I got a pair of Shearwaters from Bob at Avalon Audio about 2 months ago,and I have to say this was the most satisfying piece of equipment that I have ever purchased.I use them with Naim electronics = Cd3,72 preamp,Hicap power supply,and 140 amp,and after many years of spending money I can finally just enjoy the music.The best way I can describe them is that they make me listen to the music and not the equipment,sometimes for several enjoyable hours at a time.Sure you can get better treble and deeper Bass with other mostly more expensive speakers,but the Shearwaters communicate the emotion of the music and thats what it is about.If you demo these make sure they are broken in because they change drastically after about 200 hours.When you find a piece of equipment that makes you stop thinking about the sound and start enjoying the music buy it because they are very rare.Like the coffee cup that Meadowlark sends it's customers says "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Swing"......Jim

Clean mellow sound. Solid construction.

The grill cloth.

As you can tell from the above list, I have listened to many different brands, and types, of speakers. Some I did not list above simply because I could not spell them without looking like a total idiot.

I will admit that I finally bought the Shearwaters because of a good price break, but they had made it to my short list anyway. I had reached the point of deciding between the Martin Logans, for the audio transparency, and the Meadowlarks because they were the closest sounding to the Martin's, and best balanced sound of any of the conventional speaker types.

Before I go into too much detail, let me say that the pair I purchased was already broken in. I did not have to go through the ordeals that many people have described before.

The Shearwater, when placed correctly in the listening room, equals almost any of the speakers I have listened too, and surpasses most of them. Especially when you consider the price of most of the speakers listed above. ( and those I cannot spell.)

I was originally going to purchase a Velodyne sub to go with some B+W bookshelf speakers that I have. Then I had to take into consideration, the placement of the sub, the sonic matching with the B+W's, and most importantly, making my wife happy by not having too many "big black boxes" laying around the room.

I could find very few speakers that had a good balance of sound. By that, I mean there was no apparent emphasis on any particular frequency range. As a listener, you must experiment with the placement in your audio room to compensate for other furniture as well as the geometry of the room itself. One item you will find, for example, is that with the ported rear, placement too close to the back wall will affect the bass. I am reluctant to say it enhances it, or makes it "boomy," because some people simply like that sound. This same characteristic will allow the user to move the speaker away from rear deflections and allow diminishment of the over bass effect.

These speakers allow a person to very critical about their music, or to just listen to the music without strain or stress. I do feel that the better your source material, the more you will like these speakers. But, that can be said about almost anything.

As you might have gathered from previous reviews, these speakers are very true sounding with acoustic instruments. Pianos and guitars sound fantastic. (I highly recommend the Sounds of Steel recording on the Windom Hill label to see what these can do for guitar recordings.) Another excellent recording is the latest by Diane Krall. Her voice and piano become so live and warm that you feel that she is singing to you and that you can just walk away with her when she finishes her set, but I digress.

I listen to a wide variety of music and can only say that since buying these speakers, I yearn for more really good acoustic recordings. The only recordings that I have found that don't sound excellent are the really old "stereo" rock recordings. These tend to sound enemic.

I must tell you that my wife, who by here own admission cannot tell the difference between stereo and mono, upon hearing the Shearwaters said, "wow." She fell in love with the sound. She liked the Martin Logan's equally to the Meadowlark's but she liked the size of the Shearwaters best. These speakers have a small foot print and fairly short stature for such impressive sound.

If you find some of these speakers do yourself a favor and spend a couple of hours listening to them.

Similar Products Used:

Hales Design Group, Thiel, SonusFaber Grand Piano, Martin Logan SL3, Paradigm (several models), B+W (again several models), NAIM, Monitor, Boston.

Size,voices-midrange,bi-wired,loves tube gear...

none

For me this is the Speaker i always wanted. They do what a great speaker should do , and that's to play music. To me the Shearwater HotRods does most things very right.Most of all, i do not wish i would have bought some other speakers(peace of mind). Enjoy the music....

ShearWater HOTRODS
AirTight ATM-2 Tube Amp
Resolution Audio CD-50
ACOUSTIC ZEN RCA AND SHOT-GUN SPEAKER CABLE (GREAT)

Similar Products Used:

Mirage

Nonresonant cabinets, gorgeous finish, coherent sound, great image and detail, infectious rhythm, lovely timbres.

Grill cloths tricky to put on and take off. Without them the angled baffle makes the drivers look a tad vulnerable.

I upgraded to these because my old B&Ws have a complex crossover that robs the sound of energy and timing, as well as a more resonant box and less good components and construction. Everything is better, more open, spacious, realistic and relaxed, with the Shearwaters ! However I want to emphasize that upstream components make more difference to my pleasure in the music than speakers do. I would have waited longer to get the Shearwaters if I hadn't found a good deal on a used pair. And clearly the Shearwaters can get along very well with top class sources and electronics ; I expect to keep them and upgrade other components. I have the Hot Rod version.

My taste runs to speakers I can't afford : Verity Parsifal, Sonus Faber Amati Homage, Wilson Benesch ACT Two. The Shearwaters are a simpler but also highly refined design : two drivers in a transmission line, using the best possible components and construction. It is very satisfying to know all the elements of the design have been chosen and built with minimal compromise. The sound confirms it. The music they produce is spectrally balanced, highly detailed and beautifully rhythmic. There is nothing to leap out at you unless the disc does that, and plenty to draw you in and keep you up past bedtime and late to work. Detail and timbre ; a clear image in an open, airy space. I haven't heard anything sound wrong with them, and I'll listen to almost anything. Basically they get out of the way of the music as well as any speaker their price ( and they're not cheap ) and better than a lot that cost more. And as others have said, they're easy to drive.

