Blumenstein Ultra Fi
- Thread starter Doc B
- Start date
Natural Sound
New member
Paul Joppa said:
Paul, please report back after hearing the new Orca deluxe. I value your opinion highly. Please take note of the Amplification when you make your analysis. Us 45 users are waiting anxiously.
Clark B.
New member
johnsonad said:
Aaron, the older whizzered versions are brighter, and obviously more extended in the treble region. They are pretty flat for a whizzer but ultimately slightly ragged (like all larger diameter FR's). They make great bass, but are ultimately a little light on it.
The single cone Alphas sound very smooth and relaxed, even slightly veiled, make more and better bass, but need a super tweeter crossed around 8-10k in order to play fullrange.
Both styles are a lot of fun to listen to, so I'd recommend listening to both styles before choosing your favorite. In our experience from people who have dropped by the listening room, some people prefer the Alphas, some prefer the whizzers. The two different kinds of sound are like two sides of the same coin.
Our production model with Feastrex is such that we are the cabinet builders for any of the current or previous series of models. In other words, the drivers themselves are to be sold separately by Feastrex and Feastrex distributors like Audio Feast (Kenji). They are shipped factory direct to the end user and are then user installable into our cabinets.
This keeps the total lead time down significantly because we are not waiting for (6 weeks) and then breaking in and handling the drivers themselves (another 6 weeks) before cabinet construction (another 6 weeks), unless it is a special circumstance and the drivers need to be sent to us for a special fitment or something. By not OEM installing the drivers into complete speakers ourselves, it also keeps us from having to bank roll such huge amounts of money through our business upon which we have no mark up. Also, it is the only safe way to ship such heavy drivers (cabinets separate from drivers)!
Our main focus right now is on reaching the numerous existing Feastrex owners who currently have their drivers in insufficiently nice cabinets.
Cheers!
-Clark
Paul Joppa
Moderator
Clark, you're a master of diplomacy!
Clark B.
New member
johnsonad said:
Sure, Aaron, no problem. I'll get a chance to do that comparison soon when I'm moving the drivers around into some more cabinets over the next few weeks. For now I am needing to just leave my main setup plugged in 24/7 and totally warmed up to give me useful data points for the fine tuning of the rest of the system. They've been under alot of transition lately with the final cabinet construction.
In other news I am now running a DL301 MKII into an SUT -> Eros. Its a great combo for the Orcas or Feastrex!
Paul Joppa said:
Thanks! I do try.
I got the oppo to take advantage of its great analog output. The system is 5.1. I might go 7.1 eventually but the chairs are at the back wall so I'm not sure how well that would work. Fronts are orcas and dungeness subs. Orcas are on angle brackets that Clark made, mounted on the side walls at 42" high, as my screen is only a couple feet narrower than the front wall. The sub will be a BUF sub, dead center under the screen, with a center channel orca on top. The BUF sub driver had an accident, so for now I am using another dungeness for the .1 channel. Surrounds are orcas, mounted at the rear corners about a foot above our heads and angled inwards and downwards.
Wiring is all Cat 5. Front are powered by a Stereomour, rears by a SEX amp, center by one channel of another SEX amp. Speaker cables for fronts go to subs so that the sub amp crossover gives a little protection to the orcas.
Delays are set in the oppo. .1 channel is crossed at 160hz. Stereomour has a Fix ahead of it to even out response of fronts. This means that amp has lowest gain, so it is set with volume maxed and rear and center amp levels controls are adjusted to match.
It's very satisfying, clean, smooth and with three subs will do the effects stuff quite well. Now that we have it pretty well complete we will have an open house so folks can come by and see how well Bottlehead and Blumenstein do HT.
Wiring is all Cat 5. Front are powered by a Stereomour, rears by a SEX amp, center by one channel of another SEX amp. Speaker cables for fronts go to subs so that the sub amp crossover gives a little protection to the orcas.
Delays are set in the oppo. .1 channel is crossed at 160hz. Stereomour has a Fix ahead of it to even out response of fronts. This means that amp has lowest gain, so it is set with volume maxed and rear and center amp levels controls are adjusted to match.
It's very satisfying, clean, smooth and with three subs will do the effects stuff quite well. Now that we have it pretty well complete we will have an open house so folks can come by and see how well Bottlehead and Blumenstein do HT.
One of the many great features of the Oppo is a built in volume control, so even with Bottlehead amps I have a remote attenuator. It also has a setup feature that plays pink noise thru each speaker and allows for individual speaker level and delay adjustment.
The Oppo is a really nice product, very well thought out and it's clear that image and sound quality are a priority. If one wanted to save $100 by leaving out the Darbee upgrade it probably wouldn't be missed too much, and then the price is not that much more than an upper end Samsung or Panasonic player. I suppose it might be nice to hear the super fancy 105 model, but even this 103 is a really nice step up from standard blu ray players.
The Oppo is a really nice product, very well thought out and it's clear that image and sound quality are a priority. If one wanted to save $100 by leaving out the Darbee upgrade it probably wouldn't be missed too much, and then the price is not that much more than an upper end Samsung or Panasonic player. I suppose it might be nice to hear the super fancy 105 model, but even this 103 is a really nice step up from standard blu ray players.
Yes, give it a try. I was pretty impressed by the sound quality, at least relative to the old Extigy I was using before. And as I say I wouldn't be too concerned about the Darbee. It's one of those things that you have to use at such a subtle level that it might not really be worth it. If you turn it up it looks like a bad case of photoshop sharpening control. The place it seems to have the greatest effect is in sharpening background images. Which is of course rather dubious considering that the cinematographer is often blurring the background elements on purpose! But it does also seem to help edges a little, which is nice with the CRT. I guess there are some fine adjustments for it that I have yet to try.
Ok. Off goes the onkyo. The oppo has two sets of hdmi inputs to connect other sources. I'm not in love with the idea of a digital volume control (I guess the onkyo is digital too). I have to build me a six channel Quickie or even a passive "ingot". Moreover since the idea is to buy one of the cards that allows the oppor to send digital audio to three dacs. I need three BH dacs!
Molly
New member
Hi all,
Thanks to all the current Orca owners who are now on board for an upgrade to the Orca Deluxe. We're beginning shipping of those orders later this coming week and into the following and we hope that you all can share your impressions once you've received your set.
Our Orca Classic and Dungeness was reviewed by Jeff Dorgay in the March issue of TONEAudio Magazine. Check it out!
http://www.tonepublications.com/MAGPDF/TA_062.pdf
Thanks to all the current Orca owners who are now on board for an upgrade to the Orca Deluxe. We're beginning shipping of those orders later this coming week and into the following and we hope that you all can share your impressions once you've received your set.
Our Orca Classic and Dungeness was reviewed by Jeff Dorgay in the March issue of TONEAudio Magazine. Check it out!
http://www.tonepublications.com/MAGPDF/TA_062.pdf
