You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone: Dynaudio Focus 140

In the Spring of 2008, I had a whole house of B&W speakers, all 600S3 series, in black ash.  They had been acquired new in 2006, and I was very pleased with them.  603S3 mains, 600 surrounds, a center, and even a B&W sub.    I was coming along to home theater very late, and had even picked up a few DVD-A discs (ELP and Yes, which I still have), and we were setting up a basement theater.  The first pair of new speakers that I ever bought myself that fit in what I would call the "high end" category was a pair of B&W DM 602S2 bookshelves (I had Klipsch KG2s in college but I was drunk most of the times I heard them, so it's tough to know about those- they were great to rock out to).  These had gone when a pair of used a/d/s/ L1290s came along, but I had always held a soft spot for the 602s.  As a result, B&W was an obvious choice when we did the new set up.  The set up sounded great, but amazingly, I have very few pictures of it.  These are from after we sold the house and the system came out of the basement theater.

We had an grossly over-priced Arcam AVR running them until that crapped out (which was in a very short period of time), followed by a less exciting but considerably more reliable Denon.  A mistake was made however, the day I bought the B&W 603S3 mains.  On a lark, I listened to a pair of Dynaudio bookshelves that were in the same room, I think while they were retrieving the B&W speakers on which I had just pulled the trigger.  For the life of me, I cannot remember what model they were, although I would not be shocked to discover they were small Contours, or maybe Focus 110s.  If they were Contours, they were an older model as they had none of the science fiction front plates later and current  models of the Contour series are sporting.  I recall asking neither what they were nor the cost.  I just remember thinking: "Wow, that's a small speaker to sound that big."  But then they wheeled the boxes for our B&Ws to the counter, and my wife was looking at her watch and away we went. 

You see where I went wrong, don't you?

I thought about those little Dynaudios quite often, even when listening to our fancy (and very good) B&W set up.  So, fast forward again to the Spring of '08, and I found myself in the listening room again, this time to hear Dynaudio speakers.  Not knowing what I had listened to before, I spent a bit of time listening to the Focus 110, which was a very impressive speaker for its size.  But when we switched to the 140, which is the next model up, I was really just blown away.  I had never heard a two-way bookshelf speaker carry a room like that.  The Focus 140 has a 1 inch Esotec + tweeter, and a 6.5 inch woofer, ported in the back and weighs about 19 lbs.  On the shelf in the store's listening room, this little speaker was KILLING my B&W 603S3.  I distinctly remember listening to a number of Peter Gabriel tracks, and the 140s handled all of his high-intensity use of percussion and bass with no trouble PLUS they had no hint of treble harshness whatsoever.  There was a visceral quality to the low end that many towers do not reproduce except at awful levels, much less bookshelves.  (or monitors, I recognize that there is a difference between the two).  They threw a wide sound stage that I really believed could be even better with proper set up.  So, without giving thought to the craziness that would ensue, I ponied up an (even for me) insane amount of $1600 and bought them in Rosewood.  

My pictures do not do the veneer finish any justice.

and here they are next to a pair of B&W DM602S2 that we acquired in the pouring rain in NYC one afternoon (which is another story altogether):

Everything was wonderful.  I didn't even really experience the tortuous break-in period I was warned about.  The 140s definitely got better with age but they never, never sounded bad.  I figured that somewhere in the collection of Sony ES gear I would find an amp that suited them ( TA-F444 ES, TA-F630 ESD, TA-F80 and 77ESD combo, STR-GX9 ES) or maybe an old NAD . . .  but what was the worst that could happen, I'd buy a new amp at some point, right?  But through no fault of their own, I wound up replacing them with a pair of Focus 220 series 1 2-way towers.  This was definitely a case of being lured in by price- $1995, new in box, shipped, thank you, Dan at Dedicated Audio.  I thought if the 140s are great, how much greater must the 220s be?  And the 220s are great. Really, really great.  They move an incredible amount of air on orchestral works and big progressive rock stuff, and they can be delicate.  They never really "disappear" though, which is something I miss in a stand mount.  Nonetheless I have had the 220s since 2010, which for me, says a lot.  And frankly, I have not really heard anything short of some Wilson Audio speakers recently that would make me give them up.  The Wilson's cost $13,000 or something ridiculous like that, mind you.