Linn LP12 Lingo/Cardas-wired Rega RB300/Benz Glider
Cambridge Discmagic/IsoMagic/Wireworld Gold Starlight
Copland CTA 301 ( tube preamp )
Celeste W-4070SE ( SS amp, 75 w/ch )

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM14

Great imaging, soundstage, natural sound

rather expensive when new

Mine are used Hot Rods.
Very detailed, airy and transparent with decent solid state
(Monarchy Audio SM-70 monoblocks, bi-amping).
Spectrally rich, juicy and realistic with tubes
(Mesa Boogie Tigris, bi-wiring).
Bass is quite deep and well controlled with both.
Frequency response is linear and coherent through the entire range.
Five stars value rating reflects used market.

I am currently auditioning speakers in the $2,000-$2,500 price range, on my way to putting together my first real high-end system. I have spent the last few years auditioning state-of-the-art[-and-price!] systems to get a benchmark for what is possible regardless of price, then working my way back down to what I can afford. I auditioned the Shearwater Hot Rods ($2,900) at Innovative Audio in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the opinions proffered below must be taken with a grain of salt given the fact that the speakers were attached to $17,000 worth of Naim components. I can thus offer no opinion on how these sound with more realistic gear attached. The music used included Beethoven's 9th, Kathleen Battle/Wynton Marsalis baroque duets, Art Pepper (small ensemble jazz), and a variety of R&B and acoustic blues.
The first thing that hit me was the taut, precise bass performance. It had slam, authority, and richness (no, definitely not boomy). I gave them a thorough work-out with some R&B and big, weighty orchestral music. The transmission line loading works extremely well in all areas of bass performance, including following the bass line in jazz pieces. It wasn't the last word in bass performance, but it was never less than satisfying. For example, following the bass line in jazz pieces was definitely possible, but could have been a little better defined. Mind you, they did a satisfying job, but we're talking about $17,000 worth of electronics attached to these babies [Don't forget we're talking about the Hot Rod version, $500 more expensive. In talking to the designer, Pat McGinty, the Hot Rods should be expected to be a bit more refined across the full adudio spectrum.] I can offer no opinion on what what happen with the less expensive components likely to be paired with these speakers.

The spaciousness and airiness of the Shearwater were also surprisingly well done. I auditioned the Martin-Logan Aeirus/SL3 earlier that day, and consider those to be my under-$5k reference in this area of performance. In fact, I found these transducers to be very close to the M-L's in reproducing air and space around performers, which gives the aural clues needed to "see" the performance venue.

More importantly, the Shearwaters gave a fabulous overall performance. They are very musical, and provide believable midrange, airy highs and satisfying bass performance. They don't do anything particularly "wrong", and suffer only from sins of omission. In particular, soundstage depth and layering could be better, and imaging could be more holographic. [Note that I briefly heard the Heron attached to $30k worth of components (including BAT tube monoblocks) and still wished for better 3-D imaging.] But for the price, these speakers are great--with the caveat that I could have been hearing the superior electronics more than the speakers.

Given the caveats above, the Shearwater rates 4 stars.

I think it's kind of funny that this site chose to keep Jeff Potts's review that referred to my earlier one, but dropped mine in the translation from new products to regular review page. Oh well, I will defer in substance to Jeff now, but in the half year-plus that I've had the Shearwaters I will say that they get better and better. Neighbors still stop by to listen to these speakers when they hear them in the hall. Mack had some reservations based upon the fact they were set up with super expensive equipment. Mine go fantastically with the magnificent, but under-appreciated Copland 266 CD, anmd CSA 28 amp. The sound is pure and natural, no exagerations at any level, just magnificent sound-- highest treble to deep bass, where the drama and build up in a piece are expressed eloquently by the music itself, the speakers respond with overwhelming clarity. If you have any questions, really read the Fall 1998 Listerner Magazine review. It pretty much sums it up. Now I'm saving up for "Hot Rods". In my book, there are three very fine speakers, if you want to look elsewhere, other that the conventional models. Gallos, Legacy Classics and Meadowlark. I am very glad I chose Meadowlark.

I auditioned these speakers along with Mack (see below). After later hearing the Magnepan 1.6QR's, we both agree: Do not buy any speaker at any price until you audition the closest (in price) Maggie speaker! They're that good. The $25k Shearwater setup just couldn't mathch the palpability, imaging, soundstaging, etc.--even on a cost-no-object basis.

I searched for about 10 months for speakers in the 2-3 thousand a pair price range. I had actually given up on finding what I thought was a great speaker in this price range and was going to save for more expensive speakers when while on vacation in Seattle last summer I came accross the Shearwater. It immediately set itself apart from other speakers in it's price range in accuracy, detail,and lifelike midrange. It is extremely well made and good looking enough to allow non-audiophile spouses to allow in the house with the sock grills in place. Only drawback,or rather advantage for some, is for those people with a lot of $$$$ is the speaker keeps sounding better and better with better electronics, cables etc. In other words, like me, you will probably keep upgrading your equpment if it is not of the same calaber as the speakers. But I guess that is how a great speaker should be, you know improving the electronics will improve the sound more than changing the speaker and keeping the same electronics. I will own these speakers for many many years. Oh, do not forget that Meadowlark has an upgrade they call "hotrod" done at their factory for $500.00. The upgrade replaces many of the stock internal parts and further improves the sound, especially with upper end electronics and tweaks.

Just amazing!! It really takes a long time to break-in. The bass at first is kind of thin, as stated in their manuel. It does improve a lot after 100 hours. The sound stage is HUGE. Highly recommend!