Blumenstein Orcas

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by Merrick, Oct 3, 2016.

  1. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Even if I felt it would be worth it, a power amp upgrade is my next purchase and that's going to take a while to save up for anyway. So it's a moot point, and I'm not yearning for more slam or worried about more extension in the highs.

    I know some people were questioning the value of these speakers, but I think I got a bargain for how much I enjoy them. That being said I completely understand why some people would not like single drivers. For me, I plan on keeping these for life. Doesn't mean they're the last speakers I'll ever buy, but I think I will always have a system with them as my anchor. For now it's my main rig. In the future it may be a secondary rig, but they're going to remain in use.
     
  2. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    I like the looks of these, thanks for the review! Would they be a good match for my EC 2A3mk4 (same output as the Studio at 6 watts per channel)? 89db efficiency speakers seems kind of low for a SET amp.
     
  3. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Their efficiency rating is conservative. Clark has told me they will sound great with 2 watts, although obviously very little wiggle room.
     
  4. Perot

    Perot Facebook Friend

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    I've wanted passive speakers for a while. After reading this thread and other I'm soon to be an owner of the Blumenstein Tritons.

    I'm coming from powered speakers(Adam f5) Should be a massive upgrade.

    I went with the Triton because the room is big. 20 X 20 then a kitchen on the left (2 open door way). Figured I'd try orca or marlin in a bedroom later if I like the Triton

    Will be using Yggdrasil Freya emotive basx for the tritons
     
  5. Serious

    Serious Inquisitive Frequency Response Plot

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    The driver itself in an infinite baffle is only about 89db efficient, so it's not really a conservative rating. That said they're not a difficult load and probably don't go very loud either, so I can see how they would work with low powered tube amps.
     
  6. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    Orcas in the house! I was able to snag these locally for quite the deal, newest revision too.

    I'm a speaker noob so I'll refrain on attempting any deep sound descriptions. But the midrange sounds good, realistic, if a tad bit shouty, and there's a lot of spacial information going on.

    Unsurprisingly, quite thin though. Before I was using some behemoth, ridiculous JVC 3-ways from a boxed stereo system I bought as a kid in the 90's (bottom right). I definitely miss their side firing subs. We are moving in 3 months, so temporarily I have spliced just the subs of the JVC's into the banana plugs of the Orca's at the amplifier end for stereo subs. Nice and full sound, although certainly not ideal with no crossover or anything. Will re-evaluate in the new place, where we will share walls with neighbors, but works fine for now.

    Vinyl and Gungnir Multibit is out of reach in current house, but really enjoying them just with the DAC and amp of the AV receiver

    [​IMG]

    Edit: Oh and thank you to @brencho, @Merrick, and others in this thread and forum, for alerting me to this deal, and pushing me towards it, whether actively or passively :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2017
  7. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    Has anybody compared the new revision to the older rear-mounted version? I am curious about how they differ and the Blumenstein site is quite cryptic.
     
  8. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    I bit the bullet and have some Orca's incoming. If you are interested in these I thoroughly recommend you call and talk to Clark. It was awesome chatting with him about his designs, building techniques, and speaker experience. He seemed genuinely interested in helping me find the best speakers, regardless of the price. If you are impatient and don't care about the finish (like me), he has some b-stock speakers that are ready to ship.
     
  9. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    After lots of reading about these speakers, I found a used deal for them that I couldn't refuse. For the price of a TH-X00, I now own the little speakers.

    Now what drew me to them is their size, and their single 3" driver. I wanted to hear for myself the magic or heart that has been mentioned here so many times. I did have a level of skepticism, how could little 3" drive produce anything close to bass?

    Well I just got these in about a week ago, powering them through my usual setup DIY Pass Labs f5 turbo / freya with either a classic 1 or Gungnir Multibit as source. Its not a fiar fight, but I am comparing these to B&W CM9's. I am listening in my regular room, roughly 16'x16'. Plenty of power and efficient speakers means they can get quite loud. They seem to handle power well and do not break up as the driver is pushed.

    First thing I noticed is just how well these image, all instruments and voices seem to have a distinct spot on the sound stage, which is wide, deep, and even had decent height to it. These are a lot of fun and gave me a idea what everyone was talking about as far as magic and soul. Vocals are very very realistic, feels like the vocalists are sitting 10 feet in front of me. Space between instruments make is seem like a real stage, not a slightly left or slightly forward kind of headphone stage. This is why these speakers are popular.

    Second thing I noticed was what I suspected upfront, these do not reproduce anything below 100hz. The little driver tries, but this is not designed to be a stand alone speaker. Ultimately, they sound a bit thin on their own. I believe that for true hi-fi sound, these need to be paired with some type of sub. I was surprised about the sheer amount of air coming out the rear port, these are moving, but Xmax and woofer surface area just isnt there to make low end sound realistic. They lack punch and slam that larger speakers can reproduce with ease. Again, these are 3" drivers, and as @Stapsy mentioned to me, "as expected, Clark can't bend the rules of physics"

    Disclaimer: Part of the reason this lack of low end sticks out with me, is the stark contrast to the B&W CM9 as my daily speaker, which has 2-6" paper cone woofers. When going by memory, my older B&W bookshelves went lower - to 6--70 hz or so, so I think that the Orcas and small driver are especially rolled off on the bottom end.

