sort of seems like this is more of a blanket generalization ("such statements bug the heck out of me") than what Helom said. his comment was clear and specific and he has mentioned particular examples. whereas you have refuted and shamed his opinion, but have offered no evidence to the contrary. which speakers have you heard with midrange as pure as the harbeth monitor 30? i am curious...because i'd love to try them! when you hear/own enough speakers and you go to enough trade shows and showrooms as it sounds like Helom has, you can begin to form a picture of what the reality is: the speaker industry is dismal, as is the vintage speaker world. there just aren't very many options in terms of truly great, truly sophisticated loudspeakers. based on my experience, i think his claim has a lot of validity. having not heard every speaker in the world, it still makes total sense to me that a person would believe the harbeth monitor 30 has among the best midbands in the whole world. listening to them...it's fairly obvious, and thousands of reviews and user testimonials also support Helom's statement. by no means is it a perfect speaker, but none are.
Fair enough. What speakers would you recommend as a step above them, possibly driven by the Hint or A 21 (which should sound similar)? Say below $4000? Thanks. PS: I don’t play loud ... certainly <90dB C weighted average levels, most likely around 80dB C weighted.
Maybe the Spatial Audio Sapphires. For towers similar in footprint to the MAs, the Sonus Faber Sonetto Vs. Retail on those is $5K but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t negotiate down to 4. I also preferred the ML Motion series to the Silver 8s.
Mostly the unrefined tweeter. Out of the box it is smoother than some, like the Revel F36 for example, but unfortunately break-in didn’t do away with some distortion I was hearing. Also, they weren’t very coherent, I could distinctly hear the handoff between drivers. The lower mids were recessed too — a trait I often hear in 3-way towers. I imagine some like that sort of presentation but it’s not my preference. Lastly, their bass in my room was either too much or too little. Regardless of port-plug configuration or placement, I just couldn’t manage to find a sweet spot.
For similar money the Evo 4.4 are much better and the finish is in line with something more expensive. Use a dome midrange driver which you only find in the likes of ATC monitors plus an EMT tweeter. I think the Linton uses a quite basic tweeter design but they still sound good for the price especially if you value retro sounding /looking speakers. Comparing with £4K Harbeths probably isn't fair but I think the Harbeth 30.2XD don't provide good value at current prices for a two way of their size. Wharfedale provide good value and more can afford them. A boutique brand £4K speaker will beat them on detail but should not trounce them.
Sorry this is veering away from the thread subject ... but gives me food for thought. I don’t hear the distortion, handoff, lower mid recession, nor bass issues (yet) with the Silver 8s. Possibly I’m just not as sensitive to these things (may be a blessing). I do need to continue listening for sure, I only have a handful of hours on this combo/setup in a new house. Moving here for good in Feb so will have a lifetime to listen after that. Thanks very much for the responses and comments/suggestions. Kal, I don’t know if you’ve heard or reviewed any SF speakers similar to those mentioned, if so of course, I’d welcome comments (maybe in a new thread or PM).
Another interesting comparison, I’d read briefly about the Evo 4.4s but thought they’d be very similar to my Silver 8s. Maybe not. Intrigued by the dome mid and EMT tweeter ... my first real stereo had Pioneer Project 100A speakers with the soft dome midrange (1977ish).
I don't have the bass/lower-mid issues that bother Helom nor is the tweeter a problem although it is far from the most sophisticated tweeter out there. The former, at least, may be influenced by the room. The only SF that I have heard in the same room is the Venere 2.5 which precipitated my effort to move beyond the Paradigms I had at that time. OTOH, those were 150% of the price of the MAs and were a bit too bright for me (despite the clarity).
In all fairness I've encountered quite a few speakers I liked less than the Silver8s, at their price point and above. For a full-range tower they were more than competitive for their street price at the time.
Currently at Music Direct JBL 4307 is available for a close price as Lintons. Anyone got an experience how they compare?
UPDATE: to make a long story short, some of my review commentary may have been skewed as a result of the amplification i was using. i have identified, as the result of further experimentation, a glassy, chimey, semi-aggressive coloration in the tube amplifier i used for my wharfedale listening. i thought it was enough power for the speakers, but i may have been underpowering them. this would explain some of my criticism of the mid driver, though i still feel confident that it lacks refinement (this was heard easily by direct comparison to the harbeths....which i was also underpowering, btw), as i experienced similar issues with the denton when i tried them a while back using a variety of different amplifiers. underpowering may also explain why the linton sounded so incoherent to me...not enough juice to make the woofer keep up with the other drivers. so anyway, just because the wharfedale didn't work for me in my room with this amplifier with my source, doesn't mean my experience is the be-all-end-all or that it will be your experience. i apologize if any aspect of my assessment of this speaker system was misleading. i did not intend it to be and since the speakers aren't here anymore, i can't revisit the session with a more powerful amplifier. live and learn. the journey continues....
