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Acoustic Zen Adagio - need advise please

Hello everyone,

Time for speakers upgrade and I have almost decided to go for Adagios based only on what I read about them.
I know that buying speakers without auditioning them is not a good idea, however I have no much of a choice.
In the place I live only few brands are represented and I could not find anything to my taste within my price range.
My last speakers were Dynaudio 1.3SE and despite being very good in some areas I did not like their synthetic and bright overall sound and got rid of them.Temporarily replaced them
with LS3/5A and love them,but they are too small for the room my main system is in....so it should be a floorstander
to replace them.My room is 22x11x9.
My questions about the Adagios are:
1.Can Adagios be labelled as alrounder as I listen to wide variety of music genres? How will they handle hard rock for instance?
2.Is the box absolutely quiet without any resonances, feedback etc?
3.Do they come close to single driver ,paper cone speakers
in terms of natural timbre,size of instruments and presence.
4.Are the factory boxes safe enough for overseas shipping.
Some time ago I had big speakers damaged in transit(very poor packaging) and do not want this to happen again.
5.If you may suggest any other speakers up to $4500 which
come close to above stated please advise.
Thank you very much.
Orlin
kdbg00
avrij's avatar
avrij
70 posts
 
i luv mine. if you have a quality system in front, you will hear what it can do. i do believe you can do better if rock is your dominant listening. the bass is quite good, but not what 12" woofers can do for led zeppelin. however the neutrality and low distortion are a real pleasure. the packing is not great. i would want better than the factory stuff.

i have a fostex based single driver system too, love the detail and mids, but the adagio bass and soundstage are in another league. as a whole, single drivers are tough for rock, unless you go with great big boxes.

i would look used, therre have been a number around here, i got mine here for a great price.

i would also look for the totem forests, real bass and well reviewed.

consider cardersound if you might like the single drivers
digsmithd
913 posts
 
My speaker jumps were from 1.3se's to totem forests to the adagios.Since then upgraded cd player to 5.3 sim.The adagios offer a warmer musical sound...FOR ME.I listen to jazz primarily.Needed something to convey cynbals to my tastes.I am very content with the upgrade over both the both.They all have there strong points,but over all i am very impressed with what the adagio is all about.
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 
Avrij,
I like your suggestion in regards to CarderSound single driver speakers. Nino, the entry speaker from CS line will lock bass and soundstage as well as scale and dynamics when compared to its bigger brother TyBone v2. The first one is single mouth design and second is double mouth, wich can be heard. Better atack, soundstage, dynamics and huge sense of scale and size.....especially with live recordings and Jazz.
It is probably due to the fact that room is loaded from the bottom as well as from the top of the speaker.
At $5900 , it is not cheap but IMO worth looking into.
There are limitations to 4.5 inch modified Fostex driver and it is the bass wich is very dynamic but locks extention. If you could add the quality subwoofer later on, you would have one amazing system that could probably make you stop looking for more.
But away, if my memory serves me right - Jeff Carder is working on new sub that will match his speakers ......I will check it out when it comes out.

Cheers
Mariusz
fafafion
190 posts
 
I have an Adagio in my 3rd system,and it turned out to be the most enjoyable system that I have of all my systems.But here's my experience with adagio.

1.Must change the spikes to Finite Elemente Cerabase/Cerapucs[depending on your budget]There is no two way about it IMHO,you will be rewarded with the investments many times Over.

2.buy the best electronics you could afford.The Adagio is very transparent.I matched mine with the French-made NEODIO 150 intergrated amp.Based on my audition,This is one of the best intergrated amp I have the pleasure of listening and it is simply breathless....But there are other amps that I have listened to that bring out the stunning quality of the Adagio[Lavardin IT,Karan INtergrated,Naim ]

Well to be frank ,once you control the resonance,there is nothing like it at that price..Believe me My 3rd system is more enjoyable to me than My reference system .....Enjoy...
david12
1,454 posts
 
Agree with Fafafion, excellent speakers, respond to a bit of attention. They are in my first and only system! Very neutral, detailed, excellent tight base, easy to drive. I use Symposium rollerblock Jun + svelt shelf, an immediate improvement. They sound excellent with my Viva Solista 22 watt SET. They may be only 89 DB, but they love tubes and the Solista easily drives and controls them.
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