antero

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from ebay

Summary:
This review is for the silver S8's no the 8i's. I find the S8's to be very revealing yet musical in my house. They exhibit excellent soundstage depth and width, offer precise imaging and really sing in the upper registers. Some complain about MA sounding a little fatiguing/ overemphasized in the highs. Personally, I haven't had this misfortune with them. But they are very revealing of source equipment. An Audio Aero Capitole MKII Cd player with an YBA Passion integre, Revelation Audio Labs ic's and speaker cables, Audioquest NRG-5 and Cardas Golden Ref powercords for the 2 pieces. A hospital grade powerconditioner (also off audiogon) completes the system. Connected in non-biwire mode, the S8's just sing. They produce very alluring sound. I never get tired of listening to them, in fact I have trouble leaving the music room to go and sleep in the bedroom. An absolute bargain in today's market.

Strengths:
tonality, can separate different instruments within same class (i.e. steel and string guitar, violin and viola, etc) surprisingly warm bottom end with good speed and overal integration, very pleasant indeed. at this price I found no better.

Weaknesses:
cabinet could be more robust. take long to break in but once they do ... they are very good.

Similar Products Used:
tannoy dimension, paradigm studio and signature, pmc, dynaudio contour and confidence, B&W 802 and 803, Martin Logan Ascent i's, Monitor Audio Gold Reference 20, Gallo Nucleus Reference III, Proac, etc.

Video_8

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $900.00 from local store Montreal

Summary:
I was very pleased with my initial listening at the shop, but they sound even better in my home, very rich sound, good and tigh bass, the mids are very open and colorfull. I have one pair also for my home theater. I recommend this product, plus the cabinet has a very nice finish. Godd quality, the sister S? are also a very good value, I did find the S10 a bit sloppy, not round enough on the base, I prefer the S8 overall. The LCR and SFX are very good and I love the big sub F212... pricy but nice.

Strengths:
Colorfull, good imaging, nice finish on the cabinet

Weaknesses:
none so far

Similar Products Used:
I used to have Mission 753, and this pair is way better

Price Paid:  $1150.00 from eBay

Summary:
Like most everyone else here says, these things are great sounding, great looking. Yes, you will *want* a sub to compliment them. Not to say they don't handle bass, but when you want to feel it in your bones, as much as hear it you need a sub with almost any speaker. And if you are going to get one sub, make it 2 and *really* feel the power ! (Of course, the sub is what gets you in trouble with neighbors more than any other part of the system) But I digress.. These speakers have great dimension (musical range) , and they look real perty too, so you will have no problem with the Spousal Approval Factor. I still have to get a decent AVR, currently ussing a stereo Yamaha RX595 with 60w channel, but movies & music still sound great, and I know when I get my bid accepted on eBay for the denon AVR 4802 these speakers will rock even better. I demo'd these with a HD-CD "Galactic - Crazy Horse Mongoose" The guy at the store was so impressed with that CD that he ordered it immediatly for a store demo copy. It covers all the musical range (Guitars, horns, keyboard, drums w/ deep bass, bass geetar). If you wanna blow + $4000 on other speakers, go ahead, but I can't notice any difference from these.

Strengths:
All-over sound, highs, mids, upper end bass. Looks - these are perrrty-things. Now that the new gold line is out you can get these cheaper.

Weaknesses:
I have to get the neighbor's travel schedule before I can really scream 'em

Similar Products Used:
Monitor Audio ASW 210 sub woofer Monitor Audio Silver 8i Monitor Audio Silver 3i bookshelf's

Price Paid:  $995.00 from SoundCity (their ret

Summary:
So the 7 year old Bose Accoustimass 4 system needed to go and the hunt began. I started with the guys down the road at SoundCity (great store and website) and they started me on the PSB 5Ts but I found these to be very boomy with unnatural echoes across all different kinds of recordings and the room setup didn't seem to be an issue so needless to say the search continued. I then auditioned the MA 5i's which I loved for their clarity and ability to really disappear but wasn't yet sold. Next tried Vandersteen 2ce's. These are amazing speakers but their size and price were a bit of an issue and while their sweet spot was amazingly sweet it was also very small and while I would love to have a dedicated listening room with just one chair perfectly positioned reality is that I have a family and lots of friends who all want to hear great sound regardless of their seat in the room so the Vandys were regrettably out. (Side note: I also got to listen to a set of Vandy 5s. At $11,500 a set these were never an option but it is true you get what you pay for, these speakers are literally unreal in their reproduction of sound. If you get the chance audition them just for fun, you will be astonished). Next were B&W CM4s which were far too bright and forward in the high end for my taste. I like alot of live, acoustic-based rock and pianos and tight guitar plucking was simply too sharp here. Then I heard the new MA S8s and liked them as a balance between the Vandy's almost too-subtle clarity and the B&Ws forward presentation but I was still unconvined that MA was the way to go. I then auditioned Vienna Acoustics Mozart series which compared favorably to the MAs and Vandys in terms of performance but at $2500 they are way overpriced compared to the others. In this store I took a detour and also heard two sets that were on sale. The first was the now discontinued Mirage OM-10s which lacked any high end detail and the other was the Klipsch RF3s which by contrast sounded overly pushy and grainy on the high end. Again, given my taste, high end clarity is an essential requirement. So I went back to the beginning, back to SoundCity where the 8i's were now on a closeout sale at the previous price of the 5i's. After listening to the 8i's I knew I had found my speakers. They had the tonal clarity of the 5i's with more low end which is perfect for my music/HT set up. T

Strengths:
Performance for the price and size, fast and tight response, seamless reproduction across wide spectrym, broad sweet spot, don't require huge front end equipment to drive them well, good for both music and HT, look beautiful in my room!

Weaknesses:
Extreme low end bass still requires a sub especially for HT.

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned: MA Silver 5i's, PSB 5Ts, B&W CM4, MA S8, Vandersteen 2ce Signatures, Vienna Acoustics Mozart, Klipsch RF3 Currently driven with a 7 year old Kenwood 5 channel receiver with 70 watts to

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from speakerhut

Summary:
silver 8 i's i demo'ed these speaker with the soundtrack to le femme nakita... i was soooo increadibly impressed with the clarity, the distictiveness of sound... many little sounds simultaneously.. i can hear new things in cd's i have been listening to for years.... however, after playing them in my home, i was somewhat disappointed.. they did not have the same clarity.. i thought it was the plaster walls and hardwood floors.... after a little research, i discovered my sony is a POS... after hooking these puppies to a harman kardon and then a denon, there was a significant improvement in sound quality... i thought i wanted speakers bigger than my amp so i could not blow them... i did not realize i had it backwards.. needless to say, i am much happier with them now ... silver 8i's.... cant go wrong....

Strengths:
the clarity of sound... looks great in my LR, not just some big hunk of wood.. AND my girlfriend says she is gratefull for their looks..

Weaknesses:
when MA says how much power these need, listen to them !! sounds distorted with a weak amp... duh.