Tweet
Hi all
I registered here to share my results with existing builders and future builders. The Statement 2s are great. Thanks to Jim and Curt for making this design available. Excellent results.
My build is fairly close to the build plan. The only deviations were adding an additional 3/4" lamination to the lower window brace (total thickness 1 1/4") and using 2" Knauf foil backed insulation (with the foil side glued to the cabinet side and back walls) instead of acoustic foam. The sides of the cabinet are covered in laminations of Russian Baltic Birch plywood. The finished weight of these was just over 170lbs each. I brought leads from each driver out of a hole drilled in the bottom of the cabinet and built cigar box style crossover boxes which match the towers overall design. I have to give a shout out to Deewan and BostonMurf. Good documentation guys.
I will post my thoughts followed by some pics. I should start off by saying I am an incredibly picky listener. My room was designed and built from scratch for acoustics. It is a decoupled and isolated room that is treated with absorption and Deep diffusion. The noise floor is incredibly low. Frequency changes of 1db in room are detectable. The Statement 2s (and all my gear) are calibrated manually using a measurement system. This is a serious room with a low tolerance for compromise. The Statement 2s fit right in. My intention is to show you just how serious these speakers are. They do not disappoint.
Room render before building Statements
Image not available
Overhead plan of room layout before the Statement 2 LCRs were built.
Image not available
The best way to describe the changes may be to compare it to the prior towers. They were Mordaunt Short Mezzo 6s. I was expecting a massive change moving to the new super towers, but all the improvements, across the board, were incremental. This is not to say the Statements disappointed (far from it). They just did everything a little better across the board once the bass was properly calibrated for my room.
The most interesting change to note is how they interact with the room. The open back midranges resulted in changing my room treatments slightly. SBIR traps located directly behind the old towers had to be removed. With them installed the midrange energy was decreased to a point where the upper bass was perceived as heavy. Once removed the midrange balance improved considerably. I would suspect removing all surrounding absorbtion would further improve overall balance and spaciousness at the expense of clarity. Based on this experience I would suggest NOT treating immediate areas behind Statement towers with broadband absorption. It will cause a frequency imbalance not intended by the designer's crossover network. If nearby, face your corner panels with poly or foil facing out to reject mid to high frequency absorption.
The overall balance of the new towers is a 7db tilt up towards the bass region roughly hinged on 250hz. The measured -3db point in room was 18hz without sub assist. These are true full range'rs. Above 250hz the response is very flat with a couple db reduction per octave above 4khz until almost 20khz. This is a marked difference from the old towers. They did not exhibit much bass energy below 40hz and rolled off sharply after 12khz. The new towers exhibit more "air" and extended decay or sustain of cymbals, strings etc. They also handle low frequencies in music without the aid of a subwoofer and sound extremely tight and natural when doing so. Bass is enveloping and has some tactile feeling at low to upper bass frequencies when pushed. This is an improvement for music when compared to the old towers/sub combo. There is also a stronger definition of tones within the overall bass note. Further textured bass.
Here is a quick response trace (green) I was using as a baseline to check seating response variations. The towers are basically +/-3 db above the modal region in room.
Image not available
However, in my setup the Statement 2 bass balance was initially a tad hot for my taste for music. These towers should be placed with open space beside them. In my near side wall configuration they bloom when pushed hard and the low frequency gain creates a noticable imbalance at higher volumes. When sustained or patterned bass notes are present, they lose a little definition and balance when compared to a calibrated subwoofer setup. I was able to manually EQ the upper bass down and ended up crossing them over to subs below 60hz for music use. For home theater use they are ran full range and it sounds fantastic. Subs are present for LFE only. For others with a measurement setup or advanced experience with room mode control, multiple subs are in your stable anyway. The statements strong upper bass blends very well into my sealed sub units.
I was expecting the new towers to be a "thor's hammer" experience when it comes to their presentation. Not so. They are incredibly tight and precise sounding over most of their range without being overbearing. The exception is on recordings with sustained droning bass. Peter Gabriel's "blood of eden" begins with an enveloping, but heavy and sustained bassline. It was this track that highlighted the need to remove the SBIR traps to improve the balance of midrange to upper bass energy. You have to be careful about these towers' surroundings. They don't need help to make bass.
The new towers have no volume limit, at least with my amplifier. It can now play painfully loud without sounding strained. The old towers would start to exhibit a tonal shift and the soundstage would collapse when pushed really hard. These don't. I have to be mindful of this as I increase the volume to feel a bassline -which is now possible at upper bass frequencies. Fun.
The overall soundstage/spacial impression of these towers is comparable the the towers I moved from. The difference with the larger towers is images are larger, broader and have more perceived physical presence. They are slighly more tangible but never a "sound ball". The midrange to ribbon tweeter integration is fantastic, with about as much realism as you would want. It never sounds grainy or hyper real, as is the case when a bump is given to the presence region.
I would recommend the Statement 2s to anyone looking for a high return outcome on the investment in time and money. A fantastic design. I would build them again and given the chance would design a new room around their deployment.
Here are the speakers I moved from beside the Statement 2 tower.
Image not available
Here are the cabinets completed.
Image not available
Here are the triplets initially being installed behind my screen wall before room tuning.
Image not available
I registered here to share my results with existing builders and future builders. The Statement 2s are great. Thanks to Jim and Curt for making this design available. Excellent results.
