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Paul S wrote:

Although the air is charged with anticipation, yet one can never quite anticipate a note or musical effect before it happens, even with a familiar piece.

Actually is has less to do with familiarity with a piece but I feel it more has to do with different things. What I observed that the Water Drop does is some kind of Room Dithering that set a “different” relation between the states: “Music sounds” vs. “Music does not sound”.  You know there are people who build very interestingly sounding dedicated rooms. Well, nowadays there are many people who CLAIM that they do it but most of their room sound like shit. There are very few exceptions.  If you are in Boston then stop by in the largest Goodwin's room…. Pay attentions that it is even a PHYSICAL PLEASURE to be in that room and to listen the room silence…. You do not even need to talk there as “something” in that rooms juts nails you down and force you to experience a “coming form nowhere” pleasure. There is something that the Water Drop does that reminds this filling… it sets total listening space perception with some kind of “other state”. I did quite a number of times attempts to stop playback when the track were playing but the music was not sounding yet and as soon I stopped playback I immediately felt that that the room literally collapsed. While the playback played the Macondo did not emit any sounds that I would consider significant. The MF and HF produces a very minor tape hiss (or course what the playback stopped there is no noise of any kind coming from the drivers) but the hiss was DEVILISHLY PLESANT harmonically. Perhaps it does something in the ultrasound, I do not know. However, whatever it does I want more of it as it makes me very addictive and almost hypnoses slavish to the state when the playback is playing…

Paul S wrote:

I was thinking I should try losing a few dB off the ribbon and then gradually bring it back up until it happens again, just to learn more about this.  But why should increased HF clarity apparently extend to transients up and down the frequency range?  It's like it makes all the notes and intentions less expected yet clearer, or vice versa, but that does not make sense, either way.

Another interesting phenomena with the Water Drop – its volume is almost irrelevant. Alex suggests using the Water Drop with first order. I can see his reasoning and the Water Drop alone do sound beautiful with first order.  I used the Water Drop with first order at 10K and all the way up on the slope, with the Vitavox wide opened and with Vitavox low-passed. It works fine ether way.   Yes, with first order the Water Drop should be exactly dialed in. However,  I do not use Water Drop as stand alone transducer and companioned with Vitavox I choose to stay with 12kHz, second order (the Vitavox upper range sounds more dynamic and more positively-granular then the Water Drop’s lower range). So, with 12kH, second order the volume of the Water Drop is way less relevant. I for instance (having the Water Drop running at the same output as Vitavox) feel that now I have too much outs on the tweeter. However, I have no negative feelings that would incentive me to reduce the tweeter volume. I mean WHATEVER WE ASSOCIATE WITH EXCESSIVE HF: noise, brightness, coolness, change of tonal balance is juts NOT HERE withy Water Drop’s at all. I mean I can perfectly ad or to reduce a few dB on Water Drop with practically no affect to sound. The change of the Water Drop volume changes the way how the Water Drop “softening” and “enveloping” the system but it hardly affects any of conventual Hi-Fi property of the playback…. Invigorating, isn’t it?

Paul S wrote:

But I have never heard a HF-only ribbon with 109 dB efficiency…

Hm, I have a suspicion that it is not only about the efficiency but about something else the RAAL’s Alexander did. It is fascinating that the Water Drop does not sound as 109dB sensitive in a way in shich I use to perceive “sensitivity” in context of MF and LF drivers.  In fact it more sounds like 50dB sensitivity driver as it has no “auditable” by my mind dynamists. Sure it is the 109dB sensitive (look at the sweeps above) but it apparently show off own sensitivity in different dimension, the dimension that I am not accustomed to register with my listening awareness.

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