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Acoustic Zen Adagio - need advise please

Hello everyone,

Time for speakers upgrade and I have almost decided to go for Adagios based only on what I read about them.
I know that buying speakers without auditioning them is not a good idea, however I have no much of a choice.
In the place I live only few brands are represented and I could not find anything to my taste within my price range.
My last speakers were Dynaudio 1.3SE and despite being very good in some areas I did not like their synthetic and bright overall sound and got rid of them.Temporarily replaced them
with LS3/5A and love them,but they are too small for the room my main system is in....so it should be a floorstander
to replace them.My room is 22x11x9.
My questions about the Adagios are:
1.Can Adagios be labelled as alrounder as I listen to wide variety of music genres? How will they handle hard rock for instance?
2.Is the box absolutely quiet without any resonances, feedback etc?
3.Do they come close to single driver ,paper cone speakers
in terms of natural timbre,size of instruments and presence.
4.Are the factory boxes safe enough for overseas shipping.
Some time ago I had big speakers damaged in transit(very poor packaging) and do not want this to happen again.
5.If you may suggest any other speakers up to $4500 which
come close to above stated please advise.
Thank you very much.
Orlin
kdbg00
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 
1. I guess so. from what I have heard (few from their line)yes.
2. There is no such a thing as "0" box resonance.
3. No, they are nothing like single drive speaker. If you meant the openess, transparent flow and scary realizm - No.
4. Do not know.
5. Out of many.....this one will shock you with dynamics, stage, value, close to live performence and easy load for most amplifiers. You will need to bi-amp those but you save on speakers list price.
Emeralds Physics CS 2 ($3500)

Mariusz
avrij's avatar
avrij
70 posts
 
i luv mine. if you have a quality system in front, you will hear what it can do. i do believe you can do better if rock is your dominant listening. the bass is quite good, but not what 12" woofers can do for led zeppelin. however the neutrality and low distortion are a real pleasure. the packing is not great. i would want better than the factory stuff.

i have a fostex based single driver system too, love the detail and mids, but the adagio bass and soundstage are in another league. as a whole, single drivers are tough for rock, unless you go with great big boxes.

i would look used, therre have been a number around here, i got mine here for a great price.

i would also look for the totem forests, real bass and well reviewed.

consider cardersound if you might like the single drivers
digsmithd
913 posts
 
My speaker jumps were from 1.3se's to totem forests to the adagios.Since then upgraded cd player to 5.3 sim.The adagios offer a warmer musical sound...FOR ME.I listen to jazz primarily.Needed something to convey cynbals to my tastes.I am very content with the upgrade over both the both.They all have there strong points,but over all i am very impressed with what the adagio is all about.
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