input, Wavelet (sticking to V2 now) does the following (at a very high-level of abstraction):

- Real-time analysis of the input digital signal
- Real-time analysis for ambient info
- Applying the revised target function for the Room Correction of the speaker as measured interacting with your room to correct driver wavelaunch in 4 dimensions (Frequency, Phase, Level and TIME); this 4D approach separates Wavelet from everything else AFAIK (Trinnov or XILICA Pro products may permit some of this)
All of the above taking place in the Boehmer board circuitry using capabilities of Analog Devices 64-bit DSP...
- using the Wavelet 24/192 DAC layer then convert the result to analog
- split out the various outputs actively crossed over by Wavelet
- output to speakers and/or external amp(s)

If presented presented with an analog input from a SOTA DAC-Pre or SOTA DAC and separate external preamp, Wavelet v2 does the following:

- convert the incoming analog waveform to 24/192 digital using the onboard ADC layer
(Then proceed as before....)
- Real-time analysis of the input digital signal
- Real-time analysis for ambient info
- Applying the revised target function for the Room Correction of the speaker as measured interacting with your room to correct driver wavelaunch in 4 dimensions (Frequency, Phase, Level and TIME); this 4D approach separates Wavelet from everything else AFAIK (Trinnov or XILICA Pro products may permit some of this)
All of the above taking place in the Boehmer board circuitry using capabilities of Analog Devices 64-bit DSP...
- using the Wavelet 24/192 DAC layer then convert the result to analog
- split out the various outputs actively crossed over by Wavelet
- output to speakers and/or external amp(s)

Why go through the extra external boxes? There are preamps that are far better and full SOTA-level outputs, the better the input Wavelet receives, the better the overall result of what it does.

Same as any other link in an audio system.

Hope this helps......

Mark, thank you for your thorough explanation! :thumbsup:

Have you ever compared the result with or without the external boxes?
I can see from where the additional benefits might come, but I'm a bit puzzled with first converting digital to analogue, then again to digital, and a third time back to analogue (in fact a fourth time if you consider the original signal was analogue).
Of course, when you do room correction, this is needed.

Another interesting comparison would be, to send the original analogue signal from your Esoteric directly to the amps in the Valors, without room correction...

You see, the brand has me intrigued!

Bart,

The short answer is "yes I have..." to each and every one of those scenarios. I've run Wavelet v1 units with 3 different speakers systems:

AERIS (initially with XILICA DSP-4080 professional DSP, then Wavelet V1
- Esoteric C-03 Preamp
- Esoteric P-03U Transport and D-03 DAC
- upgraded preamp to Esoteric C-02

CALIBER XD (custom) integrated with dual FOUNDATION subs
- Esoteric C-02 Preamp
- upgraded to Esoteric P-02 Transport and D-02 DAC
- sold C-02 preamp and due to D-02 being one of only 2 Esoteric DACs (D-01 being the other) with volume control sections, ran with no preamp other than volume control in D-02)

VALOR with V1 and now with V2
- initially ran with no preamp other D-02 volume control section
- very early in 2021, borrowed a Sanders Sound preamp (bespoke based upon CODA design and upgraded by Sanders...) ran with that until December 23rd of this year

- now running with an Esoteric C-02X preamp

During each of these configuration timelines at every system change after preamps and DACs were properly burnt in (and Wavelet), I gave some good
amounts of running and listening time with the 03 generation and the 02 generation

- Transport digital signal output straight into Wavelet
- DAC Analog outputs direct into analog inputs of Wavelet

Note that when you go from dual-AES outputs from Esoteric P-03U or P-02 to a single digital output into any non-Esoteric DAC, the result I've heard here and also anywhere else is great but always less than what results when you use full dual-ESLINK connections between an Esoteric transport and its matching DAC.

Note I've not done that nor will I take the time to do it the C-02X preamp I just bought or the Grandioso stack for obvious reasons including these results with prior Esoteric gear were always true;

- a superior sonic result always happened matching an Esoteric Transport and Esoteric DAC together

- while the performance of the C-03 feeding the Wavelet v1 was a very close race, there were certain aspects I remember liking better in how the C-03 conveyed transients and air. One may also have been vanity (full disclosure. <LOL>)

- with the C-03 feeding Wavelet versus D-03 and later D-02 feeding Wavelet (the nuance here is that with D-03 feeding Wavelet, I needed Wavelet's volume control, with the D-02 I set Wavelet to what amounts to unity gain and used volume control in D-02), the race was much closer

- that all went away with the Esoteric C-02; the difference was much more stark and the gap much bigger so much so, the use of Wavelet when I was able to have the C-02 preamp over not using the preamp could not have been rationalized

- when the C-02 preamp had to go for life reasons, it was a noticeable step down in realism and organic/tonally fully musical playback reverted to P-02 and D-02 feeding the Wavelet without preamp in the middle but still better than abandoning preamp and DAC and sending transport digital output direct to Wavelet

- with the arrival of the Sanders Sound preamp, the performance improved in terms of organic, tonally rich musical playback using the external pre despite the fact it's only about $5-7K if memory serves....