I just got a pair, having figured that 30 years was probably long enough for my old ones (Mission 761's) and I really like them - but then I suspect I'm not as picky as some and I don't think I exactly have golden ears. For me they are bouncy and curvy, slinky and chocolatey - very in the room - and very easy on the eyes.
had a chance to revisit the lintons with a more powerful solid state amplifier. in fact, even though i may have been underpowering them for my intial review, they sound a little worse than they did with my lower powered tube amplifier that i thought may have been goosing the upper mids and causing most of the raggedness. the solid state amp does a better job of controlling the drivers, but i am afraid the gist of my original review commentary stands, according to my perception.
So interesting the different takes on these speakers. I just snagged a pair and was at first...underwhelmed. I paired them with my tube amp (25w in triode/45w ultralinier). Sound was a bit polite and boring. Maybe even kinda flat. Then I busted out my old Denon 3808ci (180w for 6ohm) and they came to life. They are SO fun. Not super refined or transparent but I knew this going in. They are surprisingly full sounding. With a serious punch. I have them about 12” away from the rear wall and slightly toed in. They’re absolutely gorgeous (mahogany red) and built like tanks. Color me impressed for the price.
Hi @TheSeeker - I can relate to a lot of what you wrote here. It gives me pause in terms of considering an upgrade to the Lintons. I think I am looking for very similar things in a speaker as to what you describe, so I'm curious as to where you currently are with your search? Have you considered the recent JBL L82 or JBL L100 Classics at all?
Hi, regarding jagged, rounded corner with glue blob and overall poor finish etc, I guess you may have been unlucky. After all hype and award-winning, I bought a new pair with stands, in sealed boxes, which I figured sonically would be a substantial upgrade from my actually very well sounding and beloved Heybrook HB1:s, which I bought new in 1984 for 300$ I think. My Lintons were exceptionally well built and finished, just gorgeous in every detail. Soundwise though...... Dull, lifeless , totally lacking air and openness. Harsh , shouty , ear fatiguing upper mids, but punchy, strong and fairly controlled bass. Besides being unable to produce a lively, airy yet sweet presence of voices and instruments, they have a strange attribute that I think is very disturbing; and that hampers from getting really involved in ,and hypnotized by, the music presentation; they kind of "hammer" both unpleasant lower midrange and upper bass sounds in a musically in-coherent way, making me really annoyed. I have invested in a lot better capacitors and resistors in the crossover for the upper register, improving openness, detail and dynamics a lot, but still.... As late as this morning, I again carried my old Heybrook HB1:s down from second floor and did "A-to-B-to-A" testing versus the upgraded Lintons. Despite their about 40 years of age , and a significantly lower price, the HB1:s once again mercilessly just destroyed the Lintons. They have what the Lintons so evidently lack; a lively, vibrant and credible presentation of voices and instruments and delicate sounds and transients. Put short: The Heybrook HB1:s play in a totally different league than the Lintons - or maybe more correctly put; the Lintons are very handsome and well put together (in my case ) but lack what is more important ; a really high quality sound reproduction.
My opinion is that the Lintons Heritage even are substantially below the mark of "fair enough" if we discuss pure sound quality. Build quality though, is excellent.
I very much love my Wharfedale Denton 80th's. I deemed them over-tasked in my current listening room and started looking for a larger speaker for this challenging space. I considered Linton's but instead reeled in a pair of JBL L82's and am really very happy with them. Dynamic grace and enveloping boogie at any volume. Worth a listen.
Very curious, which Spendor model? I have so far only heard Classic 100, which I found sounding fantastic, with an openness and presence and natural reproduction right down my alley. Then I saw the price.... approx 12000$ I think. Somewhat out of the range even worth discussing with my wife.... I am not very satisfied with my Lintons, even though they have qualities I do appreciate. Currently running through various crossover modifications to see if the from my side most missed attribute , a spacious and "alive feeling" presentation, without being that shouty and strident in the mids, is possible by those means. I am though starting to suspect, that the mid range driver quality is not good enough, and wonder if there are any really good suitable replacements at hand. But then you may run into so costly changes, that the Linton's basic specs may be too inferior to start from, like "Pearls before swine..."
Well, yes , that is the BIG Linton problem, ugly sounding upper mids ( ear fatigueing and annoying ), besides from a rather dull and not very lively presentation. I would agree, that if the mids were really good, I would probably consider not getting rid of them, despite lack of "airy, spacious presentation, yet smooth". Actually my 40 years old Heybrook HB1:s, sound a hell of a lot better in both those aspects, and roughly as big, despite half of the size and a 3rd of the weight. Price wise the HB1:s and Lintons are fairly comparable, since I payed about 300$ in 1983, corresponding to roughly 800$ today. I think Peter Comeau was a lot more successful when designing the early Heybrooks, then he has been with the Lintons. A friend of mine also still has his Heybrooks that he bought in the 80's, HB3:s Series 1, which I find sounding very good, and for now I try to find a pair to renovate if needed. Hard to find though.... Cheers, Magnus
