I thought it was a rather nice system for a room with a drop tile ceiling, commercial grade carpeting and nothing on the walls. I do love Sonus Faber speakers, my local has a pair that retail for 10K that they demo with a McIntosh MA252 that makes 100WPC. It sounds fantastic but I don't think I would go any lower with the power. More often than not you see them paired with a a beefy power plant like the one in your photo.
I'm hoping the second dealer I'm seeing that day has some setup. Really interested in their classic line but I don't think those are released yet, going straight at Tannoy (I think Fyne is all ex tannoy people?).
The best sounding speakers for low power valves that I ever purchased was a pair of used Altec A7's, bought last December from a dealer in Germany who obtained them for himself (when his wife died he moved into a smaller abode which could not accommodate them so sold them). They are old and beat up but I like the vintage look. Mixed parts too; 15" 416-8B ALNICO woofer in the 825B bass cabinets, but 902-8B ferrite compression driver with plastic "tangerine" diffuser in the 511B high frequency horns. They sounded good from the start, better than the Thrax Lyra (£14,000) speakers I had before them, but I was able to get still more improvement in sound quality (not at all subtle) by changing from the rebuilt stock crossover to a pair of Pete Riggle "Hiraga" style crossovers (that he builds with NOS oil-filled capacitors). They sound really lovely driven by my 30-watt SET Ayon Spitfire integrated (which I believe would be comparable to your Line Magnetic's). You could probably eventually find a pair for sale within your budget, but it will take patience and lots of looking. The person selling them will be like the guy selling the ones I bought, not enough room (or poor WAF). But I see that could be your situation as well? How chiseled in stone is that position? Other than the Altec's, I would agree that Devore 96db/watt "Orangutan's" would be a easy match, great sounding too but can you pick up a pair in your budget? Same Harbeth HL5 Plus XD speakers, but costing at just over £5000 (and you would need stands) they might be outside of your budget. Also their sensitivity is 86db/watt/meter. Even with 45 watts per channel from your Line Magnetic, you would enjoy very nice music sound indeed if not rock or other played overly loud, but, being relatively small and looking traditional they would at least pass WAF.
Alright, finally got to visit Upscale and also Common Wave. I'm not going to write a dissertation on what went down but more of a "highlight" of what I heard and quick thoughts with some pictures. These are just my thoughts, not a pro at this and I'm sure some views will not gel with others here. Dealt with Joel at Upscale, what a great guy! Couldn't ask for a better experience with Upscale, super friendly staff, beautifully set up rooms, could have spent half the day there but the reason for being there was to listen to the Cornwall IV and Tannoy back to back. The only bummer is that they didn't have anything from Tannoy that I really wanted to hear so I went with the Turnberry since that was as close to getting what I really wanted to hear (what was in my budget) which was either the Stirling or Cheviot (why is tannoy pricing so confusing, like what's the difference between these at the same price?). I'll get straight to the point, the Cornwall IV is much better than previous Cornwall iterations but not for me, I'm so glad I listened because I was close to pulling the trigger on these based on recommendations alone. I couldn't listen to more than a few songs at a time before I started turning the volume down because the highs were getting to me. We started on the Feliks Arioso 300b integrated and then switched to the PrimaLuna 400 to see if we could get the highs to calm down a bit but it didn't help. It did show that the Arioso is freaking amazing! The definition of holographic tube sound and the PrimaLuna (which is a great unit) was just outclassed big time. Then we hooked up the Tannoy to the PrimaLuna and that's when everything came together, I had found the sound I was looking for. Much better midrange and better imaging as the sound came from all over where the Cornwalls imaged center well but nothing outside the speakers. Voices were more natural to me too. The Klipsch makes everything sound alive and as if you were at a live concert and that's cool but it's not natural to me and gets old pretty quickly. Then I headed into LA to Common Wave to listen to Devore and Harbeth. A little different atmosphere, incredible gear but one BIG room with a bunch of different setups all wide open. Very little treatment for each set up which I actually like, it's a bit more real but everything in one room was chaotic. They did have the Ojas speakers as they