Wow! What a speaker!!!!
After nearly a year of saving up I finally replaced my trusty Royd Albions with Wilson benesch ACT 2s. The speakers came in huge monolithic boxes that slid off to reveal a clam shell padded box unit inside. My first impression was very positive. The speakers are much better looking than the ACT 1s, which I tried last year. The 1s are a bit stuby and the speaker grill comes down quite low, giving a kind of "droopy" "gnome-like" look. The ACT 2 is oerfectly proportioned in every way and has a gorgeous cheery spine to back up the carbon fiber body. This spine is missing in the ACT 1.
While I was expecting the usual sketchy sound that you get with brand new speakers (My Albions sounded quite awful for about 200 h) I was pleasantly surprised if not completely blown away by the clean, pure, and authoritative presentation these speakers delivered. I hooked them up to my CDS2/52/250 with a NAT 03 on as the first test. The scanspeak super revelator provides an uncanny sense of ease and realism, wiping away all the grain from the tuner that I had previously attributed to poor signal quality. In comparisson the Albions, themselves class-leading in the price range, seemed vague and washed with a rather thin upper register.
I then tried out some disks, the results being once again astounding. Clean, detailed, perfectly controlled but gutsy and emotional with no sense of strain of any kind. I tried Massive Attack. SOurce Direct. Van Morrison. Air. The Tindersticks. Peter Gabriel. Even an old elton john disk (madman across the water) and to be honest I have never heard a speaker that combines such control and balance with such emotion, drive, and timing, with an almost complete lack of distortion.
That is only after three hours. What could be better? Well, the dynamics in some cases seem a little compressed, but I am sure this a break in issue as such effects are common with new components anyway, and dynamics were certainly not a problem with the ACT 1s I tried a year ago.
Your reflections are welcome.
dave
Posted on: 30 March 2001 by David Antonelli
Jason,
Thanks for your advice. I am hoping what you say won't be true because with most break ins after the initial eureka there is always that period of "damn it doesn't sound as good as it should maybe I got burned or maybe my source/amp isn't up to it" Then after weeks of frustration, you finally realize once more that it sounds btter than it ever did. I never look forward to that "middle period".
daveß
Posted on: 30 March 2001 by David Antonelli
Derek,
I'm not as advanced as some people on the web so I won't be able to give you a diagram, but my speakers are about 20 inches from a wall and both far away from any corners. About 12 feet in front of one speaker is a low slanted ceiling (I have a cathedral style ceiling) while in front of the other there is only free space. This speaker positioning worked quite well with the albions and seems a perfect match for the ACT2.
The speakers sounded a bit better this morning. I hope I can fend off the dip in performance that usually comes (see above post). The dynamics were less compressed and the bass was lightning fast and exciting. I listene dto som old Who and Led Zeplin recordings this morning at 8. A total revelation. The speakers could really do it all. They are the CDS 2 of speakers as far as I can see in that they can combine nearly every sonic virtue into a single package. The albions were quick but sounded flat. So you could hear all the subtle drum and rhythm palpitations, but somehow they didn't come to life. On more demanding passages they sounded strained.
I would say that these speakers are like the best of naim combined with the best of electrostatics. So those who love the grip and rhythm and bass response of the betetr naim speakers but long for the free-breathing purity of the electrostatic midrange might want to take a look at this line. And they seem to be a perfect fit for naim amps as far as I can see. These speakers handilly outperfrom anything I have heard while still appearing to hold much in reserve, for I know they can sound even better with break in. That super revelator is one hell of a tweeter and those tactic drivers are extremely cool. I'm a chemist and have actually designed catalysts to prpere isotactic polypropylene. Good that somone is using it to decent ends!
Super revelations!
Dave
Posted on: 30 March 2001 by Frank Abela
Dave,
Congratulations on your new babies. Yes, they are very good.
They take a good 100 hours to run in. You'll find that the bass will fill out and the treble should liquify over the next few days. The whole should also become more integrated, typical for a largish floorstander.
Run-in ACT2s typically take a while (say 15 minutes) to get going when they've not been connected to a system.
Regards,
Frank.
Posted on: 30 March 2001 by David Antonelli
Frank,
Thanks for your advice. You seem to have the most experience with these speakers out of evryone on the forum. It boggles the mind what they might sound like with a 500! The bass right now is very accurate and fast but has not really reached tha t free-breathing warm glowing sound I know the CDS 2/52 is capable of. But already they crush the albions (as they should at this price). The synthesizer two thirds of the way through "Who are You" came through like a wrecking ball this morning. Downst airs neighbors look out! I may have finally found a reason to sell my headphone set up.
I had noticed that with the ACT 1s I demoed last year (they were already run in) it took about half an hour to get going. They sounded a bit remote and kind of ster ile until with wild lumpy bass for the first twenty minutes.
The ACT 2s are heavy MFs and it was tough to get them up my stairs (by myself, three flights thank you!) but they are surprisingly sleak and seem to actually take up less space than the albions on their stand. They also have a high partner-pleasing factor as they are simply gorgeous.
Dave ü
Posted on: 31 March 2001 by David Antonelli
Hi,
Well, its only been two days, but I think I can safeley say that this is the biggest single upgrade I have ever made. If price and quailty of upgrade are linear, then it makes perfect sense as I would say that the roughly 15 K jump from the albions to the ACT 2 is equivalent to the difference between a nait and a 52/250, a difference of only a little bit more than this price.
It seems as though the music has been completely rewritten and orchestrated, to much better tolerances and effect, bringing about a net improvement in every area. There is more control and speed, Vivaldi's violins soaring and stopping with breathtaking ease. There i smore detail. Instruments have emerged from the background that I have never heard before, whispers, tiny bells, harpischords, sniffles...its all there. There is a greater sense of scale and power, these speakers are brooding giants at heart! I feel if played loud enough they could probably blow the walls down. Yet it is with such grace that they swing such mighty blows! The soundstage has bloomed. Even the 03 has now given me a 3d image on live jazz recordings. Like being in a restaurant Jazz club. And in cases where there are two voices in teh newsroom I can suddenly locate them in spatial depth, being able to sense almost to the meter how far behind the lead broadcasting voice a person might be standing.
And they look so great. Frank is right. The price difference between act 1s and ACT 2s doesn't prepare you for the gargantuan difference in performance. The speakers are in a completely different league. When i bought my 52 two years ago I posted something about feeling like running around in the snow I was so happy. I feel the same only more so now.
Six stars please!
dave
Posted on: 21 April 2001 by Mark Rampling
Dave, which cable connections are you using to the ACT2s? I'm assuming you are using NACA5 cable, the ACT2s have downward-facing tri-wire gold-plated sockets with a bridging plate for single wiring. Are you using the Naim 4mm plugs upside-down into the gold-plated socket? Or are you using a gold-plated (ie same contact material) U-shaped or ring terminal soldered to the NACA5?
Also, have you considered all the internal speaker wires to just one set of sockets, so that you won't need the bridging plate?
Mark R
.... also considering ACT2s
Posted on: 21 April 2001 by David Antonelli
Hi,
I am using the regular plugs and have not had a problem with them. The gold plated copper kidney plate is also fine and I feel no need to bi (tri) wire. I think bi(tri) amping would be something to try since these speakers are good enough to see the returns of whatevr you give them. They are truly amazing speakers in every respect and combine agility with grace, power, delicacy and musicality to die for as well as class leading dynamics and soundstaging. It is very hard to pinpoint anything but strengths in them.
dave
