Atomic Amps - "Coincident Linear Reference" Designed by Jay Mitchell

Scott Peterson said:
I see all these sorts of things from a different perspective.

It's not 'hype' more than a person expressing their opinion. That tends, online, to be generalized into 'hype' when it is honestly only one man's opinion. One man's opinion - pro or con - does not a consensus make.

And part of the other side of that is that there is no real 'consensus' at all, even among those of similar taste and background. Further examination of what really goes on is that it's subjective opinion sort of accepted as objective truth. Even if the person believes deeply that what he believes to be true is irrefutable and obvious; it is still subject to outside unattached perspective.

I'll repeat my mantra - your opinion is your opinion... it is not truth or falsehood. No matter where on the scale you are between 'it sucks!' and 'it rules!'. Opinions are by nature subjective, and therefore matter on the experience, perspective and feelings of the individual. That does not mean it will be universal.
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While I did react to a single post, the source of my reaction isn't one person's opinion.
It may seem so, but I didn't mean to. I respect Scotts a lot for that matter.
It's fueled by a number of posts I read here and on TGP.
It's the claim in the earlier post however, which seems rather over-the-top and premature to me.
Just wanted to post my primary feelings about it.
AFAIK JM is an true expert, but it's not that the world of audio wouldn't exist without his products.
Having said that, maybe a CLR will be in my house somewhere in the future. ;)
 
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That's all I have to say about that.

Momma says, "life is like a box of chocolates"

I'm done talkin' now.
___________

See you guys after the release. Life is short and life away from the internet is calling.
 
scotts said:
That's all I have to say about that.

Momma says, "life is like a box of chocolates"

I'm done talkin' now.
___________

See you guys after the release. Life is short and life away from the internet is calling.
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So you're saying that Jay is going to include a box of phase corrected chocolates with ever CLR purchase? ;)
 
Scott Peterson said:
I have not heard nor used the CLR yet, but am a RCF NX 12SMA owner. It's a pro level solution, not just a good speaker box. It's the best I've personally used other than a Meyer Sound monitor provided on a national festival stage; but that was a passive 2-12 design and I imagine costs well upwards of the price range scotts has quoted.

If the CLR actually outperforms the RCF NX 12SMA, I am in for a treat no doubt. To me it would literally have to be reference level to best what the NX delivers. The NX will continue to deliver, even if the CLR does outperform it.
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Inspired by Merlin and Scott, I got an NX12. I love it so much that I have 2 NX10s arriving at my office on Thursday so I can run stereo. Yesterday I had a last gasp tweaking session with the NX12 (planning to sell it if the 10s sound as good as I think they will). As I was playing, I was thinking that I had one of the greatest guitar sounds I've ever heard for my taste. Ibanez AS200 into Wrecker. It took me 1/2 hour of playing to reach 4 feet to grab my MFC because the guitar/amp/verb sound was so great and so responsive to every last change in PU selection, volume and tone, plus the differences between fingers and picks.

Jay's solution will not change how great the RCFs are and at 32lbs, the 10s are a great weight for someone whose back is as crappy as mine. If Jay's speakers are appreciably better than the RCFs, you guys are in for an amazing treat and factors such as shape/size/color etc should be next to irrelevant. If they're as great as people hope, I'll have at least one and maybe my big rig will be a WDW with 2 Rcfs and Jay's in the middle dry.

Yesterday, I also hooked a mic pre up to the Axe and ran vocals through the Axe and into the RCF. It was amazing how loud I could get the vocals before feedback. When it did feedback, I think it was the small size of my room and its' resonant frequencies that caused it. I'm sure in a larger room, I could've gotten the vocals even louder. This is one claimed property of coaxial speakers and I assume Jay's will be the same which is a great thing.

Looking forward to hearing Jay's stuff, but in the meantime, I'm happier than I've ever been with the sounds I'm getting (and am about to get)
 
AlbertA said:
Here's a couple of shots of the preproduction models:

clr_wedge.jpg


clr_cube.jpg
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When I first saw these pics I thought the CLR's reminded me of the Equator monitors I've seen pics of online:
Q Series Studio Monitors

But, evidently the CLR's don't have any ports.
True?
Or are the ports just not visible in these pics? (I.e. Somewhere behind the grill?)

And the woofer doesn't seem to be visible in the CLR's pics either.
Is it hidden behind some acoustical foam surronding the horn?
I.e. Does this design incorporate something akin to Jay's "foam doughnut" directivity modifier within it?
 
At one third of the prize, this is a legitimate question for sure. On TGP Mr. Mitchell stated that

Originally Posted by Banned User

-Are there differences left between the CLR and your personal monitor?


None that are of any relevance to this discussion.

If I got the character right, this can mean nothing to everything. My educated guess (also coming from what I know about Audio, engineering and commerce) is that it means "of course my personal monitors are much better; but this is irrelevant because they're not for sale to private customers and you won't anyway get anything better for the price".
Which finally makes anyway sense :)
 
The information about the Atomic CLR sounds almost too good to be true. But then again, if there's one guy I would trust being truthful about specs and not hyping the product without being able to deliver, it would be Jay.

I will buy this thing sight unseen. I just hope the active wedge will be available in a European version. I have already asked Sussi if they will carry them, but no answer so far.

(And although it really shouldn't matter, I hope I don't have to peel that ugly Atomic logo off. Why put something that look like a toy's logo on professional gear?)
 
joegold said:
But, evidently the CLR's don't have any ports.
True?
Or are the ports just not visible in these pics? (I.e. Somewhere behind the grill?)
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I think I recall a post that said they were horn-loaded. I assumed they were referring to the cabinet and not the HF driver, but I'm not certain.
 
joegold said:
the woofer doesn't seem to be visible in the CLR's pics either.
Is it hidden behind some acoustical foam surronding the horn?
I.e. Does this design incorporate something akin to Jay's "foam doughnut" directivity modifier within it?
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Bump!

