Waveform Mach Solo

STEAL, STEAL, STEAL. You cannot get anywhere near this sound for anywhere near this money.

Mach Waveform SOLO speakers Final price drop! - new larger speakers have arrived, i need to make some room!! Reluctantly letting go of these, the best dynamic speakers i have heard over 40 years in this hobby.They cast a large and convincing sound-stage with incredibly clarity. The word everyone uses who has heard them in my house is 'clear'. The curtain between you and the music is raised, you can hear the slight lisp in the singer's voice on 'Some Other Time' from Alan Parson's I Robot, or the crickets on Ride Across the River on Dire Straits Brothers in Arms, or Mick Jaggers characteristic phrasing of 'don'tcha' in the background vocals of Carly Simon's You're So Vain, and the bongo drums on the Doors, Riders on the Storm. (badly played too).

I bought this pair directly from John Otvos who personally made them for himself in 2007 so they are the last pair of Waveforms in existence. I should have had him autograph them when he set them up! He upgraded the midrange to the Audax paper cone drivers which are more linear than the stock Audax TPX drivers. The tweeters are Vifa D27's with the Vifa 10" woofer. Acoustic designer for the speakers was Dr. Claude Fortier, who also personally supervised the Quality Control of the internal crossover.

The main difference between the Mach SOLO version and the 4 way 17 version is the SOLO lacks the second woofer so in room bass response is about 30hz, and it has an internal crossover so can be driven by a good 2 channel amp, no need for 6 channels of amplification and an electronic crossover. John himself told me these have most of the sound of the larger 17 (which makes sense as they are the same design and manufacturing process in a slightly smaller box).

The design goal was ruler flat frequency response, even power response, and low distortion as evidenced by the freq response: 37Hz - 20kHz +/-1dB on axis measured anechoically at the NRC in Ottawa and with MLSSA. These can be driven by any high current amplifier. Nominal impedance is 4 ohms.

This performance is an incredible feat accomplished by very few speakers.

A good speaker will have +- 3db variance, an excellent one +- 2db variance....only the best are ruler flat within 1db.

You may see high end speakers with claims of great sound that do not rigorously make test measurements or publish mis-leading performance specs like 20hz - 100,000 hz without specifying the variation across the frequency range. Is there a 3DB rise at 1khz to make the midrange sound fuller? or a little boost to the mid-bass or treble to make it sound more dynamic? Sounds great for a short listen but those colorations lead to listening fatigue, which is why you seen highly colored speakers regularly on sale when the users tire of the sound of that speaker. Better to have a speaker that adds as little as possible to the recording, it's easier to change the record, or the CD than to change your speakers...

Organ and rap enthusiasts may wish to add a sub for that bottom octave but these produce very satisfying and tight bass. The solid metal egg does a great job of controlling beaming of high freq so the soundstage is very wide and seems to extend beyond the speakers.

While these play well in a big room (see the review in the Audio Critic or Stereophile), the front ported design means they also sound really good in small rooms and can be placed close to the back wall. These appear very rarely for sale, only 3 others in the entire history of CAM, you will never get another chance to own these.

These speakers are very heavy so they cannot be shipped. Extended auditions for CAM members. Pet free and non-smoking home.Never abused, driven with good equipment (bryston, emotiva, wyred etc)

See: http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/loudspeakers/waveform_mach_solo.html
See: http://stereotimes.com/speak020200.shtml
See: https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/697waveform/index.html
See: http://www.audioreview.com/product/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/waveform/mach-17.html
See: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/waveform-mach-solo-s-are-they-good
See: http://www.vxm.com/21R.45.html
See: https://www.soundstage.com/revequip/waveform_mach_mc.htm
See: http://www.biline.ca/audio_critic/mags/The_Audio_Critic_24_r.pdf
See: https://www.audioxpress.com/article/a-bold-speaker-project-by-tom-perazella
See: https://johnotvos.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/waveform-pt1-of-3/