Summary: Hello. I recently bought these on Audiogon. They are the original Severns with the clear woofer. I have owned the Pembrooks in the past, too. I am running them with a 68WPC Gainclone amp I built myself. I had the pleasure to have borrowed a pair of Silverline 17.5s from a friend of mine while I was waiting for the Severns. I was ready to sell a kidney to buy the 17.5s I liked them so much. I was ready to do whatever it took to keep these in my house until...... I received the Severns. I knew what the Silverlines could do at this point. I hooked up the Castles and let them play for a few minutes while my amp and CD player warmed up. I came back to the system, played with placement to get the bass right and, wow. These little speakers can really put out some sound. The more I listened, the more I liked them. I went back to the Silverlines and was like "I'm not selling everything I own to buy these when the Castles are this good too". The Silverlines will go back to my friend soom. I'll miss them but not too much. The Castles are very easy to listen to. It's easy to overdrive these small drivers with heavy bass from an upright bass like Holy Cole uses but just about any speaker has this issue. I love the Castles and will keep them for a very long time.
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Summary: According to a brief review in "HI FI WORLD" magazine these speakers are "Big floorstanders with a big sound. Commendably natural sound with plenty of power."
...they weren't kidding - the Castle Severn 2SE are fantastic speakers, and the natural sound it projects is huge. I was even lucky enough to audition a pair of Linn Keilidhs and although these had the edge in bass weight, solidity and finesse the Castles really sang out, very musical, a much lighter, airier sound even when pushed - well they do have 110watts handling power, and they were very easy to listen to, not fatiguing at all. I have them connected with Kimber 4TC using a short length of 84TC for jumpers (always replace the metal bars) to my Cyrus 2 / PSX amps, getting on in years now but they sound fabulous, these amps can tend to sound brittle at top end but the Castles takes this in its stride.These speakers also look great, and are mounted on spiked wooden plinths which can be adjusted to alter the bass response, though i haven't tried that there is plenty enough bass for me. Apparently the big drivers in the Severn 2SE are the same as the ones used in Castle Acoustics hi-end models and it shows. They need a big room in which to show off at their best, and by moving them around I found 6-7 feet apart slightly toed-in to get the best results in sound stage and focus - I managed to get these for £250.00 pre-owned which seems the going rate at the time of writing, they originally cost £699.00 new. I play Prog, Jazz and Classical, the speakers handle all these well. They are definately keepers, very highly recommended indeed!
Strengths: Big sounding, huge sound stage, sharp meaningful treble, beautifully sweet mid, full controlled bass, adjustable plinth.
Weaknesses: Found none yet!
Similar Products Used: I have tried many makes including Monitor Audio, Linn, Celestion but these suit my purposes best at the moment, i also have a pair of Heybrook HB2's (see review).
up date - now using kimber 8TC cables, much more authoritive and stronger bass!
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Rating Reviewed by: Mark Bramley(Unregistered User)
(AudioPhile)
Review Date August 2, 2006
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Value Rating 3 of 5
Used product for More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
4.00 votes
Review 3 of 3
Price Paid:
$499.00
from Sevenoaks HiFi
Summary: Having had these superb speakers for a number of years I have to say they just 'fill' my living room with sound! I original set them up 'bi-wired' with a QUAD 34/405-2 combination, Cambridge Audio Asur 640c 24 BIT CD Player, Thorens TD160 Super/SME Series 3/Shure. This sounded great, but I now have them 'bi-amped' : QUAD 303 feeding the tweeter,QUAD 405-2 feeding the bass/mid speaker. This now sounds more detailed in the mid, smoother high frequencies. The bass end is slightly better if a little light(steep role of around 45Hz). Many have commented on this, but the bass can surprise you when you not expecting it! Basically, this is more a 'Nora Jones' than a 'Pet Shop Boys' speaker but then I would rather have Nora in my living room any day!
As a round up I would say these speakers are warm, tremendously detailed in the mid & high area, plenty of power(expecially bi-amp'd!)cabinet build quality and looks - well this is a top class piece of furniture! Better suited to Nora, MTV Unplugged, direct to disc recordings and anything live with real instruments....so not really a Suga babes speaker!
Yes, you guessed it.....I love them!
Strengths: Detailed, impressively life-like mids & highs, particularly on excellent vocal recordings. Excellent stereo sound stage and depth, with top rate source equipment you are able to detect the most minute changes in a recording e.g. reverb and effects changes, panning & automation,different room ambience etc..
Fit well into a standard living room and can be installed fairly closed to a wall (although away from corners).
Weaknesses: Bass light for compressed pop recordings although analogue electronic bass & synth still come through (the house!)with weight.
Make sure you bi-amp or bi-wire at least!
Speakers must be 'run-in' when new! The cones need to 'breathe' before they come to life but this is the same for all Castle speakers.
A bit pricey, considering lack of bass extension when new..UK price £899 (circa 2000).
Similar Products Used: Castle Kendal, Conway, Richmond
KEF 105 Mk1, B & W 801, Tannoy Little Red - Studio Dual Concentric
QUAD ESL63
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