Review: Piega C8 LTD Speaker
Category: Speakers
I don't intend this to be a full product review but just preliminary impressions some may find helpful. I apologize if I have not included all the usual information. I have had the Piega P8ltd speakers for the past 18 months and have been delighted with them. Recently I had the opportunity to try the new C8. The speakers only have about 20 hours on them and from my dealer I understand they need about 200 hours to break in fully. The P8 LTD took about 150 - 200 hours to break in. The speakers may sound worse in the next few months but I will be surprised.
With regards to my musical tastes these are classical (not much opera), jazz (not really fusion) some blues, and some popular vocalists (Tony Bennet, Mel Torme and Holly Cole to name a few).
Out of the box the looks are very striking, but much different than the P8 LTD. Wife acceptance has been important for me as they sit in the living room. These are really beautiful but more high tech or modern looking. Because of the shape of the cabinet the speakers appear smaller front on. The finish is superb as one would expect from a speaker this expensive.
In short the sound is quite amazing. I am partial to electostatics and the old Piegas were the best ribbons I had heard to this point. The new coaxial tweeter/midrange ribbon is that much better. It offers more sound that is fast, clear and accurate without being sterile or too bright. The soundstage is bigger, though not abnormally large, and the optimal listening area is larger than with the old speakers. I am not sure if it is the coaxial ribbon or its physical positioning in the speaker, but room interaction problems are less than what I experienced in the past. The bass is substantially deeper, though I am not a real bass hound.
I had a few friends over the other day, all are music lovers and not just equipment hounds. All had heard my system before and one has the P8LTD. To a person they all thought the improvement was remarkable. We did not have the time to A/B them that day. One individual noted that his first impression was that he had never heard a speaker disappear more. Another felt the mid-bass was really remarkable. All strongly advocated me keeping them (twist my arm). Since then I have done a brief A/B with the old Piegas and while they are a great speaker, putting them back in confirmed my impressions that the new speakers represent a significant improvement.
I will limit comments to these until the speakers have a few more months of break in. I offer these impressions only so that if people are interested or thinking about these speakers they can get some information. Of course I have no affiliation with any manufacturers or dealers. Cheers.
Associated gear
My current system consists of an Audiomeca Mephisto II transport and Ekianthus DAC as well as an Audiomeca Romance turntable and arm with Benz Ruby 2 cartridge. The electronics are the Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 integrtaed amplifier (tube preamp transistor output). The interconnects and digital cable are the HMS Gran Finale and the speaker wires (biwired), power cord and line conditioner are Audiotekne.
Similar products
Piega P8 Ltd, Magneplanar SMGs, Verity Parsifal Encore