Please note that with the use of the grade of power cords and digital cables I leverage, that's enough alone to bump up the performance of anything they drive as well.

Wavelet V2's arrival and post break-in:

- the level of DSP performance and internal DACs in V2 up'ed the game substantially with Wavelet towards it being an all-in-one capable device and
for single digital input connections, better than most things out there IMHO and based upon what I'm hearing...

- the use of the Sanders preamp was still better versus running from D-02 straight into Wavelet v2 however the gap was narrowed by the huge jump
in the aforementioned Wavelet V2 internal make-up...

- that all went away in the week after the C-02X Esoteric preamp arrived. That beast is a big leap from the tremendous performance of the older C-02 to my recollection; the C-02X truly shows all the signs of what they claim, i.e. that heavy trickle-down from the Grandioso C1 preamp is present within.

- The use of the C-02X even in its first 8 days of burn-in proved to be a preferable sonic result to me in terms of clarity and speed of bass and upper
frequency extension, transients and air being step up in the C-02X feeding Wavelet analog versus going from D-02 or P-02 straight to Wavelet V2

- Full disclosure though; Wavelet V2 makes it a VERY tough fight and I am literally splitting hairs on the differences (and the vanity gene may be in the mix as well <LOL>)

FYI,...I am able to effectively take Wavelet fully out the mix as all but an external crossover. VALOR in the case of my speaker's build has 3 XLR (analog inputs) to its internally powered drivers and 2 pairs of binding posts fed by 4 external channels of amplification. You can have VALOR built to only require 2-ch externally. You can also have the VALOR built fully internally powered requiting 4 analog XLR inputs thus still requiring an external crossover. There is now way to go from my DAC or preamp direct to VALOR as the crossover is needed.

That stated however, I can (and do with each round of testing and frequently just because its fun or instructive or a better result for a given recording, disable "Stereo Unfold" ("Omnio") processing and output totally. This done from a mobile device or laptop. I can toggle ON/OFF/ON/OFF to my heart's content

I can also disengage / engage (rinse repeat) Room Correction literally on the fly from a mobile device or laptop as well. Taking away Room Correction also disables OMNIO but disabling OMNIO still allows you the choice of running with Room Correction.

The above options toggled on or off allow you to run with one of Wavelet's 8
"Contour groups" saved into memory independently.

There is a "BYPASS" button where Contours, Channel level adjustments, OMNIO and Room Correction are all turned off on the fly, again from mobile device or laptop so that Wavelet V2 is literally a passthrough crossover.

In short, yes, I've tested every variant you mention and a few other scenarios as well.

Essential things to get Wavelet to perform at its best:

- get a SOTA external LPSU (Uptone Audio 1.2 or HDPlex 300W are both often used
- get a good, fast and accurate DC umbilical
- don't use the wall wart included with Wavelet (obviously)
- a good rack and vibration / isolation guarding is of course a good thing...

Unless you are literally dealing with an analog master tape that was recorded fully with analog technology AND the mastering is limited to direct to LP minimal connect cutting lathes, you will have "digital" somewhere one or more of the recording, mastering, remastering, production cutting/writing process so I hope we can agree to ignore the source material's genesis.

Then we also have to discard the human brain in the mix which is the probably the grandaddy of all Digital Signal Processors (DSP) :-)

Wavelet v2 is now a feature rich single-box contender (after the original source) that brings SUT/OMNIO, Room Correction, etc...to the table. Whether or not you will benefit further by using an external DAC versus the internal, and external preamp versus the internal volume control section literally depends upon the other gear in the comparison...

Hope this all helps...the Rabbit Hole runs mighty deep :-)

Holy Schiit Mark! You have the memory of an elephant. I can’t remember 10% of the changes I have made on the last 7 years and you can outline in detail, with SQ references, everything down to new footers. You are a freak of nature

:respect:

Craig,...Thank You VERY much,...I appreciate that very much indeed coming from you!!!

