Tyler and Acoustic Zen reviews in TAS


Current issue of TAS has Sallie R(?) reviewing Tyler Linbrook II and Acoustic Zen Adagios. Both get glowing reviews. What I found really odd is that while the speakers are priced similarly and the reviews are by the same person in the the same issue, there is not a single sentence of comparison in either review. I find that baffling. Frankly, this diminishes my trust in the reviewer as well as the editor who should not have let this pass.

In the Tyler review she makes a few comparative remarks against her reference Spendor S8e. The gist is something like this: If you divide up the sound spectrum into parts (lower mid range, mid bass, etc) then Spendor gets more of these right. However, in toto, she finds the Tylers more magical or special or whatever the adjective is. Still, she does seem to prefer the Spendors. Make of it whatever you will.

Everyone is entitled to personal taste without being able to rationally explain it all. So I don't mind that. But I thought a serious reviewer should have compared Adagios to the other two.

I am curious what others thought of this in case you saw the reviews, and how you think the three speakers (Tyler Linbrook II, AZ Adagio, Spendor S8e) compare.
aktchi
FWIW, the Adagio review is available online at :

http://www.upscaleaudio.com/updates/tasadagio.pdf

www.upscaleaudio.com/updates/tasadagio.pdf

I have not been able to locate the Tyler review online.
i have talked to TY many times and told him he needs a speaker in the $8000.00 price. this would fill in the void between the floor standing linbrook signature and the woodmere. i suggested a smaller version of the woodmere that would have the same balance look in a smaller cabinet with two 8 in. seas woofers. there is to much price difference between the linbrook signature and the woodmere. the $8000.00 price is attractive especially for someone in the $10,000.00 price range but does not have room for the size of the woodmere. i suggested that he use the cabinet design of the woodmere. any input from anyone??
i currently own woodmere's and linbrook sig. monitors on ty stands. i think that it would have been better to see a d'apolitto design speaker from ty reviewed. they seem to integrate well in rooms and sound great when properly set up.
its interesting that ROBERT E. GREENE is a fan of TY'S speakers especially the woodmere's when he heard them at the 2005 THE SHOW. it was good at least to see ty's speakers reviewed without having a "advertising connection"

regards

BILL L.
First off, as to Spendor... I love Tyler speakers, but actually I think Spendors tend to appeal to many of the same qualities Tyler owners crave. I was *very* impressed with the Spendors I heard earlier this year. If Sallie prefers the 8se, I can definitely see where she is comming from (even if I don't agree with her) as the Spendor sound is quite addictive IMO.

As for the Adagios, I too would have liked to see a comparison to the Linbrook System II, because I think the speakers rated about equally to my ears when I recently heard the Adagios (very impressive speakers, BTW). As they shared many of the same qualities I enjoy, an outside opinion would have been interesting to read.

As to the Tyler pricing... I agree the "list pricing" should probably be deleted as the speakers are not even sold retail as was mentioned. I, howver, believe the "list prices" are in many cases far *below* what the speakers would sell for at retail (the driver and crossover component costs alone could merit much higher list prices based on normal markups). That said, the price is the price... It probably would be better just to list the actual selling price to consumers as opposed to all of the pricing confusion on the brand. Ty never claimed to be the best Marketer, but I can say that the speakers have a way of selling themselves through their sound quality and owner word of mouth. As such, I would say he has spent his time more wisely focusing on design, sound and build quality. Not a bad tradeoff if you ask me. :-)

---Dave
Bartokfan: my statement, "People no longer need to see the artificially bumped up "list" price to feel good about their purchase of Tyler speakers," is intended to be interpreted as Drseid has, in that the Tyler speakers have proven themselves to be good not only at their price points, but in absolute terms against the current competition. Therefore, the price should be the price and Tyler doesn't need the added psychological component of the higher "list" price to make people think they are buying a much more expensive speaker. I have not heard the System II and cannot comment on the integration between midrange and midbass, or potential problems in that area as discussed in the TAS review. Linbrook Signature (Monitor or System) owners seem to have no problems in that area, and almost universally rave about those speakers. In addition they appear very reasonably priced given the quality of drivers, crossover components and box. On that basis, I suggested maybe one of the Signature speakers would be better for a first time Tyler buyer to listen to, and for a first time Tyler TAS review. As always, room integration and matching components play a large role in the sound of a speaker so I am curious when a reviewer points out a "flaw" and does not verify the observation with a different room set-up or different components (sometimes they do, but not always). However, I am not totally surprised with her observation since I worked with a relatively high end 3-way speaker system for years and couldn't get that lower midrange/upper mid-bass frequency to sound right, so I finally gave up and went in a different direction.

I gave up on reading reviews a long time ago as reviews are flawed and so are the reviewers, not to mention their equipment and room conditions. If you could see what I have seen you would wonder how some reviewers get to be reviewers at all. I know my room is compromised but I never thought a reviewers room would be. That goes for with constantly changing gear, poor electric, etc.

So you can read all the reviews you want but you still need to hear a component in your system for yourself and forget what the reviewer says.

Happy Listening