Imaging, Soundstaging, Coherency

WAF

I built these speakers from one of Johm Meyer's kits. The way I built this kit it is not for beginners. With the kit you recieve the drivers, x-overs, a few pieces of hardware and not much else. You can download the speaker plans which Nemo designed from the website. I got helpful advice from Nemo, Brad Virgil, Jeff at SonicCraft, and others on the Newform forum on Yahoo. The speakers were built with a dual constrained layer construction. I used Brads KSU crossover which I purchased from Jeff at SonicCraft.
First let me start by saying I was sceptical about buying a speaker which I've never heard. I can honestly tell you my worries were unfounded. My NHTs had certain qualities which I thought were great but the Newforms had all those qualities x 10 plus many others. It is difficult for me to say anything that hasn't aready been said. I will say that regarding the negative reviews that their problems must undoubtedly lie elsewhere in their system as these speakers are very revealing of components upstream. They should look to their rooms as well.
To sum it up these speakers rank up there with some of the best. The Newforms will very likely be the last I own

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ESS, NHT, and heard many others

excellent sound

none

They sound incredible! I've bought a variety of high end componants, and these made the biggest difference by far.
Also, even though they are shipped in very good protective packaging, one bass cabinet had been slightly cracked during shipping. They sounded so good that I didn't want to be with out it to get the replacement. Not to worry, John sent me a new bass cabinet up front, and paid the shipping to return my damaged one after! This is the best customer service I've ever heard of. I'm actually suspicious of some of the negative reviews because everyone who hears these speakers is astounded at the sound quality.

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have listened to most high-end speakers for under $6000.00

soundstage,treble sweetness,depth,easy to drive,musicality.

tricky setup

New years day became christmas for me because that is the day these speakers shock my world.after playing around for a week i had no luck getting the 645's to sound like much yes i had the soundstage but they were not quite right(no life to them)so i got feb up and decided it was my room or something like,with these great reviews it had to be me.so i figured that i would sell them.so i started taking them apart(removing the tweeter from the bass unit).i place it on the floor leaning it on the bass unit.did the same with the other unit,now picture this here i have both tweeters on the floor resting on the bass cabinets.so i sat down to take a break,and just for the hell of it decided to play the speakers in this crazy setup.you would not believe it but bang!!!the speakers turned it to audio nirvana.unbelievable!!!!it seemed that my ears were not quite line up with the tweeter properly.for some reason they line up better on the floor,and they sound BEAUTIFUL.i am thankful to john meyer for not giving up on me.you see they need to be properly setup to get the most out of them.i think that might have been the other reviewers problems who gave the 645 a one star.i give these a 20 if i could.they are truely a great speaker.the reviews are no hype,they mean what they say.and i am another happy listner.thanks john for a wonderful product.

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apagee stage,apagee centaurs minor,maggie 2.8,3a,mg1,martain logan monoliths,psb 8001 and on,and on.

The top end of the speaker is Magical!

Can use a sub to supplement bottom end - It is not required though for the speakers to sound superb!

Lets get down to it! This is one of the finest speakers I have ever heard...reguardless of price. Have I heard its equal...yes. I have I heard its equal for below three times its price...no. To be perfectly honest, I had reservations about ordering these speaker. Obviously, because they are available factory direct only, I had not had a chance to hear them prior to my purchase. Second, although there were many positive reviews on this page, there have been cases where the manufacturer of a product inflates the overall score of their product with positive reviews (with the intention of increasing their sales). I certainly considered that posibility, until that is, I heard the speakers for myself (sorry for the false accuzation John). They are simnply magical. Thier low end is superb, detailed, and would be hard to improve upon (although one reviewer belives he has done it) Even harder to believe is that one can improve the electrostatic towers. It is already, in my opinion, tied with the finest tweeter arrays and configurations that I have had the pleasure of hearing. I will admit, their sound is comparable to the top of the line Magnapans, but somehow it is better (more real/less strained). The sound changes slightly in standing vs sitting position (with standing postion ever so slightly lacking in base- and I do mean slightly.) I prefer to have them toed in slightly, but I am sure that has to do with the acoustics of my listening room. The speakers are only inches from the wall, and admitedly, they do sound better a foot or two away (but the fact that they are toed in seems to help). The speakers need at least three days break in time (previous to that, they will distort at high volumes and soud somewhat rolled off.....after the three day waiting period, it's nothing but magic). Their sound stage is huge, and objects appear to be of actual shape and size. They do just about everything right. I disagree with most people about the amount of power they need. I use 120 watt per channel Amp and could probably use a little moe power (although one must take into consideration that I listen to the speakers at incredibly loud volumes- not the best for my ears...I know.) The sound great with everything from orchestral music and jazz, to R&B. I could say so much more, but most of the other reviewers have coverd the important stuff. One last thing...If you want a listed to a pair, and your in the area..email me. I believe in these speakers that much. My email address is drholstein@katz.pitt.edu. And no...I don't work for Newform Research (There in Canada and I'm in PA)

