Almost eleven years ago, I started upgrading my modest college stereo system, turning it into a modest surround sound system. The surround system that I assembled over the course of 1997 went almost unchanged until the early fall of 2000 (I added a DVD player in late '98). A receiver upgrade in 2000 triggered a chain reaction of sorts, and the system has evolved a great deal since them. The receiver that started it all was Outlaw Audio's Model 1050, and in addition to providing me with access to both Dolby Digital and DTS for the first time, it led me to a major speaker upgrade and eventually to home theater separates – first just an amp to supplement the 1050, but later a surround sound processor to replace it. The Model 1050 was also my first taste of hardware from an internet direct manufacturer.
In a change of pace for me, I'm sitting at the keyboard today to compile some thoughts about equipment that I am using in a two-channel system – not the home theater setup that lives in our den. A series of events has led me to assemble a relatively simple stereo system in our dining room. This new system will play mostly CD's, with a few SACD's and DVD-Audio discs thrown in for good measure. And in a fitting homage to the first internet direct component that I bought back in 2000, this system ended up consisting almost entirely of internet direct hardware. Here's the list:
I'm still contemplating whether or not I will try to track down a small display to aid in seeing the 980H's on-screen menus. Doing so would make it easy to play CD-R's and DVD-R's full of MP3 files as well as simplifying DVD-Audio menu navigation, but for now I'm doing without that.
The RR2150 is a unique product for Outlaw. It deviates drastically from Outlaw's long-standing tradition of understated black front panels (particularly the early "green button" Outlaw products whose styling I've described as "aggressively utilitarian" in the past). Instead, it goes for a complex multi-piece milled aluminum face that retains the aluminum finish. Pictures just can't explain what this faceplate looks like. Since I grew up around complex metal-working as the son of a master metalsmith, I often look at things like this with a different sort of eye, and my mechanical engineering degree just reinforces that. The design of this faceplate really intrigues me. It is assembled from multiple pieces, something that is difficult to spot until you see one in person. It's a bold design, doubly so for a company known for seeking out more spartan architecture. When framed by a pair of smooth black boxes and a very low-profile black DVD player, the faceplate "pops" very nicely. The bright blue LCD display is a good color match to the blue of the 980H's display and is very easy to read from a distance. The blue detailing on the knobs also ties in well with the display. It's a very striking package overall, and one that I quite like - especially in contrast to soft lines of the copper panel hanging above it. As has been mentioned by some RR2150 owners, the knobs can exhibit some looseness or "play" in the controls, but it's something that I've only noticed with the volume control and it hasn't affected my ability to adjust the volume. The overall fit and finish is very good.
AV123 has offered a broad array of products over the last several years. They serve as something of an umbrella organization for a number of different product lines. Perpetual Technology is their oldest remaining in-house "brand," but it was the Onix Rocket speaker line that really helped put them on the map. In addition to the Rocket line, they also have had a long-running Onix Reference line and a newer Strata line (currently consisting solely of the Strata Mini speaker). A couple years ago, however, AV123 president/owner Mark Schifter decided to create another new product line called the X-Series that he would use to make budget speakers and electronics. After a long development cycle, the first X-Electronics are still a couple months away, but the speaker line has been available for a while now. The X-LS bookshelf was the first X speaker. It was originally manufactured at Schifter's facility in China, but starting around late 2006 they moved all X-Series speaker production to a new facility in Cali, Colombia. It was a B-stock pair of these little X-LS speakers, offered at a "Black Friday" price, that ended up in my new two-channel setup. The X series forego some of the more expensive finish niceties of the Rocket and Reference lines (no bookmatched veneers), and the satin black versions are even more stripped down (no veneer at all). Packaging is still handled well, as is nearly essential for something as bulky and heavy as a speaker that gets delivered to the consumer almost solely by UPS. The X-LS came double-boxed, tucked onto dense foam top and bottom, with white cotton sleeves on them to help protect the finish. The satin black doesn't have any of the veneers that often get such praise, but it is a nice, clean, and seamless finish. Cabinet construction is clearly heavy duty, as these are heavy "little" speakers, and the rounded edges offer a nice touch of finish on an otherwise unassuming package. Around back, the binding posts are pretty basic five-ways with pastic caps, a reminder that these are still only $200 speakers. My pair of X-LS's came with the more recent rectangular grille, not the "snowman" grilles first introduced after users expressed concern about the speakers lacking any grilles whatsoever originally. These would cover up much of the face of a veneered speaker, but that's not really an issue with the satin black. I'll talk a bit more about the grilles when I get into how the setup sounds later.
