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Acoustic Zen Crescendo

I'm pretty interested in these transmission-line, full-range speakers. Has anyone spent serious time with them? How do they compare to other contenders around $16K?

Unfortunately, I'd have to fly to SoCal for an audition, so I'd like to vet them as thoroughly as possible before committing the time and expense. Press has been very positive but also very limited, and user impressions are scarce on the web.

Thanks in advance,

Bill
wrm57
adamaley
50 posts
 
Thanks wig for the feedback. I ordered a pair of the EML XLS and should have them tomorrow.
wlutke
725 posts
 
I've had the Crescendo 2's for about 8 months and love them.  My Ayre V-5xe amp was a real mismatch - glare, over detailed harmonies and light bass.  I was scratching my head on where to look first, cables or amp (It turned out to be both).  I then home auditioned a Pass Labs XA25 (as in 25 wpc) and never looked back.  It's a terrific amp with this speaker.  Stereophile recently reviewed the XA25 and bench measurements show clipping occurs at 80 wpc @  8 Ohms and 130 wpc @ 4 Ohms.  !  Their definition of clipping is when THD + noise equals 1% distortion.  
Changing out the tonearm cable was the icing on the cake.
adamaley
50 posts
 
That's great to hear that you found your desired match for these speakers. It just goes to show how different amp topologies can provide satisfaction with the same speaker.  I recently got to listen to the Crescendos with my LM 508ia and the sound was riveting. 
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