    BUT - dont let this lack of bass discourage you. With all of that said, this is a fantastic speaker, mids are amazing, vocals are scary they are so lifelike. As previously stated, this works better with certain genres that don't have subbass, or much low end. Acoustic, Vocal, and even some Jazz is all passable on it own. Anything with a upfront bass guitar sounds lacking, and electronic music that was mixed to boom on beats headphones falls flat. The treble is a bit rolled off, so they dont sparkle, but its more than clear and slight top end roll off just adds to the easy listening, non fatiguing nature of these speakers. Detail is sharp, micro detail is spot on and I think this is what makes these speakers feel so realistic.

    So I am currently on the fence as to what to do with these, but I think I like them enough to try and find a match sub wise. The easy solution would be to get one of the Blumenstein subs either a Baby Benthic or one of the older models (protect your Dungeness @PoochZag ). But I am planing on keeping 2 pairs of speakers in my setup for now, and a more robust sub might fit the bill on both ends. We will see where I end up...

    To wrap things up - these are amazing speakers, lots and lots to love. Blumenstein Audio obviously put a ton of work into perfecting the enclosure and tone. I was expecting something much much hollow / tinny / empty sounding, but received something quite amazing. I can see these as fantastic speakers for someone looking to try the next step beyond headphones, someone looking for a complimentary fun system, or someone who isn't looking for their speakers to rattle the neighbors walls.
     
  10. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

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    My Orcas are used with a bit of a mid-centric, euphoric but holy crap magical setup. I don't get a full sound 20hz-20khz from them, but what I do get, in that beautiful, magical spectrum is unmatched. Things like Louis Armstrong sound *incredible*.

    System synergy is important :)
     
  11. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    @JoshMorr How would you feel about paying full price for the Orca? I know you got them for a deal, but the new price is a lot more than a TH-X00. I also wonder if bass response would be improved based on room size, placement, or in a more near-field configuration.

    What is this system that creates magical synergy? I would love to know what other people are using with the Orca.
     
  12. drfindley

    drfindley Secretly lives in the Analog Room - Friend

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    There are probably a bunch of things that work great, but tube amps are a good mix, especially ones that have a magical, euphoric sound. Things like EAR and Jadis work well, perhaps 300B tube amps. You're not looking for a "tubey" sound, but a tube sound and definitely not a solid state sound.

    Here's my setup: http://superbestaudiofriends.org/in...nough-of-those-spinners.51/page-14#post-73526

    @shaizada has a really great setup with a different kind of Blumensteins that does much of the same thing.
     
  13. Perot

    Perot Facebook Friend

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    Are there any Triton owners here? I'm curious what people like amp wise for them. I'm currently using CD > Gungnir DS > Freya tube > Emotiva basx 2 ch amp > Tritons. Sounds pretty good to me, though I'm pretty sure my hearing is not on the same level as others here.

    What I think I'm lacking is low end and imaging. The low end is mostly solved by putting the speakers closer to wall. I think the lack of imaging sound stage is due to the room. It's a big room with two big doorways on the left. So uneven reflections left and right. Plus there is the big TV/stand in front of the speakers when they are pushed to the wall. I don't know. My guess is that no amp will solve these issues. Might need to completely rearrange the room so the two open doorways are in front of the speakers instead of to the left.
     
  14. Stapsy

    Stapsy Friend

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    My guess is that putting the speakers closer to the wall to reinforce the bass is introducing more reflections and hurting the imaging. Mess around with the distance to the back wall to find a compromise between bass and bass imaging.
     
  15. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    Mr. Stapsy, great question. The Blumenstein speakers fits well into a less busy sector of in the market - reasonably priced speakers for low low powered amps. There is not many options at this price point, the number of non DIY speakers that sound great off of less than 5W? Maybe Omega Desktops or their super 3i, but I bet these gain a bit of low end and lose the imaging that makes the Orca special.

    I bought these half thinking that they would pair with the Eddie Current Aficionado (Studio Jr), if it does in fact see the light of day. Will likely hold onto the orcas until that amp goes one way or the other. I do not think that they are necessarily a great pair with my gear that is more tailored toward a less efficient speaker. I just rememberd I have jonokuchi with speaker taps and will try that out soonish. I am not sure that these will make the best desktop near fields, as I think they want to be placed further apart and were meant to be enjoyed from 6-8' back from the speaker. Maybe someone else could chime in on near field applications.

    To answer your question more directly, I think I would pay retail for these if a was looking for a small efficient speaker to pair with a special tube amp and couldn't DIY something myself. If I was looking for a speaker for a different application, I might consider other options.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2017
  16. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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  17. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    2017-07-01 08.53.06.jpg

    There are almost no pics out there of the Orcas, in the birch plywood, on the interwebs. So I thought I should post one tolerable pic. I get that bamboo looks awesome, and I would have most likely gone that way if I bought new. But I think this is a lovely alternative...
     
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2017
  18. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    I coincidentally emailed Clark about the same question, and his reply to my question about a drop in replacement was:

    "They are a nice upgrade as would be a new DOF kit. I am making larger damping balls these days that go with those drivers."
     
  19. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Er... what's a damping ball? :oops:
     
  20. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    Yeah, no idea. I was just going to nod in agreement while all y'all went "ooooo new damping balls, yeah of course new damping, he'd be crazy not to have new damping balls....."
     

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