FYI/ Installed Maestro today it works nicely with BACCH4MAC Audiophile w/ ORC.
Am looking forward to re-visiting Maestro again with B4Mā¦
On the othe thread Paul was saying the ipad version can control the mac version.
Al (Aangen), is there a way to ādefocusā the sound with the Martina system? My wife and I watch movies together so we would need a larger listening area. I refer to your earlier msg indicating only faint sound outside of the sweet spot.
Secondly, could you give an indication as to how much the speakers weigh? I would need to carry them back with me to India, limit around 100 kgs free baggage allowance for my wife and I. If I go alone only 60 kgsā¦.
By the way I love your writing style!
Best wishes
Aubrey
Hi Aubrey, I will find out how much they weigh and let you know.
As for the focus, the size of the place where the soundstage sounds correct is pretty much the exact spot where your head was when you make the filter. A foot to the left or the right and it collapses pretty quickly and pretty dramatically. Two feet away and the sound drops by 4db and drops more the further away you get. The speakers are pretty directional. But bypassing XTC doesnāt sound as awful as normal. I will test what it sounds like in bypass mode as far as left and right goes.
Headtracking would help this as far as movement goes I suppose. I havenāt tried it. I think the fact that they donāt throw sound except for straight at the sweet spot Is a benefit in situations where someone doesnāt want to hear your music while you do.
thanks for this info Al. Will be speaking to Edgar tonight so will check weight from him
Best wishes
Hi, hopefully you do not mind my butting in. I too have been considering the Martina Speakers and have been in contact with the designer, David Janszen. The Martina is a modified Valentina A8 Active speaker.
The Martinas REQUIRE a BACCH-SP adio. ($27K) They are useless without it. The Valentinas are operational without a Bacch anything. The Valentinas are about $1500 more as they have DACs and crossovers built in. The Martinas use the DAC and crossovers inside the BACCH-SP adio. Otherwise they are the same speakers.
The Martinas do not work with Bacch4Mac either. The required outputs donāt exist on the B4M setup.
You can use the x-over of the Bacch4Mac when you have the RME UCX. Than the Martinaās can be used. The RME Babyface PRO is the limiting factor.
I gratefully stand corrected!
Hi Duiz006,
This is extremely interesting. I am presently using a Mac mini m2 running stratos4mac to kii3 speakers. If I upgrade my kii3 speakers to the Martinaās, then, if I understand you well, I would only need to replace the babyface pro with the UCX. Is this correct?
Besides being a financial winner, this would also mean I donāt have to import the adio into India (40% duties and taxes). The UCX II is freely available in India. And I could probably manage to get it now instead of waiting a year or two.
Best wishes
Aubrey
currently
Ask Edgar.
Have asked him already, but not when I spoke to him. I wrote him later. He will probably reply after the weekend
Thank you for this. I kinda agree that should work, but Iām no techie. Letās see what edgar has to say and more importantly if he agrees to do the set up and will agree to let the service guarantee continue.
Best wishes
Al, just for info Edgar has agreed to set up the Martina system with the UCX. I have just committed to buying the speakers. All this based on a few words of your comments and a lot of common sense! Thank you for this.
Best wishes
That is why I completely eschew the solution. My audio system is an entertainment center, not a laboratory. When I have a guest over, she can listen in the sweet spot, and yet a few feet away, Iām missing very little. (Martin Logan CLX) Itās all a trick. A very powerful and attractive trick, but in the end FOR ME, a parlor trick.
I would not trade away CLXs for Martinas.
Your audio system canāt include Bacch which would narrow the sweetspot to just you. I am curious why you read this thread.
But I have also decided I will not trade away my Vivid Spirits and the Gryphon Commander and Apex for Martinas.
The Martinas are extremely impressive to me. No larger soundstage has ever occurred in my room. Itās a most impressive soundstage. But going from what I had to the Martinas is a step down. (Only a $260K price difference. Without cables. Make it a $450k difference)
For so many people the Maritinas would be a major step up. But in my current experiment, trying to find sound as good or better than my existing gear, itās a no.
Kii 3BXTs are the next challenger. As for the Kiis, I want them to sound better than my existing system without using Bacch. I will listen to them with Bacch, but after an earlier test with Kii 3 Standmounts and a B4M setup I decided the B4M wasnāt necessary with the Kii 3s. I hope that stays true with the Kii 3BXTs. I have faith that it will. But will it sound better than my expensive gear? We shall see in September.
I like the word, ācleverā. And while the cross talk cancellation is the most discussed function, room correction (optional) and a three-way active crossover (standard in audiophile) are in the mix too. Some speakers and rooms will get more extreme effects than others. Since I am using it in my media room where sometimes two others are with me on the sofa, I am very happy that I do not have an extremely focused sweet spot. I usually give up the sweet zone for my sweety if they visit too. I get to enjoy all the rest of the time myself.
Note: The BACCH4Mac crossover is only 4th order (24dB), half what the big guys get. But this is fine with my drivers which are almost like wide-bands. So the broad crossover range is fine for me.
Back home and sitting in the sweet spot, I just realized something: with analogue playback, I had been trying for as close to āliveā as possible.
After switching to digital, I had been trying for as close to āanalogueā as possible (late to the party, I know, but thx to PSA I got there -wow!).
After switching to/adding B4M, I got to as close to āliveā as possible via digital.
As an added bonus, I no longer fret about DSD, hi-res, etc.
Would never had gotten here without this forum, PSA, and a tolerant wife.
Super Grateful (as I listen to my favorite Morning Dew - Barton Hall 5/8/1977)