Talon Ravens vs. JM Lab Mezzo Utopias??? comment

Am not familiar with the JM products but I have owned or experience with the Peregrines, Peregrine X, Khorus, Khorus X mk II, Raven 2002 with the new X-over, ProAc 2.5, Wharfedale EVO 10 monitors, Soliloquy 6.2's - all in the last 3 years. What a mess I am! The Talons are just plain different. In my opinion better, but all in all different. The ProAc's are the worst by far: aggressive, limiting, small sounding. The Wharfedales are by a huge margin the best value. Incredible at any price, even better given what they fetch in $$$. The Talons feature excellent bass, uncanny scale - everything sounds immense. Hard to describe. The older Talons sounded dull to begin with, then brightened up; the newer Talons break in just the opposite: they start a bit hot then settle down - you must be patient. Once broken in, they are a different speaker than what you have listened to before. Couple delicacy and sweetness with a huge soundstage and incredible dynamics. Pitch correctness, the full frequency range top to bottom. And they favor no particular type of music. Can't understand those who buy certain products because they sound 'best' with certain types of music! Isn't good stereo supposed to broaden our musical horizons, not limit them?? MM

Forgot a little experience also lately with Reference 3A monitors, Silverline, Ruark, and a Danish (I believe) named speaker whose name escapes me at the moment. Again -
the Talon products just offer a much more believable sound. Drama, scale: more realistic timbre I think says it best - they sound like instruments and voices really sound - a more realistic representation of actual vocals and instrumentation. Most recreations sound small and somewhat thin, the Talons sound larger, more lifelike. MM

Anyone looking at excellent speakers like the Talons should check out Meadowlarks, either the new Nighthawks or the giant killer Blue Heron 2's, and by giant killer I'm talking about Grand Utopia, Wilson X-1 caliber. It's all determined by what you drive them with. Just a suggestion to check out, it certainly doesn't hurt to check something out, you might be pleasantly surprised. Just make sure you find a dealer who has them fully broken in.
Keith
Holy Grail Audio

continue to remember some experimentation done with speakers lately: in the last few years listened to or owned Soliloquy 5.3 (awful!), Jamo, and Merlin VSM-SE (not bad), and Totem Mites - great little monitor. Talon is no doubt the best of the lot.

would like to modify my negative comments re: the Soliloquy 5.3; have actually borrowed my old pair back and they are not bad as a modestly priced floor stander. Must have had bad synergy or something? They are actcually pretty nice little speakers, sorry for being negative.