My build is fairly close to the build plan. The only deviations were adding an additional 3/4" lamination to the lower window brace (total thickness 1 1/4") and using 2" Knauf foil backed insulation (with the foil side glued to the cabinet side and back walls) instead of acoustic foam. The sides of the cabinet are covered in laminations of Russian Baltic Birch plywood. The finished weight of these was just over 170lbs each. I brought leads from each driver out of a hole drilled in the bottom of the cabinet and built cigar box style crossover boxes which match the towers overall design. I have to give a shout out to Deewan and BostonMurf. Good documentation guys.
I will post my thoughts followed by some pics. I should start off by saying I am an incredibly picky listener. My room was designed and built from scratch for acoustics. It is a decoupled and isolated room that is treated with absorption and Deep diffusion. The noise floor is incredibly low. Frequency changes of 1db in room are detectable. The Statement 2s (and all my gear) are calibrated manually using a measurement system. This is a serious room with a low tolerance for compromise. The Statement 2s fit right in. My intention is to show you just how serious these speakers are. They do not disappoint.
Room render before building Statements
Image not available
Overhead plan of room layout before the Statement 2 LCRs were built.
Image not available
The best way to describe the changes may be to compare it to the prior towers. They were Mordaunt Short Mezzo 6s. I was expecting a massive change moving to the new super towers, but all the improvements, across the board, were incremental. This is not to say the Statements disappointed (far from it). They just did everything a little better across the board once the bass was properly calibrated for my room.
The most interesting change to note is how they interact with the room. The open back midranges resulted in changing my room treatments slightly. SBIR traps located directly behind the old towers had to be removed. With them installed the midrange energy was decreased to a point where the upper bass was perceived as heavy. Once removed the midrange balance improved considerably. I would suspect removing all surrounding absorbtion would further improve overall balance and spaciousness at the expense of clarity. Based on this experience I would suggest NOT treating immediate areas behind Statement towers with broadband absorption. It will cause a frequency imbalance not intended by the designer's crossover network. If nearby, face your corner panels with poly or foil facing out to reject mid to high frequency absorption.
The overall balance of the new towers is a 7db tilt up towards the bass region roughly hinged on 250hz. The measured -3db point in room was 18hz without sub assist. These are true full range'rs. Above 250hz the response is very flat with a couple db reduction per octave above 4khz until almost 20khz. This is a marked difference from the old towers. They did not exhibit much bass energy below 40hz and rolled off sharply after 12khz. The new towers exhibit more "air" and extended decay or sustain of cymbals, strings etc. They also handle low frequencies in music without the aid of a subwoofer and sound extremely tight and natural when doing so. Bass is enveloping and has some tactile feeling at low to upper bass frequencies when pushed. This is an improvement for music when compared to the old towers/sub combo. There is also a stronger definition of tones within the overall bass note. Further textured bass.
Here is a quick response trace (green) I was using as a baseline to check seating response variations. The towers are basically +/-3 db above the modal region in room.
Image not available
However, in my setup the Statement 2 bass balance was initially a tad hot for my taste for music. These towers should be placed with open space beside them. In my near side wall configuration they bloom when pushed hard and the low frequency gain creates a noticable imbalance at higher volumes. When sustained or patterned bass notes are present, they lose a little definition and balance when compared to a calibrated subwoofer setup. I was able to manually EQ the upper bass down and ended up crossing them over to subs below 60hz for music use. For home theater use they are ran full range and it sounds fantastic. Subs are present for LFE only. For others with a measurement setup or advanced experience with room mode control, multiple subs are in your stable anyway. The statements strong upper bass blends very well into my sealed sub units.
I was expecting the new towers to be a "thor's hammer" experience when it comes to their presentation. Not so. They are incredibly tight and precise sounding over most of their range without being overbearing. The exception is on recordings with sustained droning bass. Peter Gabriel's "blood of eden" begins with an enveloping, but heavy and sustained bassline. It was this track that highlighted the need to remove the SBIR traps to improve the balance of midrange to upper bass energy. You have to be careful about these towers' surroundings. They don't need help to make bass.
The new towers have no volume limit, at least with my amplifier. It can now play painfully loud without sounding strained. The old towers would start to exhibit a tonal shift and the soundstage would collapse when pushed really hard. These don't. I have to be mindful of this as I increase the volume to feel a bassline -which is now possible at upper bass frequencies. Fun.
The overall soundstage/spacial impression of these towers is comparable the the towers I moved from. The difference with the larger towers is images are larger, broader and have more perceived physical presence. They are slighly more tangible but never a "sound ball". The midrange to ribbon tweeter integration is fantastic, with about as much realism as you would want. It never sounds grainy or hyper real, as is the case when a bump is given to the presence region.
I would recommend the Statement 2s to anyone looking for a high return outcome on the investment in time and money. A fantastic design. I would build them again and given the chance would design a new room around their deployment.
Here are the speakers I moved from beside the Statement 2 tower.
Image not available
Here are the cabinets completed.
Image not available
Here are the triplets initially being installed behind my screen wall before room tuning.
Image not available
. They arent perfect.... If I could do it again I would skip the clear coat and polish out the high gloss black. The clear coat didnt dry glossy enough. Too humid.
Comment