Thinking of picking up a pair of Allison Ones

[samberger0357]

57 minutes ago, newandold said:

Is that the latest with the AR’s removed?

They are great speakers, but the A1’s need no help!

Yes. I agree on both counts but always fun for me for a bit of harmless experimentation now and then to see how I might change around the sound and perhaps for my ears improve it. But no doubt I could live with one good amp and the A1’s as my last pieces of gear for as long as they would hold up.

[samberger0357]

Giving them a vertical biamp try now and once again, they sound quite excellent. I'm getting the feeling these are those kind of speakers where there isn't a lot that you can do for them(other then proper placement and even then you have a fair degree of flexibility) for them to sound less then excellent.

[newandold]

48 minutes ago, samberger0357 said:

Giving them a vertical biamp try now and once again, they sound quite excellent. I'm getting the feeling these are those kind of speakers where there isn't a lot that you can do for them(other then proper placement and even then you have a fair degree of flexibility) for them to sound less then 

[newandold]

4 minutes ago, newandold said:

49 minutes ago, samberger0357 said:

Giving them a vertical biamp try now and once again, they sound quite excellent. I'm getting the feeling these are those kind of speakers where there isn't a lot that you can do for them(other then proper placement and even then you have a fair degree of flexibility) for them to sound less then 

The A1 crossover is a passive network.

No meaningful difference would come out of it unless you’re doing it to add power to the mix.

[samberger0357]

1 hour ago, newandold said:

The A1 crossover is a passive network.

No meaningful difference would come out of it unless you’re doing it to add power to the mix.

I understand that many prefer biamping with an active network,and consider passive biamping not really biamping at all,  but since Roy Allison gave one the ability to utilize two amps with these speakers and the network in them, and I have two good amps which is why I'm experimenting.

 

As for meaningful difference, any difference that I'm able to hear is meaningful, and what I'm hearing certainly confirms that. I've tried horizontal biamping, which is using one amp for the lows and one for the mids/highs. And while my amps are not identical, they're pretty close and both have gain controls, so matching them is not very difficult. I'm now on to vertical biamping, IE giving each speaker a separate amp. Horizontal provides a little better balance, while vertical better separation. Both take advantage of each amp's strengths and while I admit there isn't significant difference using either method, or simply using one amp, it's easy enough for me to use both amps while I have them as opposed to just letting one sit unused. Optimally I would have an identical mate for either amp so that I can could run them in mono(although could even do that with both of these presently) I'm happy to be able to at least have speakers that allow me to utilize both of them while I have them.

 

In the end, horizontal biamp works better for my situation so that each woofer gets the benefits of the MC2300's grunt. The A1's sound fantastic this way, although, as I've indicated more then once, it's not a huge improvement over just using the 2300(my preferred amp) alone.

[newandold]

When the ALLISON:One was introduced originally, The crossover network had a horizontal “slope switch” and no Biamping connection option. When the Biamping option appeared a few years later, I always felt (speculation only on my part), That it was not Roy’s decision, But rather taken under advisement from within the company in order to be competitive with other Loudspeakers operating on that level. 
My IC20’s are biampable by means of a toggle switch instead of the jumpers. My goal was to completely avoid the Biamp option, and I did so by fashioning 1 foot jumpers, of #12 THHN. That takes the switch with its thin lead connection out of the loop.  Each of the five channels of my Allison system, are receiving 405 watts rms@8ohm. Each of the systems is a nominal 6ohm load. The Velodyne HGS 18 Sub. continues to have the system respond down to 15HZ. Before Velodyne went out of business, the California-based company rebuilt and upgraded the class D plate amp. They are back by the way operating overseas and have expanded back to the USA.

[samberger0357]

Very interesting stuff. I knew that the early One's didn't have a biamp option. If I ever get a chance to own a pair of those I will. And would I ever love to find a pair of IC20's. That search is never ending.

The biamp experiment is over, and I'm "just" using the MC2300 to power the A1's. They did fine with both amps, but in the end, simpler is better, as it usually is.

