Phase Linear (Andromeda) Phase III speakers -familiar with these?

SpeakerLabFan

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I'm looking at a set of these speakers later this afternoon, and I'm interested in comments from anyone who is familiar with these speakers. Described as a 4-way system with 2 (very large) flat panels, a sub, and something called a motion controlled module, or active equalizer. From the limited information I can get on the web, these sound like a unique set of speakers. :music:

It sounds like these speakers like to have a bit of juice - described as very inefficient on the phase tek site. Any suggestions, caveats, things to look for? I've attached a couple of pics from the auction site. thanks. :thmbsp:
 

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Last winter Vitopanch posted this link and I saved it
http://www.kleines-kalb.com/html/speaker.html
A pair was listed on CL 4 months ago, so I tried to do some research
on them with little luck.
Anything Bob Carver was into draws my interest!

Thanks Mark! Those pictured at the link are exactly what I saw this afternoon, except these grilles are beige cloth. I had a chance to inspect the drivers in the panel and audition them with a couple of jazz tunes at moderate levels, and whoa these things are impressive. I thought I might be able to fit them in my hatch-back --- then I saw how big that sub-woofer unit is -- fat chance. Plus I didn't want to risk damaging them by stacking the 5'6" panels in my hatchback.

I'm going back tomorrow morning with my truck to pick them up! :banana::banana::banana:

I did pick-up the "audio control module" this afternoon:

IMAGE_00440.jpg
 
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I remember those speakers, it's an interesting design and they sounded OK. He was trying to get the spacious sound of planar dipoles using conventional drivers but also with lower distortion and better dynamics.
 
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I got them for basically nothing, the seller just wanted to see them go to a good home. I'm looking forward to getting them into my living room alongside the Fortes, after arranging some furniture to make room. Here's a picture of the speakers:

pl_IIIb.jpg
 
Got them home, setup, and listened to some Ry Cooder, Brubeck, Pat Metheny LPs, and wow, sounds "nice" at all volume levels - lots of music all over the living room space and alot less directional than the Fortes. Using a Pioneer SX-1080 and they certainly want/take alot more of that amp than the Fortes.

It's nice having both of these speakers for A/B'ing in the living room. The sub-woofer unit has a nice flat surface which conveniently doubles as an area for my Record Doctor unit. Here's a picture:

PL3.jpg
 
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SpeakerLabFan,
Excellent score. They are tough to find, no doubt. I do not know of anyone that has heard them that is not enthralled. Very nice.

Vito
 
Wow Dick,they look like their in good shape too!
Nice system pic and test music also,
Great score,Im happy for you!
 
Thanks Vito and Mark. Yeah these are very cool speakers and in great shape too. Not everyday that you run into Phase Linear speakers.

The manual recommends placing the panels between 1 and 6 feet from a wall, the more distant from the wall, you get a more spatious stereo image. So I have some experimenting to do, and I suppose I can futz with the motion control module box for some fine tuning. Since these are from PL, of course they have an insane 350 watts RMS/channel max rating.

:guitar::music:

Here's a couple of shots of the upper-back of one of the panels:

IMAGE_00448.jpg


IMAGE_00447.jpg
 
Throw them in the car and bring them up across the border to Vancouver, I am sure we can get a few AKers together for a listen.
 
Those things are absolutely intriguing! Ol' Bob sure was the 'mad scientist' of audio in those days. I would love to get some listening time with some of his esoteric, against-the-grain offerings of the past... :D
 
Next AK Mini-meet at who's house!?!

TOTEM said:
Throw them in the car and bring them up across the border to Vancouver, I am sure we can get a few AKers together for a listen.

Yea, it would be fun to get the AK crew over for listening and grilling. I've got the house to myself when the kids aren't over too. Maybe sometime in August if not sooner. Heck, any weekend is good (after G sale hours :thmbsp:). C'mon down, just shoot me a PM or email, and be prepared to help sort vinyl. :smoke:

Totem, I think I've passed the point of no-return for throwing stuff in the car with these speakers, not to mention the K-horns but I will definitely plan to bring some representative Speakerlab speakers to the next gathering for listening. I wish I'd brought my Speakerlab 3's or super 7's to the AK gathering at Ricks last month. To my ears they hold their own in any setting. :music:
 
Those things are absolutely intriguing! Ol' Bob sure was the 'mad scientist' of audio in those days. I would love to get some listening time with some of his esoteric, against-the-grain offerings of the past... :D

Yeah, notice how the tweeters (5 per side) are oriented vertically... weird looking too.

Rat44 said:
Good score.Is your room large enough for those?

Hi Dennis, they sound great - I have a high ceiling living room - but I bet they could use a bigger room. Is a room ever large enough? :smoke: You have to stop by for a listen when you're up this way.
 
I see this is a very old post but maybe your still out there. I am in the process of picking up one of these Phase Linear speaker systems, do you still have yours and are you pleased with them?
 
Hi Ken, I have a few pairs and I think that you will like these very much. When placed properly they will fill a room with very nice sound. I won't speak for SpeakerLabFan, but I sure like mine. Did you get the 'motion control module' and Sub???
 
Yes he said it includes the electronic motion control mod unit and the bass unit with the two 12 inch drivers. Said the panels were in very good shape. A few months ago I almost purchased a pair of the Carver Amazing Platnium speakers as I found them intriging but I held off. Other than a few pairs of the Yamaha NS speakers that I own I am a huge fan of the older Infinity speakers. I am skeptical that these speakers will sounds as good as my infinity speakers but they will be nice to go with my Phase Linear amp rack that I have assembled.
 
These were Bob Carvers first speakers. He told me it took 1-2 years to R&D and midway through the production there was a name dispute so he changed the name to Phase III. I power my panels with a Phase Linear 400 amp and the sub with a Bedini BA801 amp. Pre amp. is a Carver C4000 and the system sounds great. I took a pair up to Wa. and met with Bob at Ritas Vintage Audio Repair. We took off the forward firing tweet and replaced it with one of Bobs CRM ribbon tweets. Very nice sound with crystal highs, well rounded mids and the sub will shake the floor with no distortion.
How they compare to the Amazings, They are kinda 2 dif. animals. It's like analog vs. digital.(to my ears anyway). Can you audition the speakers before you buy???? Do you have the room for them??? They need a bit more room around the panels than the Amazings do due to the upward firing tweets and the backward firing mid's. These speakers do like power(8 drivers/panel) so anything over 150wpc should be ok, if you can give them 350wpc( Phase Linear 700) I'm sure that they will love it. If you want me to check the manual and see what the min. wpc is I would be happy to.
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
 
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