are the only retailer for them, cool to see and heard them for a few minutes and decided they are not my jam, I think I'm over horns now.......great airy sound with tight bass but shrill highs that sounded cupped and very horn like. Sat down with the Harbeth Super HL5 XD which were the exact speakers I wanted to hear but the only problem was that they were in a system set up for nearfield listening, like maybe 5-6' away? Gorgeous, lush midrange, loved the vocals here too but couldn't tell how they imaged at all as it was just there in your face. Wasn't even sure what gear they were using, it was all kind of hectic. I did have an idea of the sound and I really liked these speakers, just enough energy in the highs to match that classic Harbeth mid. They didn't have the baby hooked up and didn't have the 93's in stock so I listened to the Devore 0/96. Yeah, that's a great speaker, not in my budget, not even sure I would want to spend used 0/93 money. These had the most realistic sound I've ever heard from a speaker before I think. The most uncolored and straight up true musical sound. They were incredible. So now I think it's down to Tannoy, used Cheviot, Stirling, maybe Turnberry if I could find a used incredible deal, OR the Harbeth's. I'm looking used, so could be difficult or if I can figure a way to stretch it I would support Upscale for new speakers or b-stock as he said sometimes they come in with a bit of smudge in the finish from the bags they put over them as the polish is fresh and the only way they can discount from new on Tannoy. The Tannoys and Harbeth were the only listening sessions to where I wanted to turn them up! I actually could have listened to the Tannoys for hours, I found myself just relaxing and enjoying the music after the critical listening. So now, not sure how I'm going to choose between these two, the Harbeths would be easier to find used as there are more of them out there but once you add on stands they get pretty pricey. (budget is $4k-$7k at the most).
Sorry for the monster images..... I do want one of these, what is it? What does it do? I don't care, just need one
Sounds like a fun listening adventure. PS - You can definitely find a used pair of O/93s in your price range.
It was fun! I guess I should say that I'm more happy with staying under $6k which might be tough for the Devore.
Vacuum Tube Night Light I need one also. I expect you would have a hard time finding an used pair of DeVore O93 at or below $6k. Not because that's unreasonably low but because they are few on the ground and seemingly in high demand. Maybe a pair in rough cosmetic shape to be refinished? I mean, stuff happens: Devore Fidelity O/96 - Damaged - See Pics - Selling as-is Cheers, Robert
Ha! That's awesome, thank you for the link. Yeah I think the 0/93's are a stretch, there is a pair within driving distance to me (well a long drive) for $6,800.
Sounds like you had a great time, and came away with a good idea of what you really want now You might take a look at these and note the Seller. Pair of Harbeth SHL5+ Speakers
thanks for that update, those are very nice pictures to look at and read about. I think I would have had the same feelings after hearing all those speakers, Tannoy is hard to beat. It's interesting that people most commonly want to change amps to take some shout out of Klipsch horns, that can work but really I think its changing the source that has the bigger impact in most cases. A very lush LOMC cart with a good tubed phono and old records compared to a high end DAC with hi-res files makes a bigger difference to me. Digital sources and most modern mastering does sound a bit too aggressive in a short amount of time through CW's. The room they are sitting it also makes a big difference. CW's are pretty easy to work with for placement and I think a lack of treatments in a space can take some of the shout away. Size also matters, I think CW's work better in a big room than Harbeth. Not that I'm trying to talk you into or out of any opinion you have stated, it just there is a practical aspect they do bring to the table. Tannoy pricing, models and availability are a bit of a struggle by comparison. They are also the best looking speaker, those cabinets are fantastic.
Carmine thanks for the pics and notes looks like a fun day of auditioning. I guess you didn't get to hear the Fyne speakers which is too bad I loved the big floorstanders at CAF. Listening to Reference Tannoys is next to impossible in the US sadly so never listened but always lusted after them. Also have heard the 0/96 in a friends system they are great speakers indeed. Have fun making your decision!
Nope, didn't get a chance. All they had was a very high end Fyne tower and they were still in boxes. Found a pair of demo Turnberrys for $6k but they won't ship and they are a 14 hour drive away!!!!
