Orcas vs. Horns - need some opinions!

[Dr. Toobz]

Molly, thanks for the videos! I have that same Oscar Peterson recording, so I was able to get a good sense for what these speakers "do" to the sound versus listening to the recording straight through headphones. The Orcas seem to throw a very balanced sound, and are surprising in that a dinky 3" driver is doing all that work!

These certainly will be under consideration this summer....

[Clark B.]

Molly, thanks for the videos! I have that same Oscar Peterson recording, so I was able to get a good sense for what these speakers "do" to the sound versus listening to the recording straight through headphones. The Orcas seem to throw a very balanced sound, and are surprising in that a dinky 3" driver is doing all that work!

These certainly will be under consideration this summer....

Sure thing! Thanks for prompting us to finally get around to making some videos.

OK, I'll bite...why the seemingly random clip-length in the YouTube videos? And why are all but one so short?

Adam, the Oscar Peterson sounded the most musically captivating for the full three minutes because no two seconds are the same. The Daft Punk song was repetitive so I only included the few musical motives of their songs, and spared the viewers the loops.

The different POV's were to give a rough idea of room acoustics and miking tradeoffs. The only way I got acceptable sound through my iPhone's internal microphone was through close miking with the system playing at low enough volumes to not overdrive it.  So I'm just showing a few different methods to keep the iPhone mike from distorting with the different POV's. 

I should really use an actual microphone for the next recording.  The magic of the EML 45's and deep bass of the system just doesn't come through the iPhone mike.  But then again, high fidelity was not asked for...  Just something to compare to the shouty single driver designs that are also on YouTube.  So I'm fine with the idea of "sandbagging" them a bit by using just an iPhone mike.



Cheers,

Clark

[adamct]

OK, got it. That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!

[tdogzthmn]

I'm a recent transplant to Chicago and own a pair of Orcas plus a sub. Id be willing to arrange a listening session one afternoon or evening if you are interested in getting a live demo.

[Clark B.]

Thanks, Thomas!

Hope you're settling well into Chicago.  My dad and I used to live in the Hancock building.  Gotta be about the friendliest city in the states!

Cheers,

Clark

[Jim R.]

Angelo,
You have PM.

As far as your questions, a "nude" pair of Orcas is just divine with acoustic jazz, and no worries with a 45 in your size room with such music.  Don't expect to do Mahler or Bruckner though.  Also, don't write off the sub as this is not a typical sub -- no boom, no room loading issues, easy to get seamless integration by simply adjusting the level, crossoverr point and moving the sub around a bit and it can easily be set to just fill in the bottom notes.

Everything is beautiful with a setup like this -- soundstage, ambient recording venue recovery, tone, etc.  Drum kits, pianos, acoustic bass all sound wonderful, and the best tenor sax I've ever heard -- as long as you don't push them beyond their limits.

-- Jim