Resolution, soundstage, the famous midrange magic, lifelikeness (but even live music doesn't always sound that good).

Defficiency in low bass (I use a Paradigm subwoofer) and in very high treble. But what lies in between is UNBELIEVABLE.

I bought the drivers with cabinet plans from David Dicks at Lowtherspeakers. The cabinet is very easy to build, if you have some skill with wood. For a couple of hundred dollar bills you can have a pair of speakers that sound better than those that cost tens of thousands! Bought them "in the dark", had never listened to Lowthers. With a SET amp (Decware Zen 84C)they are a match made in heaven, specially if you love chamber music and vocals. I listen to music like never before (and to think that I discovered these speakers only now that I am 48 years old!). And these are their cheapest drivers, with a cheap SET amp! It is hard to imagine how their most expensive ones in a 2.5 cabinet and a pair of Zen monoblocks will sound. Some people say that Lowther drivers should be used only in bass horn cabinets. Well, I never heard them in a bass horn design, but in this simple bass reflex one they sound amazing enough to me. I would like to thank Mr. David Dicks for making me take this "leap of faith". As you can see, now I am converted. "Lowther for life", some people say. Indeed.

Similar Products Used:

B&Ws (several models), Tannoys (also), Norh 4.0 (better than B&W 601s!), Magnepan MMGs.

unreal speed, can be matched to YOUR room,imaging, pace

can sound thin, need LONG break-in, absolutly require good (not expensive) amplification and source ( this speaker will ruthlessly reveal poor recordings)

This review is of the 2.5 ( with dx2's)rather than the minitower. After hearing these at David Dick's home,I had to get a pair...they had sounded better than any other speaker I'd ever heard. The lack of a crossover, the speed, and purity of tone were addicting. Well to make a long story short,getting them to sound as well in my home has been a labor, albeit a labor of love.First of all,my supposedly class A amplification was exposed and all its weaknesses paraded through the room. And speaking of that, my room needed help too. The driver you select should be matched to your room. Once again to make a long story short, the problems have mostly been solved, and I've got the best sound I've ever had. The point I want to make is that these are NOT a plug in and play component. They require work to make them give up their best sound. When not set up right they are thin sounding, even screechy. When they are set up right (and broken in), they have the speed of an electrostatic, an addictive purity of tone, and an uncanny ability to image. Great "pace" too.

Similar Products Used:

nht 2.9's, thiel1,6,klipsh cornwall,klh 9's,

unreal speed, can be matched to YOUR room,imaging, pace

can sound thin, need LONG break-in, absolutly require good (not expensive) amplification and source ( this speaker will ruthlessly reveal poor recordings)

This review is of the 2.5 ( with dx2's)rather than the minitower. After hearing these at David Dick's home,I had to get a pair...they had sounded better than any other speaker I'd ever heard. The lack of a crossover, the speed, and purity of tone were addicting. Well to make a long story short,getting them to sound as well in my home has been a labor, albeit a labor of love.First of all,my supposedly class A amplification was exposed and all its weaknesses paraded through the room. And speaking of that, my room needed help too. The driver you select should be matched to your room. Once again to make a long story short, the problems have mostly been solved, and I've got the best sound I've ever had. The point I want to make is that these are NOT a plug in and play component. They require work to make them give up their best sound. When not set up right they are thin sounding, even screechy. When they are set up right (and broken in), they have the speed of an electrostatic, an addictive purity of tone, and an uncanny ability to image. Great "pace" too.

Similar Products Used:

nht 2.9's, thiel1,6,klipsh cornwall,klh 9's,

Clarity, speed, detail, accuracy, efficiency and simplicity.
PM6C entry level drivers. Cabinet build quality tops. Need very little power to sound great.

Thin low bass, highly directional hence very small sweet spot area, easily overdriven. Idiosyncratic like most British Sports Cars.

