Rocky Mountain Audio Fest: IDS
October 23rd, 2006 — By Neil Gader
The IDS-25 (stands for, Image, Depth, Spaciousness) is the brainchild of retired McIntosh designer Roger Russell. It’s narrow columnar tower design is close to 7.5 feet tall and houses an astounding vertical array of 25 woven fiberglass, 3 1/2 inch drivers per side. Because the drivers are full range, the system is essentially crossover-less yet boasts frequency response down to 20Hz when used in conjunction with the included outboard equalizer. Internal connectinos are all Cardas wire. Not surprisingly the IDS-25 was being propelled by a room full of McIntosh gear including the massive MC501 monoblocks, MCD1000 transport and MDA1000 D-A as well as an MS300 server. The sound was exceedingly clean, articulate without being edgy and tonally consistent at any height postion. Its greatest strength was a boxless, transparent character that occasionally reminded me of electrostats at their best. The room was probably not ideally proportioned as bass was a bit light. Still midbass had excellent dynamic punch and I expect further optimazation will improve performance. Cabinet quality, fit and finish were excellent.
Back to the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest coverage
+Don’t forget we also have extensive show coverage from CEDIA!
Neil is spot on in his assessment. Ken from Haig’s Audio, the distributor of IDS, said they situated the speakers on the long wall to allow for a more ‘real life’ positioning and so more show visitors could listen at a single time.
Comment by Chris October 24th, 2006 @ 11:29 pmHe is absolutely right in that they are as clear as electrostats but didn’t mention that they actually play loud enough to emulate a live performance, using very little power and still have the added dimension of no sweet spot.
I have never been one who is impressed by the nearly sub-sonic demo discs that some speakers use but prefer to listen to a more ‘musical’ bass. From the timpani of ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ to the cannons of the 1812 and even including the big pipe organ behind Gary Carr, I found the bass that I listen to tight and supremely accurate on the IDS25’s.
I would vote the IDS one of the two or three contenders for best sound of show.
Unlike some of the systems present, these speakers shone when playing music other than the typical demo material. I brought along two CDs, and they were wonderful playing both Martina McBride’s “Broken Wing,” which features a very noticable bass line, and Amy Grant’s voice on “If These Walls Could Speak” has rarely sounded better.
Two big thumbs up for these speakers, but I can’t help but wonder what the equalizer is truly doing to the audio signal and the long term maintenance nightmares of this many drivers (and surrounds.)
These were one of the few conventional designs at the show that was able to easily transcend the sound of “cones in a box,” with the only others being ribbon hybrid, planar or electrostatic designs.
Comment by Bill October 26th, 2006 @ 4:49 amSince hearing the IDS speakers I’ve been thinking about subwoofers-Clearly a little augmentation below around 35 cycles would benefit the IDS25s on grand scale orchestral music. What subwoofer would best match up with them in a larger room? I think the likely candidates might be the new JL Audio series of subs or perhaps one of the larger RELs. Re the JL Audio, I like the idea of acoustic suspension subs not only in principle but as a matchup with the design of the IDS.
Comment by Neil Gader October 27th, 2006 @ 11:49 amHmmmm… B 901s without the reflecting component?
Comment by Russ October 31st, 2006 @ 2:20 pm