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Buchardt Speakers Owners & Discussion Thread


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On 09/04/2021 at 11:43 AM, wikeeboy said:

I chose to sit in my sweet spot and move the phone within an approximate 1 foot cube of my head. I did this as to begin with i just wanted to optimise the sound from my listening position and compare to what the Genelec GLM calibration does.

Thanks for you posts so far. I was considering the Buchardt so keen to get people’s feedback on the DSP.

 

Have you done a subsequent scan over the whole room? You may have missed some room influences  only doing the scan around your listening area. I recall in a review that you measure as much of the room without getting closer than x(?)metres to the drivers. Interested to know if there was much of a difference?

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10 hours ago, Bell Ringer said:

Thanks for you posts so far. I was considering the Buchardt so keen to get people’s feedback on the DSP.

 

Have you done a subsequent scan over the whole room? You may have missed some room influences  only doing the scan around your listening area. I recall in a review that you measure as much of the room without getting closer than x(?)metres to the drivers. Interested to know if there was much of a difference?

 

The first time i used the calibration method i moved around the entire room. I did my best to evenly walk around the room for the full minute whilst also sweeping the phone up and down from the floor to high up. The calibration definitely gave me a different reading to the one displayed above. I only did the one above as a comparison to the GLM calibration that i took from a single point.

 

Have been playing with the mastertunings this morning and they definitely have noticeably different flavours. That's the beauty of a DSP engine like this, as long as the speaker is of sound design and can play the full frequency spectrum (which the A500's do), you can then use the power of DSP to help with some of your room inadequacies, and also choose a specific curve/flavour to your liking.

 

One of the tunings plays to 22hz on the bottom end and you can really tell. Quite impressive for what's such a small speaker.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have also been listening the A500 for a week and abit now, they sounds good (hoping the mastertuning issues can be resolved soon to really test out what it can do as I am using them nearfield at a desk). No major complaints about the sound but the connectivity issues is bugging me. Perhaps because I am using it at a desk with alot of other electronics, I have experienced sparatic issues with wifi dropout (both speakers off) and WiSA dropout (one speaker off), it is fine most of the time but when it drop outs it is quite annoying. Maybe this is a sign that they are not the speakers for me and I have to send them back (or if anyone wants to pick up a pair here) but that still leave the question of what other options in a similar range do I have? Would love to hear from others. 

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On 21/04/2021 at 11:15 PM, jchoi said:

Maybe this is a sign that they are not the speakers for me and I have to send them back (or if anyone wants to pick up a pair here) but that still leave the question of what other options in a similar range do I have? Would love to hear from others. 

 

The Dynaudio focus XD series - 20 (bookshelves) or 30 (small floorstanders) are comparable price and functionality wise (both active speakers with DSP). A few members here have bought these recently

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  • 3 weeks later...


16 hours ago, Gee Emm said:

Do other Australian customers waiting for their May-2021 (ahem...!) delivery have any update about ETA?

 

This would be good to know.  Having just sold my speakers, I'm very seriously considering putting in an order for a pair of A500s in black.  The website currently claims that delivery of these would be "May 28-31" with the walnut version not available until August.

 

UPDATE:  Well, I've just pulled the trigger and ordered the A500 bundle in black.  They are promising an email when the package "has been sent".   I'll be very happy to see them by the end of May as stated on Buchardt's website.  We'll see.  In the meantime, I'm quite excited.  First new piece of hi fi gear I've bought in quite a while. 

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20 hours ago, brumby said:

 

This would be good to know.  Having just sold my speakers, I'm very seriously considering putting in an order for a pair of A500s in black.  The website currently claims that delivery of these would be "May 28-31" with the walnut version not available until August.

 

UPDATE:  Well, I've just pulled the trigger and ordered the A500 bundle in black.  They are promising an email when the package "has been sent".   I'll be very happy to see them by the end of May as stated on Buchardt's website.  We'll see.  In the meantime, I'm quite excited.  First new piece of hi fi gear I've bought in quite a while. 

 

Half your luck.

I ordered my walnut A500 pair late November 2000.

