Mine are the Severn MKII, Superb cabinetry, fairly easy to drive, currently using Heathkit 10 watt valve amps. These were given to me free when I bought a 2nd hand midi system on gumtree. The reason they were freebies is that they distorted with very little effort. Castle used excellent glue in their cabinets but useless glue in their drivers. In this pair the glue holding the spider to the chassis had failed , therefire the cone was only supported by the surround, as soon as the level was increased the voice coil would rub with horrendous distortion. This is easily fixed with a little effort by simply re glueing. Now for the sound. They are fatigue free speakers, no nasty edges, it sounds simple enough but most speakers fall at this hurdle. I've rebuilt the crossovers in mine, they're worth the effort. I've even tried them on the end of some pretty serious kit, Audio Note valve preamp, Single ended Class A power amplifier etc, they simply revealed the changes further up the chain.

Mine have the carbon weave type drivers, the polypropylene ones tend to disintegrate over time

Midrange Detail
Looks
Recordings with a ragged treble come out suprisingly clean sounding
Tight bass
Big soundstage
Great in a 2chan home theater due to articulate mids

Can sound dull and flat if you are not in the sweetspot (not a background music speaker)
The grilles look great but dull the sound (but they look almost as good without grilles)
Can sound dry and hard with the wrong amp

Note: this is a review of the Severn Mk 2 which differed from the mark one by going to a carbon fibre woofer and a downward firing port. I am not sure if there are other differences.

To make my review more effective I will mostly just comment on and add to another review

http://sites.thestar.com.my/audio/story.asp?file=/1998/1/01castle

I agree on this review for the most part but there are a few things I would like to throw in. The star reviewer is right that the Castles are at their best with mellow acoustic music, but there are a far more competent all-rounder than he gives them credit for. For example Celtic Frost's "Monotheist" sounds awesome.

Also I have found these a bit fussier with electronics than the reviewer led me to believe, and would guess this may be because the midrange on these speakers is a bit forward and very revealing. With a NAD 320 bee the mids (esp. upper mids) were dry, sterile, and got harsh at louder volumes. Then I tried a friends Musical Fidelity A-300 with HUGE improvement. I would think that the increased power had little to do with the improvement and would take a guess that these speakers are happier with electronics a step up from NAD and its competitors. Though I must admit I haven't tried Rotel or Cambridge Audio with these so I cant say for sure.

Some amps reccomended to me online have been Musical Fidelity's X-Series, Arcam, and especialy the Sugden A-21

The treble sounds recessed on these compared to most modern speakers, but I have gotten used to it. However I have added a bit more sparkle by toeing them in a bit and running them with no grills. Also a Goldring 1012 cartridge brightens things up a bit.

The cabinets on these are a bit light in weight and fail the knuckle-rap test. However these were made to play music, not hit with your fists and I am very impressed with the way Castle has kept the boxy colourations from getting in the way of the music. My previous speakers were Paradigm Studio 20 v1 which are a heavy standmount that passes the knuckle rap test with ease, all you get is a sore knuckle when you hit the Paradigms, no sound. But play some music with an exaggerated kickdrum on the paradigms and you get a godawfull "THUNK THUNK" which gets annoying real fast. Moral of story is that I no longer have much use for the knuckle test

Finally, I am using a Martin Logan Dynamo Sub with these and it is a great match. Dont ruin these with a fartbox, get a quality music oriented sub and enjoy a crisp and seamless sound.

4 stars for sound - lost one star for cabnet sounds and limited bass

5 stars for value because sometimes I think of upgrading them, but not when I am listening to them.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Studio 20 V1
Energy 22 pro
Totem Model One

I prefer the Castle to all of these except maybe the Energy, however the energy is impractical - Blowing tweeters at nearly 200 dollars a pop and very power-hungry Also the Energy Mids are a bit recessed and muddled

Paradigm have great detail up top but serious issues with the cabnets

Totem Model one have awesome cabinets with very little box colouration, and excellent detail, but not as smooth sounding as the Castle

Build quality; look's; dynamic's; That soundstage

considering the price, none!

I have been using my Severn 2 loudspeakers for 6 years now and the sound they generate has flourished as my system has grown. Build quality is excellent and the cabinet's with their real wood veneer, I think, look drop dead gorgeous. Having Auditioned the Castle's alongside similar priced louudspeaker's from Mission, B&W, Ruark and Tannoy, the Castle Severn 2 stood out as being the most "Natural" sounding overall, to my ear's anyway. Low and Mid Bass is well extended (47HZ) and certainly fills the room. On some recording's Low and Mid Bass seem's to sound "thin", it is there, you just feel it (natural) as opposed to openingly hear it. Upper Bass is very tight and punchy. Mid Range is very open and ooze's detail with lot's of "attack", but never harsh. The High Frequency's, again, have good detail and attack and depending on your source and amplification, certainly never harsh or tiring to listen to. The soundstage is wide with a very (depending on your speaker positioning) large backdrop, with instrument's and especially vocal's being "in scale" and with natural "depth". The sound as a whole, I think, is very detailed, open, certainly dynamic with "slam" and, well, natural. The Severn 2 are designed to be Bi Wired, which greatly open's up the sound overall and if you can Bi Amp them, even better, they sound Awesome. Positioning is crucial too, especialy if you want to experience that "back drop". Over the years and a great many positions, I found the best way is to allocate an actual corner of a room. This corner is then the centre of the "stage" with one speaker on the wall to your left and the other speaker on the wall to your right as you sit/look into said corner. Position each speaker approx 1.5 to 2 metre's away from corner and about 15cm away from wall, toed in towards listening seat/area. In this position the soundstage IS superb, and as the speaker's are fairly close to the (side) walls you retain that glorious Bass which IS lost if you site them in the conventional way, IE in free space, well away from a "back wall". System.... all Talk Electronic's 0.5 Whirlwind power supply- Thunder 2 CD player- Storm 2 Amplifier- Tornado 2 Power Amp- Castle Severn 2- Cable Talk cable's and interconnect's- Soundstyle support rack- ..........................

