Acoustic Zen Crescendo


I'm pretty interested in these transmission-line, full-range speakers. Has anyone spent serious time with them? How do they compare to other contenders around $16K?

Unfortunately, I'd have to fly to SoCal for an audition, so I'd like to vet them as thoroughly as possible before committing the time and expense. Press has been very positive but also very limited, and user impressions are scarce on the web.

Thanks in advance,

Bill
wrm57
Nearly 4 years, and I still have my Crescendos. For someone that changes audio components rather quickly, this is by far a record.
I belong to an audio club, and I find the most prominent flaw(to my ears), is too analytical a sound.
The Crescendos give you the music without the sizzle; it's all steak. They are not "ruthlessly revealing" of equipment; I would put them in the forgiving camp, and to me, that's a great thing. I have thousands of cd's, and can't deal with "audiophile music."
A great speaker; I tried in-home auditions of 4 others from various manufacturers before deciding on the Crescendos. I spent about 1K on shipping the others back and forth.
So I'm approaching the 250 hr mark on my Crescendos and they are finally starting to "relax". I thought they were going to be to hi-fi sounding as I find most multi-driver cone speakers sound IMHO. For over 12 yeas now I've been a no crossover design lover (Beauhorns and then Ocellia) and yes these are "different" sounding than those crossoverless designs but they are anything but hi-fi sounding. (Boy am I relieved). They are dynamic, soundstage like none of my others, and the height of players and instruments in the soundstage are just right.

(Dealer disclaimer)
Lack of a hifi character is exactly what makes the Crescendo speaker superior sounding to the vast majority of the currently in vogue "audiophile" favored speakers that are frequently raved about.
Guys,

Just curious how far apart your speakers are, how much toe-in and how far you sit from your speakers?

Thanks,
Wig,
I don't have the Crescendos but my Coincidents are of very similar size and have 5 driver configuration(two 10" woofers are side mounted). They're 8 feet apart, 5 degree toe in and I sit 11 feet away.