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Tis a sad, sad day...

...for today I sold my beloved Alon I Mk IIs, because they would be very difficult, expensive, and dangerous to ship to Hong Kong, where I am moving to in a few weeks.

I had this wonderful pair of speakers for almost three years and enjoyed their amazing musicality - tuneful bass, silky vocals, and crystal clear highs. They just sounded so open with their unusual open-baffle design.

I auditioned a couple of replacements (that I could have exchanged for) - Spendor's S3/5SE and a pair of Sonus Faber Concertinos - but I still longed for the Alon sound.

For those familiar with it: Is there anything out there that sounds similar? I tried looking up Acarian Systems' current catalog, but their website seems down. My initial thought is B&W's Nautilus 805, which I remember sounds quite open, but I've heard they prefer solid state.

I will be driving them with a 40wpc EL34 tubed Jolida JD202A, modified by Parts Connexion. A Musical Fidelity A3 CD Player and A3.24 DAC will be my source.

Any help in cheering up a mourning Alon lover would be tremendously appreciated.

Best Regards,

Leonard
lennychen
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Sell the rest of your U.S. system before you go and buy everything new in H.K. Zu has a very large presence in Asia, much bigger than here and a much better speaker than the ones you sold. I have some Chinese tube equipment that is both excellent and cheap here in the States. Have to assume it is even cheaper there.
I agree with Jaybo, shop over there where high end is flourishing.
norfish
75 posts
 
I have owned a pair of Alon Circe's for about 4 years now so I know where you are coming from. The Alon's are very underrated. I have been looking at possible replacements for a year now and nothing I have heard for under 25k has been a clear improvement over the Circe's.

Good luck on your move and hope that you find audio bliss in HK!

Randy
sherod
1,690 posts
 

I'm with Sbank. Stay in the Alon line and upgrade to remain happy. Good luck and best wishes in your move to Hong Kong.
sns
3,011 posts
 
Another vote for staying with Alon. The closest you will come to the Alon sound is with planars, and even then the sound will be quite different. Alon's have a certain soundstaging and imaging that is quite unlike anything else out there, again, planars come closest. Any box speaker will sound relatively closed in once you've become accustomed to the Alon sound. You should also try the Nola website, Alon is now called Nola, virtually the same speaker line, Carl still in charge.
Moving up in the Alon/Nola line is also quite ear opening, the Alnico drivers are really quite fine.
lennychen OP
28 posts
 
Thanks everyone, for the support and well wishes. This is why I love the community at Audiogon!

I would really love to stay with Alons, but Hong Kong is a much smaller and crowded place (think Manhattan)...hence I'm not sure where I will be living can accomodate such large speakers. I think it would be more practical to move to quality full-range bookshelf speakers or mini-floorstanders. A sub could be added to help with the bass later, if needed.

Any suggestions in the bookshelf realm that are open? Does anyone know about the Nola Mini's? I'm really not looking to spend more than $2-3k.

Thanks,

Leonard
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