|
Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary:
I purchased a lovely pair of Harlechs fro mtheir original owner - they are the S1's so don't have the carbon fibre cones of the S2. Like all Castle speakers they have a traditional appearance due to the plentiful use of real wood. I've bi-amped them with Arcam Alpha 8s and have finally got them singin after more than a year of ownership. My mistake was to situate the wooden plinths directly onto the floor without spikes - this completely hampered the deeper tones, and Castle hasn't really explained in its booklet how its downfiring ports work. The plinth clearly vibrates or reflects the bass vibrations and therefore needs to be free to vibrate itself - it can't be fluch to the ground. Having raised the speakers on spikes, they immiediately sounded much better, providing a tuneful bass (although still not as taught as I woudl like), and Castle's trademark bright and forward treble. The latter really appeals to anyone listning to acoustic and vocals - it adds an element of air, particulalry to acoustic guitar, although I still find I need to adjust my treble settings down slightly. Tweaking further still, I have now added granite plinths to further insulate the speakers from the wooden floor and this has improved the taughtnes of the bass. So, the speakers are a bit fussy about placement and despite being down-ported, don't like to be too close to rear walls (I think the vertical mid-unit reflects back a bit if that happens). However, from my listening experience, these speakers were so well designed that they will live with and complement much more expensive amp set-ups. My only reservation is that with such natural low bass and such crisp, forward treble, the mid range can sound a bit lost. Orchestral symphony recordings sounds a bit imbalanced as a result. Perhaps the reason why vocals and acoustics sound good - the sounds are clustered in a mid-range frequency so don't sound too imbalanced. These speakers are often on ebay in the £300 range despite Castle being now bust, and on this basis they have to be 5/5 value for money. I also understand from various forums that their sound can be improved by rewiring the drivers whcih have very cheap inner wires.
| 
4 of 5
5 of 5
