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Review 2 of 2 Summary:
I bought these speakers 6 months ago second hand. I had been using a pair of EPOS ES14's but a bass drive unit was distorting and the company were unable to provide or recommend someone to fix the unit. I borrowed the 895is's froma second-hand dealer. My first impression was that the were lifeless and boomy. I perservered with them and through adjustement with placement arrived at a sound that I felt was the best I had ever got out of my system. They need space. I would recommend 60cm from side walls and 70-80cm from rear walls. I use them on a solid concrete floor which I am sure improves the bass control. Midrange can be greatly affected by adjusting the speakers so that they fire parallell to the side walls rather than have them toed into the listening position. I am sure that speakers of this calibre can only perform saisfactorily with good quality partnering. I use a LINN SONDEK LP12, NAIM Pre and Power Amps and a Marantz CD63 KI Sig with MUsic Fidelity D/A. The choice of speaker cable is also significant. I have used three types to experiment, NAIM NAC4, QED Quodos and best of all in this set up CHORD Rubra. This is a silver plated cable, slightly thicker then bell wire. It is very transparent and best of all has control in the bass. I you are considering these now discontinued speakers I would advice giving them time to impress, experiment with placement and don't expect them to shout out at you how good they are - they won't. Just listen. I have given them a value rating of 3 stars. This is because Of there retail price which I beleive was somewhere in the region of £1000+. I am delighted with them but having paid only £400 so I should be. I was unable to compare them with similar priced speakers so I would be only guessig at how they compete on price Strengths:
The 895is have a very spacious sound due to the bipolar effect. The treble is sweet and bass is well extended. The lowest I have heard outside of a dem room. The speakers are able to create a large scale sound. They seem to be good with all kind of music but excel with acoustic. Weaknesses:
Placement is essential and it is worth seeking a dealers advice. Little info given in the manual. They can easily boom and sound dead. Time spent in adjusting their placement will be rewarded as long as you have the space! Similar Products Used:
AE 109's
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