But there is something about small, stand mount speakers that I really, really dig, which is why no one should be surprised that the Excite 14s came to live here two weeks ago (see below, and more to come on this killer little guy).  As of today, I have not heard the Dynaudio Focus 160, the speaker that replaced the Focus 140.  I am telling myself that I don't like the way it looks.  

We shall see how long that lasts.  Any bets?  

    

    

The LIST

I'm 43.

Doesn't seem too old, now that I'm here, even though I know better.  I think, gradually, I am becoming an adult.  Perhaps my current employment is forcing it on me, but we won't get into that now. As a result, I am starting to realize that money has some purpose other than being exchanged for beer, and stereo equipment.  So the natural question one asks oneself is:

"Over twenty five years, how much could I have POSSIBLY spent on stereo stuff?  I mean, it's not that much, is it?"

Well I decided to try and find out.  I sat down over the weekend with a box of receipts and manuals, and put together an Excel sheet that tries to document all of the gear I have owned at one time or another.  The only rules:  To make the list, an item has to have been hooked up at least once and listened to with the intent to keep it, and speaker pairs count as one entry.  We now know how long that intent lasts.  Could I be successful at compiling such a list?  So far, so good.  It helps that I have a strong obsessive-compulsive streak.    I've got 102 entries dating back as far as 1987, and the total cost is $21,172.88.  I still need to find prices that I paid for 22 items, so that total is going up.  I figure a safe bet is that I have been averaging $1000 spent annually over the last 25 years. What would a golf habit have cost me over that time?  Put that way, it doesn't sound so bad. Ultimately I have sold off most of the things I've had in the past, so I ought to try to figure out what I actually paid for the period I owned a particular piece.

I was able to include columns for MSRP (need a lot of work there) and place of purchase, which includes a lot of places some of which no longer exist, like Silo and Lechmere in Western New York, or Square Deal on long Island.  Some places are still in business like Audio Den, Speaker Shop, Chips Unlimited, Stereo Chamber and the online folks like Music Direct.  I'm also going to try to account for repairs or upgrades done at In House Stereo Repair in Setauket.  More work to do, but the next step is to get the PDF uploaded so that it can be seen here on the blog.  I'll have to look into that.  In the mean time, if anyone is interested I'd be glad to send it via e-mail.

Chicanery, legerdemain and snake oil

I don't own an iPhone.  I sent my first text message over a cell phone in the fairly recent past, and I didn't have a voice mail box until this past spring.  I have no idea what I would do with an iPad.  In the past year however, I have purchased no fewer than four pairs of speaker cables.  I suppose I should change the name of the blog to: "Hello, my name is William, and I have a problem. . ." but I am not even considering the first of the twelve steps for my stereo habit.  Now, if the people in the back will sit down and stop shouting: "NERRRRRRRRRD!" I will get on with the purpose of this post: new speaker cables.  My wife (the Saint- as you may recall her) has never really had any issue with any of the various peices of stereo gear I tote in and out of the house.  In fact, right now she is (happily, I presume) listening to our Marantz home theater receiver (wait, now she's yelling: "What?!  Gort doesn't reconstitute?!  What a terrible ending!"  It's best not to know, sometimes).  The only thing she generally can't stand is messy wiring- you know, the rat's nest behind equipment racks that makes the overloaded outlet in "A Christmas Story" look neat and orderly by comparison, and speaker cable splayed all over the floor like visiting day at the Reptile House.  I sometimes have to turn Pentecostals away at the door- no snake handling here!  Who can blame her? 

