AMCG2005

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $1600.00 from Overture Audio, Ann

Summary:
Purchased these from the owner of Overture Audio in Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA). They were his personal speakers, not store property. Had been listening to LINN, Paradigm, Sonus Faber, AVI Acoustics, and Vienna Acoustics speakers in $800-$1600 price range to upgrade existing Paradigm MiniMonitors (now serving as surrounds). Wanted detail, neutrality, depth and breadth, musicality, but without harshness in highs, esp as I sit fairly close (~6 ft due to small room). I liked various things about the units I heard, but nothing was exactly what I wanted. I have a REL sub, so bass wasn't an issue, and an Anthem MCA power amp, so power wasn't a big problem. Some of the LINN floorstanders and the Vienna floorstanders were very nice, but a bit too much bass or too dark on the top end. Owner of Overture Audio ended up recommending I take a listen to the Kingstons that he had, and that he was willing to sell. The white flake finish I found quite amusing, made the speakers look like rejects from Star Wars droid tryouts or "The Sleeper." As soon as I put some hours in to these units, I knew I had found what I wanted. They had the detail, the musicality, the depth and breadth, without the harshness that I had encountered. There was space around musicians, space and detail I had not heard before. I had that great experience of wanting to re-listen to all my music, and I heard albums that I knew very well in new ways. The top end is a bit dark, and these guys are only 84 dB in sensitivity, so they need something that's not dark behind them, and definitely need a lot of power. They also don't have a great deal of bass, so a sub is a good idea if powerful bass is desired. I have them bi-wired now with LINN K400 cable, and that made a nice improvement. Plan to bi-amp eventually. I *definitely* recommend these classic speakers to anyone looking for a lovely, detailed, airy and musical sound, and who has a good amp and components to put behind them. In terms of my rating, I gave 5 stars for a bargain, because I paid $1600 for speakers that originally sold for $4000. The current blue book on them is something like $1800. I gave 5 stars for overall not because they were far better than I had imagined (the "title" of that rating), but because they lived up to the praise I had seen given them. As a side note, Overture Audio in Ann Arbor Michigan is a very good audio store, and I highly recommend them. Whether you spend $400 or $4000 or $40,000, they treat you with respect and patience, always taking the time to help you make a good purchase and never pressuring or talking down. I am by no means their biggest customer, but I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with them, and plan to give them my business whenever possible.

Strengths:
Detail, airiness, deep and wide soundstage, never harsh, warm, solid imaging and placement (best of all speakers I auditioned).

Weaknesses:
Inefficient, so need good power amps, and light on the bass side. Also, darker top end might be a bit too reserved for some (although I am eager to hear the sound once I get a better listening room, as that could be influencing the darkness I hear).

Similar Products Used:
Auditioned several models in $800-$1600 range from Paradigm, LINN, Vienna Acoustics, AVI Acoustics, Sonus Faber. Had been using Paradigm MiniMonitors and Titans.

Price Paid:  $995.00 from London

Summary:
I was lucky to find these units second handed at a local store when i visisted London 2 months ago. They still surprise with their delicate sound and unboxiness. It's just 2½ way speakers from Britains best manufacturer for amplifiers. Using double 6½ inch basses and a dome tweeter carefully selected from Seas, i think. Pretty small cabinets of 30-40 litres vented at the back gives a sensitivity about 90dB and they're capable of 200 Watt. These realtively small units give very clean and dry bass output down to 35 Hz I guess. Voices are clean, alive and accurate as in electrostatic units while treble is smooth, silky and airy. Almost like in very good ribbon units.

Strengths:
Very neutral and detailed. Deep bass for that small enclosure. Upper bass and midrange is magic and highs are smooth but detailed. Sound pressure level capability is amazing considering the size and small woofers.

Weaknesses:
They look very 80ish due to the anonymus black boxes. The eyecandy could be improved. And they are of course not capable of 16Hz church organ parties at 120dB.

Similar Products Used:
Apogee Duetta, Quad ESL 63

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is a great Monitor speaker!!!I''ve also had the B&W 805 Naultilus, but the Celestion beats this one on every field. Great looks, great sound. This speaker also has a great bass-performance for such a small speaker.

Strengths:
Open sound, clarity, detail, 3d imaging.

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
B&W 805 Nautilus

Price Paid:  $2100.00 from in South Korea

Summary:
One of the most satisfying mini monitors. I have used many high-quality mini monitors ranging from Westlake to B&W, to Proac, to ATC. Regardless the price, this Kingston is one of he best mini moniots, in terms of top-to-bottom coherence, bass tautness, midrange accuracy, precise soundstaging, and most of all musicality. In England, wen it was introduced, this Kingston was priced higher than renowned ATC SCM20 Tower, Harbeth HL-5, Monitor Audio Studio 20SE, Proac Response 2.5, Rogers LS5/9, Ruark Equinox, Spendor SP100, TDL Studio Monitor M among British competitors. Kingstons actually outpeform these other Britis speakers in delivering music. Only drawback of Kingston is its slight role-off of extreme high frequency. However, this quality provides forgiving presentation for many less-than-pefect rcordings and source equipments. Another good point forpotential owners is that it is unfairly low priced in the used market for its top-caliver performance in every aspects. To acquire this level of performance, people would have to spend at least twice of the Kingston's price in the used market.

Strengths:
top-to-bottom coherence, bass tautness, midrange accuracy, precise soundstaging, and most of all musicality. And low price in the used market.

Weaknesses:
slight roll-off of the extreme high frequency.

Summary:
I have owned the Kingstons for about 2 years.Before these I have owned various speakers by Wharfedale, Monitor, Kef (104s) Rogers (7s), Musical Fidelity (MC4), Mordaunt Short and Proac.Celestion obviously worked carefully and thouroughly when they designed this speaker-and it shows:both in the aesthetics, (beautiful to look at), and most importantly in the sound.They say that great design is timeless. Well I think this is one such example.
How to describe the sound? In a word , "neutral".If this gives the impression that they are dull or uninteresting, nothing could be further from the truth. In my experience they are the most accurate AND musical speaker at the price or anywhere near it, (certainly up to £4000/$6000).I have heard better speakers (Proac Response 5 -at over three times the price;possibly the active ATC50 at over twice the price-)but even these I would say are in the same ball park as the Kingstons. Why do I think these speakers are so good? The answer is the sheer amount of clean musical information they give to the listener, but never cluttered or smeared. Nor are they "monitor" sounding (ie cold) like some so called accurate speakers. They are ALWAYS faithful, quite forgiving of old recordings (esp on vinyl)with a slightly forward, VERY open sound. Plenty of low end.Extremely even bandwidth response.In some ways they are unique. The material used (Alpha crystals) means almost no cabinet distortion, in fact no cabinet!
To summarise.
Neutral, musical, open sound. I have never found them "wanting" in any department. A complete musical experience.