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Review 2 of 2
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$0.00 Summary:
I am on the market for under $5k speakers. I heard them all: B&W, Vienna Acoustics, Dynaudio, Vandersteen, Thiel, ProAc, etc., in the $3-7k range, well, not all but enough. I currently own Definitive Technology BP-10’s, $1,100 a pair, driven by a Marantz SR-7000 receiver. I felt it was time to upgrade to a true audiophile system. To make the long story short, I was quite discouraged by what I heard. First, it made me appreciate better my current speakers. None of the speakers above sounded really better than mine, and I do now the limitations of the BP-10’s, there is a reason I want to upgrade. I understand how irritating this may sound to a devoted audiophile: how dare I compare Def Tech to those sacred brands? Well, all of them shined in some areas: midrange, or highrange, imaging, etc. The overall sound coming from each of them was disappointing however. Without going into details, here are some impressions: B&W (several models, including 803 and 802): a bit compressed, boxy, flat, there is something wrong with the bass; Vienna Acoustics Beethoven’s ($4.5k): nice, sweet, the big sound is missing; Dynaudios ($3-5-7k): perhaps the worst of all: dry, bright, metallic sound (through a $4k tube preamp and a $4k warm amp!); Vandies ($3.5k): great bass, incredible strings, overall however the sound is “dirty”, too heavy, not listenable; ProAc ($4.5k): OK for a small room, nothing exceptional, fail completely at a higher volume and in bigger room; Thiels: good overall, dynamical, a bit bright and cold, perhaps the best of the group. I prefer richer, warmer midrange.
To all those B&W and Dynaudio fans: What? Do you really like what is coming out of those speakers? Would you still buy them if they were not on the Stereophille list?
And then I heard the McIntosh LS340 ($5k): a bit warm, very rich, dynamical, but most importantly, at least to me: I was in a room full of music. I found myself forgetting that I was actually there auditioning speakers and instead I was enjoying the music. For the first time (except for the Vandies), Clapton’s acoustic guitar in “Unplugged” sounded right, rich, not tiny, vocals were right, etc. As a downside, since I do not believe in perfect speakers, perhaps the imaging suffered a bit compared to the Vienna’s, for example (my $40 computer speakers imagine great as well:=)). I did not know that McIntosh was making speakers before this.
To the skeptics here: yes, I know how the setup can change everything, very often had the chance to compare different speakers in the same room with the same (and really expensive electronics), then in different stores, etc.
I am patient, and will audition some other not so heavily advertised brands. LS340’s however, are speakers that I will consider seriously.
$5,000 is a lot of money for a pair of speakers. For this reason, I would give them 4 stars for value but since nothing that I auditioned in this price range comes ever close, I will give them 5 stars even for value (but again, it is not exactly a bargain).
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5 of 5