Similar Products Used:

See above text.

hmmm... amazing orchestra sound, strings, piano, brass, percussion, all of them in unison, all wonderful; soundstage, realism

haven't listened long enough to find any

All those other speakers I listed as using were ones I listened to on the road to buying my new speakers. Out of all those, the Severns are the ones I ended up with. I actually do not have them at home yet, but I have a demo pair for about 400 less than normal on reserve at the store, until I come up with the other $1000CDN. It's been a very hard month without them because they made such a huge impression on me. I listen to mostly classical music and they are absolutely amazing at reproducing it. They are pretty good with some not-so-heavy rock too. The thing that hit me on these speakers (they're actually the Severn 2's) was how an orchestra came alive in the not-so-large listening room I was in. It was the only pair of speakers I've ever heard that could do that. I know it wasn't the room, too, because the NHT's I listened to were on the same setup in the same room and they didn't have that sound. the strings were smooth, actually all instruments were smooth, I think that helped make it seem more "live."

I wasn't interested in these at all when I first saw them, amazingly enough, because they're not quite my style. It's not that the light-colored wood looked bad really, it just looks like they would be right at home in an old-time library or some victorian style office, not in my living room with my black entertainment center, gray, thin carpeting and painted cement walls of the basement where I live. I just wanted to listen to these to compare to the Super2's, because they looked of similar size and price. Boy was I surprised! But, though they will definitely clash with my decor, I couldn't pass up such an awesome sound!

Ahh, and another thing important to me was its ability to play movies. Since these would be the main speakers in my eventual home theater, at least for a while, I also tested them with Dune and Road Warrior in the store. The Road Warrior came out great, its soundtrack already being quite high-frequency colored, these mellow speakers made it sound perfect. Dune was also impressive, the part when the worm eats the spice factory crawler. Voices turned out great, music, of course, was great, and explosions were fine for my tastes, though I've heard that these speakers aren't exactly bass machines and will require a sub later. I was planning on a sub later anyway. Overall, how could I expect more from my $1200CDN?

I could have these speakers by now, except that the Canadian government decided to BILL me instead of pay me for last year's taxes. So, I must wait another couple agonizing
weeks before picking them up. I'm glad I went speaker shopping at this time of the year, because last time I saw these speakers I dismissed them with a wave of the hand, thinking "too expensive." I must give them a 5 for being the best speaker I've ever heard, and getting $400 off of them is a bonus worth 5 stars in value. If there's any difference in the way they sound at home I might have to post again. But I don't count on it.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602 and 603, Kef Q55, Q35, Monitor Audio towers, Paradigm, PSB, Klipsch, Celestion, M&K home theater speakers, Polk Audio towers, NHT super 2's

Outstanding sound, and magnificent cabinet finish.

None

I love these speakers (the Severn II) and would highly recommend them to anyone.

If you buy them you should definately bi-wire them, and use a good quality cable, the sound is amazing when they are bi-wired.

The finish of the cabinets is great too - they don't just sound great, they look great too. You don't need to hide them away of apologise for the ulgy speakers crowding your lounge - these are a very nice peice of furniture in their own right.

For the price they are worth every cent.

Personally, I prefer the Severn Mk.1, as it has a more coherent presentation, subjectively more "airy" upper mids and treble response and the LF quality was better defined, and exhibits good timing and speed.
The Severn Mk.2 exhibits a relatively more neutral and smoother mid balance. Its treble response seemed slightly rolled off, subjectively not as extended nor airy compared to the Mk.1. The Severn Mk.2's LF, though slightly better extended, with a relatively fuller balance, is subjectively relatively less refined, a tad vague, and also less articulated compared to the "faster" sounding Severn Mk.1's LF response.

At the end of day, which is "better", is subject to the individuals' musical taste / preference. Not to be underestimated, is the overall interaction of the spkrs. with the rest of your audio components, not forgetting interaction with your room's size and acoustics.

If your setup is on the "warmer/fuller" side of neutral, I suspect the Severn Mk.1 would be subjectively more suitable in your system, adding some "airiness and agility" to the overall equation. But your initial preference is for the Mk.2 ... which means that an home audition, in your system would be recommended, allowing you to reliably decide which model suits you "best". However, do not expect the sort of bass extension similar to big floorstanders.

Awesome build (you will need to see it to appreciate it), natural sound, beautiful with vocals and instruments and capable of playing loud as well as soft. Beautiful aesthetics, better sounding than Severn 2SE

Difficult to use spades with the binding posts recessed in the "cup", spikes (replace them with better ones)

Great looking speakers that never clash with your decor. The real wood veneer finish is simply amazing and makes you wonder why you'd want a speaker made to look like an automobile. Sound terrific with the right material (midrange especially - hint vocals!) and partnering equipment but lacks a little bass extension especially with bass heavy material.

Biwring is crucial with these speakers no matter what others say about it. Audition them if you can - i find the Severn 2 a little nicer sounding in the midrange compared to the newer Severn 2SE