So, since we are in the midst of painting and re-doing the listening room, I figured that I would hunt for something a little less industrial-looking than the Tara Labs stuff I had been using.  Susan especially hates the fact that the Tara cables are white.  They really are meant for in-wall use.  Furthermore, almost all of my vintage Sony stuff accepts bare wire connections, but not standard banama plugs (can anyone tell me why on Earth they are called that?).  At first I checked Audio Advisor for the Kimber cable I have long wanted to try, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $440 on an 8' pair, plus the jacket is partially you guessed it- white.  The local shop, Audio Den carries Nordost and Tara, but truth be told, they gave me some of the entry level Nordost as a loaner and: a.) the flat ribbon's potential for creasing and b.) the sound I heard did not thrill me for the money. I am sure they thought I was nuts when I returned it.  Kudos to Bob for letting me try it, however- that's the thing that will keep the brick and mortar shops in business- well that, and whomever is still making money on Wall Street buying lots and lots of expensive flat screen TVs and remote starts for their hot tubs.

Then I remembered a catalog from a company called Mapleshade that I had received a while ago, so off to the closet (much of the contents of which are strewn about the house as it awaits new paint and carpet) to find it.  I ordered an entry- level 10' pair of Golden Helix for a little over $100, and it was here in two days.  I had never read any reviews, nor had I seen their cable anywhere but on their web-site.  It was vaguely Kimber-esque in looks and much nicer than the white-jacket Tara stuff Susan detests.  But when I opened the shipping box, I was a little taken aback to find an invoice and a box only slightly larger than a paperback novel.  "Darnit, they only sent one 10' length" I thought.  Wrong.  As you can see in the picture above, that tiny box contained 20' of neatly coiled double strand wire.  In fact, the cable is one lead for positive, one for negative, with something like a thousandth of an inch of dielectric coating.  Check out the link to get the full story from Mapleshade. The ends are nicely tinned and marked for speaker/amp connection.  They immediately met with Susan's approval: "MUCH better" she said. "We'll see" I thought to myself.  No warranty, but a thirty day return policy.   Off I went to hook them up.  She's right though- these cables definitely look cool.

Everything about the set-up is in such a state of flux (much like my career), that I didn't worry about elevating the cables off the floor as recommended, nor did I sweat routing them around other cables as the whole shebang is getting disassembled in a day or so.  Didn't even warm anything up, just uncoiled the little suckers, carefully inserted them into binding posts (lest I put out an eye, I worry about these things, you know) and turned on the power.  One SACD loading cycle later (I will name this unit of time in the future, I assure you), and I was listening to Norah Jones.  Standing back from the setup, I could barely see the cables.  Just what Susan is looking for.  It's too soon to get a handle and the sound but. . .

First impressions?  The presentation is bright.  Not harsh, mind you, and remember that there is absolutely NO furniture in this room right now other than the system and a chair (and a step ladder to spackle holes in the walls that are mysterioulsy close to the ceiling).  The room has a definite echo it did not have before when it housed two book cases.  It merely sounds as if the treble had been adjusted slightly upward.  With that brightness there is a clear sence of greater immediacy, or "space" around the vocals, I think that real reviewers (HA!) call this phenomenon "air" or "presence."  It was a definite contrast to the dark sound that the Dynaudio Focus 220 speakers are known for.  And. . . I like it. 

Right now, FM stereo is running low in the background until things settle in.  Of course this may be futile as the system soon comes down, but I am very much looking forward to some serious listening in the near future.  I have concerns that some of my older progressive rock my be a very poor match for these cables, but I really want to hear some of my classical SACD stuff.  Time will tell.  As for the title of this post, I am as yet unwilling to come down on one side or the other as to the differences cables make in a system's sound, other than to say that should they exist they are surely subtle.  And I know just enough about the science to know that about 99% of what the packaging says is absolutely meaningless.  So why 4 pairs in a year, you ask?  Well, it beats having to answer voicemail on my iPhone.