DanielNTX

I received my pair of Rosewood Leisure 2 Deluxe's and stands today and nothing appears to be damaged during shipping. The speakers were triple boxed while the stands were double boxed. The build quality of the speakers and the stands are very amazing and the pictures shown here in the past don't do it justice as seeing it in person. But is this enough to make it a great speaker? Well I put the L2D up to the test against my full-tower Infinity Overture 2's, bookshelf Blueroom Minipod's and finally the bookshelf Wharfdale Diamond 7.2 Anniversary edition speakers.

Quick specs on the other speakers:
Infinity Overture 2 (retail: $2499/pr):

3-Way Floorstanding Speaker with Built-in 150-Watt Powered Subwoofer.
Sensitivity dB @ 1m/2.83V 93dB.
Impedance (ohms)8.
Bass Driver (2) 6-1/2".
Midrange Driver (2) 5-1/4".
High Frequency Driver 1".
Power Rating 10 - 100 watts.
Dimensions HxWxD 38 2/4 x 6 7/8 x 15 3/4".
Frequency Response 30 - 20kHz.

Blueroom Minipod (retail: $499.00/pr):

System Type: 2-way 4th-order bass-reflex direct-radiating
Drive Units: one 5” diameter long-throw bass/midrange featuring Kevlar cone and 1” diameter high-power voice coil on kapton former; one 1” diameter free-mounted high-frequency tweeter featuring neodymium motor, doped fabric diaphragm and magnetic fluid for cooling and damping.
Power Handling: Suitable for use with amplifiers of between 10-100W RMS output into 4 ohm on undistorted music; (apprx 80W RMS max with 8 ohm amplifiers)
Frequency Range: Reference axis: +/-3dB, 60Hz – 22 KHz -6dB at 55 Hz and 25 KHz dispersion 2dB max deviation over horizontal 60 deg arc centered on reference axis, vertical 40 degree arc centered on reference axis.
Sensitivity: 90 dB spl (1W 1m)
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohm, stable at 8 ohm
Crossover Frequency: 3KHz. 2nd order LF, 3rd order HF
Distortion: Harmonics 1 & 2 <1% 80Hz – 20KHz (90dB spl. 1m).
Dimensions: HxWxD: 13.5” x 8.5” x 8.5”. Sputnik spikes (included) add 4” to total height when installed.
Weight: 5.5 lb with sputnik spikes

Wharfdale Diamond 7.2 Anniversary (retail $349.00/pr):

Biwirable: Yes
Caskets: Stamped
Cone material: Mineral-loaded homopolymer plastic
Directionality: Monopole
Enclosure materials: Medium-density fiberboard
Finish: Rosewood veneer
Removable speaker grilles: Yes
Speaker drivers: 2
Speaker enclosure type: Ported (rear panel)
Speaker terminals: 5-way binding posts
Speaker type: Bookshelf
Transducer type: Cone
Tweeter material: Silk dome
Frequency response (+/- 3 dB): 40 to 20,000 Hz
Maximum recommended power (average): 100 watts
Maximum recommended power (peak): 175 watts
Minimum recommended power: 50 watts
Nominal speaker impedance: 8 ohms
Sensitivity/efficiency (1 watt @ 1 meter): 89 dB
Tweeter (diameter): 1 inch
Woofers (diameter): 5.12 inches
Video shielded: Yes
Width: 7.6 inches
Height: 11.8 inches
Depth: 9.5 inches
Weight: 11.6 pounds
Warranty, parts: 5 years
Warranty, labor: 5 years

The types of music I listen to is rap, hip-hop, r&b, rock, alternative, pop, jazz and top-40. The artist's I used for my quick audition of all the speakers were Norah Jones, Lifehouse, Coldplay, Dave Mathews Band, J-Lo, NAS and Nelly Furtado. All the speakers were powered from a Sony STR-DE1015 (model year 1997) push-pull amplifier/receiver rated at 110watts rms/channel. Just the speakers were auditioned, no external subwoofers were used and all the other speakers have been in use over 100 hours.

