[John Stone]

On 5/12/10 9:46 PM, in article
, "Boon"
wrote:

Maybe, maybe not. Linkwitz is a good designer and has a great track
record, but the prices he charges for a finished pair of Orions is
hardly a good value. If Scott was able to build them for next to
nothing, then he could have done a lot worse.

I think if you compare them to what is out there from most hi-end speaker
manufacturers, they offer extremely good value. It really depends on who
builds the cabinets and how much of your own effort you put into them.
All the drivers along with completed electronics-including the power
amplifier- can be had for about $4800. You can buy a flat pack cabinet kit
for $700 and build the whole thing up yourself in a couple of days' work.
So, with a little effort, you can get into a complete setup for under $6000.
Compare that to what's available in the general high end speaker market and
I think it's quite a deal-especially considering the performance level and
the fact that the price includes the power amp. They also use the best
SEAS and Peerless drive units available-stuff you usually only find in
20k+/pr commercial products.

As for sound, honestly, most of the opinions I've read posted here and
elsewhere reflect impressions of people who have either heard questionable
setups, or are quite possibly just making **** up. You can't easily audition
these speakers unless there's someone in the area who owns them and they're
willing to give you an audition in their home.

Take if for what it's worth, but I've been in the industry for 40 years and
have heard and owned many high end speakers. I'd be hard pressed to come up
with a speaker that I would prefer over the Orions in my listening room. And
that includes (among others) Maggies, Quads, any B&W, or any Wilson.

"Soupe du jour" ( who strangely just came and went after 1 or 2 posts) made
comments about "congestion" on full orchestral works which I find totally at
odds with my own experience. Given that SL is a major classical music lover
with full season attendance at SFS concerts for many years, and a large
collection of classical recordings, it's hard to believe he would design a
speaker that doesn't sound good on orchestral recordings. As for the bass,
that's the last thing anyone should criticize about these speakers, since
they're truly full range down to the deepest bass. I've measured mine, and
in room they extend well into the low 20Hz range. Boon, if you ever plan to
be in the SF area, look up Linkwitz (he's in Corte Madera just north of the
Golden Gate) and arrange an audition. He's very accommodating and will
explain anything you want to know. He's got them set up exactly right, and
I'd be surprised if you didn't walk away impressed. While you're at it, have
him demo the Pluto's. Those are amazing too.


Now Nelson Pass' First Watt "kitchen table" amps are truly interesting
designs that sound great...and he charges fair prices for them. I
reviewed the F3, and it offered all of the sonic benefits of a great
SET amp without the hassles and idiosyncracies. I wouldn't mind owning
one in the near future.

I use a First Watt Aleph J on my Orion tweeters. My Aleph 0 monoblocks (the
first Pass Labs product) power the mids, and an X250.5 powers the woofers.
So everything from 100Hz up is single ended class A. And the bass amp stays
in class A to over 30 watts. My preamp is a Pass Labs XP20. Nelson will be
soon sending me a new First Watt J2 for evaluation. He claims it's even
better than the original J. Hard to criticize the treble quality now (or
anything else), but maybe this will be an improvement. The Pass products
work great with the Orions, and the combination sounds fantastic. Wayne
Colburn, who designs all the Pass Labs line level products also has a pair
of Orions and thinks very highly of them. That said, SL just uses the MTI
amp, and his system sounds fantastic.