NHT Xd - among the best speakers at ANY price

[Feanor]

Floorstanding Speakers
NHT Xd

Per request of NHT, use of photographs of their products are prohibited.

I often post picture of vendor products; I rarely check with the vendor to see whether it's prohibited. My bad: I think it's a failure of motivation on my part.

[m.a.c.]

Howdy, I picked up one of "the remaining 14 Xd 2.2 systems" currently available and hooked them up today. Having some experience with other DSP systems (DEQX PDC 2.1 with DIY speakers), I'm very impressed with the overall sound of these. My one gripe is that the stands seem like they are way too short for typical seating. They still image well with my ears above the tops of the cabinets but I think I may raise them two feet. Anyone else using theirs with the stock stands?

Cheers,
mac

[Feanor]

Howdy, I picked up one of "the remaining 14 Xd 2.2 systems" currently available and hooked them up today. Having some experience with other DSP systems (DEQX PDC 2.1 with DIY speakers), I'm very impressed with the overall sound of these. My one gripe is that the stands seem like they are way too short for typical seating. They still image well with my ears above the tops of the cabinets but I think I may raise them two feet. Anyone else using theirs with the stock stands?

Cheers,
mac

Welcome to AR, Mac,

The NHT Xd is definitely an attractive option at the $3k price point: too bad they won't be around for long. I gather that NHT's new old management is refocusing their product line on core products.

However I think DSP isa very valid concept with which it is possible to exercise far more precise control over such aspects as driver crossover, driver phase, equalization and room compensation, that was ever possible before. Kudos to the likes of DEQX, TacT, and Lyngdorf for their advanced approach to the solution of audio problems.

It's a pity the "purists" reject so many of the advances. I think ignorance and bias are behind most of it. To cut to the chase, well design & build DSP systems using hi-rez ADC / DAC, (e.g. 24/192 or higher), are transparent to human hearing.

[MrClean]

Howdy, I picked up one of "the remaining 14 Xd 2.2 systems" currently available and hooked them up today. Having some experience with other DSP systems (DEQX PDC 2.1 with DIY speakers), I'm very impressed with the overall sound of these. My one gripe is that the stands seem like they are way too short for typical seating. They still image well with my ears above the tops of the cabinets but I think I may raise them two feet. Anyone else using theirs with the stock stands?

Cheers,
mac

I have heard of people propping the fronts of the stands slightly - I would think this might compromise their stability, but it is worth a try to see if you like the sound better.

J

[Boer]

Howdy, I picked up one of "the remaining 14 Xd 2.2 systems" currently available and hooked them up today. Having some experience with other DSP systems (DEQX PDC 2.1 with DIY speakers), I'm very impressed with the overall sound of these. My one gripe is that the stands seem like they are way too short for typical seating. They still image well with my ears above the tops of the cabinets but I think I may raise them two feet. Anyone else using theirs with the stock stands?

Cheers,
mac

There may be a reason for that - phase accuracy. According to the NHT website:
"For best imaging, each XdW must be located within 1’ of it’s XdS."
If you raise them by 2 feet the phase/imaging may suffer; the XdW distance to the mid/tweeter is longer and remember the subs go up to 135Hz.
I use them with the standard stands and I love every Db of it!
For under 15k$ you can't beat this:
1) DSP + active crossover 100DB slope between tweeter and mid, 48Db slope between sub and mid
2) phase aligned
3) acoustic suspension

[romanesq]

Howdy, I picked up one of "the remaining 14 Xd 2.2 systems" currently available and hooked them up today. Having some experience with other DSP systems (DEQX PDC 2.1 with DIY speakers), I'm very impressed with the overall sound of these. My one gripe is that the stands seem like they are way too short for typical seating. They still image well with my ears above the tops of the cabinets but I think I may raise them two feet. Anyone else using theirs with the stock stands?

Cheers,
mac

You are very, very lucky to get this system for this price and getting two subs makes it insane.

Anyway, what you can do is use like a vcr tape and put it under the front middle of each satellite and that will do the trick.

Can't believe that folks are getting these for 3K when they went for $7200.

So the vcr tape fits perfectly under the middle front and then is almost transparent. That'll do the trick.

[Boer]

For the past few months (06/09) I have a NHT XD 2.2 active crossover speaker system.
I did a lot of google searches about these speakers; one day I found this:
http://www.audioconsultingservices.com/nht_mods.html

My Xd system sounded very good from the beginning even with the (slight) hissing - this hissing does NOT increase with the volume and I could barely hear it from about 6 feet.
I sent an email to the ACS people and got back a bit of useful info about the mod.
The hissing is coming from the DAC - ANY dac makes switching noise. Now the cleanest fix is to put some resistors after the DAC to lose 6Db and turn up the digital volume inside the DSP. This takes out 6Db of noise.
Now the cost for the mod is 200$ and after thinking a few days I went for it - this is something you can measure and HEAR the difference.
After I got my XDA back I can only hear the hissing from 2 feet (only in a very quiet room) so it works as advertised.
I tested the speakers at very low levels and very loud levels - the sound is just crisp, dynamic and very natural.
I highly recommend this mod to any XD owner.