I first tested the L2D's up against the Infinity Overtures. The L2D's were no match; the highs, the mids and the lows were all better on the Infinity Overture 2 speakers. Next up was the L2D's against the Blueroom Minipod's. It disappoints me to say this, but the Minipods in my opinion performed better than the L2D's. The ribbon tweater of the L2D's are amazing and have clear fidelity but the sound dispersion was very wide. For example, when listening to Norah Jones' Don't Know Why, her voice seemed to carry from what seemed to be from multiple non-distinct points because of the wide dispersion. While the Minipods sounded brighter and Norah's voice was like from a single point as if there was a singer singing on stage and you could hear voice as if she was directly in front of you. I noticed this effect with the different artists I auditioned. On the mid-range, once again the Minipods seemed to prevail a little better than the L2D's. The L2D's did do better on the low end, but that is due to the bigger woofer driver when compared to the Minipods. Next up, was the Wharfedale Diamond 7.2's against the L2D's. When the comparing the Diamond's to the L2D's, the L2D's sounded much better than the Diamonds overall. The highs were definitely crisper, but I still noticed the wide dispersion effect of the ribbon tweeter. The mid-range and lows also sounded better on the L2D's. (Side note: Normally the Diamond's are hooked up bi-wired to my Technics SA-DA8 amplifier which has bi-wiring support and in this setup they sing pretty well, when I have time I will try the L2D's against the Diamond's again on this amplifier).

So out of the speakers mentioned in this review, this is how I rank them (best to worst):
1. Infinity Overture 2
2. Blueroom Minipods
3. Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 Deluxe
4. Wharfedale Diamond 7.2 Anniversary Edition

The one thing I have to mention about this review is that I haven't allowed the L2D's to properly break-in yet and I'm sure they will sound better as I play music on them. Out of the box, I am slightly disappointed with the L2D's performance, maybe because I had too high hopes for these speakers from the previous reviews. I wonder if after they are properly broken-in (100+ hours) how they would sound against my speakers once again and my friend's Energy Veritas V2.2 bookshelf speakers. On another side note, a while back, I brought over the Minipods to his house and we did blind listening tests with music from Eric Clapton and Shania Twain against the Veritas and we actually picked the Minipods over the Veritas. So I think the best value for bookshelf speakers right now are the Minipods (available off of ebay for $249/pr). I'll keep you guys updated as I break in the L2D's. If I have time, I will also hook the L2D's up to my brother's Harman Kardon AVR-8000 receiver and do another comparison.

Mad Dog

thanks for taking the time to writeup this review...i hope your L2Ds will sound better after some more playing time...

i do agree that they are beautiful speakers...and this batch has the upgraded finish! it's got to be spectacular then.

one thing you mention that seems kinda strange is the wide dispersion of the ribbon tweeter...i didn't find this to be the case when Apex brought his L2Ds over...not that i don't believe you...

if you're planning on keeping them and aren't satisfied with the sound currently, you may want to try using a tube preamp. from my experience, ribbon speakers in particular seem to like tube gear. they help them to open up.

sorry to hear you aren't wow'd by them...i hate that feeling...

DanielNTX

Well maybe wide dispersion isn't exactly the right set of words, but the soundfield especially of the high and vocals were definitely bigger and to me that was not better, or maybe it just that I'm not used to listening to ribbon tweeters. The L2D didn't wow me like when I got my first pair of Minipods 2 years ago. Back then I was thinking how could plastic molded speakers sound this good. The answer was that the engineers behind the B&W Nautilus series engineered the Minipods really well.

Here is my review taken from AudioReview.com on April 20, 2001 on the Minipods:

