Usher CP-8571 II - Long term opinions?

The cp-8571 is one of our favorites in the big dancer line it offers similar sound qualities as the tiny dancer with much greater bass extension and soundstage. This is a easy to listen to speaker with a slightly warm non-fatiguing presataion. As a dealer I am a little bias regarding Usher Audio Speakers but what would be hard to dispute is their rich looks and their fit and finnish is 2nd to none.
Dennis
Primeone Media

I do not own these speakers, but I just heard them yesterday. To me they had light bass and very prominent treble. They are not forgiving of less than perfect recording. Very big cabinets and poorly utilized cabinet real estate, with only one woofer that seemed small for a cabinet this size.

It was a short audition but I wasn't impressed. They look gorgeous though. if you are buying a piece of furniture, these are beautiful. But I know, personally I would not be satisfied with their sound in a long run.
JMO

Audphile1,

Did you audition them with familiar gear? Or are your impressions more suited toward the entire system that you had auditioned?

I had heard the original 8571 and 8871 about 5 years ago in the Stereophile Show San Francisco. I was really impressed that I spent at least two to three hours each day in the USHER room listening to them. I had followed them at various shows afterwards, but never heard them as good as the setup in San Francisco. I think they were probably lucky and the room they had was a good one. At that moment, I had seriously considered bringing a pair home.

Regarding the comment about utilizing the real estate, I believe the cabinets of -8571 and -8871 are the same size. The only difference is the -8871 has two woofers while the -8851 has one. And of course, the price difference. The BE-10 and BE-20 are like that too. But I agree with you, seem like a waste of cabinet real estate.

Our local audiophile club had just auditioned the BE-20 last winter at a manufacturer's demo at a local store. They were first paired with all top of the line VTL electronics + VPI HRX turntable w/ an AirTight PC-1 (VTL demo). The sound was to die for, speed, detail, image, and seductive mids. I was ready to beg the dealer to let me camp out at the listening room for a week. After the break, NuForce hooked up their reference monoblocks (digital amps). I took the opportunity to sit in the sweet spot expecting to be in audio nirvana. But it didn't last 10 minutes before I dashed out the door. All the front end equipment was the same. But NuForce was a night and day compared to the VTL monoblocks. (Kind of like your experience)

Anyways, these USHERs are big speakers. I had recently upgraded my speakers from my long time reference Thiel 3.6 to Verity Parsifal Encores. I had been looking for new speakers for 3 years. It came down to CP-8871 II, BE-10, Verity Parsifals, or Hyperion 968s. I felt that these speakers each deserved their asking price. At the end, it came down to the size as my system is taking up space in our fairly small living room. When my listening gets built next year, I am planning on getting a pair of BE-10s in there!

FrankC

Thanks guys. I will make it a point to track these down for a listening session. It sounds like they are like many higher end models that are transparent and sound like what ever is upstream feeding them.