Newsgroup: it.hobby.hi-fi
Titolo: Usher story e review

Molti chiarimente a continue false accuse di copia da parte di persone
poco serie:
Trivial Bits
Anybody that's been in the audiophile realm, even for a short time, is
certainly familiar with the name Dr. Joseph D'Appolito. Dr. D'Appolito
has made a significant mark on the speaker design and manufacturing
industry. Everywhere you look, you see copies of his ideas. Case
specifically in point is the ever so common MTM
(mid-bass-tweeter-mid-bass) speaker design.
Usher Audio is a Taiwanese corporation that began back in the early
1970's repairing high end, imported stereo gear. Within a few short
years the company had begun manufacturing it's own line of
electronics. Over the years, several different incarnations and
branded names emerged for the factory. Eventually in the late 70's,
the factory came up with the brand name Usher and it stuck.
In 1999 the owner of Usher, Tsai Lien-Shui, decided to employ Dr.
D'Appolito to develop new designs for their speaker line. Word has it,
the Usher factory had entered into negotiations with one of the major
driver manufacturers to supply drivers for these new speaker designs.
When Usher placed a more than sizable order for drivers, the driver
manufacturer balked. Bad move. Little did they realize, they were just
about to lose not only a sizable but large recurring order. That's
just what happened. Rather than search out another driver
manufacturer, Usher decided to build their own. This time they would
be built to Dr. D'Appolito's specs.
So here we have a speaker that has been designed top to bottom by a
well respected industry mover and shaker being built in Taiwan with
true, custom manufactured drivers. Now, quite a few manufacturers
claim to have custom manufactured drivers but what they do is have
other major driver manufacturers build a driver to their
specification. It's not quite the same as building your own.
The Usher line came to my attention by Bill Baker of Response Audio.
This is the same Response Audio that has allowed me the use of his RAM
301 amplifier for a  (somewhat extended) series of speaker reviews at
my old haunt. In talking to Bill one day, he mentioned that he had
just picked up the Usher line in recent months. Not only is he selling
the standard speakers, he is doing crossover mods to the stock units
also. If you know Bill at all, nothing comes in his door that doesn't
get looked at for mods.
Anyway, Bill said, "Hey, I've got these Usher X-708's here and I think
you would like them. Want a stock pair for review?" well, 'Of course.'
I said. A short time later, two well packed factory boxes showed up to
the old homestead.
 
Fit Finish And Basic Design
As I unpacked the X-708's I couldn't help but notice the size of these
speakers. There is no way you could consider these a bookshelf
speaker, they are really in the monitor size category. Roughly 50
percent larger all over and having a sloped front baffle presumably
for time alignment, these speakers weigh in at almost twice that of a
pair of Dynaudio 42's.
The Ushers have solid wood, decorative side cheeks. This pair has
lightly stained solid Birch panels. The panels have been milled with
rounded corners. They come with a removable MDF speaker grille of
typical manufacture. The main enclosures are manufactured out of
0.75-inch MDF and have a mat silver finish.
The driver compliment is a 7 inch long throw woofer with a phase plug
and a 1 inch fabric dome tweeter. The crossover frequency is 2.3kHz.
On the back of the enclosure you will find two pairs of what appear to
be WBT midline binding posts for bi-wiring or bi-amplifying and a
heavy gauge, gold plated jumper.
 
Setup And Placement
The Ushers aren't too picky when it comes to placement. Since they are
a rear-ported design, you can expect the typical back wall issues. Get
them too close and they can get a little boomy, pull them out too far
and they can get a little lean. I settled on having them out about 30”
from the back wall as a good balance for most music. I also decided to
have the speakers facing almost straight forward. Not toeing in the
speakers let me get plenty of detail without being overrun by the
upper mids and highs. Again for me it's all about balance. For this
review I was using my Stubby speaker stands. So let me tell you how
they sound.
 
Treble Clarity And Extension
I started with a bit of Jazz. Gary Burton's latest release Generations
is an excellent recording and well worthy to be used as a reference.
The Ushers delivered the little hidden details on this recording in
spades. The highs are extended and articulate. The gentle taps of
Clarence Penn's cymbal and crack of his snare drum are crisp and
clean.
Another great test is Sheffield Labs release of Harry James, Still
Harry After All These Years on vinyl. The cymbals recorded on this
direct to disc release come through nice and clean. There is enough
‘air' around all of the instruments that you begin to get the sense
that the band is performing right in front of you.
 
