Liveliness, dynamics, soundstage, wood finish

Speaker placement is critical, Binding posts don't accept spade lugs well

My speakers are the now-discontinued Osborn Titan Floorstanders that I purchased used at a local audio shop. I have also had the opportunity to listen to the Titan minimonitors for an extended period a few years back and really liked them so I was quite excited when I found this pair of Titan Floorstanders. The finish on my pair is Jarra wood. It is beautiful and I have received many complements on the appearance of these speakers. There isn’t much that I can add about the physical makeup or design of these speakers that hasn’t already been posted here so I will just proceed with describing my experiences with my pair. To start with, I found that speaker placement was absolutely critical to getting the most from these speakers. Moving them just an inch or two in a given direction made a noticeable change in sound. At first, I had placed them where I had had my other speakers – several feet from rear and sidewalls and toed-in quite a bit. In this position, they sounded dreadful. The sound was beaming directly from each speaker and they sounded so harsh that it hurt to listen. At about that time, I received a copy of the owner’s manual from Greg Osborn which said that these speakers are actually designed for straight ahead placement with no toe-in whatsoever. After much experimenting, I finally ended up with them facing straight ahead, quite close to the sidewalls and several feet out from the rear wall. I found that this placement provided sufficient bass response without destroying the incredible imaging that these speakers can produce. I have also augmented the bass with a subwoofer. Finally, I set them up on 6” concrete stands that I had made. This brought the tweeters much closer to ear-level and, to my surprise, smoothed out the sound another notch or two. Raising the speakers also improved the imaging slightly. I have found these speakers to be very musical – they can make my toes tap like no other speaker I’ve ever heard. Live music is rhythmic and dynamic but unfortunately, many of the “high-end” speakers that I have heard err on the “smooth” side. The Osborn Titan floorstanders and minimonitors both convey a sense of drive and rhythm that I find lacking in most other high-end speakers that I have listened to. This dynamic quality infuses the music with a sense of “liveliness” that makes the music sound just that much more palpable and real. These speakers also throw a wonderful, large and deep soundstage when they are placed well away from the rear wall. Voices and instruments are placed with rock-solid precision in the soundstage, both front to back and side to side. Also, these speakers often just “disappear” into the music. It’s a striking experience that I enjoy very much. It’s worth noting that the Titans are very revealing of associated equipment and I think that harsh or analytical sounding equipment would be a poor match for these speakers. I have found that these speakers work particularly well with tubes. Also, my pair of Titans was supplied with jumpers but I believe that they are designed to be biwired and work best that way. Overall, I am very pleased with these speakers and consider myself to be quite fortunate to have stumbled across a pair as I did. I highly recommend these speakers. If you can assemble a system that will work synergistically with their particular strengths, you will be well rewarded. Associated equipment: Rogue Audio M-120 Magnum monoblock amps Audible Illusions Modulus 3a preamp Audio Refinement CD Complete CD player Oracle Alexandria ‘table/Sumiko MMT arm/Benz HO Glider cartridge Tara Labs Time and Space Biwired speaker cables Aural Symphonic interconnects (Preamp>Amp) AudioTruth (Turntable>Preamp and CD>Preamp)

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Hales, AudioLab, Vandersteen, Snell, Genesis

Full bodied sound that bellies its physical size

It can get a little bit blurry depending of the type of music that is put through it. It all depends on the recording I later realized.

I was able to listen to a pair of OSBORN TITAN monitors at Community Audio in Chestnut Hill, PA. The interesting thing about this loudspeakers were their relative obscurity to me. Honestly, I had gone to the store which was close to one of my friend's house in PA, and after auditioning the NOVA OVATIONS, I became curious about these OSBORN loudspeakers that the manager was telling me about....OSBORN from where??? Australia.
According to the gentleman whose name I cannot remember off from the top of my head, OSBORN had been manufacturing loudspeakers for about 7 years, but visiting the WEB site I realized that they had been in business my longer that that, since 1982.
Returning to the Osborn TITANs....They are small monitor size loudspeakers that use FOCUS drivers. According to the gentleman who helped me FOCUS are French drivers...and the most astonishing aspect to them is their appearance especially that of the tweeter used, a reverse domed kevlar tweeter that according to a review of a TITAN floorstanding model...yes, there is a model called TITAN FLOORSTANDING...same specs as the monitor Titan but more substantial low end that a floorstanding design allows, the review claimed that Focus drivers are a challenge to be properly tamed, unless the loudspeaker designer is extremelly skilled.

