Very neutral, dynamic (with ideal amplification) and excellent off axis response. Drop dead gorgeous finish and elegant and unique design that is a definite conversation piece. Comes with very high pride of ownership and wife acceptance factor.

Sensitivity could be higher. Perhaps can be improved with higher quality drivers. Cannot biamp.

I acquired them form the original owner over a year and a half ago. These are fantastic speakers that truly makes my music listening (from CDs and LPs) experience enjoyable. They have become a mainstay in my 2 channel system. Recently, I was in touch with the previous owner. He admitted that after many attempts to audition alternative speakers, some costing many times more than the Solos, he regrets ever letting them go. He went as far as requesting that I consider giving him the first right of refusal if I ever decide to part with them. If this is not a vote of confidence I do not know what is. He may have a long wait, however ;-)

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Vandersteen 2Ci, Von Schweikert VR4.5 with VR5 upgrades, Coincident Millenium

Transparent, dynamic, coherent

deepest bass

I agree with the above reviewer. I get the sense that I'm more of a rock 'n roll/blues fan, and the Solo's handle this music well. They are neutral, dynamic and terrifically transparent; more so than the Epos 25's I had prior that were very good in this department. Voices just float in the air, there is no sense of strain or restraint -- electrostatic-like, but with none of the 'slowness' I find with electrostatics like ML's. The bass is deep, but not super-deep. Free advice: never spend more than what these cost and get less than a 10" woofer -- you need at least this to move some significant air. In sum, for the money, and I listened to a lot of speakers, these are unbeatable.

You can find Waveform at www.waveform.ca. John Otvos, the designer and owner, is absolutely first-rate and trustworthy to deal with.

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Epos, Martin-Logan, etc.

The Mach Solo is John Otvos'latest design based on his Stereophile Class A Mach 17. It features the same "egg" for highs and mid-range but substitutes a single 10" woofer for the twin 12"'s in its big brother. Passive crossovers are used instead of the Bryston active crossover. Bass is solid to the mid-30's. I may add a subwoofer someday. The Mach 17's are flat to 20Hz but require tri-amplification.
Workmanship is flawless. They are simply beautiful, and to my amazement, passed the spousal aesthetics gauntlet. The sound, in short, is musical and natural. There is an absence of harshness. They are super-transparent and dimensional. Its a delight to listen to piano, female vocals, and guitar. The speakers handle dynamic choral work easily. They go LOUD and they go CLEAN!

Otvos sells his speakers direct from his factory in Canada. He is a pleasure to work with.

Associated components:
Sonic Frontiers Line 1 Preamp
Plinius SA-100 Mk III
Anthem CD-1

Open, Clear ... allows you to hear all the music
Wide,deep soundstage...hear into the music
Beautiful design, quality build
Great company..recommend speaker and company

Bass not as deep as the Mach 17

I have owned the Waveform Mach Solo for almost a year now and love them more everyday. I get excited about music every time I power up. I owned KEF 104.2 for 9 years and enjoyed them while I upgraded my electronics. I then begin my search to upgrade my speakers. I had listened to everything I could find and had narrowed my list to 5 speakers then I read a review of the Waveform Mach 17 in the June 1997 issue of Stereophile. I contacted Waveform via web and secured an audition in Atlanta Ga. It was heavenly. Thru further contacts with Waveform I learned about the Mach Solo under development so I ordered and waited. Last April I received the Mach Solo and have been in love since. My wife even says there is music in the house now when she didn't care before the Solo's arrived. My neighbor says these are the best speakers he has ever heard and he has been listening to music for over 65 years. A recent gathering at my home brought rave reviews from neighbors and friends about how great the speakers sounded. I recommend the Mach Solo speaker, the Waveform Company and the Founder John Otovos. I am proud to be part of the Waveform Family of Loudspeaker owners. My highest recommendation.

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I listened to many different speakers ..all price ranges

Natural, detailed, musical bass, realisic...

I am listening to the Solos powered by two Monarchy SM70 Pros and the music is fantastic.
Detailed without being harsh (the high end is not etched), silky smooth strings and voices when they are recorded that way, realistic soundstage is not exaggerated, very much like live music..startling dynamics, reminds me of good pro studio monitors in that respect, and with the SM70s the bass is powerful and tuneful. You can hear the air around the instruments well. You feel breath. If the recording is balanced toward one end of the spectrum it it easily heard, and yet it does not detract from the speakers ability to bring out the music in the sound. They are fun to listen to.
My previous two sets of speakers were Snells, JIV and D, both very revealing, but not nearly as musical. Maybe it's the egg and the large bass enclosure combination. People love the way they look in our living room.
The Snells were tall boxes, the Solos are artworks.
The woodwork is outstanding.
I'm sure a better grasp of their characteristics will come in the future, right now it's just too much fun listening to tunes to be too analytical.
If you can afford them, try them. Dealing with John at Waveform was very easy, and the shipment arrived in excellent condition.
Five stars overall, four for value because I want to believe that there are terrific sounding speakers out there that don't cost five grand. I just can't take the time to find them and they'll probably be tall boxes anyhow!