My decision to puchase these Lowther Minitower speakers was a long arduous process of reading and researching dealers who sell complete systems. Lowther is specifically the brand of the full frequency and full range drivers that are made in England. These drivers have a long history with over 50 years of longevity surviving most fads and fevers with their unique approach to sound reproduction.
Lowther's are full range drivers with cones made from a special formulation of exotic tree pulps that is rolled, not pressed "Shaken, not stirred please." The magnets claim awesome flux densities, and by the physical size I can believe that it is very true. Having no crossover, the Lowther's do away with one of the most problematic area's in speaker design, the crossover. Having no crossover to deal with, the amplifier sees roughly the impedance of the voice coil and that's it, making a very easy load for any amplifier to drive. Although the rising voice coil impedance is still there, being physics and not design what determines this driver's limitations, I haven't tried a Zobel Network although I am very tempted to see what happens. Lowther speakers are very efficient requiring less than 1 to 3 watts RMS for room filling sound. These Minitower speakers use Ported Bass Reflex enclosures which has been known to create many philosophical war's between the Bass Horn believers. I chose the Bass Reflex approach for one simple reason, homes in Puerto Rico tend to be small and Bass Horn enclosures are very large. From the get-go Lowther drivers sound distant and very tinny. Requiring over 100 hours of listening to fully break-in, Lowther speakers are for the patient person, not the audiophile masses. When broken in after 40+ hours of use the sound can be described as incredibly detailed and accurate to totally lacking any low bass frequencies, but there is bass, and it's dead accurate. These speakers benefit from wall placement, augmenting their bass to almost acceptable levels. The Low Bass region, although there, is many dB's below normal listening levels, hence the lack of apparent bass power and slam, not lack of bass. Lowther speakers are so dead accurate that one will be able to hear any differences in one's system. Change an interconnect, you will hear the change. Change amplifiers and the speakers will transform themselves around the new component. In essence, Lowther speakers reproduce exactly what you feed them. Often asociated with Single Ended Directly Heated Triode amplifiers with Zero Feedback, Lowthers are equally at home with most Solid State and almost all Push-Pull tube amplifiers. Be careful not to over-drive these speakers as the voice coils are coated with a mettalic paint called High-ferric that can flake off if you happen to let the volume control loose. What can I say about the Minitower configuration? For one I recommend matching-up a Sub-Woofer for Full Range listening. If you are part of that special 3% of Audiophiles out there, then the lone Monitowers can fulfill your sonic dreams even if you can't feel any true Bass from them in medium to large rooms. These speakers will not impress 80% of the average listeners out there, as most people don't truly know what accurate sound is all about. Most folks are so used to what they have heard all their lives, that a deviation from this standard is so large with Lowther speakers, the shock might not be perceived as an improvement, as good as the sound might actually be. As far as the use of Bass reflex enclosures vs. Bass horns, the debate will probably always be there even as I push up daisies many years from now. If you are into special speakers that need an owner who truly dedicates himself to babying his equipment, you should give these Minitowers a try. Unfortunately there are no in-home trials, so once you go, there's no turning back, like the Mafia. If you purchase these speakers from the group of Hobbyists in the St. Louis area led by Mr. David Dicks, don't expect any real of customer service or record keeping. As they say, they are only hobbyists looking to save one lots of dollars by not marking-up these speakers, which is very, very true. You will save money, but if you happen to overdrive your Lowther's as I apparently did one night, expect to get more questions than answers, apart from the fact that warranty services are through this group of hobbyists and is not a business-class type operation. But If you want to save some money and get a decent introduction to the Lowther sound, I would consider auditioning Bass Horns and Bass reflex configurations before making the last decision, but this might not be a possibility for anyone who is not driving distance to Lowther land. You might not be able to live without a Sub-Woofer, and finding a Sub-Woofer to match these Lowther drivers is not an easy task, but the guys in St- Louis can suggest some tested models that work well. Most Sub-woofers are too 'slow' to actually blend-in with Lowther speakers. This is a true experimenter's paradise, without the slightest hint of commercialism. Lowthers are not for everyone, and owning a pair can be heaven for some or a huge dissappointment for othere, regardless of one's own Hi-Fi judgement or experience. I personally hand build tube amplifiers, custom speakers and own over 30 different pieces of new and vintage tube equipment. Lowther speakers are as close to chameleons in the speaker world as one can get. With most amps they sound wondeful, but some amplifiers just dont match to them well, the problem mostly with the amplifier and it's relationship to the impedance seen, damping factors, etc... Hence one can also assume that some of the bad reviews given to these speakers or any other speaker might actually be equipment related and not anything specifically wrong with the speakers. There are dozens of different driver models to choose from that can deflate your bank account faster than a leaking balloon. To those brave enough to purchase without an audition, don't say that I didn't tell you so. Or you might just be as pleased as myself when female vocals finally sound real and not amplified!

Similar Products Used:

Fostex, Audax, Klipsch, Linn, KEF, B&W, Bose, AR

I forgot to mention that the ports are removable. I understand that with the ports removed, the loading on the cone changes creating a deeper low-end at the loss of some upper bass.

What is said about the break-in period of Lowther drivers is a fact. The drivers sound better over time. My Minitowers are smoother and have an almost liquid midrange that is very extended and not peaky as others have described.

I would like to thank Mr. Dicks for his comments. His follow-up review is accurate and reflects a deeper understanding of this product than I had the opportunity to develop during the time period up to my review.

I had sent several e-mails to Audio Review requesting after noticing the error that I made on the price. As it was not corrected, I assume that once a review is written, Audioreview cannot change anything.

Realism, detail, accuracy, clarity, 'magic'

Hello,
I'd like to add a few comments to the review by Richard Sherman. He purchased these speakers from me.

Generally, I believe he gave a fair representation of his experience with the speakers. However, there are some important comments I would like to add:

1. There is a mistake in the price. A pair of 'Minitowers' with PM6C drivers (the cheapest ones that Lowther makes) are still only $1165/pr. And you can purchase the drivers with cabinet construction plans for only $465/pr.
2. The 'Minitower' is a cosmetic variation of the original factory 'Acousta 90' that was designed more than 30 years ago. This was our very first attempt at putting Lowthers in bass reflex enclosures. It is only 1.27 cubic feet in volume. Our best model is now called the '2.5' and is twice the internal volume. It has SIGNIFICANTLY more bass output and a much smoother overal frequency response.
3. Lowthers can't play bass that they never receive from the amp. It is very important to use an amplifier with full frequency response. Few Single Ended Triode amps are capable of this and neither are most 'modern' tube amps.
4. The material used for all Lowther bass reflex cabinets is very important to the sound.
5. Selecting the Lowther driver with the correct level of detail for the listening room is of paramount importance. Richard had a fairly live room and would have been MUCH better served by using the PM6A driver.
6. Unfortunately, Richard was one of only two or three customers in the last five years that experienced ANY problem with their drivers. And we did make it right for him. The climate in Puerto Rico is especially hard on ALL audio equipment.
7. Further information can be found at our website:
www.lowtherspeakers.com or email us at: lowthers@i1.net

Thank you for the opportunity to add our comments to the review. David Dicks