Thanks!

Hey man! Thanks!

👆😁

Did you in fact purchase the 500s as I too am looking to purchase my retirement system and just heard these speakers at AXPONA 2022 and liked them alot.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Ditto

Thanks!

Hi Rachel, nice to hear you drive the C500 with the Willsenton!! I have the R8 (kt88) and in a week I’ll have my pair of C500!! My actual speaker is a pair of KEF R7, but even if they sound good overall, I find them to be a little bit fake on the top end, a little bit metallic (maybe due to the alluminium cones I suppose..). How do the concept sounds with the R8? Do they sound materially realistic?!? I had a pair of 3050 before and loved their sound signature.. I hope to find again the same feeling with the C500

@@Iuglus The sound is brilliant, but only if you throw away the standard tubes. I use two basic sets of tubes: 1) Brand new valves route - Pair of Shuguang ST black bottle 6SL7 tubes, pair of Sophia Electric ST blue bottle 6SN7 tubes, quad of Sophia Electric ST blue bottle KT88 tubes and a PSVane CV181-TII for the power supply filter stage. 2) NOS/used valves route - Pair of MELZ military spec 6SL7 (equivalent) tubes, pair of Sylvania 6SN7GTA or B tubes, quad of Mullard 6CA7 (EL34) and a NEVZ 6SN7 (equivalent) for the power supply filter stage. The other option is to replace the Mullard's with the Svetlana 6550 C-series (don't buy the B-series as there are problems with reliability) if you want less warmth of the Mullard's and a deeper, more impactful bass. The other slight variation of option 1) is to replace the Shuguang ST black bottle 6SL7 tubes with the MELZ military spec 6SL7 equivalent tubes. All variations will give a slightly different sound, but all will be detailed and sound wonderful. Also best to use triode mode as it gives the flattest response, although UL mode can be a fun sound with certain recordings. BTW, all the variations I've mentioned above absolutely "blows the doors off" the standard Willsenton tubes. Further, given that the 6SL7 has the greatest effect on the sound of the pre-amp section, it is my opinion that the military spec MELZ 6SL7 is the best 6SL7 equivalent tube. The black bottle Shuguang comes close, but the MELZ just has that little bit more clarity. IMPORTANT: Because the Willsenton R8 is a rather simply design, circuit-wise, it's imperative that all tubes are very closely matched. As for the R8/500 combination, the sound is magnificent. It's an amazing combination with great synergy. All you need to do is ditch the standard tubes and you'll be amazed at the difference. UPDATE: I'm now using a Naim ND5 XS 2 streaming DAC instead of the Cambridge Audio CXU. I use the CXU only as a disc transport now using the coaxial out. All interconnects are Van Den Hul.

@@tbear2327 thanks for the long reply!! I have already replaced all the tubes, power section with the psvane kt88-T mark II, pre section psvane CV181-T mark II instead of the 6sn7 and MELZ 6n9s metal base instead of the 6sl7 (all of them factory matched). So far the sound with the Concept 500 is impressive, I think this can rival systems costing 4-5 time the price you pay for this pair of amp+speakers!! My sources are a bluesound node 2i (using internal dac) and my turntable is a Clearaudio Concept (Ortofon Quintet black S as cartridge and Lehmann black cube se II as pre phono). Next step is replacing all interconnects and power cables, but I’m also considering a second set of power section tubes just to have another sound signature. I read great things about the Gold Lion Genalek KT77 used as EL34.. do you know/recommend them? Any other suggestions for EL34 in the 200 price range?? Thanks a lot and have fun listening!!

@@Iuglus I've spent heaps of money on valves - it's become a real addiction, lol. I own the PSVane KT88's, Gold Lion KT77's, Shuguang 6CA7's, and Tung Sol EL34B's as well. I've owned the R8 for about a year now, so I've had plenty of time to experiment with different tubes. Personally, I liked the Tung Sol EL34B's, which from memory, are great value as well. Bearing in mind that this is only my opinion, I felt that the Sophia Electric KT88's were that little bit better than the PSVane KT88's. Clarity was slightly better and bass seemed to dig a little deeper, but still very balanced too - so not over-emphasized. As you probably know, the R8 can sound a bit bass heavy, but I've found that this is only if the tube compliment (both pre-amp and power amp tubes) is not quite right. For example, using Sylvania 6SL7's can boost the bass, while using the MELZ 6SL7's lightens off the bass so that all frequencies from bass through to the top end sounds nice and balanced. As far as EL34 (6CA7/KT77) go, the Gold Lion KT77's sounded at least as good as the Tung Sol EL34's, but in my view you should try both. The Shuguang 6CA7's were also very good with a surprising amount of bass slam (NOT bass dominance) - which is unusual for an EL34-type tube. I have other EL34 (6CA7/KT77) tubes, but the battle of which tube actually wins is really up to what sound you like. With the R8 you literally can get clarity clarity clarity (KT88/6550) right through to very warm sounding (EL34/6CA7/KT77 - specifically EL34's), so the R8 is very scalable in this way. Personally, I'd spend a little more time listening to the 500's before changing tubes. Certainly buy the other tubes, but I wouldn't be swapping tubes until you are totally familiar with the R8/500 combination. This is up to you, of course. The fact is that the R8 is an excellent integrated amplifier. When you factor in the price, it IS more than just a bargain - providing you throw the stock tubes in the bin. So too are the 500's. Ok, the 500's are reasonably expensive speakers, but what they are capable of is way up there with speakers costing much much more.

