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…a new generation of audiophiles stepping up.
Sandy Gross, veteran and founder of Polk Audio, helped choose the drivers and contributed to the design, I was told. And they were selling for $498 apiece.
The LC1 cabinet exploits a composite, multi-layer, high-mass, non-resonant material, features a 1” dome tweeter, a 6.5” polypropylene cone bass/midrange driver, and dual internal 8” 'fluid-coupled' passive subwoofers.
Internal wiring from Kimber Cable and a hardwired, silver-soldered crossover with Solen Film Caps complete the system.
The hefty cabinets look strong and well built. Oddly, the face of the tweeter appeared to be surrounded by a kind of latticework, which I learned was a “unique tessellation diffraction control.”
What’s not to love?
The new Mytek Empire GanFET Stereo/Monoblock ($9995) and Mytek Manhattan DAC II ($6995), coupled with Audirvana on a Mac, drove the LC1s.
The room was dark. All the seats were taken. I asked for Ellington. The small speakers blew out a massive soundfield that was rich, dynamic, punchy, and very well layered. What? The tone was just this side of rich, but like my BRX bookshelf speakers—designed by Mr. Gross—clear, generally transparent, and highly engaging. Touch and texture were more than adequate. Brass had bite and attack. Drums punched like a larger speaker. The sound was how I like it, so I asked to play the LC1s loud.
I’m waiting for Lucca’s floor-standing speaker. Meanwhile, these were the greatest-value small speakers at CAF 2024.
…a new generation of audiophiles stepping up.
Especially if Sandy Gross was involved, all he touches seems to turn to gold. But 1" dome to a 6.5" midbass, wonder where they xover without any problems? 4th or 3rd order HP down to 4th or 3rd order LP might work out, but gets complex, could be that with only 83dB sensitivity. be interesting to see JA's measurements when he gets a pair. (I mean speakers JA)
Cheers George
miniDSP is so affordable that anyone can now have a 2 or 3-way active crossover and biamp or triamp speakers and experiment with different slopes and complex permutations. Speaker manufacturers should have multiple binding posts to allow bypassing internal crossovers.
"miniDSP is so affordable that anyone can now have a 2 or 3-way active crossover and biamp or triamp speakers and experiment with different slopes and complex permutations."
Trouble is then your at the mercy of cheap dacs inside those things, ok if it's an office or kitchen system, but the "man cave" heaven forbid!!
Cheers George
Point taken. Its DACs are cheap, but the miniDSP is great for experimentation (especially with asymmetric slopes like in Magnepans) until the listener figures out the optimal frequencies and slopes and can order a Marchand or whatever.
Stereophile should formally review this. I’d be curious to see what the reviewer thinks and how a budget speaker like this measures.
So by passive subwoofers, it appears that means passive radiators. Usually an active speaker means internally amplified, so most speakers require external amps but are called passive (not active) speakers. These passive radiators presumably have no magnets. Kinda weird because they have dustcaps like regular speakers, unlike passive radiators which are often flat.
"So by passive subwoofers, it appears that means passive radiators.
These passive radiators presumably have no magnets."
Correct Sandy Gross is a big proponent of passive radiators in many of his designs, and he know how to make them work better than any others I've heard from other manufacturers
Cheers George