The OSBORN Titans were being driven by ELECTROCOMPANIET preamp and amplifiers. The source was a 4k ELECTROCOMPANIET CD player. The amp was rated at 100 watts....

The sound...

In the classical realm, the Osborns did extremely well in revealing the nuances of the voice...Jennifer Larmore and the strings that accompanied her...1 UP for the OSBORNS.

Later I switched to Sarah Brightman's EDEN cd....which to my dismay, I realized that perhaps it was not necessarily well recorded...The track #13, ONLY AN OCEAN AWAY simply overwhelmed the little OSBORNs....the song made the speaker sound muddy...1 DOWN for the OSBORNS...

Neverminding the set back, I decided to play the last track of the CD...and what a change, ms Brightman, in the last ballad almost appeared in front of the Osborns! The image has size and a specific location...nevermind saying anything about the tonality of her voice...clear, neutral. 1 UP for the OSBORNS....

I switched to a Emma Shapplin's first release...CARMINE MEO. The second track, which is a sort of mix between a type of ARIA/Gregorian chant accompanied with a solid beat between it, I thought would challenge the Osborns into submission, but I was amazed at the resolution and their ability in defining each layer of the elements that made up the song....The percussion clear and her voice neutral. WOW......a loudspeaker that can clearly resolve voice and also percussion at the same time. 1 UP for the OSBORNS again....

The OSBORN TITANS cost about $2500 a pair and you will need to get a good pair of stands for them, TARGET etc...which will almost push it toward the 3k mark...I cannot really say that the OSBORNS are the reference standards at that price level, but let me say that in comparison to the NOVAS, which use SCAN-SPEAK components, it simply beats them, especially in the classical/vocal department and to make the pairs better, they also have a good low end, not really subwooferlaced like, nevertheless satisfaying enough for most people.

When you go to see them and listen to them try to lift them up...WOW, you will see that you are paying for some fine heavy weight products...each one of them pushing close to the 70lbs mark.

Never seen or heard anything like it. Now the question is...WHEN WILL I RETURN TO GET A PAIR OF THESE AUSSIE BEAUTIES?


EQUIPMENT I HAVE OWNED AND USED BEFORE AND PRESENTLYT

SPEAKERS:

INFINITY KAPPA 9s..(1988)
EPOS ES11...........(1993)
JBL 20t3............(1991)
Infinity Reference 2000.3....(1995)

AMPLIFICATION:

Carver m4.0t........(1988)
Sumo Athena preamp...(1988)
Audio Refinement Complete Integrated....(1999)

Source:

Analogue...NAD 6300 tape deck.
Run of the mill Japanese CD spiners....do I need to even embarrass myself in listing them?

Similar Products Used:

NOVA OVATION

Dynamic sounding, articulate bass, liquid midrange, expansive soundstage, build quality, finishing.

Heavy to shift around, lousy binding posts

Mine are the Titan Floorstanders which have been discontinued. They are the floorstanding version of the Titans using the 1" Kevlar inverted tweeter from Focal and a 6 1/2" polyglass midbass also from Focal.

Been using these pair of speakers for over 2 years now. Love the sound these speakers produce even though I have had a midbass driver blown once and a tweeter another time in two years! The tweeter was blown when playing 1812 Overture (Telarc!) and the midbass while accidentally switching on my tube pre-amp before the power amp.

I am using these speakers in a 9 by 22 feet room using a Sony CD XA-7ES to a YBA 3 power amp. Interconnects are Goertz Sapphires and speaker cables are Goertz AG1s.

The sound of these speakers is just fantastic. They are truly able to play a wide gamut of music. They can be majestic yet demure depending on the music played. I listen to a wide range of music from pop (English, Chinese and Japanese), rock, jazz, vocals, new age, classical etc and these speakers deliver!

The build of the Titans are incredible at the price. Real wood veneers (mine are Jarrah) 1/4" thick encompass an MDF enclosure of 1" thick! Each speaker weighs 30kg! Sensitivity is an average 89 dB. However, the binding posts are not that good as they cannot accept spades!

I am going to build a pair of Electronic Tonalities Paraglows soon and I will see whether these speakers can be driven using 3.5 watts of pure Class A from 2A3 tubes.

