New Bookshelf Speakers With Serious Buzz......

I really wish someone would do an A-B direct comparo vid between the Buchardt S300s and S400s...
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Most of the reviewers, if not all, have done both of them, but not A-B direct comparison.

Peace,
Tony

 

I did not realize how different the 300S was from the 400S until reading these last couple of pages.

I think that Thomas, in his video, had a good point about changing the naming conventions so as to better illustrate there are different speakers by creating two completely different series, rather than just the 300 & 400. Could be "S" and "W" or whatever.

That does make more sense to me.

 

Did you watch Shawn’s video all the way through? At 19:54, after the S400 review, he has a “bonus” segment comparing the S400 vs the S300...

 

Helpful, yes. But still not a direct A-B sonic comparo.
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S400 clearly

 

Reducing the wattage worked better for you with these speakers? interesting! Or were you changing from solid state to tubes?

I'm also curious to hear your impression of these speakers against the few reviewers mentioned in the thread (Z Reviews / Zero Fidelity / Thomas). Which of these reviewers came closest to your listening experience?

 

The S300s are likely very good but can't match the S400 based on what I've heard and read. I really want to hear them, hopefully at AXPONA in a few months.
The S400s seem to have the midrange magic and clarity which I would definitely prefer.
They sold me with the use of the waveguide for the tweeter which creates an equal sound dispersion pattern to that of the woofer. This gives them a exceptional coherence, a much larger sound stage and sweet spot, as noted by the reviews.
I have also been impressed by speakers that get the passive radiator "right". The Legacy Audio Calibres and Definitive Technology D11's that I have heard definitely do that- the bass extension and power of a large enclosure / floor stander speaker in a bookshelf sized box.
From the reviews the S400s have successfully used it too.

 

All very true, AFAIK.

My concerns would lie in the following areas: 1), the S300 is a much larger speaker, so it may out perform the 400 in the bass department, and 2), I've heard that the 300 is happy with most any amp, whereas the 400 can be picky there.
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The S300 had to have a larger cabinet because it is ported. The S400 uses a passive radiator, therefore the cabinet can be smaller yet produce deeper, tighter bass.

 

I provided my impressions on this thread on Jan 6.
I run multiple amps. The 200wpc is a tube hybrid. The s400 is loving both. I still say they’re still braking in and improving.

F1nut- I have no experience with the s300, nor can I say the s400 has better bass. I CAN tell you that it produces a LOT of tight musical bass energy.

avanti1960- I’m not sure if the s400 can rival my Apogees for midrange magic, but then again, few other speakers can. I do Love the seamless integration of the drivers. That waveguide is special

 

i just received word that buchardt will be exhibiting at the AXPONA show in chicago this april. they will be partnering with parasound.
looking forward to hearing what all the buzz is about!!!

 

Hmm, I wonder if Buchardt would be furious with me if I ordered both the S300s and S400s for home audition, and then returned the one set of speakers I liked less...

Also wonder if that happens to them a lot. If so, they're probably not so thrilled with the 50% return rate there?
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Send em an email. I bet Mads is cool with it as long as you keep one pair

 

I think that would be the key you'd have to keep one of the pairs otherwise I think they would do it. Those companies get great deals on shipping the shipping's not going to wipe them out.

 

Don't discount the shipping. Any shipping is expensive today. If they are shipping from overseas, that much more so.

When you say "those companies", realize that while larger volume companies like Klipsch and Polk get extra special shipping prices, the same does not hold true for small volume shipping customer's.

Component's like heavy tube amplifier's and speaker's are very expensive to ship. Speaker's are both heavy and the are bulky. Both of which, make them costly to ship.

 

Yeah I don’t think it’s that simple. One of the reasons for the delay in shipping my S400’s was Mads was experiencing delays in securing space on the container carriers. Then there was trucking, air, etc. sounds like an expensive process.

 

Yeah but I'm saying usually companies like that the other shipping large volumes get a major discount from the carrier that shipping it.

 

I've had my S400's for a week now, and while I really like them, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to keep them. They sound great and the bass is definitely tighter than with what I'm using now. In addition, they image better on some music, but not on everything. I've broken them in at least 100+ hours and have been listening to them and comparing at least 2-3 hours/day. I find them to be perfectly neutral and pretty much what I look for or want in a speaker, I'm just not sure that small amount of gains I receive in sound justifies the expenditure. That being said, the jury is still pretty much out. I'll be giving them another week for sure.

 

Yeah I think I read on zero fidelity that he was talkin 300 + hours of Break In Time which seems excessive.

 

Wow. For some reason I thought it was more around the 100 hour mark. That does seem a bit excessive, but what do I know.

 

Perhaps you could rephrase this?

It would appear that you are saying that companies shipping large volumes get a major discount from the shipper?

They do, but I was pointing out that company's like Buchardt Audio are not large companies and as such, would not be shipping large quantities of speaker's or what ever else they produce and are not likely to receiving any substantial discounts from shipper's, like a large volume company like Polk or Klipsch would.

 

And you know the size of Buchardt how? And how big they are in Europe you know that how?


All I said is to be able to offer free shipping and free return shipping if you don't like them comes down to two things they're very confident in their speaker and they're getting good shipping deals also.

 

See below...