A power conditioner upgrade in the home theater earlier this year left me with some good quality surge protection already handy, so I tucked my old Panamax MAX5100 behind the dresser that we use as a sideboard in the dining room. The RR2150 went on top of the dresser, and the 980H went on top of that. I wanted to provide some decent ventilation for the RR2150. Despite what you see in the pictures throughout the review, I am using a few of my daughter's letter blocks as spacers between the two units so that the RR2150's ventilation openings are clear (a set of nice metal feet are on order, as the wood blocks look a bit funny even with the letters turned to the sides). The speakers are sitting to either side on the dresser. Stands would likely improve the situation a bit, but they'd need to be tall to avoid having the dining room table block them completely so for now I'm sticking with the current placement.
This system was briefly set up using a different player and different speakers: an old Panasonic DVD-RA60 DVD player (which I discussed here when I first bought it back in May 2002), and a loaner pair of B&W CDM1 SE bookshelf speakers that belong to my father-in-law but which have been floating around our house since some time in 2004 (hooked up with a pair of DIY "SandCables" bi-wire cables made for me some years ago – I needed bi-wire cables since the binding post jumper bars didn't accompany the speakers when they came to us). The RA60 is a pretty solid little player, and it supports DVD-Audio, but I soon convinced myself that it was OK to pull the 980H out of the main system and let the 981HD resume DVD-Audio/SACD duties. The B&W's hung around a little longer, but I've never been entirely won over by the B&W sound. For female vocals, the CDM1's did a quite nice job, but I just felt like something was a bit lacking for some other material. As a result, I was curious to hear what the little X-LS speakers might do for me. Once I had the complete trio in place, I took a few discs into the dining room to join the small stack of Christmas music already there. Aside from a few quick samples of music, though, I by and large left the system alone with a Christmas CD that my wife liked (Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong") on repeat so the speakers could break in a bit before I did any serious listening.
As I've mentioned earlier, my pair of X-LS came with the newer, rectangular grilles. The pictures were all taken with the grilles off, although I'm leaving them on most of the time (protection from young fingers, mainly). While I've long heard the recommendation that speakers be listened to with the grilles off, I have an unusual bit of background in that regard. My main system has been anchored by the Paradigm Reference Studio/60v2 towers since the spring of 2001, and I was told at some point that those speakers were designed specifically to be listened to with the grilles on. A bit of testing many years ago seemed to confirm that, as I preferred the sound I got from them when the grilles were on them. Since the X-LS was originally developed with no grille whatsoever, it would seem to be a safe bet that the overall design was optimized for that condition rather than for having a grille on the speaker. For that reason, I began experimenting with listening with and without the grilles very early on. My initial reaction (made mere minutes after the speakers were first hooked up) was that having the grilles off was better, but I decided to wait until they were broken in before trying to make any permanent decision. It didn't take a real long time for me to decide that the X-LS are at their best without the grilles in the way, so for most of my listening I kept the grilles off. Casual listening is still being done with the grilles on, as the differences are subtle enough that it's not worth the extra step of removing the grilles when we're just playing backgound music.
That brings us to some critical listening tests. Over the course of several weeks, I've thrown a fairly wide assortment of discs at the system (christmas CD's by Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Barenaked Ladies, and Aimee Mann; Foo Fighters; Evanescence; Revenge of the Sith soundtrack; and an SACD of select John Williams material). I'll start with the positive observations, as the system yielded quite pleasing performance. Subtle details were clearly reproduced, and the overall sounded felt neutral (no pronounced bias toward any portion of the frequency range) – both traits that I like and appreciated. Bass is not as strong as that of my main system, of course (as that system employs a pair of 2 1/2-way tower speakers and a 12" subwoofer), but still quite respectable for bookshelf speakers. Speaker placement and room layout imposed some limitations on the overall sound, but there was still a very respectable soundstage produced. It isn't as wide or deep a soundstage as can be had in my main system, but there are environmental factors contributing to that in addition to the differences in hardware. For male vocals and harder rock/alternative material, I found the X-LS's sound to be a bit more to my liking than the B&W CDM1's. The differences were less significant on female vocals, where the two sounded very comparable to my ear.
It's been a long time since I had a purely two-channel system. The main system, even after evolving into a surround setup, has retained the ability to provide good two-channel performance. Still, having a separate music system that is independent of the den's home theater rig (and thus the tendency for that system to be used for TV viewing) is handy – assuming the system doesn't appreciably sacrifice sound quality. Certainly the little X-LS's don't have the presence of a pair of Studio/60 towers and a 12" subwoofer, especially when placed as closely together as they are. Nonetheless, the combination of DV-980H as a source, RR2150 as a receiver, and X-LS's as speakers has yielded a very potent little package. Even at full retail for all three components ($170 for the 980H, $650 for the RR2150, and $220 for the X-LS's), it's a lot of bang for the buck. It's quite fun to have a little system like this in place, especially for the holidays when we have the Christmas tree up and are spending more time in that part of the house. I've been quite pleased with all three pieces of internet-direct equipment that have teamed up to create a wonderful little system.