It looks like a square HF horn in the middle, and around the outside edge of the box theres a bevelled frame thing.. reminiscent of a horn, though it sort of covers over the outside of the woofer. It looks as if theres space between the inside of the beveled frame and the outside of the HF horn, where if the grille was off you could reach through and touch the woofer cone. Very interesting looking design. I think Jay said on TGP that nothing is made of foam. (don't quote me though).

Another question.. why is the bevel surround thingy and the HF horn both SQUARE? Wouldn't they be better round? As in "Constant directivity waveguide" to reference someone else's marketing terms.

I always thought the whole purpose of horns was to make a speaker louder and more directive, (at the potential expense of accuracy) which is why only sound-reinforcement (PA boxes) have them (home hifi and studio nearfields generally don't have horns).
 
A lot of constant-directivity horns have rectangular cross-sections. The purpose of a horn is to couple the speaker to open air, not funnel the sound or make it directional. Besides PAs, many studio monitors have some sort of horn or waveguide that the tweeter feeds into.

I'm guessing that the gaps in the cabinet are part of the horn-loading for the LF driver, but that's pure speculation.
 
tubesRking said:
If you only knew.

All kidding aside, appreciate the responses. Can I practice some patience? That's what my real question was. We'll see.

What about the Buy Button date question? Yeah, I'm lazy.
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I have been happy with what I have been using for quite a few years and I have compared it to the real deal side by side but that's admittedly with only a few amps. I would love to hear all of the others through a pair of Jays creation. I think the thing that I'm stoked about the most is that it's a U.S. company that I can support, no disrespect to RCF or FBT. But until now there haven't been any really good coaxial powered solutions from a U.S. company. I have been saving for an Axe ll but I'm really considering holding off in favor of the CLR Atomics. Only reviews and an in person listening will be the deciding factor.
 
Robboman said:
Bump!

It looks like a square HF horn in the middle, and around the outside edge of the box theres a bevelled frame thing.. reminiscent of a horn, though it sort of covers over the outside of the woofer. It looks as if theres space between the inside of the beveled frame and the outside of the HF horn, where if the grille was off you could reach through and touch the woofer cone. Very interesting looking design. I think Jay said on TGP that nothing is made of foam. (don't quote me though).

Another question.. why is the bevel surround thingy and the HF horn both SQUARE? Wouldn't they be better round? As in "Constant directivity waveguide" to reference someone else's marketing terms.

I always thought the whole purpose of horns was to make a speaker louder and more directive, (at the potential expense of accuracy) which is why only sound-reinforcement (PA boxes) have them (home hifi and studio nearfields generally don't have horns).
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Since Jay cannot participate in this thread; I'd suggest you ask your questions to him on The Gear Page where he is answering questions directly on matters like this on a parallel thread over there. Here is the link: Atomic Amps - "Coincident Linear Reference" Designed by Jay Mitchell!!! - The Gear Page
 
+1 on The Gear Page

There is a (now) longish thread where Jay has answered many of the questions asked here. The TGP thread is so long now it would be easier, IMO, for ya'll to read it vs. folks cutting and pasting answers into the Fractal thread.

Richard
 
iggypop said:
Interestingly, Jay said his ideal rig at the present is his Standard coupled to his W/D/W monitors.
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True, but, at least the way I read it, he also implied that he only didn't like the AxeFX II because of the frequent significant firmware changes. I don't really feel like reading through 22(!) pages to find the exact quote, but it was something like "I'm waiting for Cliff to decide what he wants do, and the firmware churn to settle down for at least six months :)" (ok, it may not have been a ":)", but there was definitely a smiley of some sort at the end).
 
bladlus said:
I wonder how they got the price so low compared to the Frazier monitor without sacrificing quality.
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Made in China.. ? Just speculating :)

On another note.. since we're discussing price\performance. Jay answered a couple of my other questions on TGP. One comment I made had to do with that first quick A\B test with a QSC K10. I suggested it was possibly an unfair comparison, considering the onboard class-D k10 amp VS Jay's Crown amp powering the passive CLR.

Jay's exact answer to this point on TGP was:

A Crown Macro Reference, to be precise. The power amplifiers had absolutely nothing to do with the very stark audible differences, however.
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I briefly considered engaging Jay over this on TGP, but sanity prevailed :). My threshold for abuse isn't high enough. Some of you guys beat me up here too, but I still feel safer over here.

I'm a fan and long-time user of Crown amps for PA. I've never used the Crown Macro Reference amp but it's worth mentioning that it listed around $4000. It weighs 56.5 lbs. Source: Crown Macro Reference power amplifier Specifications | Stereophile.com

How can someone as objective and factual as Jay say so definitively that the Crown amp had "absolutely nothing to do with" the audible differences? You listen to A, then B. You hear stark audible differences... between a $5000 rig and a $1000 rig! How can a lightweight, onboard class-D module be expected to sound as good as the Crown?

This line of reasoning doesn't take anything away from Jay's brilliant CLR design. I just prefer apples to apples comparisons. Even if you throw out the price factor (maybe the Crown is several thousand dollars overpriced) we can all agree there 'are' audible differences between power amps, right? Some sound better than others?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against active monitors. Though I have heard opinions that class D power = harsh (I think it was Cliff who suggested that).
 
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