Wide,deep soundstage with good image stability,timing,
the quality of construction is extremely high.

Speaker pleacment

This is truly marvelous speaker.Soundstage & Imaging!!!
Terrific depth and width information!Finely constucted and
finished cabinets.
System used:
Pathos Classic One amp.
Audio Analog Maestro Cd player
Spica TC-60 Speakers
Meadowlark Audio Kestrels speakers
Harmonic Technology Truth-Link, Pro-9 Plus & Pro-AC11

Similar Products Used:

Spica TC-60

I have owned a pair of Kestrel Meadowlarks for over four years and I am continually amazed at the performance and sound quality of these loud speakers. I am equally amazed with the construction worksmanship and overall esthetic vaule of the Meadowlarks in comparison to loud speakers in similar price ranges.
I specifically feel that the Meadowlarks have are extremely smooth in the midrange or voice range and the bass response is fast and clean. Sometimes the high ranges see a little bright but that might be the specific music being listened to.

The construction is solid and well designed. The speaker cabinet is heavy, feels solid, and is well finished. When placing the speakers, you feel like it is going to stay in place because of the weight and balance of the cabinet. Although I have never opened one of the Meadowlarks up, the design sheet shows a lot of bracing. Since I really like transmission line speakers in general, this transmission line has my stamp of approval.

I give it a 5 for construction, 4.5 for sound, and 5 for price.

Fabulous value for $, transparent, involving, good soundstage.

None, for the money; compared to _much_ more expensive speakers (ie, in the 4 K range), the soundstage could be wider and deeper.

I bought a pair of these used on e-bay, unheard, just based on their reputation. Best hifi buy I've ever made. These are accurate, musically involving, transparent, and throw the best soundstage that I've heard in a speaker anywhere near this price. Beats the CDM-1, IMO - and you don't even have to buy stands for it! If you like jazz, baroque, vocals, and your speaker budget is under 3 K, you have to hear the Kestrals. I am using these speakers with a Dynaco Stereo 70 amp, Dynaco PAS 4 pre-amp, Creek Audio tuner, Panasonic A110 DVD player, and MIT cables and interconnects, and can't stay away from my stereo. I think that I will be satisfied with these speakers for a very long time - it would take considrable expenditure to top them.

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM 302, B&W CDM 1

excellent sound stage, big sound and imaging

low bass not detailed enough, bass is there but it is rumbly

Excellent sound and soundstage for the money. What Meadowlark has done is make an entry level audiophile speaker which does what higher priced speakers do: Image, has a big soundstage, depth in performance, and decent detail. Unfortunately what it lacks is a cohesive low end bass, i.e. it loses focus on the lows, but the mid range is excellent and deep. Overall, a lot of speaker for the money. If you want delcate accuracy and detail, buy something like the Theil 1,5's, if you want big sound, super imaging, a real room filler of a speaker sound wise, than the Kestrals are the way to go.

Similar Products Used:

thiel 1.5's, totem 1's, vandersteen 2ce's, similar in price, not size

neutral, natural sound

i've had these for over a year now and they're great. they sound very natural and true to the music. the highs are clear and well defined, the bass is surprisingly good for a relatively small enclosure. i did, however, pair them with a hsu 1220/500W amp (crossed over @ 51Hz) to cover the deep lows, and i'm very satisfied. they don't color the sound, what you put in is pretty much what you get out of them. for the price, these are tough to beat.

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morrison ELAD
rotel rb981
hsu 1220
sony cd
hhB 830 burner
sony pcm r500 DAT
panasonic sv3800 DAT
2 ETA PD8L power conditioners
kimber 4tc

This is a follow-up to my review below regarding my dis-satistaction with the supplied spikes.

In my room these spikes really do degrade the sound of these speakers. I belive it may be because my floor is a suspension type and the speakers are relatively light. In any event using the spikes, whether on the floor or on carpet, resulted in muddier sound and blurred images. Placing the speakers flat on the carpet improved things and placing them on marble tiles on the carpet brought slightly more benefit.

I purchased eight Vibrapods and expirimented with them, but no real improvement. In fact the speakers sounded their worst when used with the Vibrapods and the marble tiles on the carpet. Using the Vibrapods directly on the floor sounded better.

I began to notice a correlation between the obvious physical stability of the speakers and the quality of the sound.....the more wobbly the setup the worst the speakers sounded. Sounds really obvious I know, but the thing was that the speakers would be stable as a rock with the spikes and still sound muddy. I tried a lot of stuff from Blu Tack to mouse pads and eventually found the best sound was had by placing the speakers on the bare floor with heavy-duty felt furniture protectors under them ($2.50 for a pack of 16 at WalMart). The imaging became much more focused and surprisingly, soundstage height increased as well.

the down side is I now have to move our large area rug whenever I listen, but the improvement in sound is worth the effort. I am very satisfied.

I am curious to know if anyone else has experienced similar sound degredations involving the supplied spikes...feel free to e-mail me.

This is not to throw a bad light on these marvelous speakers....they still are a superlative value!

I managed to hear these speakers and alhough they sound good (when finally matched with synergistic amplifier), the build quality is less than stellar. Let me explain, although the speakers feel extremely solid when you knock on them, upon closer inspection of the finish around the edges, they look like the work of a two year old. In short, the finish is terrible.
I will give them five stars for sound and a one for the over all appearance.

I've had these for a month, and while they have been played a lot (approx. 100 hours), I think that things are continuing to break in. I am in love with the soundstage and imaging, though I got that with my beloved Spica TC-50's which I sold to get the Kestrels. What I think makes these a great buy is the way that the listener (me) is drawn into whatever music is playing: even at backround sound levels I find myself putting down my work, book, whatever, to just enjoy. Additionally, the music sounds great when you sit off axis (my Spicas had a ridiculously small "sweet spot") or almost anywhere in the room, such as now when I'm at my computer submitting this review. The associated components are Audioquest Indigo speaker cables, Belles One amp, Rogue Audio tubed preamp (nice), Marantz cd67se, Rega planar 3.

Beautiful speakers! "Work of a two year old"? as Tahir said?!?!?! Who listenes to the speakers from 2-3 inches away (that you can see the finishes at the edges?). Anyway, they are trully transparent and an excellent midrange. The bass is tight and goes pretty deep for the size of these speakers. If you are in the market for $1k speakers, the Kestrels are a must for auditioning. I don't think anybody can turn down such a speaker. Associated equipment: Jolida 302a, Parasound CDP1000, Camelot Arthur DAC, Rega Planar 2, Parasound PPH1 phono preamp, and Tara Labs everywhere.

Recently I purchased the Kestrel and have had them for less than a month. These speakers truly astonished me in the sound quality and the soundstage. Over a period of 2 years, I have had Bostons Acoustics VR-30s (not for music, great for HT), then came the Hales Rev 3(They were too huge for my apartment and very difficult to drive), after that came the Sonus Faber Concertinos (good but no bass) and now finally I have the Kestrel. From all the above speakers which I had I am absolutely satisfied with the Kestrel. Looks I will be keeping them for quite a while. Truly a great speaker.Equipment consist of Parasound 1500 amp, Sony CDP-779ES CD player, and GTA SEP-2 tube preamp, Kimber PBJ interconnects and MIT MH-750 speaker cable.