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23 minutes ago, Gee Emm said:

 

Half your luck.

I ordered my walnut A500 pair late November 2000.

 

That'll teach you to order the overwhelmingly most popular version.😉  Seriously, I simply figured that the sooner I pulled the trigger the sooner I was gonna getem.  I wanted walnut too but SWMBO said BLACK!!!  You know what they say.

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On 12/05/2021 at 4:31 PM, brumby said:

 

That'll teach you to order the overwhelmingly most popular version.😉  Seriously, I simply figured that the sooner I pulled the trigger the sooner I was gonna getem.  I wanted walnut too but SWMBO said BLACK!!!  You know what they say.

I wanted white, but I got told to get Walnut.

Go figure!

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Feedback from Buchardt to my ETA enquiry.

 

They receive them about 26 May.

They do something for a couple of days.

Then they send them to me, which could be 1 week or so.

 

If you beleive that; I have some shares in Sydney Harbour you might be interested in...

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4 minutes ago, Gee Emm said:

Feedback from Buchardt to my ETA enquiry.

 

They receive them about 26 May.

They do something for a couple of days.

Then they send them to me, which could be 1 week or so.

 

If you beleive that; I have some shares in Sydney Harbour you might be interested in...

O, ye of little faith! 🙈🙉🙊

 

You've got shares in Sydney Harbour?  Aren't they a little damp by now??

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Oh Dear!

 

I just had a look at the pre-order page for the A500s at Buchardt's website:

https://buchardtaudio.com/collections/active-speakers/products/a500-bundle

 

When I ordered the speakers on May 12, that page said that the White AND Black speakers were due for "delivery" between May 28-31 with only the Walnut speakers delayed until August.  NOW (May 18), only the White speakers are up for delivery at the end of May with Walnut AND BLACK bundles delayed until August.  Needless to say, I ordered black.

 

I've fired off a query asking if already ordered black bundles will still be shipping at the end of the month.  No answer yet, but I'm not holding my breath.  I'm still not interested in the shares in Sydney Harbour but I AM interested in the Buchardts.

 

🤬👿

 

EDIT:  Just heard back from Mads at Buchardt.  He assures us that we've got the LAST black pair in the current order and the speakers WILL be shipped by the end of the month.  He cannot give us an exact date for their arrival here because global shipping is in such a mess at present but assures us that our speakers ARE included in the current batch.  Got that message less than half an hour after I sent the query.  Now THAT'S service!

Edited by brumby
Good News!
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Hi all,

 

Sorry for such a slow response. I've barely had time to even glance at Stereonet.

 

The A500's have been working flawlessly. I have them sitting in my lounge next to the TV. Mostly playing whatever is on TV, and music through Roon.

 

I have really enjoyed the low level enhancement, the fletcher-munson curve does a great job of keeping the bottom end boogying at low volume levels. I would defintiely miss this if swapping in another set of speakers without this feature.

 

Received an email from Buchardt last week detailing the new 2.0 Mastertunings. Haven't had a chance to change to it or try out yet. They do say the sound significantly improves as does the low level enhancement feature.

 

When i get a spare moment i'll come back and detail my finding compared to Kii and Genelec. I'd love to have a new pair of LS50's and the Kef sub to compare to the A500's, that would be a really interetsing shootout.

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On 07/04/2021 at 8:35 AM, Bomber Rock said:

Ive had minor issues with dropouts, but seems to be a wifi connection issue instead if Wisa, as ive not had any issues playing records, or sound from TV, only from streaming from Youtube music and to a lesser extent, spotify. Usually,  get a couple of drop outs in the first album or two, but then everything settles into a groove and and plays ok for hours. Ive probably been one of the luckier ones really.

 

Lets be honest, this roll out has been a disaster, and Buchardt Audio would want to very quickly rectify these issues or it will find that the negatve feedback all over facebook (and worldwide forums similar to this) will severely hamper future sales. My wife asked to take the boxes into her work. She said her grade preps will be able to makes stuff out of them. I have had to hold her back because im not certain these speakers will be staying here.