Thank you Tony [emoji2]

Mark, I loved that! :banana:

I like people with passion, and your description oozes love for the hobby and lots of knowledge and experience.

Thank you for taking us along through your sharp memories. :tresbon:

My pleasure and thank you and others, again, for the kind words....

Legacy Wavelet II
 

I’ve tried feeding my wavlet v1 all those ways as well. Straight digital signal into the wavelet from a dCS network bridge bested an aurender n100 by a large margin but now my favorite is the bartok into a McIntosh pre amp then that analog signal into the wavelet. I also tried the bartok into the wavelet using the volume control from the bartok. All of these configurations sounded incredibly good and I have always enjoyed going back and forth for months at a time. That wavelet is quite versatile.
Can’t wait for the V2.

Great feedback, thanks Rick,...+1 !!!

Currently have wavelet with Legacy V. I am using the ssuppliedpower supply. If I am to substitute the wall wart, what voltage and current does the Wavelet require and where do I get the appropriate power cable termination? I have a Keces liner power supply I could likely use.
Intend to upgrade to the Wavelet II. With the Wavelet II are you hearing more transparency and microdynamics?

Legacy Wavelet II
 

Anticipating upgrading Wavelet for my Legacy V. What voltage and current does the Wavelet II require. I have a Keces linear power supply which I could use. Where do you get the proper termination for the power cord.

Have you noted improved microdynamics and resolution with the new Wavelet?

I can’t remember what the voltage is off the top of my head. Alex at UpTone audio guided me and made the umbilical cord. You can contact him through their site. Also the wall wart should have the specs on it.

This is an excellent thread. Very informative about Legacy. Mark is a true expert on Legacy and audio in general as are you all.

Best

Charles

Charles,

Thank you very much Charles,...it's just passion for the hobby and desire to share what I've learned from much smarter folks over the years.

Wavelet v1 and v2 require minimum of 12V DC power and I believe 5-amp.
Please verify all info accordingly, especially the amp spec.

Check with your LPSU maker for his type of connector (HDPLEX uses XLR3
and how the pin mapping must be done to connect with the correct XLR5 (5-pin)
power connector on back of Wavelet.

I have noticed improvements in those items and imaging, spatial rendering, natural portrayal of tone of instruments and voices, and nearly all aspects of playback.

FYI...found an email from 2015 when I was first shopping around with Swagman Labs, Uptone, Pardo, HDPlex and others for someone willing to build a suitable power supply. This quote is from Bill at Legacy:

"The universal power supply unit we provide with Wavelet is rated 12 VDC, 5.0Amp, 65 watts.

If you are looking for a regulated power supply in external chassis, the Wavelet requires 12-13.8 Volts DC, the 13.x V number being boundary testing, 60 watts minimum."

Questions asked over on my system thread so copying the answers here if anyone needs them...

As soon as you can, get an LPSU in there that supplies the necessary volts and amps and put the "wall wart" that comes with Wavelet back in the box. The sonic result is worth the extra expense of upgrading to an LPSU and better umbilical.

I've had 3 Legacy setups that used Wavelet going back years; with each one I have ordered an HDPLEX LPSU and umbilical. The result is always the same; the wall wart is sonically "not good" and I'm being kind.
__________________

"The universal power supply unit we provide with Wavelet is rated 12 VDC, 5.0Amp, 65 watts.

If you are looking for a regulated power supply in external chassis, the Wavelet requires 12-13.8 Volts DC, the 13.x V number being boundary testing, 60 watts minimum."

__________________

More detail:

The DC umbilical from an LPSU needs to take your LPSU's output pin spec and plug type into consideration however the input to Wavelet is always 5-pin XLR known as XLR5.

For an HDPLEX 300W LPSU which I highly recommend and personally use:

(Source Output) HDPlex LPSU Out: XLR3 3pin XLR FEMALE plug on cable, pin-2 is +VDC, pin-1 is GND, pin-3 is unused

(Destination Input): Legacy Audio Wavelet In: XLR5 5-pin XLR FEMALE plug on cable, pin-5 is +VDC, pin-3 is GND, other pins (1,2,4) are unused

So we have Pin-2 on XLR3 FEMALE at source going to Pin-5 on XLR5 FEMALE at destination for +VDC, Pin-1 on XLR3 source going to Pin-3 on XLR5 for GND

*Know your LPSU and what connector it uses and ask the manufacturer the pin-out mapping so that you can determine a source LPSU -> Wavelet cable spec like the one above.

