Difficult Choice

Dear all,

what is your opinion on Martin Design speaker, which looks like a Kharma Midi Ceramique ?
And does anyone knows about Tidla speaker ? (those ones look like Eidolon Avalon Diamond)
When I say that they look like other speaker I'm not talking only about the outside buth the nside as well... and I'm not critisizing
Regards

Marten Design Coltrane are among the best and easily the most natural sounding cone speakers out there, yet they retail for only about 29000 US when compared to other reference speakers. The VR-9 are really good too and I hear the VR-11's are real monsters .... :) but considerably more expensive than Marten Design speakers ... gotta earn the money!
If you go with solid state amps (like the Halcro DM68 monos) you can drive a large variety of reference speakers out there ... there are so many different designs ... Martin Logan Statement E2's ... Dynaudio Evidence Master (the best cone speakers in the world) ... Acapella Spharon Excalibur (the best highs in the world) ... MBL 101D (among the top 2 onmis) ... German Physics Loreley (the other great omni) ... Wilson Audio Alexandria X-2 .... some really good choices, it only depends on personal tastes.

dCS is good, so is Emm Labs but I hear that vinyl is still better (I mean the best of vinyl), consider that as an option. If you go digital I would recommend trying out the Whest Audio DAP .10u, really impressive piece (you'll need 1 more powercord and a set of interconnects)or their PS.20 for vinyl with the same result there.

Consider some powerconditioning for the system ... Shunyata and Transparent Audio optimal choices as well as Walker Audio's new gear ...with Shunyata/Elrod/Electraglide/Revelation Audio Labs powercords. Critical if you want to hear what the audio gear is capable of.

And don't forget mechanical isolation ... this is critical. Consider SRA or Symposium here, those guys really know their stuff as well as Grand Prix Audio.

Cheers

of course I forgot to mention the most important parameter ... the listening room ... what size, any treatments, what speakers sound best in it? .... etc

have fun

Similarly, & if you are still reading this thread:
*do check out Supravox (driver manufacturers) and arrange to listen to some of their speaker designs.
* Tidal (you mentioned above) are German and use hard ceramic drivers from Thiel & partner -- as do Martens, Avalon, Kharma, and a few others. They make good but very expensive and bulky speakers.
* electronics: don't forget YBA, a french manufacturer of outstanding amplification. BTW an YBA (called "passion") connected to the Stradivari (mentioned above) makes beautiful music.
* Jadis is also exquisite (and expensive).
* very many excellent hobbyists in France would surely give you ideas AND perhaps help you audition stuff before you buy...

Have fun!

Amperidian, Gregm
thank you for those answers.
I've just bought a pair of Lamm ML2.1 so ti reduces the choices of speakers
Now looking for a preamp, probably a L2 Ref by Lamm or a ARC Ref3
Digital : come down to Emm Labs, DCS total package, Zanden Signature2000/5000, Reymio 777 or even Goldmund Eidos 36 Universal
Now the speakers :
Here is what I saw on stereophile :
"The MAXX2s had sounded anemic and blah in the Lamm room at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show, and they'd overwhelmed the VTL room, where they sounded congested. But in the Audio Research space—wow! If I could get that sound at home, I'd have something. However, I'd been down that road before, with the Aerial 20T—a great speaker with plenty of bottom-end heft that packed an impressive wallop in a large Mirage Hotel suite, but that sounded neutered in my room when driven by the same Musical Fidelity electronics".
What do you people think ?
If I go for horns ? Acapella or avant garde ?
X2, Excalibur are too expensive...
Regards
David