Acoustic Zen Adagio, How Good Are They?

Aggielaw: I currently own nOrh mini 9.0's with the Murphy-designed optimal crossover, hand-build with the best components available by Jim Salk.

Now I am confused. Does salk make a line called nOrh? I went to salksound.com and could find no mention of it.

Another question for anyone, is there a link to Adagios on Acoustic Zen's site? You'd think so but I didn't find it.

nOrh is a company in Thailand (www.norh.com). The nOrhs feature top of the line Scanspeak drivers and a very rigid marble (or synthetic marble, depending on the model) cabinet, but the stock crossover for their best models aren't very well-designed and use cheap parts. Dennis Murphy optimized the crossover for two nOrh models (the 9.0 and mini 9.0), but didn't have time to build me a pair of crossovers himself, so he and "Marbles" over at audiocircle referred me to Jim Salk. Dennis Murphy and Jim Salk have worked together on several speaker projects, including most of the current models you see on salksound's website (www.salksound.com) and Jim took Dennis' specs plus my desire for the absolute best crossover that could be made and voila! I, along with a handful of others who have shelled out some serious money on crossover parts and expert labor, have probably the best-sounding nOrh speakers in existence. :)

I've emailed AZ about the conspicuous absence of the Adagio on their website, but received no response, and the speaker is still not listed. It has been out for almost a year, though!

Hi Aggie and all.

Since there were a few questions asked about the Sasons here, I'll follow up a bit on Aggie's comments

Aggie, glad you enjoyed your brief time in Arizona with the Sasons. Wished you could have heard them in full bloom in a larger room. With good ancillary, proper set up (in a small or large room) and appropriate break in time, the Sasons are over the edge.

Just a couple of things that may be good to know.

First, yes, these puppies take a good while to break-in and is why we offer the 45 day return policy. As to why the Sasons take a good while to settle not only has to do with the drivers but the X-over as well. The Film and Foil type Capacitors and the 10 gauge Air Coil Inductors used throughout the X-over simply take a long time to break in but once these do, they are magic....bass included as one might expect with such large gauge Inductors. Wished it could be different but to do things that would alleviate some of the break in time would be to compromise the design and it's performance. That's not what we want to be about.

Aggie mentioned these may be one of audio's best kept secrets. Quit a statement and we're flattered. They may stay that way. Why? Because when you plunk your $$$ down for these, you're buying performance, not an ad campaign, marketing or other extraneous overhead that also comes with product. So, you'll probably never see the Sasons plastered all over the audio mags to create more image than substance and the buzz that can create. Whatever buzz there will be will come from our big mouth or end users who share their experiences via word of mouth....a (slower but) more sure word we believe. We'll take substance over image any day though I think the Sason offers both.

In the end, this is why we can offer these at $7900.00 (not $7500.00...Ooops!) direct from us after July. Aggie didn't mention this but up until July 1st, we trying to make a few waves by offering these at $5400.00! We can't do this for ever but we're willing to take a hit for a little while to make it easier for folks to prove our claims. If you're curious, we have an ad HERE.

Cheers to all!

Robert
RSAD

Anybody compared Adagios with other speakers people gush over at A'gon: Zu, Tyler, Salk, Daedelus, etc.?

There aso many speakers that are supposed to be "a steal at their price" or "the best up to 2-3 times the price" that some accumulation of A/B experience seems necessary.

Aktchi, you're presenting a rock-solid list of speakers, IMHO. I've not heard the Zu (something about a single-driver speaker scares me despite the benefit of not having a crossover) or the Daedelus (of which I'd never heard before your post.) Jim and Ty both make excellent speakers. I would compare Ty's main line of speakers to the Adagio to some degree for their "cleanness" throughout the audible range, but the Adagio's speed and decay is a whole different league.

I haven't heard Jim's speakers yet, but hope to hear the HT3's while on vacation in Houston later this month. I'll let you know what I hear, if you like.

Howard