In the case of my setup, I have two different DC umbilicals for historical reasons, both of extreme quality:

- Revelation Audio Labs DC CryoSilver Reference Umbilical

- Ghent Audio: “Custom DC-7N16C Neotech UPOCC 7N Copper G DC(JSSG360) Cable Length: 3m, XLR female(3pin XLR3) to XLR female(5pin, XLR5)

Hope this helps.

My advice is LPSU straight to the wall and use an Shunyata Omega QR-s, OR using a Shunyata Alpha NR v2 or Sigma NR v2 either straight to the wall or into something like a Shunyata Triton v3 or Denali 6000 v2 or Everest.

Any other high quality power cord or conditioner can also be used.

HDPLEX frequently go out and then back into stock as they are one of the best and most popular out there...

Currently listening to an LP by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (made in West Germany in 1984) on a Linn Sondek LP12 through the Valors. It sounds pretty good. I must admit that I have never had satisfactory experience of orchestral music on any speaker prior to the Valors, including the Aeris.

I share your opinion...not even the mighty TAD R1s that I have also owned and loved can fully resolve grand symphonic and large pipe organ works in their full splendor as well as full detail simultaneously. Many other famous brands' top models also get one or the other mostly or fully right to my hearing but not both.

Add to the the fact that Valor can play the smallest, sparcest and most delicate of instruments or voices alone or in small ensembles with the delicateness and dexterity and beauty of the best monitor speakers I've ever heard driven by a great SET amp and you have a truly unique speaker in the world.

And...they absolutley rock out with the best of them too [emoji2]

@MatthewB

To answer a few of your questions

- as I mentioned briefly before, of all the Legacy speakers I've owned over many years, the Valor are unique in that they perform best with very little toe-in. This I believe due to a couple of things including the SUT (Omnio when engaged) array itself and more importantly the compound driver array and first of its kind tweeter array. When I first heard Valor many years ago when it first came out, I moved around the listening area and also listened across the front of each speaker while moving slowly from left to right a couple feet in front of the larger concentric driver array. It was a Legacy session for the Atlanta audio society and I asked Bill afterwards if it was my imagination or if the inward firing (towards listener) and outward firing AMT modules were playing common as well as slightly different info each. He said that was in fact the case...don't know how they pull that little miracle off however the outboard AMT plays signal intended directionally for the listening position more so while the outboard firing AMT plays a bit different info that is meant to more accurately create the overall room as it were. As a result the typical things required with many speakers that perform best with toe-in that can be drastic or in the case of the Legacy's I've owned and the TAD R1's, aiming the tweeter modules (and thus speaker centerline) on a line that converges behind the listener's head for a foot or more (according to speaker, room dimensions, listening position, etc...does not seem warranted and in fact does not perform as well at all with Valor (tried once,....did not care for it at all). My Valor have very slight toe-in but it is definitely not "zero"

- I always work to get Aeris, Valor, etc. regardless of use of Wavelet or not to sound and image on all my reference tracks in all dimensions at their best before running room setup. In short, I take Wavelet out of the signal path except to use it as the crossover it needs to be but with nothing else engaged. We all have our favorite discs for center imaging, front to back depth, left to right and other panning, listener surrounding effects, etc...I make sure I get this as close to perfect sans all the RoomEQ, Omnio in this case with Valor. Then and only then did I do my first set of sweeps. About 2 months ago, just for good measure as I'd gotten a new digital front-end stack and pre-amp, after they were fully broken in and I was hearing so much more detail, imaging, etc., I disengaged Wavelet and did it all over again from manual speaker setup forward and found with a few tweaks I was able to discern more and improve things much more than I thought. Then I ran the setup routines again and got back to a calibrated setup...

- Contours after the fact: I have several configured however I have 1 baseline contour set stored in memory that covers 70% of material or more. The other 2 are variations of the first one with less of one or two things to compensate for particular hot/bright recordings...

- Contours with V2 versus V1: I'm finding much less tweaking and increasing or decreasing certain bands is necessary than it was with V1...