suds1280

Daniel,
Not to knock your review, which was very well written with great specifics, but did it cross your mind that maybe the receiver and cd player you used might have had an effect on how you perceived the sonic characteristics of the L2D's? I only ask because I also have a pair of the L2D's and the Minipods, and I thought that the L2D's were a much better speakers. I found that in comparison the Minipods had a shrunken soundstage (both in width and depth) and that the highs and mids seemed a little muffled when compared to the L2D's.
While the equipment you used is probably best suited for your needs, sometimes your listening habits do not agree with certain positive aspects of different types of equipment. What I mean by this is that by your choice of music, it seems that you enjoy rock, pop, and other types of music that are more aggressive and focused in their production methods. However, critical listening speakers, especially ones with good ribbon tweeters, generally try to create as large a soundstage as possible without sacrificing imaging. Could it be possible that this widening of the soundfield made you feel like the sound, especially vocals, was less focused? Also, with some of the more HT-oriented disc players and receivers, the sounds is presented in a more aggressive nature than higher-end components. I know for a fact that the lower-end Sonys tend to throw the sound at you as opposed to present the sound, as I used to own a DE945. While this might suit your listening tastes, once again the L2D's are not made with this type of sound presentation in mind.
I don't mean to put you down in any way, but it just seems to me that your listening habits and musical taste seem to suggest an inclination towards more forward and dynamic speakers, while the L2D's are more in the line of laid back and dispersive. It may just be that the combination of your tastes and the L2D's design just doesn't go together well. JMHO, though

BTW. I, too, really like the Minipods, especially for the price, as I use them for rear surround duty in my setup. East to place, easy to install, and a real head turner. Try the L2D's with the HK8000 and some really ambient music, like Pink Floyd or Beck (Mutations or Sea Change) and see how you like them with that type of music.

cyro

This past weekend I listened to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (MFSL) and it was a revelation on the MGs and still very good on the L2Ds. Turn it up and enjoy the helicopter just before "Another Brick In The Wall Part 1", the panning of the female voice in "One Of My Turns" and just a really nice soundstage in general.
Source & amp was Roksan Caspian, cables & ICs no-name medium quality.

Cheers,
-CyRo

---
http://www.cyberroach.com

DanielNTX

Maybe it is my equipment or maybe it is my type of music I like or maybe I just don't like ribbon tweeters, but I brought over a co-worker this afternoon and he also said he liked the Minipods better without the bias of reading my review first. I had both speakers hooked up to the same Sony receiver and was using the built-in A/B switch to switch between the speakers while we played his Metallica CD and listened to Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven tracks. Opposite to what you state, the highs and mids of the L2D's seemed muffled compared to the Minipod's. They just weren't as bright. So I don't know what to think. Maybe I should try driving the L2D's with better equipment, but with this receiver I'm using the Minipods just sounded better. I wouldn't consider myself an audio expert by any means, but I posted my review so that we could discuss the L2D's sound in-depth. What I want readers of this thread to do is knock my review and do A/B speaker comparisons on whatever equipment they have and use.

I still like the build of the L2D's, I believe the quality of the materials used is amazing and impressive. It looks like a work of art. When my co-worker saw them, he said they looked great.

Mad Dog

DanielNTX,

I PM'd you BTW...

Also I would highly recommend tubes w/ ribbons...very nice combo...

narkotsky

Mad Dog is absolutely correct.
I had a pleasure to try couple different sources and amps with L2Ds the weekend I was picking up MGs from Lei's and IMHO Rotel CD as a source, tube preamp and SS amp were the best combination (we didn't have any tube power amps to try). Also the biggest (again IMHO) difference was when we change source. Unfortunately it is a combination of the things that make sound good not just one particular component.


Peter

Mad Dog

narkotsky,

i'm learning more and more about system synergy...while i haven't messed around with any tube amps yet, i did have the opportunity to audition the butler 5150 hybrid amp and found it too bright in my system at the time...based on my brief exposure to Apex's L2Ds and my recent experiences w/ tube preamps, i think the L2Ds would respond very nicely to tubes in general.

DanielNTX

I was surfing around for more reviews and people's experiences with the L2D's and came along to a thread on audiocircle.com titled Aurum Cantus Loudspeakers.

Here are some quotes:
Although I didn't compare the L2D's to the more expensive speakers (like the Ref Ones), some of the findings and sentiments in my review of the L2D's and Minipods seem to be similar to the reviews above. Last night, I was doing another comparison and was listening to some jazz music from saxophonist Joshua Redman and while the L2D's sounded good, the music just didn't jump out to me as much when I listened to the same material on the Minipods. The songs were just more vivid and alive on the Minipods. Maybe the L2D's sounds are just too laid back for my tastes as suds1280 suggested in a post above, but I actually feel like something is missing when I listen to the L2D's.