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Nothing in this league

Extraordinary musical accuracy, a palpable sound texture,
Seamless across audio spectrum, superb build

None

If you want to hear the details of a recording, these speakers will bring you directly to the recording space. Palpable is the best adjective I can use to describe the sound of these speakers. Actually, they have little "sound" of their own. Rather, you hear a smooth, open, natural soundstage, a three-dimensional image, and a seamlessness from treble to mid to bass. The build quality and woodwork of these speakers are superb. Without grilles they have the appearance of modern sculpture. In my opinion these are amongst the handful of the worlds best speakers. Way beyond five stars for value and overall rating.

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Am familiar with most available speakers in price range

Beautiful finish, excellent imaging, tonal neutrality

Strange grille

I do not own a set of Mach Solos but recently went to someone's house for a party and saw them sitting in the corner. I did not recognise them so I took the grille off (once I worked it out) and had a bit of a shock when I saw the grey metal egg.

I thought it would be prudent to introduce myself and ask if I could come back to his house the next day (when sober) and have a listen.

They really were amazingly neutral speakers. I took a handful of my favourite CDs as reference.

OK, the bass probly wasn't as responsive as I expected, but there certainly was plenty of it and it wasn't muddy or mixed up. I found the imaging was brilliant but we were limited for space and he was a little reluctant to move them around. I think the small, highly furnished room was bouncing too much sound about to be truly objective about these units.

What really got to me most was that they had no particular characteristic - they took on the role of whatever they were playing. I remember thinking once or twice "Hmm, I don't remember that track sounding that bad" only because the Solos really didn't hide the flaws.

When he told me they Waveform sold via mail order, I really got interested in seeing what else they had a little closer to my budget.

Now for the bad news - waveform have closed shop. As of September 2000 they sold out all their units and discontinued making products.

Looks like I missed a unique oportunity.

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THIS IS HIGH FIDELITY. Exceptional accuracy in all aspects of sound reproduction.

None. If you don't like what you hear, don't blame this speaker.The problem lies elsewhere in the audio chain.

I always like that phrase - high fidelity. Its very old and predates the stereo era. Its not technology specific. You can have hifi mono, hifi stereo, or even hifi 5.1. Its all about accuracy and fidelity to the source. By this measure, the Waveform products set new standards for high fidelity.

I'm using the Mach Solos as the main speakers in a combined music and Home Theater setup with Mach MC's as center and surround channels. There is no subwoofer and LFE is directed to Solos.

This speaker possesses exceptional clarity and freedom from the distortions that plague conventional box speakers. I suspect that much of the harshness that occurs with conventional speakers is due to diffraction from the cabinet. The egg-shaped head unit on the Waveform exhibits none of this. The drivers are placed very close together to emulate a point source and have very wide dispersion with tightly controlled off-axis frequency response. The resulting sound is remarkably consistent anywhere in front of the speakers, or even from another room. And that sound is so realistic and lifelike, you simply forget about the equipment and enjoy the music.

That may not sound very exciting in this era of single-ended triodes and magic cables. Theres no voodoo here. Just solid scientific principles, carefully engineered, and implemented with absolutely gorgeous cabinetry.

John Otvos, the man behind Waveform, has been in the business a long time. He has to be absolutely trustworthy and customer-oriented to survive. Give him a call or visit his superbly informative website at www.waveform.ca
The product packaging is similarly first-rate. Everything arrived in pristine condition and it was a beeze to unpack and setup a complete 5 channel system. I firmly believe that direct sales aided by the internet are in the future for many audiophiles and music lovers. I KNOW the Mach Solos are in the future for many audiophiles and music lovers. When word really gets around about these speakers they will be back-ordered to eternity. You have been forewarned.

I won't got so far as to call them perfect, but the Mach Solos are as close to flawless as any passive speaker its size can be within the limits of todays technology.

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Clarity, bass response, music

None

I think most all the standard audiophile terms for sound have to go out the door when it comes to the Waveform Mach Solos.
What one listens to is music that is strikingly similar to live music. The ambient music that lingers as the instruments play in a concert hall is all here. The presence one hears from an amplified concert soundstage is here.
From the first moment of listening to these I felt I had been transported to Symphony Hall, anywhere in the world.
Chamber music listened to on a music system is usually fairly boring stuff, no matter how "good" the speaker. But with the Solo's, those instrumnets really come alive. And all other musics are even more so.

I bought these sight unseen and unheard. I trusted my own knowledge and that of John Otvos. Everything he says about speakers is the absolute truth! He is honest and truthful, a pleasure deal with, full of knowledge, and makes those store auditions a thing of the past.

I listened to Harbeth speakers for 20 years. They have always been among the most transparent and uncolored of speakers. The Solos are even more so, and have all the veils removed as well.
If one listens to spoken voice, not singing, through a music system, it never sounds quite like the real thing. But with the Solos, it is exactly like a human voice would naturally sound.

The Waveform Mach Solo's are truly a music lover's dream. And besides the Waveform Mach 17's, I don't honestly know of anything on the market that delivers the music as faithfully as the Solo's.

BTW, Waveform has been a monitor speaker for Telarc and Delos for years.

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