Meadowlark Audio Shearwater Floorstanding Speakers Reviews


Meadowlark Audio Shearwater
MSRP:
$ 2500.00
Floor standing 2 way

   
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Rating
Reviewed by:

f155mph

(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
June 29, 2004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

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Review 1 of 38

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Ebay

Summary:
If I can only use one word to describe these Shearwater HotRod speakers, the word would be awesome! Thanks Pat for creating such a great sounding pair of speakers. I got a great deal on Ebay since the pair was damaged cosmetically. These speakers are open, airy, clear, dynamic, and simply wonderful. Currently they are hooked up a Yamaha receiver, which I know it totally don’t do justice to these speakers. But even with the receiver the speakers sound amazing. I can’t even imagine what they will sound like with a nice tube amp. Originally I brought the speakers as the front mains for home theater since they were so cheap and I have a dedicated two channels system. But upon listening to these speakers I was totally mesmerize by the great sound they put out. I think they are worth every penny even at MSRP. The amount of bass these speakers put out is nothing short of a miracle. I have listen to many high-end systems in the past few months including Wilson’s Watt Puppies, Revel Salon, Martin Logan Statement E2, Thiels, Meridian, and other manufacturers. I think the Meadowlark are great bang for the buck speakers.

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
The grills are a little cheesy.


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Rating
Reviewed by:

prisoners

(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
June 16, 2004

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

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Review 2 of 38

Price Paid:  $2300.00 from Simply Stereo, Hoffm

Summary:
These are the Hot Rods, and were a demo pair. I really like these! I was looking for a pair of floorstanders to match with my Jolida 502A so they had to be efficient and sensitive. It turns out that these are a GREAT match for tube amps

Strengths:
Fantastic mids; vocals and stringed music are silky smooth. Crisp, but never harsh highs, and plenty of bass with no "mud". The beautiful midrange can distract you from the clean, taut bass; but it IS there.

Weaknesses:
I wouldn't call it a weakness, but the "grill sock" thingy needs to go. Leave it off.

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned many others for about 8 months before buying- Klipsch Reference line was nice, but not quite there. Paradigm Reference was not even close. Joseph Audio was excellent but a lot more $. System Audio (SA-1250) sounded very, very good but didn't have the room-filling feel that the Meadowlarks had. B+W Matrix were great, but not for my 50 watt tube amp. Same with the ML series.


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Rating
Reviewed by:
Porky
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
July 21, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

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Review 3 of 38

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Audio Alternative in

Summary:
I purchased these speakers used and therefore did not have to endure the apparantly dreaded break-in period. What a pleasant suprise these speakers have become. Great imaging and detail without the brightness you would probably get by stepping down a notch to a lessor quality speaker. With at least decent amplification, the bass has nice extension. They come ready for bi-wiring which makes them ideal for running 2 seperate power amps if you wish. I experimented w/ this and was pleased with the results. The bass began to tighten up and "sing" more. Many claim that these speakers sound better w/ tubes. I have found that they sound exceptional w/ solid state as well. They are indeed, however, fussy when it comes to positioning in your listening area. I had to pull mine 3.5 feet away from the back wall before the sound would open up. I purchased a sub-woofer to round out the bottom end before I discovered how sensitive they were to positioning. I found the right position and have not had the sub on for 3 mos. (What a waste of $)The selling point of these speakers is the mid-range. Best mid-range in a 2-way at this price I have heard. Acoustic guitar and keys sound fantastic. Solid construction, good looks, good price (especially used) and most importantly, great sound. I see no reason for me to upgrade anytime soon. I think I will focus more on the electronics. Other equipment: Rega Planet 2000 B&K PT3 2 B&K Reference 2220 DH Labs interconnects and speaker cables

Strengths:
Price. Smooth detail w/ no harshness. Excellent mid-range and better than average bass extension for a small speaker. Bi-wired.

Weaknesses:
Difficult room placement. Not the best for heavier music. Sounds great w/ heavier Porcupine Tree but loses intensity when exposed to anything much heavier.


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Rating
Reviewed by:
jk121764
(AudioPhile)

Review Date
May 14, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

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Review 4 of 38 , from Woodbridge, VA

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
Wow. After finally fine tuning my front end components to where I want it I needed some speakers to match the quality. I've been thru quite of few speakers and this time did more research before I bought them used, which is probably better anyways because they apparently take very long to break-in. Rather than go into a long winded sound analysis, lets just say this will probably my last speaker purchase for years to come. My Shearwaters are the hotrod version. Associated equipment: transport- AudioNote CDT-Zero DAC- MSB Goldlink III with T-1000 Power peamp- WrightSound VLA12A amp- CanaryAudio 300B sets interconnects- TMC

Strengths:
warmth, imaging, detail, easy to drive (I use 8 watts), build quality

Weaknesses:
grille sock is awkward, but I don't think anyone uses them

Similar Products Used:
Infinity Overture 2's, Hale T-3's, Jamo Concert 8's, Axiom 80MTI's


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Rating
Reviewed by:
Bruno Wichnowski
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
May 6, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

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Review 5 of 38 , from Pittsburgh, PA

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Private Sale

Summary:
Great speaker that's very easy to drive and sounds fantastic! Nice bottom-end to it and very warm, detailed mid-range. Highs are smoother than the metallic dome of my previous B&W 805s and are much more "there".

Strengths:
Wonderful imaging and detail. Easy to drive and a pleasure to listen to.

Weaknesses:
Somewhat laid back but a minor weakness at best.

Similar Products Used:
Proac D15, Vandersteen, B&W N804,


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