Stereo 5 you asked so here is our reply.
We personally know several major reviewers, and to say that just because someone is a reviewer they A: Know what good sound is or B: They know how to setup a system or C: They have at that particular momment the right matching gear is a highly charged topic.
The difference between a dealer and a reviewer is, or can be the sheer range of gear at our disposal that we can experiement with.
So for example we have one sound room with 54 components, that includes starter amps for $1,000.00 Rega, Nuprime, NAD, etc
multiple Dacs from Nuprime, NAD, Mytek, T+A, Aqua, Naim to name a few
multiple Electronics lines from Naim, Micromega, Anthem, Synthesis, Unison, Electrocompanient, Parasound and CJ, Manly, etc.
So we can play with many different combinations.
An interesting demo occured last week, we got a call from a client with B&W 804D3 looking for a new amp, mentioned Vincent which we used to carry and was very good, and we told him we don't have a Vincent on the floor but when you factor in a good Dac better than the starter internal Dac of the 237 you would be at a $3k-4k price range, so why don't you listen to the Micromega M100 a $4,500 amp/dac/streamer which is a fantastic piece.
We don't sell B&W and so we setup the Personas 3F and to demonstrate the difference we started with the Anthem STR integrated, a $4,500.00 integrated, now we like the piece, but in our tests it always sound clean, with good bass a nice soundstage but a bit dry.
Guess what customer heard the same thing when we compared the STR to the identically priced Micromega M100 which is also a class A/B amp with Dac, the difference in the sound of the speakers was very audible. The Micromega was richer in the midrange, a bit more delicate in the top and has a warmer deeper bass over the STR.
Long story short the same speakers sounded totally different.
The client then mentioned his love of tubes, and we played the Synthesis A 100T a $7,500 tube integrated with an excellent built in dac and boom similar persepective to the Micomega with the huge soundstage width and deepth of tubes. The customer was hooked, and is not contemplating the purchase of the Synthesis.
It is one of the things we preach, it is system matching, a speaker like the Persona or the Elac Adantes, they require somewhere to have components that inject warmth into the sound, so you may need a rich sounding dac or one with tubes or wamer solid state brands like Naim.
So one must be cognisant that when you are demoing any one component in reality you are experiencing that entire chain and unless you play with the particular product and can see that products strengths and are then committed to bring out that products strengths and ammeliorating that products weakness then and only then can you get the sound that you are looking for.
This is also why many audiophiles like speakers which are voiced warmer, ie "musically" the warmer voicing of a Harbeth or Vandersteen or some of the newer Wilsons means you are less likely to produce a pairing which sounds brighther and harsher, these types of speakers can be easier to get right.
We recently spent time with the Focal Sopras and they were way warmer then the older Focals, they did not have as a defined soundstage as the Personas nor did they have the same unbelievable clarity, but in many ways it was a similar sound to the Persona and you can see how well the new Focal series is selling when everyone loves them. This is a delibrate choice in voicing. The Personas were designed to have 0 Personality by themselves, the entire marketing of the Persona series makes that evidently clear, the speaker is supposed to take on the "persona" of the music and matching gear.
The same issues that someone would have with a speaker like this is no difference than a Radiho, or any other very high resolution speaker like a B&W Diamond series as well, you must carefully find the matching components or you will not be moved by the sound and if you are unwilling to view this match as a journey you will never be satisfied with what a product with this kind of resolution can accheive when the pairing is correct.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
We personally know several major reviewers, and to say that just because someone is a reviewer they A: Know what good sound is or B: They know how to setup a system or C: They have at that particular momment the right matching gear is a highly charged topic.
The difference between a dealer and a reviewer is, or can be the sheer range of gear at our disposal that we can experiement with.
So for example we have one sound room with 54 components, that includes starter amps for $1,000.00 Rega, Nuprime, NAD, etc
multiple Dacs from Nuprime, NAD, Mytek, T+A, Aqua, Naim to name a few
multiple Electronics lines from Naim, Micromega, Anthem, Synthesis, Unison, Electrocompanient, Parasound and CJ, Manly, etc.
So we can play with many different combinations.
An interesting demo occured last week, we got a call from a client with B&W 804D3 looking for a new amp, mentioned Vincent which we used to carry and was very good, and we told him we don't have a Vincent on the floor but when you factor in a good Dac better than the starter internal Dac of the 237 you would be at a $3k-4k price range, so why don't you listen to the Micromega M100 a $4,500 amp/dac/streamer which is a fantastic piece.
We don't sell B&W and so we setup the Personas 3F and to demonstrate the difference we started with the Anthem STR integrated, a $4,500.00 integrated, now we like the piece, but in our tests it always sound clean, with good bass a nice soundstage but a bit dry.
Guess what customer heard the same thing when we compared the STR to the identically priced Micromega M100 which is also a class A/B amp with Dac, the difference in the sound of the speakers was very audible. The Micromega was richer in the midrange, a bit more delicate in the top and has a warmer deeper bass over the STR.
Long story short the same speakers sounded totally different.
The client then mentioned his love of tubes, and we played the Synthesis A 100T a $7,500 tube integrated with an excellent built in dac and boom similar persepective to the Micomega with the huge soundstage width and deepth of tubes. The customer was hooked, and is not contemplating the purchase of the Synthesis.
It is one of the things we preach, it is system matching, a speaker like the Persona or the Elac Adantes, they require somewhere to have components that inject warmth into the sound, so you may need a rich sounding dac or one with tubes or wamer solid state brands like Naim.
So one must be cognisant that when you are demoing any one component in reality you are experiencing that entire chain and unless you play with the particular product and can see that products strengths and are then committed to bring out that products strengths and ammeliorating that products weakness then and only then can you get the sound that you are looking for.
This is also why many audiophiles like speakers which are voiced warmer, ie "musically" the warmer voicing of a Harbeth or Vandersteen or some of the newer Wilsons means you are less likely to produce a pairing which sounds brighther and harsher, these types of speakers can be easier to get right.
We recently spent time with the Focal Sopras and they were way warmer then the older Focals, they did not have as a defined soundstage as the Personas nor did they have the same unbelievable clarity, but in many ways it was a similar sound to the Persona and you can see how well the new Focal series is selling when everyone loves them. This is a delibrate choice in voicing. The Personas were designed to have 0 Personality by themselves, the entire marketing of the Persona series makes that evidently clear, the speaker is supposed to take on the "persona" of the music and matching gear.
The same issues that someone would have with a speaker like this is no difference than a Radiho, or any other very high resolution speaker like a B&W Diamond series as well, you must carefully find the matching components or you will not be moved by the sound and if you are unwilling to view this match as a journey you will never be satisfied with what a product with this kind of resolution can accheive when the pairing is correct.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