Always best to audition but the Spendors are really great speakers. They are cappable of sounding exactly the way you described your ideal system. High resale value as well.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Achieving audio system synergy
I am putting together a system after much procrastination. My budget is $5K – 8K (new or used).
My music is a lot of vocal. Opera, Norah Jones, Sinatra. Orchestra, pop and blues.
Sound – needs to be musical but want to hear the details. Don’t want purely clinical. Sound stage is important. Want some warmth but not have all the edges rounded off. The key is to have a system that plays well together and the sum hopefully is better than each individual component can do.
I have bought a Plinius 8200 MkII from a fellow A’goner recently. Have not received it yet. Though I think I will like it I am not married to it.
Room – 12x17x9 with one 17 ft side open into the breakfast and kitchen area.
- wood floor, kind of a hard room.
Components being considered:
Speakers
- Spendor S8e - Read a lot of good things about this. Have auditioned S5e in a local dealer. The room was pretty bad and I could not hear any magic that I was hoping for. Cannot get a local audition of S8e so far. Any help here? (I am in the South San Francisco Bay area). I am tempted to buy the S8e un-auditioned based on review alone (dangerous move).
- Dali Helicon 400 – auditioned it with Simaudio I-3 and Eclipse CDP. Loved the soundstage, the details and overall sound. Concerned about the possible fatigue factor with the high end in long listening
- Harbeth, JMR, Zu and Usher all have good reviews here but hard to get an audition. I am intrigued by JMR and Usher. May try to audition them.
Amp
- Not familiar with tube. So the Plinius hopefully will do.
Source – not a vinyl guy, CDP only
- Ayre CX7e based on review this could be the one. Have not auditioned.
- Simaudio Eclipse – love the details and speed. But not sure it justifies the price
- Tube CDP – open to it. Auditioned Jolida JD 100, not impressed
So I am wondering if a Spendor S8e - Plinius 8200 – Ayre CX7e is a winning combination that can last a long time or there is a better combination.
Thanks for your input in advance
Bill
My music is a lot of vocal. Opera, Norah Jones, Sinatra. Orchestra, pop and blues.
Sound – needs to be musical but want to hear the details. Don’t want purely clinical. Sound stage is important. Want some warmth but not have all the edges rounded off. The key is to have a system that plays well together and the sum hopefully is better than each individual component can do.
I have bought a Plinius 8200 MkII from a fellow A’goner recently. Have not received it yet. Though I think I will like it I am not married to it.
Room – 12x17x9 with one 17 ft side open into the breakfast and kitchen area.
- wood floor, kind of a hard room.
Components being considered:
Speakers
- Spendor S8e - Read a lot of good things about this. Have auditioned S5e in a local dealer. The room was pretty bad and I could not hear any magic that I was hoping for. Cannot get a local audition of S8e so far. Any help here? (I am in the South San Francisco Bay area). I am tempted to buy the S8e un-auditioned based on review alone (dangerous move).
- Dali Helicon 400 – auditioned it with Simaudio I-3 and Eclipse CDP. Loved the soundstage, the details and overall sound. Concerned about the possible fatigue factor with the high end in long listening
- Harbeth, JMR, Zu and Usher all have good reviews here but hard to get an audition. I am intrigued by JMR and Usher. May try to audition them.
Amp
- Not familiar with tube. So the Plinius hopefully will do.
Source – not a vinyl guy, CDP only
- Ayre CX7e based on review this could be the one. Have not auditioned.
- Simaudio Eclipse – love the details and speed. But not sure it justifies the price
- Tube CDP – open to it. Auditioned Jolida JD 100, not impressed
So I am wondering if a Spendor S8e - Plinius 8200 – Ayre CX7e is a winning combination that can last a long time or there is a better combination.
Thanks for your input in advance
Bill
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- 12 posts total
I am not a tube person but have heard good things about Onix integared. Look at http://av123.com . The company was founded by Mark Schifter (don't know if he is still there) whose previous company Audio Alchemy's products had developed a reputation for great quality at affordable prices. |
The following part of your post -- "needs to be musical but want to hear the details. Don’t want purely clinical. Sound stage is important. Want some warmth but not have all the edges rounded off." -- leads me to suggest that you add the Vandersteen 3A or 3A Signatures to your short list for audition. They certainly meet your criteria, and they are not particularly fussy about the kind of amplification (as long as it's good quality). If possible, you'd be well advised to audition the speakers in your home -- as noted above, your listening room is a very important factor in the kind of sound production you'll get. |
I have Helicon 800's and they do demand high quality upstream components as they are extremely revealing, but after you listen to them for a while other speakers sound like they have wool over them or are missing some of the music. The Helicon series really brings out the detail and beauty in a lot of recordings and surprisingly is not too bad on poorly recorded rock etc. because unlike some speakers that are very "detailed" there isn't a huge tilt up on the highs, and they have plenty of midbass and decent low bass and avoid sounding thin. They have amazing soundstage depth,image placement, and separation. I would think the Plinius would mate up fairly well as it is a little on the warm side from my understanding though I have not heard one. I had the Ayre previous and it is a great player, if you are looking for something a little more mellow that still gets all the detail right, look for a used electrocompaniet EMC-1UP which should go for around what the Ayre does. |
Looking for audio synergy is a noble and rewarding journey. However, I simply dont have the patience to try out so many different types of compnonents/speakers in a multitude of combinations to find the most appealing combo. I would never end up buying anything!! Since you mentioned Dali, I will add that I bought the Heli 400s, and this is where I started building my system. Yes the Dali's have ribbon tweeter, which offer lotsa high end info, but can also be too bright with the wrong components (and here the challenge of synergy comes in). I listend to the Dali with an older Denon cdp, and some recordings were too bright. Then I bought a used Arcam cd73, and the highs were higher, softer, and nicely detaileed with no harshness. Next I bought a Simaudio Equinox SE cdp b/c I got a crackin' deal on it and I love the detail and neutrality of the Simaudio gear. So now I have the Dali and Simaudio combo (like you mentioned above) and am looking for an amp/separates that is not conducive to the potentially bright-sounding high end. A Simaudio amp is a choice, and I partially share your opinion that this synergy can be too revealing and bright. I do remembering auditioning the sim cdp with the Helicons @ Audio Vision SF ( you are in the Bay area, right?) with a prima luna integrated tube amp (prologue or dialogue) and almost fell out of my chair the mids/vocals/highs were so musical. However, as expected, the lows suffered. AVSF has a lot of great choices, I suggest u check em out if not already. Let us know what you ultimately decide! |
- 12 posts total