The Osborn website is at http://www.osbornloudspeakers.com.au

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber GP, ProAc Response 1.5 SC, Gallo Solo, Vienna Accoustic Mozart, Missions, Dynaudio Contour 1.8 mk II, Stella Melody, Triangles.

transparant and dynamic

Very basic and ordinary looking speaker

This speaker's dynamic is awesome. It is not warm and mellow speaker. Compare to my TSM and ProAc Tablette The soundstage is more open, more extended highs and low, the midrange is a bit on lean side. Combine with Blue Circle and Audio Aéro equipments I am very satisfied with this speaker, although it doesn't have the big names like the other hiend speaker. I sold my other two speakers (ProAc and TSM). The speaker is very heavy (20kg each) and built quality is high (with Focal drivers), very hard and stiff. They have the new reference version soming out.

Similar Products Used:

ProAc Tablette, Merlin TSM

Awesome sound

Daunting size

By way of background , the speakers I previously owned were;
Sonus Faber Guaneries
Aerial 10ts
AscenAvalon t Mk 11
Rockport Synergy
I have also extensively auditioned the Watt /Puppy 5 system. The Grand Monuments in terms of scale and resolution out perform all of the above. There is a complete lack of compression which imparts a true sense of musical reality.
Sound staging is at least as good as the Ascents and imaging was only bettered by the Guaneries. The Reference series , mine has the new Focal Telar 57 tweeter (the older version of which is used in the Grand Utopia, US$65000) as well a full lead lining, is a level of magnitude above the Grand Monument. The Reference has a level of refinement above most other speakers in its class. The treble is detailed but with a complete absence of Hi Fi etchiness or brightness.
Imaging on the References approaches the levels of the Guaneries. Macrodyamics and bass slam on the Reference are the best I've heard on any system (including the Wilson Grand Slam). Its interesting to note that the Drivers on the Reference are better than those on the Grand Slam (US$75,000), with the exception of the bass drivers, which are the same Focal 13'' units. The rest of my system consists of the following;

CD - Sonic Frontiers FSCD1
Pre Amplifier - Sonic Frontiers Line 3
Amplifier - BAT VK 500
Cables - MIT 750 and 330 's
Power Cords NBS Signatures
I have driven the References with much smaller integrated amps such as the Gryphon Tabu . The Metaxas Soliloquies also sounded great with the speakers , BTW the Metaxas is the designers reference Amp . I'm pleased your customer found my comments useful .
The performance of the speaker excels in all areas. Whether it is the effect of the new tweeter or the lead-lining of the cabinet walls, micro dynamics, the so called inner musical detail that most audiophiles love so much, is superb on the Reference Monuments. Vocal inflections on good recordings (e.g. Betty Carter/Ray Charles) are rendered almost life like. Harmonic structures particularly of Cello and double bass are better than any speaker I've heard to date. Despite its awesome sense of scale, the speaker can reproduce the most delicate musical nuance, it is almost the perfect speaker (except its somewhat daunting size)

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber Guaneries. Aerial 10ts. AscenAvalon t Mk 11
Rockport Synergy

Soundstage, bass, dynamics, clarity, build.

Not as well known as they deserve to be.

Date: 20 Sep 2000

I'm not one to write reviews or anything. I think of myself as a discerning consumer. I certainly will put pen to paper if I find that I have been unjustly short-thrifted. So when I was asked about my feelings & thoughts on the Titan speakers, which I bought well over 5 years ago, I was pleased as punch to share my joy & pleasure the speakers have given me. Like most pleasurable things in life, it is a subjective opinion, but one's opinion can be reinforced when others share the same conclusion.
Sadly the Osborn speakers are the best kept secret in Europe, they seem to sell well over in Southeast Asia, but I think its criminal denying others the glorious pleasure they have given me.
My Equipment consists of Krell LSA100s Power amp, Audio Research SP9 MkIII, using Transparent II interconnects between pre & power. Cable Talk Concert Speaker cable.
The most obvious thing about the sound is their capability of plumbing such a deep bass, often I have been asked where the sub woofer was. Also the speakers have an uncanny knack of eliciting the most subtle of nuances (given the correct attached hardware) in any music, classic & rock alike. As I said I have a choice, particularly after 5 years, of being able to choose ANY brand of speaker that befits my whim & fancies, to date I have yet to hear a finer speaker for the money. I know the law of diminishing returns kicks in, but I would have to spend an obscene amount of money to get a better sound. As I said before, it seems criminal that more discerning people have not been able to share the delights of hearing these beasties.
I work in the computer industry whereby, through technology, a good or bad thing is communicated at the speed of light (sometimes almost literally), whereas word of mouth regarding sound & hifi is still propagated at such a relatively slow pace, mainly constrained by the channel markets & distribution. I would urge anyone to give the speakers an audition and I'm sure you will be as addicted as I have become to them.

Similar Products Used:

Numerous small monitor speakers