Associated Equipment:
CEC TL -5100z Transport
MSB Platinum Link Dac (a truely fine piece of equipment)
Musical Fidelity AC3R Preamnp and Amp
Silver Audio 4.0 Silver bullet interconnects (want to upgrade)
Kimber KCAG balanced silver digitla cable
MIT Terminator 2 Speaker Cable (My next upgrade)
NewForm Research R645's (of course)

Similar Products Used:

Owned Magnapan, M&K.... have heard many others

Imaging, Imaging, Imaging! Detailed, but smooth top-end, warm midrange, sufficient & tight base, and looks.

Binding posts

When I decided to order the Newform 645’s, I was intrigued and nervous at the same time. There were many posts here extolling the virtues of the 645’s and a very few that raised some concerns about them.

I have owned Rogers LS3/5a’s (the legendary British monitor) with Rogers sub-woofer since 1977. Their mid-range is absolutely wonderful and the imaging is terrific. With those two things in mind, I was looking for a new speaker that offered the attributes of the LS3/5a’s, but with a more extended and detailed top-end and sufficient base without using a sub.

I took the plunge and ordered the 645’s factory-direct and had to pay a reasonable amount of additional shipping to get them to Hawaii. When I received the speakers on a Friday, I was quite surprised at their weight and build quality. They were very heavy, but the 645’s looked much better in my home than they did online. (Wife liked them, also!) It took me 20 minutes to assemble them by myself and the assembly was relatively straightforward. The instructions and pictures were rather poor, however.

I positioned the speakers four feet from the front wall, five feet from the sidewalls and eight feet between the speakers. The moment of truth had arrived. How were they going to sound? I prepared myself for an extended break-in period, but I was anxious to hear what they would do right out of the box. After reading some reviews here that said the 645’s sounded “phasey”, “boxy”, “bright” and “vague”, in contrast to the many other reviews saying the speakers were simply phenomenal, I had great trepidations.

I put Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet” in my Nakamichi CD Player 1, (Nak’s early 90’s, rare flagship, 27 lbs. and built like a tank, VDH the First Ultimates, followed with CJ pre and Lazarus hybrid amp, 200w/ch, all with NOS tubes) and hit the play button.

First impressions were mixed. Imaging was terrific, with pinpoint placement and rock solid stability. Not the least bit “boxy” or “vague”. To the contrary, imaging was stunning, but lifeless! The speakers were considerably bright and the soundstage was compressed with very little low-end. I immediately questioned this purchase. I wasn’t prepared for them to sound this bad! Considering the fact that I had very little time to listen to the speakers after assembly, I put on a burn-in CD and left for the evening. I returned late that night, left the burn-in CD on and went to bed.

When I woke up Saturday morning and began listening, things had improved somewhat, but still not in the league with my LS3/5a’s. I listened throughout the day, left Saturday evening, put the burn-in CD on and let it play through the night.

Sunday morning I woke up and started listening again. There was some more improvement, but still compressed sounding. I continued to listen for several more hours.

And then came 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. You remember the old Maxell commercial? Well, around two o'clock these things opened up in a major way. They almost blew me out of my chair! (Rhetorically speaking) My wife came in from another room with this perplexed look on her face and said, "What did you do?" !!!!

The mid-range became much warmer, the soundstage dropped back six feet behind the speakers, and the imaging was so rock solid that the speakers absolutely disappeared. The ribbons and the base enclosure were virtually seamless and the voices and instruments took on a sense of realism twice the size of my LS3/5a's. The base was still shy, but everything else had opened up in a way that if I had not heard it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I continued to listen into the evening and over the next few hours, the base continued to fill-in, slightly.

Now, almost two weeks later, I can’t believe how much these speakers have changed since that Sunday afternoon. I didn’t think these speakers could get much better than they were that afternoon. Boy was I wrong! They continue to amaze me.

