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  #41  
Old 02-21-2022, 05:29 PM
MatthewB MatthewB is offline
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@ SCAudiophile

I just had a chat with James at Raven. I was originally thinking about something similar to a Shadow, or one of their Elite amps. He recommended that the right one to use was the Nighthawk Integrated amp, which has a 45 day return policy. It seems that a lot of the magic happens in the tube pre-amp section. I would need to get a balanced to RCA adaptor. It's only a 20 watt per channel system, and powering only the wave-guide and AMTs wouldn't require too much power. Seems that most of the cost for the more expensive amps tends to be with the larger tubes.

What is most bizarre is that this tube amp is the same price of a USB cable that I have been testing.

I guess that I don't really have an excuse not to try this out.
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  #42  
Old 02-21-2022, 09:24 PM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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@ SCAudiophile

I just had a chat with James at Raven. I was originally thinking about something similar to a Shadow, or one of their Elite amps. He recommended that the right one to use was the Nighthawk Integrated amp, which has a 45 day return policy. It seems that a lot of the magic happens in the tube pre-amp section. I would need to get a balanced to RCA adaptor. It's only a 20 watt per channel system, and powering only the wave-guide and AMTs wouldn't require too much power. Seems that most of the cost for the more expensive amps tends to be with the larger tubes.

What is most bizarre is that this tube amp is the same price of a USB cable that I have been testing.

I guess that I don't really have an excuse not to try this out.
Those Raven Avian series integrateds are fantastic sounding pieces! Looking forward to your listening impressions...
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  #43  
Old 02-21-2022, 10:59 PM
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Rick U Rick U is offline
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@ SCAudiophile


I guess that I don't really have an excuse not to try this out.


I love it! Will be waiting to her your thoughts.
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  #44  
Old 03-09-2022, 11:15 PM
MatthewB MatthewB is offline
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@SCAudiophile - I can say that I am very satisfied with the combination of Raven Audio Blackhawk 20 watt tube amp with the Valors. I am using some pretty rare old pre-amp tubes for this (combination of German Telefunken ECC801S, British Brimar 6060 Yellow T's, and American CBS 12AU7 Shiny Black Plate tubes). These were all manufactured around 1960. I ended up buying them off eBay, where the German and British tubes were shipped from India. Nice and smooth but very detailed and with nice treble extension. I am using Transparent Music Wave Supers for interconnect and speaker cables for this. I also ended up getting the Purist Audio Diamond 30th Anniversary USB cables as they were closest to my record player in flavor (the others were way brighter). One concern I had was a tube amp being hot. However, this amp runs cool (only slightly warm when my hand was an inch above the tubes). I have this amp plugged into my PS Audio Stellar power regenerator. I also added a Plixir Elite BDC linear power supply for the Wavelet 2, which is also plugged into the power regenerator. I think that the dissatisfaction that I was having was with the direct connection (no speaker cable) between the internal class-D module with the compression driver for the wave guide midrange. I was able to set the volume control on the Blackhawk by using the Decibel X app on my iPhone. I placed my phone about 8 inches from the tweeter and played a 5kHz tone through the system. I then switched to the tube amp, and set the volume so that the same SPL level. I don't really think that there is anything else to upgrade. Maybe the record player, but I am in no hurry.
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  #45  
Old 03-10-2022, 06:23 PM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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Originally Posted by MatthewB View Post
@SCAudiophile - I can say that I am very satisfied with the combination of Raven Audio Blackhawk 20 watt tube amp with the Valors. I am using some pretty rare old pre-amp tubes for this (combination of German Telefunken ECC801S, British Brimar 6060 Yellow T's, and American CBS 12AU7 Shiny Black Plate tubes). These were all manufactured around 1960. I ended up buying them off eBay, where the German and British tubes were shipped from India. Nice and smooth but very detailed and with nice treble extension. I am using Transparent Music Wave Supers for interconnect and speaker cables for this. I also ended up getting the Purist Audio Diamond 30th Anniversary USB cables as they were closest to my record player in flavor (the others were way brighter). One concern I had was a tube amp being hot. However, this amp runs cool (only slightly warm when my hand was an inch above the tubes). I have this amp plugged into my PS Audio Stellar power regenerator. I also added a Plixir Elite BDC linear power supply for the Wavelet 2, which is also plugged into the power regenerator. I think that the dissatisfaction that I was having was with the direct connection (no speaker cable) between the internal class-D module with the compression driver for the wave guide midrange. I was able to set the volume control on the Blackhawk by using the Decibel X app on my iPhone. I placed my phone about 8 inches from the tweeter and played a 5kHz tone through the system. I then switched to the tube amp, and set the volume so that the same SPL level. I don't really think that there is anything else to upgrade. Maybe the record player, but I am in no hurry.
That is great news...very happy for you (and making a mental note for the future for here)!
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  #46  
Old 04-02-2022, 07:18 PM
mercury999 mercury999 is offline
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@SCAudiophile-
This post is so helpful! I own the Legacy Aeris speakers and would love to know how you positioned them vs. the Valors. Any differences in toe-in, distance apart and from front wall?
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  #47  
Old 04-02-2022, 08:30 PM
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mercury999… Welcome to AA!
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  #48  
Old 04-02-2022, 09:13 PM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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Originally Posted by mercury999 View Post
@SCAudiophile-
This post is so helpful! I own the Legacy Aeris speakers and would love to know how you positioned them vs. the Valors. Any differences in toe-in, distance apart and from front wall?
Thank you...others have added some great content as well.