BradJudy

Daniel,

Those comments from audiocircle were about the previous version of the L2D with a different woofer and crossover. I don't know how much difference it makes, but I doubt they sound exactly the same with those two fairly major changes.

Rascal

I (and my girlfriend) actually agree with Daniel that - out of the box - the LD2s do seem to lack the clarity I expected. I plan to experiment more with placement.

I, however, believe that these speakers really do need to break in. I just can't imagine that this is how the speakers will sound after 100+ hours of use.

Mark

DanielNTX

BradJudy,

I know about the improvements/upgrade in the design with the better crossover and better woofer, but so far the speaker hasn't performed up to my expectations at all. I had high hopes for purchasing speakers that I hadn't even listened to. For my friends that I've had over so far to audition the speakers, they haven't really been impressed with the sound, only with the looks. Yesterday, I had a chance to test the L2D's on my brother's HK AVR8000 receiver. They didn't sound as good as his Infinity RS5, hooked up to his high-end receiver. We listened to some of his music Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King and Rage Against The Machine and my selection of Plumb and Dave Mathews and we noticed the same thing that I've noticed in my earlier review, that they didn't sound as good as what we already had. The highs were nice but not as clear and distinguished and the soundstage once again wasn't directional and we experienced the dispersion effect I spoke about in my review. My brother also laughed and made fun of me for buying the speakers without auditioning them. Something along the lines of: "You spent $500 without listening or auditioning the speakers, you might as well have went and purchased some speakers from those guys roaming around in the white vans selling speakers. They both are made in China right? It's probably the same company and you just got scammed and the internet was your white van." Now, I know he was only joking, but I don't feel that I was scammed on my purchase and he made a valid point that I should have auditioned them before buying them. I know some of the specialized audio stores around here will let you audition the speakers overnight if you are serious about purchasing them. The only problem with the L2D's is it is really hard to find somebody with a pair nearby so I could listen to and audition them.

Mark (Rascal), I also hope after 100 hours of use the L2D's will perform better than they are currently, but according to Lei in another thread, the ribbon tweeter shouldn't really need break-in. To me this means the highs won't change much but the mid-range and lows should become better, but I do hope the highs will become better as well.

BradJudy

Daniel,

So far I haven't had a lot of time with the L2Ds, but my thoughts so far are that the vocal range is not as forward as my Ascends which is unfortunate (the Ascends are more balanced across the spectrum than the L2Ds).

I don't, however, experience the imaging issues you are having once I played around the positioning them. I definitely get a solidly centered voice when appropriate. I did find that they seemed sensitive to side wall placement and should be at least two feet from a side wall. I'd bet these speakers sound very different nearfield than with room interactions. I might play with that next.

I may also consider Rick Craig's previous offer to create a new crossover for the speakers (maybe correcting the slightly recessed vocals), but I'll wait and see.

If you don't like them, there have already been at least one person on this forum looking to buy some. I bet they would go fairly quickly on audiogon. At the very least, you should be able to get everything you put into them back out from people who are just looking for parts. That's one of the reasons I thought of this as a very low risk purchase even without the chance to audition. I figured that if I didn't like them, I'd sell them on audiogon for what I paid and find something else.

DanielNTX

Well, I'm not so quick to part with them yet, I'm still playing around with positioning and waiting until they've had some decent play time for the break-in period before I've passed final judgement. Until then, I'd like to hear more about other experiences with the L2D's from the recent group buy. Mark, what's your opinion, besides what you've stated so far? What music have you auditioned the speakers with and what were your previous speakers, if any? As for the rest of us, if you bought them, please chime in.

Rascal

I used to have a set of Axioms, but have been auditioning exhaustively for the past year or more trying to find the best fit for me. In that time I've listened to B&W (Nautilus series), Dynaudio (Contours), Naim, Sonus faber (one of my current favorites), Wilson, Joseph audio, proac (the 1SC is another favorite) and a host of others that I've heard at the past 3 Home Entertainment shows (In NYC and SF).