The imaging is the best I have ever heard. (My LS3/5a’s aren’t even close and their reputation for imaging is widely known). A blindfolded layman would never be able to locate these speakers. (And audiophiles would only be able to locate them by experience!) All of the brightness is gone, the mid-range is full and sexy and the highs are superbly detailed. I can listen for hours without a hint of fatigue. They are incredibly musical and they seem to be continuing to improve. I think that I have a synergistic match with my front-end and good room integration, as well.

One note: I pulled the speakers out one foot further from the front wall (five feet total) and the base plummeted with increased definition.

One word of caution: I believe the 645’s will reveal any weakness in your up-wind chain.

I never, ever expected the 645’s to be this good! The instruments and “players” are truly in the room with you .... you can hear them and feel them, you just can’t see them. (The LS3/5a’s are boxed-up for good).

If you have a reasonable room and a good front-end, the 645's are "Five Stars" in every respect. Perfect? No, but what speakers are? I just can't understand how John Meyer can build a speaker this good, for this amount of money. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy them if they costs three times as much. These speakers have got to be the absolute best bang for the buck in audio, period!

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Auditioned lots!

All around incredible value

For the price, none

I purchased the R645 in kit form and love every second of music that is played through them. These babies are great, I will not even start with the list of adjectives. My next project is a subwoofer pair and then another R645 kit for rear surrounds. Horizontal dispersion characteristics of these speakers is really nice, no more "pin point sweet spot" as is the case with most conventional speakers. All in all read other reviews because the majority of them speak the truth, these are great speakers.

Bravo John!

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You name it

Everything

You want to listen to this speaker all the time and not do anything else

This is my third and I believe my final review. I did the first review, several months after receiving my R645s. The second review was after I installed the Theta Capacitor Upgrade to the Ribbons, which took under 1 hour to do and yielded me a 50% plus improvement in the Ribbons. Not bad for $94.00. This review is based on upgrade the Base unit. This took me 9 hours, however it yielded me a 100% plus improvement with the Bass/Midrange. This cost a little more at $300.00.

First let me preface this review with one thing: This upgrade, which we can call the Kitchen Sink Upgrade, replaced everything within the Bass/Midrange Cabinet of the Newform Research R645. This being said, there wasn’t anyway to tell about what improvements were gained from what changes.

I have posted a web page that documents the entire procedure, along with pictures. The web site is http://members.aol.com/bvirgil311/upgrade2.htm

I upgraded one of the R645 speakers on Saturday and one on Sunday. Several Newform R645 owners were here to assist with the upgrade and hear the transformation. Saturday night we were able to hear a good difference in the upgrade. There was more detail, dynamics, depth, imaging, clarity and a wider soundstage. I had the Stratos Mono Amp which controls the rebuilt speaker turned off while we were rebuilding. This was a mistake, as this amp takes a long time to get warmed up once the power is turned off for many hours. If I would have left it on, I would have been more impressed by what I heard Saturday Night.

Sunday was a different story, as I left the amps on and turned off only to disconnect and reconnect the speaker cables. After I got the second speaker finished and hooked up, we let them break in for 2 hours before doing any serious listening. What a huge difference from Saturday Night. Before I bought the R645s, I was really impressed with the Bass & Midrange from the B&W Nautilus 802, However I liked the imaging from Ribbon type technology. I would have loved to have the nice Bass & Midrange of the Nautilus, with the imaging of the R645. Well, when I sat down to do some serious listening, I looked at my wife and smiled. Everything came together better than I imagined. I now have everything I wanted in one speaker system. The bass/midrange and ribbons are now one tightly integrated system. My wife looked at me and said they now have such a richness and warmth. After another 10 minutes of listening, she said it was like we were sitting right in front of a live orchestra. Before the upgrade I felt like the ribbons were carrying the voices, now they blend so well, like the speaker is one big ribbon. Bass guitars on some CDs were a little annoying and boomy too me. I played some of those pieces after the upgrade and they are now just beautiful. They aren’t muddy sounding at all. Everything is so tight like, Horns, Voices, Percussion have improved so immensely, I can’t even start to put an improvement gain on that. Ultra fast transient responses are captured intact. Micro dynamics are unreal. I’m now hearing many Bass & Midrange sounds I haven’t heard before. The soundstage now is absolutely huge. I can close my eyes and visualize where each instrument is sitting in the orchestra. Some of the CDs I listened to right away were: Bach Brandenburg Concerto, Diana Krall, Patricia Barber, Linda Eder, Sarah Brightman, Innovators, Monty Alexander, Dave Brubeck, Stravinsky (Reference Recordings) and Tutti Orchestral Sampler (Reference Recordings), Yes 90125, Heart Greatest Hits. Now, I didn't listen to all of the songs. I just skipped around to see if the change was across the board with all types of music and it was.

