By Juan C. Ayllon There’s something special about discovering a sublime, to-die-for audio component that excites you, wringing your hands with the pros and cons, placing the order, and awaiting its arrival. Nowadays as I’m getting older, it happens less frequently, but when it does, I’m once again four years old, marveling at that sleek, little red kayak with no gift tag, under the Christmas tree, hoping against hope that it will be mine (Editor’s note: It was, and my maiden voyage paddling about the Arica, Chile beach was sublime!). I had not planned on buying a new set of speakers, but when a select opportunity arose to purchase a pair of the new Usher ML800 series loudspeakers, I kicked the idea around a while, checked and double checked available discretionary funds, and – yes – discussed it with my wife, Belle, who surprised me when she said that she loved seeing me excited and hoped that I’d be able to get them! Part of the funding was contingent upon my selling my Usher Mini Dancer 2 DMDs. As a friend texted, it’s “not always easy to find local buyers for our esoteric stuff!”, so I was surprised when a good friend of mine informed me that he’d be interested in purchasing them shortly after I had decided to list them for sale. Originally planning on going with the ML-801 (which features a magnesium alloy tweeter, magnesium-lithium midrange, and eight inch hybrid carbon fiber woofer), after discussing the listening room’s square footage with the U.S. distributor, Fred Kat of Katli Audio, I opted to order the ML-802 that has two eight inch woofers instead of one. The catch was that the ML-802s are not in stock at their Chino Hills, CA warehouse, so they are shipping directly from Taiwan.Traveling first by sea freight on a container ship, they will arrive at either the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro Bay or the Port of Long Beach in 14 to 20 days, wait offshore until they are offloaded – which may take several weeks, then travel via truck on a pallet to our house in about a week. Thus, instead of arriving in two weeks as originally planned, they should be coming home in one and a half to two months (Lord willing!). That is, unless the ocean freight ship sinks. Or the shipping truck gets in an accident. Or if Putin starts World War III (oh, my gosh!). I just can’t go there! Now, with gas prices at a seven year high, the cost of that last leg of the journey may run in excess of $500. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” Having sold my Usher Mini Dancer 2s a week ago, our listening/media room has sat awfully silent up until yesterday, when a friend lent me his 1970s Klipsch Heresies that he had stashed in his basement. Hooking them up with an old pair of cables with spades at both ends and dialing up Q control and volume of the Hsu subwoofer, they actually integrate very nicely, conveying the music in a clear, live music hall sounding presentation, not as detailed or deep as the Mini Dancers, but very pleasant and lively. They should do a nice job and help distract me from the urge to call up Fred until the ML-802s arrive!
I certainly don’t want to regress to my childhood “Are we there yet?” traveling antics, so I’ve resolved not to reach out to Fred Kat for a status update for at least several weeks. I am setting a boundary with myself. Be strong! At least for now. I can hardly wait. Are they here yet? Sorry.
5 Comments
9/12/2022 11:03:48 am
So six months later, no sign of a review of your new speakers? (ML-802)hope they were not that bad. :)
Reply
Juan C Ayllon
9/12/2022 11:27:09 am
Hi Rob,
Reply
Rob George
9/22/2022 06:43:27 pm
Thank you for the reply, look forward to reading all about it, best wishes, Rob
Reply
5/14/2023 06:12:33 am
Still waiting for this review. Will it be in the near future?
Reply
Juan C Ayllon
5/14/2023 11:31:08 am
Hi Wladyslaw,
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
Categories |