Midrange Clarity
Moving on to some classic Jazz, Coleman Hawkins Today and Now on
vinyl. On this Impulse release, we've got Coleman at his best. It's a
marvelous record. The Ushers did a fine job on Coleman's sax. I was
able to pick up most of those little recording artifacts like breathes
between notes, that whoosh of air at the ends of Coleman's blown
notes.
Next I thought I'd try some Classical. After listening to the Hawk, I
was in a mellow mood so I went for Pachebel's Cannon in D (RCA
FRL1-5468 Red Seal) performed by John Francis Paillard and his Chamber
Orchestra. This is a beautiful piece of music that on the right stereo
sounds absolutely magical. On lesser loudspeakers the violins can get
strident and very forward. The little Ushers performed extremely well
considering these are their entry level speakers. There was a fair
amount of ‘air' around the instruments and I heard decent placement
and definition of the Chamber members. I've had quite a few
loudspeakers through here that didn't do near the job the X708's did
on this piece.
 
Bass Clarity And Extension
I decided to start off a little slow for this part of the review.
Listening to Buddy Guy's tribute to John Lee called Blues Singer, the
Ushers do a great job at reproducing bass at low volume levels (75dB
average). Track 9 "Bad Life Blues" has Tony Garnier playing a bass
track on an upright that reaches down into the mid 40Hz range. The low
bass is surprisingly well defined and clearly audible at even these
low listening levels.
Another great test for bass is Bela Fleck's Left Of Cool. Victor
Wooten just cooks on the bass. The bass track on this CD drops well
into the 30Hz range and has tons of bass detail on it. Track 9
"Oddity" is a great test for how well a speaker handles deep, clean,
fast bass. When Victor goes off on one of his trips and starts running
the scales as if he were a lead guitar player, quite a few speakers
have a hard time keeping up. This is where the Ushers shined. They
kept up with Victor and his finger gymnastics without sounding muddy
or excessively slow in the least. I have a hunch, the bass produced by
these loudspeakers should satisfy most everybody out there.
Since these loudspeakers extend solidly down to 40 or so Hertz in room
(my room anyway), integrating a sub might be a little tricky. If you
decide to integrate a sub with the Ushers you will need to pick your
sub wisely if you feel the need for deeper bass. Make sure that the
sub has a crossover point at 40Hz as a minimum. It's that or you can
always actively cross the Ushers over.
 
Soundstage, Imaging And Focus
Listening to my usual test track Pink Floyd's, Momentary Lapse Of
Reason, Track 1, the water lapping on the shore, the Ushers cast a
virtual images about three to four feet beyond the edge of the
speaker. That's easily on par with most of the other quality speakers
in this price range.
The Ushers ability to zoom in on center stage is quite remarkable.
Listening to Eric Johnson's Alien Love Child, Glass House on your
typical loudspeaker under $1000, when Eric stomps the foot switch and
goes to dark, heavy distortion the sound is spread almost as wide as
the speakers are apart. That same passage on the Ushers, the image is
nice and tight.
Going back to Bela Fleck's Left Of Cool, on the first track
"Throwdown," Bela and Victor Wooten start trading licks in time
towards the end of the song. The way this is mixed, Victor starts in
the left channel on the bass, Bela and his banjo on the right. Then
the engineer starts smoothly swapping channels with each of them. That
transition should be extremely smooth and you should be able to follow
each of them as they seamlessly dance back and forth through the air.
So many speakers do a poor job of following the image. Not the Ushers.
The image was rock solid and very tight as those two bounced back and
forth like a beach ball.
Sticking with Bela, I found the musical image to be on the same plane
as the speakers. The depth of the image (at least in my system) was a
solid six to eight feet behind the loudspeakers.
Moving on to Joe Jackson's Body And Soul on vinyl, this is a marvelous
recording to tell just how big the recording venue sounds on speakers.
This is a minimally mic'ed, live recording done in a Masonic Temple
specifically to utilize its natural ambiance. It's a great test disc.
The Ushers present a nice large image. Much larger than you would
expect from a speaker this size. I think much of it has to do with the
great bass extension these little loudspeakers have.
 
Dynamics
Paired with good equipment, the dynamics of the Ushers are very good.
From top to bottom, you get relatively fast and tight dynamics. From
the crisp crack on a snare drum that leaps out at you, to Victor
Wootens slap bass, the dynamics are quite good considering these are
an entry level pair of loudspeakers.
 
Overall Coloration
Putting on some more Jazz, Gary Burton's latest release Generations,
this is another excellent recording. The Ushers deliver details very
nicely, especially for a speaker in this price range. The highs are
extended and articulate. The timbre of the instruments like Mokoto's
piano is very close. The reproduction of Gary's vibes are full and
rich, almost identical to the way they sound in real life. There is
only a minor hint of veiling from these loudspeakers.
Now don't get your panties in a bunch over what I just typed. I'm not
saying these speakers are so veiled and you shouldn't consider them.
Please keep in mind we are talking about a pair of mini-monitors that
are less than $1,000. Compromises must be made. The compromises are
usually in driver selection and crossover components. It's sheer
economics fella's. Also these are their entry level speakers and they
are designed as such.
 
