Soundstage, Clarity, Imaging, Tone. They dissapear!

Absolutely none!

This is a review for a pair of home brewed pair of Newforms R645's. I was fortunate enough to get a pair of R45 drivers and four Seas W17-002 speakers from a gentleman in New Jersey. I can't thank Bill (NJ) enough. I built the boxes and set them up using the Behringer DCX2496 digital crossover and a Panasonic XR25 reciever. I put on the first song and shortly, tears began flowing from my eyes. The most beautiful sound filled my room. I have been in audio since the 60's and never have I heard such a pure, open sound such as this. For years I have regreted selling my Quad ESL 63's, but as much as I still love them they will begin to fade from my memory now that the Newforms have entered into my life. I have owned Quad, B&W, and several others. I have listened to Wilson/Watt, Avalon, Martin logan, B&W's, Maggies, and much more. The list is actually quite large. The point is that I've searched for the holy grail of audio and this is the closest that I've ever come. How do they sound? Well, all the positive terms we judge speakers apply to these. Soundstage, clarity, imaging, tonality, you name it, these speakers do it with aplomb! In addition to all of this, they completely disappear in the room. When the music starts, my focus goes completely to the sound and I never give the speakers themselves a second thought. What more can you ask for? All this from the moment I turned them on for the first time. I imagine they will even improve more as they break in, as if that is possible? There are many great speakers out there and these Newforms belong in that group! For what they cost they have no competition. I want to thank John Meyer, the man who made these wonderful ribbons, for the joy he brought into my life. I'm keeping this review short because no amount of words can convey what I am hearing. It's like descibing sex. it can't be done.

Total escape into the music.

Panasonic amplifier is sensitive to noisy power and the tweeter speaker connectors are not very good.

I bought the Newform Research R645 six years ago and upgraded to R645 V2 when it became available. I had done the upgrade to the bass cabinet and crossover before the V2 upgrade and it made a very big difference to the sound. The speakers disappeared so well that I had to make sure each driver was playing. The V2 upgrade includes a Behringer digital crossover and Panasonic six channel digital receiver. The sound of this system in my listening room is unbelievable. Once warmed up I get a 3D holographic soundstage that literally immerses you into the music. One hour of listening feels like about ten minutes. When listening to this system the last thing on my mind is line array/point source integration or dynamics. All those audiophile checklist things that you usually listen for don’t seem to really matter. I have gone to stereo stores and listened to the latest and greatest speakers, some costing a lot more then the Newforms but usually the listening session lasts about 30 minutes or less. They all sound sterile or small or just boring. Do yourself a favor and take John up on his no risk 30 day home trial, you won’t be disappointed. System: Linn Genki as digital transport Behringer DCX 2496 digital crossover Panasonic SA-XR45 digital receiver Newform Research R645 V2 speakers ACI Titan II LE subwoofer sitting on ceraballs Cables: Analysis Plus Solo speaker and interconnects Power cords: TG Audio SLVR on all electronics Stereovox HDXV digital cable Neuance isolation shelves under all components

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