Fun! -Were you able to try the 300b with the Tannoys? -Was it not possible to setup the O/Babes? Very close to your price range and likely a knock off the O/96 block.
Fun adventure ! I would say to check out the Forte IV, they are not as bright as the Cornwall. Also, I did not recommend Harbeth first time around because they are not what I would consider as efficient as you were looking for. The 5's can image very well but they are particular about toe angle and sound great far field.
Just note that some of the systems in the photos above are using Shindo which is vastly superior to the systems using Prima Luna IMO. Even within a company brand the sound can be a lot different. I remember way way back when I auditioned the Audio Note J/Spe with the OTO and loved that combination - to save money I tried Rotel and NAD and it was pretty lousy - if I had auditioned these amps first I would never have been interested in the speakers. Even the more expensive (than the OTO) Audio Note SORO didn't do it for me. And this doesn't even get me started on the source - as good as the $30,000 Linn Sondek may be the - $3,500 AN non-oversampling designed was better with the AN speakers. I have been fortunate enough to audition the Shindo Petrus ($40,000 USD) and their power amp on the AN E/AlNiCo but the Shindo preamp sounded much better than the power amp and when the AN Kegon power amp was put in the sound became coherent. So if you are choosing a speaker and saying speaker A sounds better than B - be careful that speaker A isn't being aided by vastly superior amplifiers and sources - no speaker can put back what weaker sources miss - if the source is a bit bright the amp and speaker will just tell you that it's a bit bright. Especially when dealing with tube gear! Many companies like Audio Note or ARC or Prima Luna because they sell so so so so so many amplifiers stock all their tube gear with "common" tubes - in other words cheap tubes you can find easily and replace easily. Shindo, on the other hand, sells very few amplifiers - so they stock with very good expensive tubes - but they're much more expensive to replace and much harder to find. But it sort of puts them at an advantage because they are using very good tubes while the other brands are supplying el cheapo tubes. It's the same at Audio shows - you're just sort of evaluating the sound but you really don't know which item is causing a problem or responsible for it being really good. The speakers get all the credit or all the blame but like I said - even within a brand you may like 3 of their amps and dislike two other of their amps. Or you might like two amps but in different ways. I have been looking at the Audio Note Jinro and Meishue Tonmeister - they each bring a quite different presentation through the same speakers and both quite different from my own Empress amplifiers. The Meishue is warmer full-bodied - the Empress is more of a rocker and leaner and the Jinro is probably the best of both worlds but not quite as "beautiful" as the Meishu Tonmeister - so one has to decide which music they listen to more - and of course budget plays a role as the Meishu is 1/3 the price of the Jinro. Anyway - All the gear you are looking at is quality stuff - If you can try and audition the Tannoy Eaton standmount - I like it more than even the Turnberry or Stirling - and I like it more than Harbeth or Klipsch. The Eaton has considerable bass. Upscale Audio's list price is $6k for the pair. Get a deal on their stands and you'll be under your budget.
Completely agree. That's why my listening at Upscale meant a lot more to me, they asked about my setup and tried to match it with what they had there the best they could. The other place was a mess, every speaker had a different setup that varied in price but most was very high end. Interesting take on the Eaton, I'm actually thinking of maybe flying to the owner of the Turnberry and checking them back home! I have a free southwest airlines ticket and oversized baggage is only $75 per box, so for $150 I can fly them back home. $6k is tough to beat for new demos, at least they are broke in but that's still a lot of work to get some speakers.
www.tmraudio.com carries b-stock Harbeth and they ship. I've seen some pretty big discounts browsing their website.
Well, even my preference for the Eaton is coloured some - the Eaton being a standmount was higher up and level with my ears - the Tannoy Floorstanders are below the ears. That is no slight difference. And I can't remember if the Turnberry was the SE or the GR version - The difference between SE and GR isn't tiny either.
The Turnberry I listened to and the ones I was offered for sale are the GR. What I really wanted to listen to though was the Cheviot or Arden, I like the looks of the Legacy line a bit more. Very true on the level of the tweeter, my listening position is very low.