 

Having said of of that, I did install the the Mid Forward master tuning, despite being warned aginst doing so, and all of a sudden, these seakers have gone from pretty pedestrian with paper thin soundstage depth to being great speakers I could live with permanently. But i will put up a more detailed post at some point regarding this - waiting until i manage to get 100 hours play and room correction to work.

 

So in the spirit of the title of this thread, anyone considering the Buchardt A500 system would be well advised to hold off for now to be certain these many and varied issues being experienced worldwide are rectified and are only temporary. But also, give us unfortunate early adopters some time to post listening impressions, as there is some good news in all of this.

 

So, some time later, I've really had a good go at these speakers. Got through all the software issues. Took way too long to do so. Spent time with quite a few of the different master tunings, not yet the 2.0 tunings.

 

My context is someone who loves music, isn't on shitloads of money, but is prepared to spend a bit of coin on music sound quality. My listening space is the living room for a family of mum, dad and 3 kids. Was directed to declutter hifi system. 

 

At the time of my previous post, speakers were on the way to being broken in and I had tried a couple of different tunings. I think I hadn't managed to get room correction to work. Wasn't particularly blown away by the sound, despite the cost, but was happy enough. 

 

Found the low end too dominant. Decent soundstage width, but not quite enough depth to really pull me in. Good separation, but musical cohesion wasn't quite right. Listening at lower volumes wasn't as involving as I had hoped. Maybe I was being a bit picky? Don't know, but I didn't love my speakers. 

 

But then, fairly recently, I stumbled upon the tuning and toe in combo that just works wonderfully for me, with my music,  in my listening space. 

 

I have been listening to The Black Keys - El Camino and Gorillaz - Demon Days while writing this post. I have vocals and mids that jump out at me and pull me forward. The bass is way more chilled out. It's sharp and clear but isn't at all dominating. Soundtage width has narrowed, but crucially for me, that depth is now great... But whatever.

 

The point is, with a deal of fiddling, I have hit a point where I am super happy with the system I have bought. I suppose that is ultimately the point of the system is that you can tweak and adjust to hit your target sound. I got mine and so will not be taking up the offer to return.

 

I think if you are looking for a system that is to fit within lifestyle parameters, and if your budget can stretch this far, with the trial on offer, you'd be mad not to try them out.

 

Finally I can say I love my new speakers. 

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Thanks for that.  I'm one of those still (im)patiently) waiting for my Buchardts.  Although I'm not one to change my speakers often - I had my recently sold Dynaudios for more than a decade - I've been around long enough to know that you always have to mess about with a new pair of speakers before you get them right.  I'm especially looking forward to messing about with these Buchardts because there is so much more to mess about with.  I reckon I'll give them plenty of time to break in and then start playing with the room correction and especially the master tunings. 

 

I don't share my room with children but it is a living room and not a dedicated space.  I didn't want a pair of speakers with a laser like small "sweet spot" nor speakers that have to be right out into the room in order to give of their best.  Nor did I want anything too imposing.  If I can set these up on either side of my TV on a pair of IsoAcoustic stands or "pucks" I'll be a happy fellow.  I reckon I probably can.  My ears, like the rest of me, are in their eighth decade so my hearing is becoming more forgiving.

 

I've always thought that the speakers and the room, not necessarily in that order, are the two most important "components" of any system.  That's why a system which consists of not much if anything more than the speakers and the room is so attractive to me.  The beauty of these speakers to me is the simple fact that they can be tailored for the space they are in.  And that's without having to mess about with ancilliary equipment at all. 

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On 30/05/2021 at 1:10 AM, Bomber Rock said:

 

So, some time later, I've really had a good go at these speakers. Got through all the software issues. Took way too long to do so. Spent time with quite a few of the different master tunings, not yet the 2.0 tunings.

 

My context is someone who loves music, isn't on shitloads of money, but is prepared to spend a bit of coin on music sound quality. My listening space is the living room for a family of mum, dad and 3 kids. Was directed to declutter hifi system. 

 

At the time of my previous post, speakers were on the way to being broken in and I had tried a couple of different tunings. I think I hadn't managed to get room correction to work. Wasn't particularly blown away by the sound, despite the cost, but was happy enough. 