Weirdness
I tried the Ushers with a variety of different gear and wires. They
aren't too picky at all. They worked just fine on lower powered tubed
and solid state gear. The loads they presented to the amp seemed
fairly stable at all volume levels. Looking at the graphs on the Usher
website, I see that the load the Ushers present they don't dip much
below 6 ohms and don't go much above 14 ohms. On the gear I used,
nothing weirded out on me. The images and tunes stayed relatively
stable across the board at all volume levels.
For the majority of this review, I listened to the Ushers using 75
watt EL34 amps. The Ushers mated very well to them. In fact I far
preferred the sound of tubes and the Ushers opposed to the solid state
gear I used. The tubes warmed them up a bit making them not quite so
forward sounding. But that's just me I suppose, as always YMMV.
As usual, you can experiment with wires and interconnects. Want a
slightly forward and detailed presentation, use some silver plated
copper. If they are a bit too forward for you or your system, try some
standard copper wires.
 
So....
In the end, I feel the Usher X-708's are an extremely nice speaker.
They seem to be very tube friendly which makes gear matching fairly
easy. They aren't pretentious in the least. The Ushers don't try to
overwhelm you with bass slam or sizzle like so many speakers do today.
They provide a good overall balance to the music.
The Ushers provide solid, even bass down to just above 40Hz in my room
then roll off. Pretty impressive for a mini-monitor. With solid bass
like that, there is little need for a sub. If I had to put your
placement in a concert hall, I'd say these speakers place you
somewhere between the 5th and 10th row.
If they have one weakness, it's that they are slightly veiled (see my
notes above). Nothing major mind you but the mids and highs could be a
little more open which would help with the timbre also. When you think
about it though, that's a pretty tall order for an entry level speaker
priced at $900. But then again, if you run some overly forward source
gear, you'll be thanking your lucky stars for the little bit of
veiling these loudspeakers have. It's all relative.
The Ushers do a fine job on all of the different types of music I
threw at them. They played pretty much everything with ease and
finesse. These speakers provided a nice amount of detail. In fact they
are some of the most well balanced speakers I've heard in this price
range. They have great bass for a monitor class speaker, extended
clean highs plus a nice smooth midrange. I don't think you could ask
for much more in this price range. Of all the different music I
listened to while the Ushers were here, I think jazz was my favorite.
Finally one question begs answering. Are they involving? Absolutely. I
usually type while I listen to the gear I am reviewing. On loads of
occasions, I'd drop the needle on something to hear it again so I
could describe it for this review but inevitably I'd get lost in the
music and have to go back and listen again. You know, as good as the
X-708's are as an entry level speaker, it really makes me wonder what
their big brothers sound like.
Bottom line, if you are in the market for an affordable stand mounted
speaker, I think the Ushers are well worth listening to. Keep in mind
that the X-708's are a relatively forward sounding speaker, a (near)
front row speaker if you prefer that analogy. If your tastes in
speakers are for something a bit more relaxed, the Ushers may not be
your cup of tea. On the other hand, if you like the sound of
Dynaudio's, Paradigm's or any of the other highly detailed sounding
speakers on the market, the Ushers will fit right in. They show a fair
amount more control and bass extension than others I've heard in its
price class. They are well worthy of an audition.
 
Before You Read The Ratings, Read This
Please keep in mind this rating system is used to compare the Usher
speakers against absolute perfection, or a money no object pair of
speakers.  The low(ish) marks you see aren't really representative of
how good these speakers actually sound considering their price range
and their surrounding competition. Taking that into consideration,
these marks are actually pretty darned good in my estimation. Many of
the well renowned speakers in this same price class would rate less
favorably in my eyes (and ears).
Look at it this way, I have to leave room in the ratings for
loudspeakers like Lowthers, Classic Audio Reproduction's Hartsfield's,
Edgar Horns, Dynaudio Evidence Masters and Maggie 3.6's.
-- 
Ciao
Berry
Home Theater hw Forum: 
http://hifitalia.too.it
Home Theatre sw Forum: 
http://dvdforum.has.it
N.1 HiFi www:
soundberry.com
,Alexa certified.Site & Forum di Best Buy per Cinema e Musica in casa:selezioni,review,test in raffronto diretto,scritte da utenti.
Sebbene queste siano le mie piu' sincere opinioni di appassionato, sono un commerciante.
Non basatevi solo su queste affermazioni ma ascoltate sempre in raffronto diretto prima di acquistare.

 poco serie:
Lo avete difeso? Lo avete voluto? Eravate stanchi delle liti?
E mo' beccatevi i suoi post pubblicitari da 17 kb...
Tanto io ho Fastweb...
Ciao ciao
Clark Kent

