HP Caravelle Monitor V/S Manger Zerobox109

I am in the midst of breaking in a new pair of Caravelle's. They really are that good...I could go on and on. Email me if you would like. They are worth far more than their asking price. They do things that other speakers I have owned don't do...I have owned Maggie 3.6, Hales 5's, spendor s100's, diapason adamantes. These really are amazing. I can't encourage you enough to try a pair. I will post a review after further break in. But as far as detailed and musical they will more than fit the bill. Scott

Thanks Scott,

I'm eagerly awaiting your review on the Caravelle's, I’m finding it really hard to make my decision as the Caravelle's are not cheap and to buy without a audition is extremely hard, but surely has got me very interested in the product.

Also I find it surprising that no one else has much interest in the Manger Zerobox speakers if anyone has heard them please give me your opinions.

Thanks,
Sataym

Sataym, I have only heard the Mangers at a show, in show conditions and it was awhile ago, so I really don't have an accurate point of reference. I wasn't really sure what the model was either. Sorry, not much help here. I will post a review after more break-in and experience with the Caravelle speaker. Scott

hello,

The Caravelle looks like it uses a Danish-made Peerless CSX line woofer, which is around $50. Not sure about the tweeter.

It is basically a speaker following the time-aligned 1st order school of thought like Thiel or Meadowlark speakers. There is nothing special about it beyond that. Moreover, the drivers used in Thiel speakers are VERY impressive. The drivers in teh Caravelle are fairly mundane.

The Manger is in another leauge. It is the most advanced driver in existence right now, and the ONLY driver that can reproduce any input waveform (when combined with a suitable woofer). No other driver can do this - period. The Manger driver's, raw, are $900 each. This is for good reason. There is no better time alignment then the Manger. It has a stable acoustic center at all frequencies, save for the low end. All sound arrives from one-point in space time.

There is absolutely no comparison between these speakers. Whatsoever.

Also, if you're really hung-up on cone dynamic drivers (and all the energy storage/damping problems associated) then check out the Earthworks Sigma speaker. Similiar to the Caravelle, but with much much better drivers. Should sound MUCH better. Has been well reviewed in both the professional world (it's a professional nearfield monitor) and the silly audophile world.

cheers,

-tal

Also take a look at Buggtussel Cingulate monitor at
www.Buggtussel.com

So -tal you think you know something about the Caravelle? Please tell me more.. I am very curious. I am a dealer of Starsound Products. Tom

I love it when people defend a speaker or compare without even listening to the other speaker....but base it on cost of a cone? "Should sound much better?" Trust your ears...I have not listened to a manger speaker, check out my comments, "sorry, not much help here" - who are you going to trust your ears, or a comment like the above.

The Caravelle is a great sounding speaker. I have compared it too others I have owned...you will see lists in other posts. I frankly don't give a crap what they paid for their cones and quite frankly if it is $50 - then cudos to them for phenominal engineering and profiteering, as I am glad to pay them their asking price for these speakers.

How are your speakers dealing with energy storage in the cabinet and the crossover? What means do they use to resolve these problems? Does the crossover in these speakers present the oppurtunity for all the signal to be played or is some dumped to ground? Is the crossover balanced, so as to present a symetrical load to the amplifier? What are the composition of the individual crossover components. What is the makeup of internal wiring and how does it deal with the massive acoustical internal g-force with-in..These are a few of the questions I have about speakers. Tom

So, it is a $50.00 Peerless. Yeesch.

There was a similiar posting over on AA about how Bobby at Merlin uses $100 tweeters or some junk like that.

I am so sick of reading about idiots cutting up power cords and "telling all" or someone like Taloyd posting something like the above. It is really a shame that such people are part of our community.

Taloyd, why don't you prove your point. Put together a speaker with the most expensive parts you can find. I'll bet the end result couldn't even take up shelf space at Circuit City. You do know that it isn't just parts that make up a speaker, don't you?

Obviously you don't.

Regards,

Some im posters were mislead on their choice of hodgepodge cables and so called power conditioners. Coherency should only be purchased after it is understood. Tom

Hi,

I had stated this thread about 3months back and suddenly it has come back alive again, well I haven't upgraded my speakers as yet still using the dynaudio 1.3se.

I have auditioned the mangers several times after my initial post thou and here’s my conclusion on the Zerobox 109;
They sound completely natural the vocals from these speakers are fantastic, the image is big, stable and pin point, but it is not a speaker for all types of music the top end is very different like its not there :), and when you play some aggressive music and it sounds mellow all the aggressiveness is lost.
I guess if I only heard jazz, acoustic... then these speakers would be perfect for me, they are the MOST coherent and smooth pair of speakers I have ever heard.

But in the end I dint get them ultimately because for me if a speaker cannot play all kinds of music then it's not worth it, I have been told the bigger brother the 107 is better but I don’t know if covers up the short comings of the 109.

As for the HP monitors sadly I guess I will never get to audition them as I’m from India unless when I’m in the US for holidays, and I’m rather chicken to just buy them unheard as they are rather expensive and if for any reason I don’t like them I wouldn’t be able to resell them over here as no one knows about them.

Regards,
Satyam

Mattybumpkin,

The merlin uses the Dynaudio Esotar D330/A tweeters, which by any standards are world class, they are one of the most reveling and the most sweet sounding tweeters I have heard.

So who ever said that the Merlin VSM is using 100$ tweeters has got his facts wrong as the Esotar's are about $300.

Regards,
Satyam