 

 

18 minutes ago, newandold said:

When the ALLISON:One was introduced originally, The crossover network had a horizontal “slope switch” and no Biamping connection option. When the Biamping option appeared a few years later, I always felt (speculation only on my part), That it was not Roy’s decision, But rather taken under advisement from within the company in order to be competitive with other Loudspeakers operating on that level. 
My IC20’s are biampable by means of a toggle switch instead of the jumpers. My goal was to completely avoid the Biamp option, and I did so by fashioning 1 foot jumpers, of #12 THHN. That takes the switch with its thin lead connection out of the loop.  Each of the five channels of my Allison system, are receiving 405 watts rms@8ohm. Each of the systems is a nominal 6ohm load. The Velodyne HGS 18 Sub. continues to have the system respond down to 15HZ. Before Velodyne went out of business, the California-based company rebuilt and upgraded the class D plate amp. They are back by the way operating overseas and have expanded back to the USA.

 

[newandold]

32 minutes ago, samberger0357 said:

Very interesting stuff. I knew that the early One's didn't have a biamp option. If I ever get a chance to own a pair of those I will. And would I ever love to find a pair of IC20's. That search is never ending.

The biamp experiment is over, and I'm "just" using the MC2300 to power the A1's. They did fine with both amps, but in the end, simpler is better, as it usually is.

 

 

 

Yours are superior for a very important reason. The original outboard connections for the mid range and tweeters  had been done away with And were then wired internally. By far that was the most significant improvement in those speakers.

[samberger0357]

43 minutes ago, newandold said:

Yours are superior for a very important reason. The original outboard connections for the mid range and tweeters  had been done away with And were then wired internally. By far that was the most significant improvement in those speakers.

Ah I'd forgotten about that. Good to know. Thanks.

[samberger0357]

Happy New Year all…

My days of rowdy celebrations are long gone so I decided to move my A1’s into the spare room that I have set up a second system in. And for experimentation and practical purposes I have placed them on opposite long walls, more then a few feet from the front wall, facing each other, about 12 feet apart. And as I have read from others, they do indeed sound great this way. In fact even though this room is considerably smaller then my living room where they were, they are perhaps better suited for this room from a distance from walls perspective. 

Feline Chelsea enjoys the new set up as well.

 

 

 

 

[newandold]

On 1/1/2022 at 2:33 AM, samberger0357 said:

Happy New Year all…

My days of rowdy celebrations are long gone so I decided to move my A1’s into the spare room that I have set up a second system in. And for experimentation and practical purposes I have placed them on opposite long walls, more then a few feet from the front wall, facing each other, about 12 feet apart. And as I have read from others, they do indeed sound great this way. In fact even though this room is considerably smaller then my living room where they were, they are perhaps better suited for this room from a distance from walls perspective. 

Feline Chelsea enjoys the new set up as well.

 

 

 

 

It was fun and interesting to try those different location possibilities afforded by the A1’s!

 In the 35 years that I owned them, they spent around 14 years on adjacent walls and the balance on one wall. Eleven of those “same” wall years they were kept company by the Velodyne HGS 18 Subwoofer, that brought the response clean down to 15hz.

The opposite wall test failed….room constraints at that time prevented me from getting them close enough to the end of the room to kick the bass up.

[samberger0357]

37 minutes ago, newandold said:

It was fun and interesting to try those different location possibilities afforded by the A1’s!

 In the 35 years that I owned them, they spent around 14 years on adjacent walls and the balance on one wall. Eleven of those “same” wall years they were kept company by the Velodyne HGS 18 Subwoofer, that brought the response clean down to 15hz.

The opposite wall test failed….room constraints at that time prevented me from getting them close enough to the end of the room to kick the bass up.

I've been very pleased with them in this opposite wall placement. Room filling sound(granted, it's a small room) and excellent imaging. However today decided to experiment with them on same wall on either side of door. I looked again at the placement guidelines regarding proper distance from sidewalls and found that it was more then 2 feet. For some reason I had 3 feet as the proper distance. So now I have them both about 26” from their closest sidewall and again they sound good. I will leave them like this for awhile and see which I prefer.