- RoomEQ: always have it engaged which is pretty obvious

- Omnio: Use it for vast majority of records however when a recording is done with QSound or other modern technique for crafty encoding and enhancement of spatial and "those cool effects", or the studio has added reverb of any appreciable amount, I found what's on the disc is best and I disengage Omnio as "stacking" the mixing tricks and Omnio together is not for the best result. Either one or the other depending upon the recording engineer

- Apodizing DAC: with a SOTA DAC array upstream (Estoeric Grandioso D1s) and also the uplift in quality and capability of the DACs and 64-bit DSP in Wavelet V2, my preference is to have Apodizing DAC now turned off 100% of the time. With Wavelet V1, I needed it on all the time to smooth the effects of the still very capable but v1 older DSP

- positioning: Distance from side walls to the center line of front baffle is 2.5 ft plus a bit. Distance from back wall to center line of front baffle is 4.5-4.6 feet, very slight toe-in. Speakers on 8 foot centerline separation. Listening position a few inches short of 10 feet back... Valor and all other Legacy speakers love room to breathe; wish my room was bigger so I could pull 'em out further!

- Difference between V2 and V1 SUT (Omnio): I've mentioned all that I will post publicly as I've seen this sort of thing trend negatively for manufacturers on this and other forums. One person's candidly conveyed personal observations and preferences turn into perceived flaws or shortcomings and a ding to the vendor's reputation particularly those who build products that reviewers and owners will come right out in public view and cite great performance and equal or superior sound to the fan-boy / industry "faves" and big names. Frankly after 30+ years chasing gear I am tired of certain forces & people out there taking umbrage with a quality speaker from <insert strong performing brand with great ROI here> performing equal and perhaps even more musically and "SOTA" than a more expensive, more fawned over brand....

I am very happy to talk in more detail on specifics via phone....feel free to hit me upon with an IM and we can talk soon....

@SCAudiophile

Thank you for this information. I may take you up on your offer to chat. However, it will probably be a while.

I currently have a Plixir Elite BDC on order (72 watts). The manufacturer will also provide a custom umbilical for the Wavelet as part of the order. I would be plugging this directly into a PS Audio Power Regenerator. It will be interesting to see what this does to the sound quality of the system.

It's always hard determining what makes sense as the next step to make when it comes to upgrading. Something I am thinking about is upgrading my turntable to the Klimax level. The idea of a tube amp for the treble section also sounds interesting, but then one gets the hassle of heat generation, and having to replace tubes. I do like to keep my system simple, which also reduces the desirability of getting a tube amp.

I do think that I need to wait a while, so that I can get used to the current setup. Otherwise, it will feel that I am never done.

Best advice is get 350-500 hours on Valor and Wavelet v2 and see the beginnings of what they are truly capable of and other than the LPSU, don't touch a thing for a while.

Once you break in speakers and V2 fully, run the sweeps and RoomEQ calcs again...

And...enjoy the ride!

One other unaswered question....I haven't tried tubes on the top end of my speakers yet (mine allow separate amps for mids and treble). Sure it would sound wonderful,however I probably won't do it due to temporal issues slower tube gear compared to built the built in amps' type, and the damping factor differences between the 2 types of amps will bring.

@SCAudiophile

I generally need to hear the system before a purchase. To me, synergy is key. When I demoed the Aeris at the factory, I brought my record player (and table), power amp, laptop, cables, etc, and set it all up at the factory. Yep. I brought a spirit level to level the table for my Linn Sondek LP12. My power amp sounded like rubbish compared to the PowerBlock 2, so I went full active with ICE modules (used in the PowerBlock 2).

From what I can tell, Raven tube amps have been used with the Valor in a number of shows. Bascom King also mentioned that listening to the Wavelet with Valor was an ear opening experience. This was at Destination HiFi in Los Angeles. Not sure if he was using a tube amp. This tells me that the Valors can work well with a tube amp.

When it comes round to a tube amp comparison, I will probably fly over to LA to have a listen. If the improvement is significant, I may bite the bullet.

I take the same approach...must listen first before committing a purchase. In the case of Valor, I heard it 5 times over a multiyear period and made sure I also heard hundreds of other speakers wherever I could and culminating with Munich High End 2019....it was clear after that,...Valor prevailed for me.

Would love to hear what you think when you hear the combo with tubes.

As I said, I'm sure it will be wonderful sounding....without a doubt. Raven, VAC, West End Audio Munich, NAT Magma and many other names I have heard and love, would be on my candidate list. My other comments are my personal preferences alone and towards the underlying differences that I've found impact music that I must have perform as I know it can after the beautiful tones and glow of tube effects on the audio presentation are experienced and I start listening deeper and beyond the initial effect. More on specifics of what I mean when we can connect.