Where I felt the Theta Cap upgrade for the Ribbons improved the ribbons by 50%. I feel like the bass/midrange upgrade improved it by a minimum of 100%. I heard the Scanspeak speakers were incredible speakers and now I see why. You could not buy the best Amps, Preamps, DAC, and CD Transports with a stock R645 and have it sounding better than my upgraded R645s. I just want to put everything in perspective and maybe save some people some money, as I had no idea that these upgrades would make such a monumental change for this type of money. Throwing thousands at Amps, Preamps and CDs would improve what I heard coming out of the stock R645s, however not at the gain I got for $94.00 for the Ribbons and $300.00 for the Bass/Midrange.
If someone didn’t want to upgrade their R645s, because they don’t feel like they want to spend the time and that person was going to spend $1,000.00 or more on upgrading Amps, Preamps, CDs, then that person would be much better off to pay for someone to do it for them. You will not regret it. Can you tell I’m a programming manager, with my compounded if statements?

Now, don’t get me wrong. The stock R645 is an incredible speaker. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I just had to shout out load to other R645 owners, that the ability is there for the speakers to be improved big time.

Good Listening to everyone.

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Magnepan 3.6R, Martin Logan Request & Prodigy, B&W Nautilus 801, 802, 803, 804, Monitor Audio Studio 20SE, Vandersteen 5, Paradigm Reference Studio 100 & Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy

sound quality

?

now i understand what others were saying about picking up sounds never heard before. hard to believe that the sound could be enhanced but would love to learn how to do these hovland cap things or other suggestions described below. there seems no place for me to unscrew to replace. i hardly had to assemble anything. as for esthetic concern, my picky wife and most of interior designers more than accepted the look and the size for the family room of our 2.5 m house. with $20/30dvd/30days from the Blockbusters', i just no more see why ever to go to a theater ,esp. once i could get 85" tv.

Transparency,Imaging, Mid/High frequency purity, Dynamics,
Tonal balance.

None

This is a very natural sounding speaker, that is both revealing and musical.Over the past 18 months,I have used this speaker with different Amplifiers (Macro Reference, Classe',and Audio Synthesis Desire) and different Interconnect/Speaker cable( Kimber,Harmonic Technology, Audio Synthesis),and in all cases the results were very satisfying,and reflective of any improvements of the upstream components.I have used Quad ESL63/Gradient for over 9 years,and can say that in my system the Newform R645 surpassed them in all areas except Coherency.I fully agree with the positive reviews posted by so many Users of this speaker, as well as the well deserved praise showered on John Meyer for his excellent customer service. I am mystified by the review posted by the Audiophile from Madrid,and wonder whether his "second hand" speakers are defective or have been adversely modified by the previous owner. My current System is primarily Vinyl-based and include :- Oracle Delphi V /SME IV/Grado Sonata front end driving Rotel Michi Phono via Audio Synthesis Passion Passive Preamp to Audio Synthesis Desire Decade Power Amp. Interconnects are Audio Synthesis Silver and Harmonic Tech Pro Silway ii,and Speaker Cables are bi-wired Audio Synthesis Silver. These speakers can be improved (eg. better Xover components),but in their original form they deserve maximum rating for cost/performance as well as their sonic capability.

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Quad ELS63/Gradient Sub.

After many years of workig with audio and studio equipment, I must say that the R645´s are outstanding speakers. They are phase correct, very dynamic, with the lowest acustic prophile, and absence of box colloration. The resolution, soundstage and focus is increadible. The Scan Speak drivers do take very long time to break in, so have patience, its worth the waiting, it will pay back ! If you can please try them with external cross-over or with active x-over. They deserve it. I have personaly added extra magnets on the Scan Speak drivers (mounted on the backside of the driver in reversed polarity) John Mayer has my deepest respect for making such an outstanding product avalible for music lovers for a very resonable price. Do not get cheated by the seemingly moderatly priced speaker, it really plays in a whole different category. For all planar and ribbon freaks (and all the others too) who like the ribbons but lack dynimic and punch - this speaker is the solution.