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REVIEW: AV Reality Reality 3D Speakers Review by Firebird at Audio Asylum

24.27.80.7


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Enclosure Type: Tetrahedron (equillateral triangle)
Materials: MDF ( 3/4 " ?)
Grill: None (integrated fabric sock)
Drivers employed: Scanspeak D9700 AND Scanspeak 6 3/4 Carbon Fiber REVELATOR

Height: About 4 ft.
Width: About 18"

Place of audition: Galen Audio / Video San Antonio

Listening Impressions:
Treble:
This is one of the finest transducers I've heard in a while. I used to own a pair of ACI Sapphire III's and thought they had an excellent treble. The AV-Reality's simply blow away the sapphires in terms of sweetness, detail, and lack of dynamic compression. I believe the sapphires use an older version of the scanspeak (the d9300 I believe). Guitar plucks were so realistic and upper registers of a piano conveyed musicality , as well as transient speed. It was quick, effortless, and with a touch of sweetness. Reminds me of some of the Dynaudio tweeters but without the harshness that often comes with speakers utilizing dynaudio.
It seemed like the treble had incredible dynamics without ever sounding compressed. The room was medium to large with 10 or 11 ft ceilings and was lightly damped with a couple of rugs. Cymbals shimmered with utmost sparkle and metallic resonance without ever sound harsh or overemphasized.
Very Quick and sweet at the same time.
SCORE ( 9/10 )


Midrange: (This is the first and ONLY speaker I am aware of that utilizes the CARBON FIBRE REVELATOR 6 3/4 ".
The midrange had a smooth, and even tempered presence about it. Somewhat laid back and recessed in the soundstage. The Dianna Krall vocals were nothing short of stunning and her image was deadlocked in the center.
It was not dry at all, but not overly euphonic as well. Just about the right combination of liquidity and naturalness about it. However, when I played the Leanne Rhimes (How do I live) single, the dynamics were there but something seemed out of place. I listened to the entire track trying to summate in my head what was missing. On this track, Leanne Rhimes usually sounds very open and clear, but the 3d-reality's conveyed her voice less than ideal. It was slightly "chesty" sound to it. This didn't really detract from my overall musical enjoyment of the piece, in fact I loved it.
But when reviewing, I want to point out any POTENTIAL weakness. Since the audition was quite short ~2hours, I will refrain from making any definitive statements about this. Galen had told me the speakers had only about 60 hours of break in. We all know how long scan-speaks take to break in though. So this may be a function. Overall the clarity and detail of the midrange was excellent, and among the best in certain regards.
SCORE: (7.5/10)

Bass:
Also a function handed to the scan-speak revelator 6 3/4 woofer. It was tight and tuneful and gave a good balance to the speaker. Kick drums had a good impact and you could really hear the material of the drum. Bass wasn't overly powerful or strong, but like the sapphires, completely balances out the speaker. Low E on the Guitar sounded BEAUTIFUL, musical, and above all REAL. For most of my listening, I didn't try out tracks with a lot of bass, but according to the manufacturer it reaches to 42hz +- 3db. Sounds about right.
SCORE: (8/10)

Imaging: Absolutely Spectacular, instruments were floating in space and vocals had a strong consistent focus. These speakers image like crazy! In fact, much better than the highly touted Sapphire III's I've used in the past. For each set of drums, you could hear exactly were the musician had struck it, all in an imaginary three dimensional plane. On certain tracks I felt as if I could picture the stage, position of the musicians, position of the instruments, and even the location of Diann Kralls breath! In short, hard to beat.

Soundstage: DEPTH, the reality 3d's certainly have this section covered extremely well. Layering was deep and seemed to reach back several feet behind the speakers. It was tall and enveloping. However I couldn't tell just how wide it was. I believe because the speakers were only about 2 feet from the side walls, that I couldn't really base my decision on soundstage width on this audition.

Dynamics: VERY GOOD. It seemed like the speakers could go from a whisper to a shout without a hitch. Brass instruments, such as Saxophones are a good indication of dynamics. And the sax I heard today was incredible. Airy with a slight burnish tone with very good dynamics.

Transparency: You cannot hear these enclosures or any particular cone resonance. I had a VERY HARD time hearing sounds coming from the speaker. In fact, this may be one of their best features. They are absolutely invisible and have no tracing back to the tetrahedrons. Even high pitched notes just seem to float in three dimensions far and away from the treble unit.

Looks - Very beautiful and Art Deco like. Should integrate well into any system.

Construction: Picked one up, weighed about 30 lb's each. Seems very well made.

Other:
I hope I wasn't sounding nit-picky with this product about the midrange. My friend Tom, who was with me said he liked it a lot. In fact, he owns the Proac Response 3.5's and expressed how much he liked these speakers better. The proacs lean toward brightness, while this system had GREATER detail, yet remained smooth, musical, and realistic.
As for me, my old ACI Sapphire III's were a fantastic speaker. And I believe that the soundstage width may be better from the ACI's. However, in nearly every other facet, the AV REALITY 3d's eclipses it in every category.
I really liked this speaker, and will come back for a longer and extensive listening session.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - SCORE (8.2/10)



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Topic - REVIEW: AV Reality Reality 3D Speakers Review by Firebird at Audio Asylum - Firebird 01:29:27 02/10/01 ( 13)