Punto 1
Poichè siamo su un sito italiano, se vuoi postare kilometrici messaggi,
traducili in italiano, personalmente lo leggo benissimo, ma molti, forse
anche interessati, probabilmente no.
Punto 2
Che utilità ha e cosa dovrebbe dimostrare quanto scritto, probabilmente
preso dal loro sito o da qualche loro brochure o simili ?
Se si seguisse questa strada il forum si riempirebbe di messaggi, appunto
kilometrici, ma dall'utilità non proprio eccelsa.
Tutti i produttori, più o meno grandi, hanno le loro storie e versioni da
raccontare, a volte pubblicate anche sulle riviste del settore (si chiamano
redazionali), che riempiono un po' di pagine ma, ripeto, non credo siano
molto utili; credo che il "quanto siamo belli, quanto siamo bravi"
dovrebbero dirlo gli acquirenti o simili.
By, See You Later.

 E mo' beccatevi i suoi post pubblicitari da 17 kb...
Gia' specialmente in GPRS :-/
-- 
Esprit

 Anybody that's been in the audiophile realm...
Scusa, sono molto interessato all'articolo che hai postato. Siccome non
so l'inglese ho provato a tradurlo con babelfish ma non ci ho capito
molto. Potresti tradurmelo? Grazie.
Paolo

 molto. Potresti tradurmelo? Grazie.
non capisce nulla di quello che vende....figuriamoci se conosce l'inglese
(anche la dimestichezza con l'italiano è assai scarsa..)...probabilmente non
sa nemmeno cosa ha riportato con il copia e incolla
ciao Ric

 Potresti tradurmelo? Grazie.
Dallo in pasto a Sherlock...;-)
-- 
Se lo traduce "lui", il risultato e' lo stesso...

 Tanto io ho Fastweb...
    Ti consiglio, visto che hai OE, di inserire tra le colonne di
visualizzazione anche le righe, che rendono l'idea della
lunghezza dei post più dei KB.
-- 
Ryoma
ICQ#41121680



Ma dai che non e' dal loro sito..hai letto?




Dimostri sempre chi sei.


http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6320666157

> Dimostri sempre chi sei.
Pure tu


 
ciao
Piergiorgio
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/

 poco serie:
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh????????????
-- 
serghej



sostituisci la e con una i.


 sostituisci la e con una i.
Diventa:
Molti chiariminti a continui falsi accusi di copia da parti di pirsoni
poco serii:
.. ancora piu' nebuloso di prima.
-- 
questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
http://www.newsland.it/news
 segnala gli abusi ad 
ab...@newsland.it

 .. ancora piu' nebuloso di prima.
MA! LOLLONEEEE!!!
Ciao
Clark Kent

 .. ancora piu' nebuloso di prima.
argh....rotfl...muoiooooooooooooooooooo ;-) :-D
-- 
serghej

 
No sta facendo le prove per la parte di Catarella nei nuovi episoni di 
Montalbano..vedi che sei prevenuto?:D

 poco serii:
:-)
questa è in stile "l'appendice della Sfinge"
comunque LOL
e ancora LOL

 Montalbano..vedi che sei prevenuto?:D
dai, catarella è un mito, non paragoniamo la seta con gli stracci... ;-)

Allora? Glielo traduci o no questo articolo? Mi sembra che la richiesta sia
più che lecita...

 più che lecita...
E secondo te se Berry sapesse fare qualcosa nella vita sarebbe qui a
masticarci i coglioni?
Ciao
Clark Kent


Almeno fin che traduce non posta! :-)

 ha scritto nel messaggio
news:2q8045F...@uni-berlin.de...
Ma chi è che usa il mio stesso nick?
Nonostante fossi in ferie, qualcuno ha postato per me..
:-)

 :-)
Nooooo... anche tu Junior? :-)
Vacca boja... adesso ci tocca metterci d'accordo...

 Vacca boja... adesso ci tocca metterci d'accordo...
No problem, ho eliminato la J maiuscola....ora sono "junior"

 No problem, ho eliminato la J maiuscola....ora sono "junior"
Ho mal di testa...
:-)
Ciao
Clark Kent


Faccio anch'io la mia mossa, e mi converto in JuniorG dal prossimo post. Ok?
Ciao.

 wrote:

Non sarebbe più pratico se la pensaste esattamente nella stessa maniera?
;-)
Cià, Paolo

 Cià, Paolo
Grande, Paolo!!!
:-)
Ciao, Luca.

 poco serii:
Bastardo! Sto lavorando, io! Mica posso farmi vedere a ridere dai mei
dipendenti mentre lavoro! Ti è andata bene che oggi arrivano alle 14...
:)