RAAL Towers 7 months in.....
Hey all,
Sorry for the delay, but I tend to be a lurker and look plenty and speak little.
RAAL Towers, guao, what hasn't been said. Ordered them for before Christmas, they hit a storm in Oregon and got delayed. Then I had one delivered by itself and had to wait another day to get the other one. Let me tell you, it's darn hard to tell anything about a speaker system when there's only one!
When I did get the other one it actually took several hours before I was happy with the sound. I moved them around, played the music I had lined up for them. Not real happy, until..... After a few hours I musta hit some well recorded music, or maybe my ears got used to hearing them. The speakers I'd been using before the Ascends arrived were classic Dahlquist DQ-10's that I had rebuilt. The Ascends were starting to sound really good. Don't know if it was "breaking-in" or not (I think Dave pooh-poohed that idea), but it sure sounded different/better to my ears.
The next several days I played with positioning and music and ended up with them about 2 foot from the back wall. My music room is mid-sized and I think sound-wise they are absolutely perfect for the space.
Really, really wish I coulda' heard the dome tweeters just for comparison, but I gotta tell you I am happy with the RAAL's. Like many elegant things, they are understated, but exceptional.
I don't listen to rap music, and there is actually very little music extant that would need more bass (IMHO) than these towers provide. I actually have two subwoofers but prefer not to use them as these towers are for music only. When you should feel the bass notes in your guts, you do. 'Nuff said.
So, am I happy? I heard a stereo system when I was younger (1970's) that stunned me with it's sound. Decades later I bought the Dahlquist speakers that were in that system, and I was happy. Rebuilding them was new and challenging and they sounded pretty good. But they didn't stun me any longer (maybe I shoulda got the amp???). These Ascend RAAL Towers are shockingly good, to the point they reveal the many, many poor recordings from my youth. I am happy.
I told my neighbor after I first got them that I had a "real" stereo system and he laughed as he turned up his iPod dock. I laughed with him, hahaha. Then last week he came over and I had the stereo on (loud of course). I was playing "Hotel California" from the Hell Freezes Over album and he actually couldn't talk. So I started it again for him. Then followed with "Angie" Rolling Stones off the Grrr! album, then "Hallelujah" K.D. Lang off the Recollection album. Needless to say he was appropriately chastised.
Anyway, everything that can be said about these speakers probably has been. I think for the money they can't be touched. They are well balanced top to bottom and image very, very well. As others have stated, they do show poor source material, but that's actually good. If you can't hear/tell bad music on your speakers, your speakers aren't as good as mine.
Probably one of the more difficult things for many folks (like me) to do is fork over a pile of money for speakers they haven't heard or seen. I was concerned, and very concerned for the first hour I had them. But now I realize what a great value these speakers represent. I don't believe there are speakers out there in this price range that can touch them. Personally, I don't believe I've ever heard better speakers.
randy (n' lizzie) lee Go Seahawks!!!
Re: RAAL Towers 7 months in.....
what kind of amp/receiver are you running them with?
Re: RAAL Towers 7 months in.....
Hey bilrus,
I have a Sunfire Load Invariant 300 wpc amp being fed by an Audible Illusions Modulus 3B preamp. I needed a lot of power (and voltage?) to push the Dahlquist speakers and an amp that would double output when dropping ohms was recommended. The AI preamp was as close to tubes as I wanted to get in my system. I'm pretty happy with both of them. As an added bonus Bob Carver (the genius behind many high output amps) lives about 20 miles from me if I need the Sunfire looked at.
randy
Re: RAAL Towers 7 months in.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
randyrlee2
Hey all,
Sorry for the delay, but I tend to be a lurker and look plenty and speak little.
RAAL Towers, guao, what hasn't been said. Ordered them for before Christmas, they hit a storm in Oregon and got delayed. Then I had one delivered by itself and had to wait another day to get the other one. Let me tell you, it's darn hard to tell anything about a speaker system when there's only one!
When I did get the other one it actually took several hours before I was happy with the sound. I moved them around, played the music I had lined up for them. Not real happy, until..... After a few hours I musta hit some well recorded music, or maybe my ears got used to hearing them. The speakers I'd been using before the Ascends arrived were classic Dahlquist DQ-10's that I had rebuilt. The Ascends were starting to sound really good. Don't know if it was "breaking-in" or not (I think Dave pooh-poohed that idea), but it sure sounded different/better to my ears.
The next several days I played with positioning and music and ended up with them about 2 foot from the back wall. My music room is mid-sized and I think sound-wise they are absolutely perfect for the space.
Really, really wish I coulda' heard the dome tweeters just for comparison, but I gotta tell you I am happy with the RAAL's. Like many elegant things, they are understated, but exceptional.
I don't listen to rap music, and there is actually very little music extant that would need more bass (IMHO) than these towers provide. I actually have two subwoofers but prefer not to use them as these towers are for music only. When you should feel the bass notes in your guts, you do. 'Nuff said.
So, am I happy? I heard a stereo system when I was younger (1970's) that stunned me with it's sound. Decades later I bought the Dahlquist speakers that were in that system, and I was happy. Rebuilding them was new and challenging and they sounded pretty good. But they didn't stun me any longer (maybe I shoulda got the amp???). These Ascend RAAL Towers are shockingly good, to the point they reveal the many, many poor recordings from my youth. I am happy.
I told my neighbor after I first got them that I had a "real" stereo system and he laughed as he turned up his iPod dock. I laughed with him, hahaha. Then last week he came over and I had the stereo on (loud of course). I was playing "Hotel California" from the Hell Freezes Over album and he actually couldn't talk. So I started it again for him. Then followed with "Angie" Rolling Stones off the Grrr! album, then "Hallelujah" K.D. Lang off the Recollection album. Needless to say he was appropriately chastised.
Anyway, everything that can be said about these speakers probably has been. I think for the money they can't be touched. They are well balanced top to bottom and image very, very well. As others have stated, they do show poor source material, but that's actually good. If you can't hear/tell bad music on your speakers, your speakers aren't as good as mine.
Probably one of the more difficult things for many folks (like me) to do is fork over a pile of money for speakers they haven't heard or seen. I was concerned, and very concerned for the first hour I had them. But now I realize what a great value these speakers represent. I don't believe there are speakers out there in this price range that can touch them. Personally, I don't believe I've ever heard better speakers.
randy (n' lizzie) lee Go Seahawks!!!
Wonderful review - thanks for sharing and for putting your confidence in us :)
