Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2015 10:52:30 GMT
i really shouldn't have clicked "buy it now"........ You know how it is though: Despite having no need of yet more speakers and nowhere to store them, an attractive price simply cannot be ignored. And so I came to own my fourth pair of Arcam Twos.
Actually this pair are the Two Plus, but other than being bi-wirable (and a lovely walnut veneer) they appear to be essentially the same thing.
I enjoyed my last three pairs but they didn't excel. "Workmanlike" would be a good description. I only tried them because Jimmy Hughes loved them and I had a lot of time for his opinions and writings back in the day.
Now Jimmy was also a PWB enthusiast and he was the first (AFAIK) to advocate ripping out the foam from speakers. He even helped Alexander Loudspeakers designer James Heal to get good results with his designs "sans-foam".
Well Jimmy: Today's experiment has confirmed yet again that you knew your onions. The Arcam Twos are unrecognisable and the difference was clear from the first note: Faster, clearer, LESS box-like and far more dynamic. Simply they do not sound like the same speaker.
I should add add that the Arcam Twos have well damped cabinets anyway and so they are ideal for this treatment. I tried the same trick with ES14s in the 80s and they rang like a pair of bells, despite being so much clearer and more dynamic.
At the very least, anyone with a pair of box speakers can give the foam removal a go without cost. If there are gains and also resonance issues, you can always try the Joe Ackroyd and Richard Dunn approach to damping cabinet walls with steel. My recent refurb of SBLs revealed that Naim also did this on every cabinet wall, no matter how small.
For now, I'm simply enjoying hearing a familiar speaker free from its shackles. Well done Jimmy. And thanks for so many great ideas together with the courage to stand apart from the flock.
Actually this pair are the Two Plus, but other than being bi-wirable (and a lovely walnut veneer) they appear to be essentially the same thing.
I enjoyed my last three pairs but they didn't excel. "Workmanlike" would be a good description. I only tried them because Jimmy Hughes loved them and I had a lot of time for his opinions and writings back in the day.
Now Jimmy was also a PWB enthusiast and he was the first (AFAIK) to advocate ripping out the foam from speakers. He even helped Alexander Loudspeakers designer James Heal to get good results with his designs "sans-foam".
Well Jimmy: Today's experiment has confirmed yet again that you knew your onions. The Arcam Twos are unrecognisable and the difference was clear from the first note: Faster, clearer, LESS box-like and far more dynamic. Simply they do not sound like the same speaker.
I should add add that the Arcam Twos have well damped cabinets anyway and so they are ideal for this treatment. I tried the same trick with ES14s in the 80s and they rang like a pair of bells, despite being so much clearer and more dynamic.
At the very least, anyone with a pair of box speakers can give the foam removal a go without cost. If there are gains and also resonance issues, you can always try the Joe Ackroyd and Richard Dunn approach to damping cabinet walls with steel. My recent refurb of SBLs revealed that Naim also did this on every cabinet wall, no matter how small.
For now, I'm simply enjoying hearing a familiar speaker free from its shackles. Well done Jimmy. And thanks for so many great ideas together with the courage to stand apart from the flock.