I found the Axioms (with my Outlaw 950 and Adcom 7500 amp) to be a bit bright and fatiguing for music. I tend to listen mostly to rock/alternative/pop (depends what category you put the artists into). I use demo tracks from Toad the Wet Sprocket, 3 Doors Down, Natalie Merchant, Fiona Apple, Dave Matthews, Pink Floyd, Blues Traveler, among others.

We watched Die Another Day this afternoon, and the speakers sounded good. It's the 2-channel I'm still not satisfied with. I've been playing around with the crossover in the Outlaw, and lowering it to 40 HZ from 80 HZ made them sound better (to me, in my room). Still have to play with placement and re-check the calibration.

Mark

DanielNTX

I think the L2D's would perform fine in a home theater setup as either front channels and/or surrounds, because most of the dialogue and main action would be handled by the center channel speaker. Mark, like you, I'm not satisfied with just the two channel audio performance. The sound isn't as appealing and warm as I had hope for. What I'm after is the best sound and the most honest re-production of an artist's music possible, within a budget of course. I'm going to try to pursue Mad Dog's suggestion with going with a tube amplifier, but I hear it's an expensive endeavor and that the tubes can burn out frequently.

BradJudy

Basic tube setups don't have to be expensive. If you don't mind a bit of DIY work, you can get a Bottlehead foreplay tube pre-amp kit for $150 (http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobesp..._stage_kit.htm), or a full 8W integrated tube amp kit for $150 (search for K-502 at http://www.tubesandmore.com/). If you don't want to DIY, you can get an Antique sound labs pre-amp for under $300 (AQ2004). They also make $100 8W monoblocks, $250 20W monoblocks, and a $800 30W integrated amp.

From what I've heard, tubes should last quite some time if they aren't abused.

This thread at Head-fi talks about that integrated amp kit and notes that in the stock form it will burn out tubes faster than it should and suggests tweaks (http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=17155)

Mad Dog

no, no, no!!! i didn't recommend a tube AMP...i recommended a tube PREAMP! tubes in the preamps last longer as they don't generate as much heat as amps and therefore don't burn out as frequently...also i haven't had a chance to mess around w/ tube amps yet..

DanielNTX

My bad, it's a new arena to me, tubes. I'll look into a tube pre-amp, but I've been reading over at AVSForum.com that tube amps aren't that great and digital amps are the new wave of technology, with more and more vendors releasing digital amplifiers. HK has released an all digital amplifier receiver and supposedly the new Sony ES line is supposed to be all digital amplifiers.

I think the Sony STR-DA9000ES looks sweet, but pricy at $4500. Supposedly it has a DVI interface, the first for any receiver.

lei

Daniel,

As suggested by many others, I too recommend your trying some better amps such as an A-10 from ShengYa. The issue with high fidelity speakers is that they also tend to reveal flaws from source and amp, which makes them sound "bad" if not properly drived. Many media, sources and amps has higher order of harmonic distortion, which does not show up on medium-to-low-end speakers, and therefore has a better sound. An example is that FM radio's and tapes play relatively well but almost unacceptable on high-end system.

Another thing you didn't mention is the source CDP. That might be another area you want to upgrade too I noticed you have the Infinity over $2000, and If I were you, I would invest the same amount on source and amplifier.

Before the Aurum Cantus speakers, I owned Dynaudio 1.3MKII and Infinity Delta's. The delta's should about the same level as the Overture, and IMO they are not as good as the L2D's interms of details, imaging, and sound stage. The Dynaudio wins at low frequency end but no better in the high frequency range. Not like dome tweeters, the ribbons have relatively flat impedance curve from 1000Hz above, which produced a smooth and flat response even beyond 20kHz.

As a side note, I heard that the L2D sell even better than Sonus Faber Concerto in Italy. Go ahead and dig out its full potential

lei

Daniel,

Here is a link to the discussion of GR Criterions. It seems to use the same ribbon tweeter as the L2D. Again, many suggestions are about better source and amp due to the revealing nature of the ribbon tweeter.

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/v...er=asc&start=0

I'm glad that you like the bass response of the L2D. It's indeed improved over the original mid-woofer.

DanielNTX