Speaker recommendations requested

nelsress

nelsress

Journeyman
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
258
Location
Ephrata, PA
Hi guys,

I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with any of these three speakers coupled with a WOPL 400. I've got a pair of ESS AMT 1b speakers that have been restored and the crossovers updated that I planned to use with the WOPL 400 that I plan to complete this winter. On Sunday I picked up a pair of Infinity RS IIIb speakers in unknown condition. Three of the woofers at least need to be refoamed and one is missing completely. The mids and EMITs look to be fine but I haven't had time to test any of the drivers yet. I plan to restore these and have heard very good things about them. The third pair of speakers that I'm considering is a pair of AR 90s that I have a chance to pick up reasonably that I have also heard very good things about.

Anyone have opinions on any of these speakers with a WOPL 400? Would appreciate any input. Thanks a lot!!

Nelson
 
nelsress said:
Hi guys,

I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with any of these three speakers coupled with a WOPL 400. I've got a pair of ESS AMT 1b speakers that have been restored and the crossovers updated that I planned to use with the WOPL 400 that I plan to complete this winter. On Sunday I picked up a pair of Infinity RS IIIb speakers in unknown condition. Three of the woofers at least need to be refoamed and one is missing completely. The mids and EMITs look to be fine but I haven't had time to test any of the drivers yet. I plan to restore these and have heard very good things about them. The third pair of speakers that I'm considering is a pair of AR 90s that I have a chance to pick up reasonably that I have also heard very good things about.

Anyone have opinions on any of these speakers with a WOPL 400? Would appreciate any input. Thanks a lot!!

Nelson
Click to expand...

Sure hope your WOPL/ ESS combo works out, Nelson. I have a WOPL and was about to pull the trigger on a pair of the AMT 1B's myself.
 
nelsress said:
Hi guys,

I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with any of these three speakers coupled with a WOPL 400. I've got a pair of ESS AMT 1b speakers that have been restored and the crossovers updated that I planned to use with the WOPL 400 that I plan to complete this winter. On Sunday I picked up a pair of Infinity RS IIIb speakers in unknown condition. Three of the woofers at least need to be refoamed and one is missing completely. The mids and EMITs look to be fine but I haven't had time to test any of the drivers yet. I plan to restore these and have heard very good things about them. The third pair of speakers that I'm considering is a pair of AR 90s that I have a chance to pick up reasonably that I have also heard very good things about.

Anyone have opinions on any of these speakers with a WOPL 400? Would appreciate any input. Thanks a lot!!

Nelson
Click to expand...

I have ESS AMT 1a that I use with a WOPL 400. I love this set up. The only other amp I have used with the AMTs was a Hafler 500, and the WOPL 400 is significantly better with these speakers.
 
My father has a pair of Infinity RSiii b powered by a PL 400 stock ( no WOPL) and the sound is great .
and I have a pair AR 9 ( similar to AR 90 ) powered by two Carver M400a and also in this case the sound is great .
But remember always that the sound is a sensation !
Besides it' s very important to consider the size of the room .
Our room are small 13x13 ft ( my father's living room ) and 17x17 ft ( my living room ) .
Ciao
Marco
 
laatsch55 said:
The RS's would be much better on a 700...
Click to expand...

You're killing me Lee, I've barely started the 400 project but I've got all the parts and pieces (I think)! I think I'm sticking with the WOPL 400...unless you want to trade me a WOPL 700 even up!! :)
 
Nelson...if you build a WOPL 400 a 700 is in your future..Just sayin...when you're ready we have some reasonably priced carcasses...and you really should build a 400 before you build a 700. I still throw the Pig on the horns pretty regularly. I will defer to Marco on this one as I don't own any RS IIIb's ....but I've heard
.
 
Nick Danger said:
Sure hope your WOPL/ ESS combo works out, Nelson. I have a WOPL and was about to pull the trigger on a pair of the AMT 1B's myself.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nick and you too Jimmy, the ESS AMT 1b (If I'm not mistaken, the ones with the lower case "b" are the large floor models with the truncated pyramidal tops/grills and the upper case "B" are the bookshelf models?) are the speakers I wanted most back in the late seventies so I hope I like them best. My wife on the other hand would much prefer looking at either the Infinities or the ARs, she thinks the AMT 1b speakers are "God-awful looking". :dontknow: Either way, if they sound the best, she's stuck with the "ugly ducklings". ;)
 
marcok said:
My father has a pair of Infinity RSiii b powered by a PL 400 stock ( no WOPL) and the sound is great .
and I have a pair AR 9 ( similar to AR 90 ) powered by two Carver M400a and also in this case the sound is great .
But remember always that the sound is a sensation !
Besides it' s very important to consider the size of the room .
Our room are small 13x13 ft ( my father's living room ) and 17x17 ft ( my living room ) .
Ciao
Marco
Click to expand...

Thanks Marco, sounds like I've got two pairs of speakers that can potentially sound great with a WOPL amp of some numeric designation!! Our livingroom is approximately 15'x15' so I too am in the small room category.
 
Nothing wrong with a WOPL500, the WOPL1000 is only 3db's louder but you have more headroom to play with. Can't go wrong with either choice
 
laatsch55 said:
Nelson...if you build a WOPL 400 a 700 is in your future..Just sayin...when you're ready we have some reasonably priced carcasses...and you really should build a 400 before you build a 700. I still throw the Pig on the horns pretty regularly. I will defer to Marco on this one as I don't own any RS IIIb's ....but I've heard
.
Click to expand...

Point taken. I've always thought the 700 looked cooler but never thought I'd ever need anywhere near 350 wpc, plus the PL 700 amps on eBay seemed to run way too many schekels (sp?) for my taste/pocketbook considering I knew I'd have to dump considerably more into it for what I wanted it for. Time will tell but knowing myself, I can imagine you being right. :)

Thanks Northwinds, 3db doesn't sound like enough difference for double the wattage but I'm not sure how that works. As for more headroom, I'm embarrased to say that, even after over 40 years of being into audio, I'm not exactly sure what is meant by that term.
 
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Nelsress ,
In case you want to use Infinity RSiii b , you have to know that they have two "issues " :
-1) Thump at power up due to crossover design ( two big caps in series with woofers )
-2) Small angular dispersion due to Emit tweeters .
Solution for 1 : place a 510 Ohm 5W resistor between + and - connectors of the speakers .
( See PL 700 service manual )
Solution for 2 : move speakers to minimize the problem .
Ciao
Marco
 
nelsress said:
Thanks Northwinds, 3db doesn't sound like enough difference for double the wattage but I'm not sure how that works. As for more headroom, I'm embarrased to say that, even after over 40 years of being into audio, I'm not exactly sure what is meant by that term.
Click to expand...


A change in power by a factor of 10 corresponds to a 10 dB change in level. A change in power by a factor of two approximately corresponds to a 3dB change. A change in voltage by a factor of 10 results in a change in power by a factor of 100 and corresponds to a 20 dB change. A change in voltage ratio by a factor of two approximately corresponds to a 6 dB change

Headroom means the amp has plenty of reserve power to handle dynamic transients w/o going into clipping/distorting
 
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I see, thanks. I guess I've never had issues with headroom as I've not experienced clipping in any stereo systems I've had.
 
Whatever trips your trigger....cheaper by the dozen...
 
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