 

Found the low end too dominant. Decent soundstage width, but not quite enough depth to really pull me in. Good separation, but musical cohesion wasn't quite right. Listening at lower volumes wasn't as involving as I had hoped. Maybe I was being a bit picky? Don't know, but I didn't love my speakers. 

 

But then, fairly recently, I stumbled upon the tuning and toe in combo that just works wonderfully for me, with my music,  in my listening space. 

 

I have been listening to The Black Keys - El Camino and Gorillaz - Demon Days while writing this post. I have vocals and mids that jump out at me and pull me forward. The bass is way more chilled out. It's sharp and clear but isn't at all dominating. Soundtage width has narrowed, but crucially for me, that depth is now great... But whatever.

 

The point is, with a deal of fiddling, I have hit a point where I am super happy with the system I have bought. I suppose that is ultimately the point of the system is that you can tweak and adjust to hit your target sound. I got mine and so will not be taking up the offer to return.

 

I think if you are looking for a system that is to fit within lifestyle parameters, and if your budget can stretch this far, with the trial on offer, you'd be mad not to try them out.

 

Finally I can say I love my new speakers. 

 

Great post @Bomber Rock, thanks for the write up! 

 

You've given me the impetus to play around with my own positioning... 

 

Any tips on how you came to that particular setting? Would love to see an updated set up pic with the new positioning :)

 

Edited by wikeeboy
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Latest from Mads at Buchardt - for whom it may concern.

 

The latest batch of A500s from China are now at the dock at Hamburg.  Due to the usual Covid delays, they are now scheduled to be delivered by truck to Denmark by "next Monday") - June 7 in Denmark, probably June 8 here.  After that, the plan is to ship them out by Wednesday (June 9 in Denmark).  I know, I know, there's many a slip twixt ...

 

Nonetheless, Buchardt has been excellent so far in keeping in contact with their customers.  I remain hopeful that we will be getting our A500s this month.

Edited by brumby
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On 02/06/2021 at 9:27 PM, wikeeboy said:

 

Great post @Bomber Rock, thanks for the write up! 

 

You've given me the impetus to play around with my own positioning... 

 

Any tips on how you came to that particular setting? Would love to see an updated set up pic with the new positioning :)

 

 

Regarding placement, my wife was watching TV and I was just listening to the dialogue and to me, it sounded un centred. I just played with toe in until the dialogue sounded like they were coming from the TV. So tow in was basically directly at the listening position. However, last night listening to some music again and I've toed back out a little to get a little more width in the soundstage. I guess a bit of a compromise. No significant change from previous pic, just a little more toed in.

 

Regardung Master Tuning, I've ended up with the near wall filter tuning. I'm not sure why I didn't try this earlier, but for my space, it's clearly the best tuning. I just found the bass way too bloomy (?) on all other tunings. Others may like that bass emphasis, but for my listening, it was just way too much. This tuning for me is the most balanced.

 

I haven't yet upgraded the hub firmware to enable trying the 2.0 tunings. Based on the online feedback, I don't think I'll bother to be honest. Especially as I'm now particularly happy with my current sound. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was unsure if/when my speakers were arriving this month, if at all.

So, my speakers arrived unannounced yesterday. That's a plus. :)

Not being able to connect them due to incompatible power cables for speakers or Hub, that's not a plus. :(

 

I seem to remember a while ago that someone mentioned local power cables, but that was probably months ago, and things have been slow going on the delivery front.

 

Currently, I am leaving for work before shops open, and not getting home til after they close; 200km round trips.

Figuring out/getting the correct power cables just isn't possible during retail hours.

Be @#$%'ed if I can figure why I paid 3750 euros late last year, wait 7 and 1/2 months for them to arrive and they can't include $10AUD worth of local power leads.

 

They do include multiple sets that I can't use. I suppose I should be grateful for that.

I suppose I should be grateful the speakers actually turned up at all.

If I treated my customers like this, I wouldn't have any customers.

I am not currently prepared to accept any reason that this was/is not possible.