If you look up userID "Zephyr24069" on Agon and find my virtual systems page, scroll down towards the bottom and you'll find a number of pictures of my old systems in some big, decent spaces and some other rooms that had their challenges. Oldest setup picture(s) started with Focus 20/20, then Focus HD, then Focus SE, later AERIS, then a brief ~2 year detour with the amazing TAD R1 Mk2's then back to a true full-range Legacy speaker line with Caliber XDs (custom built) and dual foundations and currently VALOR.

You'll see in every setup, room dimension and layout dependent of course, all my speaker setups have always worked best with plenty of room from the back and side walls. In all cases there's a minimum 2-3 feet to the back of the speaker and at least 2 feet from the side walls (more when the room is wider) at a minimum. When the rooms have afforded it, including with the R1s, I found 3-4 feet out to the back of speaker and again at least 2-3 feet from the side walls (more when I could setup the system on the long walls) afforded the big Legacy drivers (and R1 speakers too) plenty of room to breath and develop not only the best imaging in the mids on up but also the fastest and most accurate bass.

This has been true with all passive models (before Xilica 4080 and now Wavelet from AERIS forward) and as much or more so with Wavelet.

I spend as much time positioning speakers for best imaging and playback as if they were regular passive speakers, even if they are room corrected by Wavelet. That not innovative, just plain common sense. The same holds true for toe-in.

All Legacy speakers I've owned seem to have the best 3D playback, depth, precision (of imaging) and far left and right sound-staging with moderate to more toe-in (room size and seating position dependent of course). The general technique I used was to find the center of the tweeter module (on AERIS it's the center of the plate between the tweeter and the super-tweeter) and toe the speaker in to aim it such that the direct line converged 12-24" (room size dependent, how much room is behind seating position, etc...) behind the listening position at ear level. With minor tweaks it never varied from this.

VALOR is the exception due to the lateral mounting and 3-driver tweater array. You've got the concentric driver (low/mid-tweeter if you will) and 2 4" supertweeter modules, the latter 2 have 1 that fires toward the listener and the other fires more outward into the room. For best dispersion/later imaging as well as best depth plus 3D into the room, I find very shallow toe-in is best and may even try none in one of these days though I think a couple single degrees of toe-in will still be needed.

Hope this helps...

Last edited by SCAudiophile; 04-03-2022 at 10:19 AM.
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  #49  
Old 04-03-2022, 02:13 PM
mercury999 mercury999 is offline
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@ MasterLu - thank you for the warm welcome.
@SCAudiophile- thanks for your thoughtful response to my question. In large part, your comments on this and other forums led to the purchase of my Aeris speakers a year ago. I have a wavelet II on order. My speakers are 10’ apart and my listening position is 12’ from the speakers. The speakers are 4 1/2 feet from the front wall and 3 1/2 feet from the sidewall. My current toe-in is centered about 4’ behind my head. I will try your suggestion. I have been fine-tuning the toe-in for a few months now- trying to strike the proper balance between a large soundstage and the right vocal presentation. The quest continues…
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  #50  
Old 04-03-2022, 06:23 PM
SCAudiophile SCAudiophile is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mercury999 View Post
@ MasterLu - thank you for the warm welcome.
@SCAudiophile- thanks for your thoughtful response to my question. In large part, your comments on this and other forums led to the purchase of my Aeris speakers a year ago. I have a wavelet II on order. My speakers are 10’ apart and my listening position is 12’ from the speakers. The speakers are 4 1/2 feet from the front wall and 3 1/2 feet from the sidewall. My current toe-in is centered about 4’ behind my head. I will try your suggestion. I have been fine-tuning the toe-in for a few months now- trying to strike the proper balance between a large soundstage and the right vocal presentation. The quest continues…
@mercury999 I am glad that I was able to help in some way. The AERIS is a fantastic speaker that I loved to own...missed it after I had to sell it and get out of the active speaker, extra boxes & cables game for a couple years,...not by choice either (long story). The R1s that followed were/are an amazing speaker and they were purchased by another member & good friend here back in late 2018, they are making great music in his home to this day.

I've heard a long list of great speakers over the years including the audiophile favorites,...I always had a hunch that Legacy was one of the most innovative in the industry delivering some of the most versatile, musical, emotionally involving and value for the money speakers at any price point and that each performed well above where they were priced.

A trip to Hifideluxe Munich and HIGH END over the course of 4 solid days in 2019 confirmed that beyond any doubt. One show beyond any other globally and 2 shows together that add up to audionut nirvana...

There you will hear the best of the best...MBL Extremes, Living Voice, Gauder DARC 200 and 250s, Aries Cerat, Kharma, Goebel, Estelon, TAD, Wilson, Magico, Rockports and countless others.

Had Legacy stocked rooms there with Focus XD, AERIS, WHISPER XDS and VALOR, they would have stood their ground readily....at a fraction of the price of many top models.
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