Is CJ still in business?

[SolderSlinger]

I'm a planer fan too, having given up on cones a long time ago. Tried just about every possible loading available from isobaric to horn. Last cones I had were horn, both large systems, Edgarhorn Titan II, and a Pro-audio setup consisting of JBL 2395 horn with 2440 beryllium diaphragm with JBL 8.5' box using dual K145. Good fun

@Big Dog RJ......I dragged out ESL 2805 for a picture with the Diva's. The Diva's are the 6000 serial number series and the ESL 2805 are Vintage finish. Sacrificial KT120 lay at the feet of Diva. I swap in 6550 tubes when listening to the ESL 2805's.

[Big Dog RJ]

Incoming to Solder-S...

Oh hell yeah! Wow wow wow! That's what I'm talking about maties, planers don't get any better than this!

Oh boy Oh boy, woof woof! Those Diva's look superb, fantastico! I do remember the Quads, I had this model as well, and went upto the ESL 2912's. Funny thing though, I never had any issues with the smaller Quads including ESL-989. Only when I moved up to the ESL 2905 & 2912, that's when all hell broke loose. Maybe I didn't have the smaller models long enough to tell if they'd last... who knows.

Anyway, those Diva's are fabulous mate. Anything and everything stacked up against them, looks awfully small.
Couple of questions (and you must answer...):

1. What amplifiers are driving the Diva's?
2 Are you going full range or bi-amped?
3. Crossovers: active or passive if bi-amped?
4. Are these by any chance Graz refurbed or Henk? Or are they original if so...
5. How on earth did you keep them in such pristine condition? Any major work done on them?

I had my Diva's initially driven by those massive Nelson Pass Thresholds Stasis SA/12E monoblocks. It was very dynamic and an easy drive for the Thresholds but the midrange would hurt your ears. That's when I changed over to tubes; first it was the VTL Manley Ref350's on the mids&highs, then came along the VTL Wotans and finally CJ's Premier 8A's. The preamp was the CJ ART, and that combination partnered with the Thresholds was mighty fine...until I just tried the CJ amps full range. Way better! Much more coherent and a purer sound than compared to bi-amping with cross-overs, far too many connection points and it was very messy trying to dial everything in perfectly. Dynamic and the sheer drive / loudness was all there but it lacked coherency and most of musicality compared to CJ's Prem8A's. What a beautiful thing that was. It was my good old pops who advised to go full range and keep things simple. Much more of the recording is clearer.

Oh! One more question; what cables and accessories are you using on the Diva's?

BTW next May, I'm heading up to Queensland to visit a good mate. He's got the Diva's as well, fully refurbed by Graz (project took 3yrs! to complete). He uses a Boulder SS for the bass panels and Ayon KT150 tube monoblocks for the mids&highs. Should be another mighty fine match but I'm thinking going full range would improve clarity... don't know.

This deserves a truly mighty WOOF!!!
Fantastic work mate, enjoy those damn fine tunes.
RJ

[tonye]

Really Very Nice. Running the tweeters in the inside, huh? Have you tried it on the outside? Currently I run the Maggie 1.7s with the tweeters on the outside.

Maggies tend to be a reasonable load, except they require power. Those Apogees are a cruel load huh? I'm actually amazed you running tubes into them.

But then, recently I tried the 35 wpc clone FW SIT3 into the Maggies and I was amazed how fantastic that combo sounded... not loud, but palpable.

Planars do have a sound of their own, huh?

What's with the KT120s? You prefer the 6550s? Can you get the Svetlanas down there? I was lucky to find a set to retube my vintage ARC D70-II. Great sounds, but not with the Maggies... not enough power really.

[admin]

@SolderSlinger, that is an epic setup. Congrats. As a "planar guy" I love looking at these kinds of high end setups. I'm sure the sound is amazing.

[tonye]

There's a guy in DIYaudio who is triamping his Maggie 3.7s. Driving them with two more pairs of 3.6, etc, etc...

The Maggie only works from 400Hz and on up. Then he's got some behemoth, two 4 12" dipole woofer arrays from 400 to 100Hz.. AND, 12, 10" dynamic woofers in sealed boxes.

Unfortunately, he froze his account recently, I think he's in Antartica now ( seriously ) so he's stopped his experiments, but if all of his work is there. It's a hoot!

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/thre ... rs.392837/

[Big Dog RJ]

Oh boy, that sounds like one humongous system full of woofty woof'ns!
Not quite sure why you'd require that many LF drivers... that much of bass is not even on the recording to begin with. Most of this is artificial enhancements. Wouldn't be anywhere close to the original recording. Anyway, that's just my opinion that I've gained over the decades. If you want to reproduce a pure clean sound as close to the original recording, just keep it simple! You'll definitely hear more of the music, there's no doubt.

Based in Antarctica...uh! Must be tad chilly. No worries mate, as long as he's enjoying the music.
Woofty woof'n! RJ

[Joe Appierto]

I know this is off-topic kinda. But I just checked and at the Amundsen-Scott base it's currently -70.6°F (-50°C). And when you factor in the wind chill which of course we must it's -109.8°F (-78.8°C)! It is Winter there, after all.

[tonye]

If you look at his set up back in Scandinavia.. that array of dipole dynamic woofers only runs from 400Hz to 100Hz.

His whole thing is to lower the distortion, not to increase the volume.

He does provide measurements. What really shocked me is the distortion of the 3.7 below 400Hz. He claims that the 1.7 has lower distortion, but he never got around to posting his measurements.

You might note that the new Magnepan "woofer" is also dynamic and sort of a "slot design" with no box. The woofers themselves are "loaded" by the room and they shoot into a slot with the front radiation being "squeezed" out.

[admin]

I just read the DIYaudio thread and that is one crazy setup. I mean to put together multiple maggies and then subs and then all these active crossovers,... oh boy.

It looks like a ton of fun but I have to admit, I would not go that way myself. The beauty of the maggies is the planar sound and it is really difficult to mingle traditional woofers into the mix. Looks like his measurements are rather varied between the subs and the panels so that is going to take a lot of adjustment to have them sound unified. But hey, maybe that's the way to go? Or maybe playing around with the setup is the real joy in that particular setup.

Regardless, it's a very unique and cool thing to attempt in my opinion.

[tonye]

You might note that I asked him questions.

At home I run a pair of 1.7s with a pair of Entec SW-5 woofers. Most of the time, I don't turn on the woofers with the Maggies, or if I do, I will give them just a little bit. The Maggies are just not "rock speakers" so no need. But, it does add just a little bit of body to the bottom end and, being servo'd, they are very fast as well so they match the bass slam quite well.

That guy at DIYaudio... well... it is the raison d'être for those forums. And you can see that his ideas are up there with Wendell's and the Ultra-wideband Bass System (UBS).

Oh, I have thought of pulling out the old Maggie 12 speakers, run a low pass filter and use them to increase the bass panel size... but, that become huge. Just as their woofer panels are also too large.

I'm really waiting to see if they will ship the UBS and how much will it cost. In an ideal world, we'd have a ten inch wide panel with a true ribbon midrange and tweeter and an UBS right next to it that goes from ~400 Hz down.

Preamp? Oh.... it has disappeared... it's just music, you know?