 

So, I am currently looking at a pair of 3750 euro door stops; and a Hub. A door stop for a smaller door I suppose.

 

Can any of the local A500 owners give me the quick and dirty on which power cables I need for the speakers and the hub?

Then I can check if they actually work.

 

Thanks :)

 

 

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On 05/06/2021 at 12:05 PM, Bomber Rock said:

 

However, last night listening to some music again and I've toed back out a little to get a little more width in the soundstage. I guess a bit of a compromise. No significant change from previous pic, just a little more toed in.

 

 

You might like to try toeing in a bit more than just pointing at your ears, BR - so the spkrs point at your knees.

 

In my system, at least, this gives a wide 'sweet spot' (3-seater couch wide!  :) ).

 

Andy

 

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41 minutes ago, Gee Emm said:

I was unsure if/when my speakers were arriving this month, if at all.

So, my speakers arrived unannounced yesterday. That's a plus. :)

Not being able to connect them due to incompatible power cables for speakers or Hub, that's not a plus. :(

 

I seem to remember a while ago that someone mentioned local power cables, but that was probably months ago, and things have been slow going on the delivery front.

 

Currently, I am leaving for work before shops open, and not getting home til after they close; 200km round trips.

Figuring out/getting the correct power cables just isn't possible during retail hours.

Be @#$%'ed if I can figure why I paid 3750 euros late last year, wait 7 and 1/2 months for them to arrive and they can't include $10AUD worth of local power leads.

 

They do include multiple sets that I can't use. I suppose I should be grateful for that.

I suppose I should be grateful the speakers actually turned up at all.

If I treated my customers like this, I wouldn't have any customers.

I am not currently prepared to accept any reason that this was/is not possible.

 

So, I am currently looking at a pair of 3750 euro door stops; and a Hub. A door stop for a smaller door I suppose.

 

Can any of the local A500 owners give me the quick and dirty on which power cables I need for the speakers and the hub?

Then I can check if they actually work.

 

Thanks :)

 

 

 

Not happy, are we?

 

Not a problem for me, since I have a couple of these:

external-content.duckduckgo_com.jpg.68e60c1390300ac103d370781822cb9e.jpg

Universal power plugs.

 

Buchardt does list the plugs they send on their order page and have done for quite a while now.  They don't mention AU plugs.

 

I'm not an expert on power leads, but this very "problem" was discussed earlier in this thread.  I don't imagine that "rectifying" the problem would break the bank.  I sure hope you like the speakers when you get them up and running.  I sure hope I do too, since I've been told that mine will be "in the mail" in the next couple of days.  We shall see.

 

 

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On 15/06/2021 at 6:35 PM, brumby said:

I sure hope you like the speakers when you get them up and running.  I sure hope I do too, since I've been told that mine will be "in the mail" in the next couple of days.  We shall see.

 

g'day @brumby

I sourced some travel adaptors which fixed the 230V power problem. :)

 

I'm still yet to hear my speakers.

I couldn't get them to work via Line in, after I powered everything up & paired the remote/speakers.

It seems I now need to update the hub for it to work. Something I haven't had the time or patience to do.

I don't have, nor want a Google Home account. At this stage I just want to use my pre amp via the wireless Hub.

This, it seems may be my downfall if I want to actually listen to a pair of attractive door stops.

 

Why would a company send out a product they know won't work without the customer's intervention. This beggars belief IMO.

 

The support documentation provided is also very thin.

The online support via Youtube (to me) presumes you have an underlying knowledge of Google Apps etc.

 

I have been following the Buchardt Facebook group, and was aware of some problems, but I really underestimated how frustrating all of this is.

I now feel like another one of Buchardt's Beta testers.

 

It seems others like @Bomber Rock have more patience in this regard than I do.

Maybe I'm just too old to be bothered with all the online requirements, identifying & entering Hub IP address, Youtube research, Buchardt web page, Apps etc.

 

Hopefully, I can get the speakers functioning over the weekend. ;)

 

I'm not holding my breath.

I certainly hope you and others are able to easily sail past these issues better than I.

Edited by Gee Emm
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