@@tbear2327 wow, thanks!! You really have a lot of experience with this amp and tube swapping!! I'll definitely give the Tung Sol a try after I get a little bit more experienced with the KT88!! Last question.. are you using the 8ohm or the 4ohm output with the C500?? With my last pair of speaker (KEF R7) the 4 ohm sounded clearly better (even if they were rated as 8 ohm speakers), but with the 500s I'm having hard times deciding.. which one is better in your experience? Many thanks again!!! EDIT: After many tries at different volumes and many genres, 8ohm got the win!! Let me know if you’re using the same

There are 3 mics at play. My lav mic which is hot when I am speaking, and the two mics that are only hot when music is playing. All this is done in post so you arent hearing the room when I am speaking.

@@Newrecordday2013 Thanks - I probably could have been patient and just figured it out when the sound clips started, but silly me freaked out and through I had broken something on my end, haha.

Thanks! I prefer the Sapphires, all day long. But these are great for those who dont want open baffle (for whatever reason).

@@Newrecordday2013 😄 got it 👍 thanks

@Marten Dekker Completely agree. My most homogeneous design sofar has been a two way using a 40" planar driver with some really fast woofers (that could keep up with the planers,) crossed over @ 250 hz. At that frequency, the transition from woofer to mid/hi was seamless.

@Marten Dekker my background is in pro audio. Started in movie theaters. We created front speakers that were acoustically time aligned and put them in a theater next theater over from traditional dual 15" with horn, not time aligned. The difference in clarity was unmistakable. The clapping in Thomas crown affair was eye opening. The clapping from the unaligned speakers were indistinct and smeared. The clapping from the time aligned speakers were distinct and you could hear the rhythmn of the clapping.

@Marten Dekker the first response starting with "completely agree" comment was about simple designs. The second comment about movie theater speakers was about time alignment. There you and I disagree.

@Marten Dekker the two way is a bolinger graebner radia rd40. That is the commerccial version of the radia drivers that used to available on parts express. They can handle 10 watts/in for a music power of 400 watts. They claimed they could be used down to 150 hz. But i found to keep distortion down, especially at high volumes, 250 hz is better. The woofer(s) are available at newark. www.newark.com/mcm-audio-select/55-2421/8-high-excursion-woofer-120w-rms/dp/88C7835 . They are very fast and have a long throw but per t/s only get to 50 hz. So i use a sealed box and over drive the bottom octaves. I plan on using the combination in a MTM configuration with analog electronic x-over in the future.

@Marten Dekker i wish i could say both were the same drivers but no. But what you could hear was the clarity at the crossovers. On of the good things about clapping is that it has a sudden rise time over a wide range of frequencies. I also used to use the ubiquitous dual 15 w/ horn box all pro companies make. The LF and horn mouths are always baffle mounted which means the drivers are horribly time aligned. In the digital processing, i would split the signal into two, one for woofers the other for the horn. Each would be x-over, the woofers delayed and the signal recombined then sent to the speaker. It was a crude but effective way of time aligning the drivers in a passive box. Even with the issues of electronic on top of passive x-over, the increase in clarity was eye opening.

Under 10k?

40k is the price today!

Absolutely

Yup

Thats interesting, I have never experienced that.

@@Newrecordday2013 try it. It has to do with how your ears are programed and how the hat disrupts the natural flow of sound coming around your head.

Wow, that's getting a little obsessive, I bet you can also hear the difference between the feet on your CD player too right?

@@crazyprayingmantis5596 actually, proper support of any audio gear can make a difference. The correct feet on a CD player with proper dampening can help reduce vibration in the machine, increasing clarity. That said, I find cd players grating in general. When I listen to digital, I use a home made music server that up samples the data. It reduces the pre-ringing which sounds like fingernails on a chalk board to me.

..3rd track as well pls

..how about just listing all the tracks..good stuff

You son of a gun!

Sure.

For starters, ~$5,600/pr+ for the speakers, ~$4,800+ for the amp, etc., etc.

@Sly foxxx Then why did you even watch this video? Ron labeled it as sound clips and it's on KZfaq.

Spoken like someone whose never actually heard these speakers lol

I agree to an extent, but to me they sound very British, like built for Beatles and Nick Drake. I prefer this sound.

@@svalbard01 I can't argue with that. I'm not saying it sounds bad, but Ron's system has sounded more open with other speakers in previous videos.

@@carlosoliveira-rc2xt Definitely agree with you on that. I only realized lately that I actually prefer speakers that aren't totally resolving (and may be a bit veiled and boxed in) and where vocals are more prominent. I think it's because that's how my parents' speakers sounded when I was a kid. Music=nostalgia for me a lot of the time.

I think what you guys are hearing is a lack of air and extension, or things that play in the time domain. I noticed and mentioned it in the video. These are more of a smooth sounding speaker and something many audiophiles might appreciate.

@@svalbard01 Definitely nostalgia plays a factor in many things we enjoy. I have several systems that sound very different from each other that serve different moods and purposes.

price is now 6499.00...

Just No. These are the best speakers under 8000dollars. Im quoting Ken Ishiwata R.i.p

Haha! You are forgiven!

That’s cool. Glad you took the time to watch what you did and leave a comment.

@@Newrecordday2013 I truly appreciate your effort

Cheers Flavio