I know this is an old thread, but sometimes it is good to just revisit, especially when it comes to Shahinians, as there is so little written about them, so just a few comments if I may.
After toying with the idea of finding a pair of good condition Obelisks at a price I could afford, I gave up and just enjoyed my Ohm Walsh 3000's. But last year a pair of demo Obelisk 2's became available at a price I could not pass up, and finally my speaker search is over.
Now on to a couple comments from the above questions posed:
I have never been too worried over what the drivers of any speaker are particularly made of, metal, paper, silk etc., as if the manufcture/designer has done his part, I then just leave it up to my ears.
I can confirm that with these Obelisks, like Holzhauers Diapasons, these did take a good bit of running in to sound their best. Even as these were demo models, they hadn't been played in a good while. Right out of the box they sounded quite horrible, lifeless and not open in the way any Shahinian I have ever heard could sound. But within several hours things went from bad to good, and then given a few weeks I felt all was as it should be. Possibly a brand new pair would take much longer, I do not know. According to Shahinian, it should not take very long at all.
I do not find the metal drivers in the Obelisk bright at all, although if sitting close to them and listening height is quite a bit higher than the cabinets, I could see them being obviously "brighter" just by being more on axis with the mid-domes and super-tweeters. To me a lower seating position and being a good deal back from them is a good way to go.
Not having a pair of the older Obs to compare with the series 2, it would be difficult at best to make any real comments on which is "better" or in what ways. The newer Ob does seem to be a bit easier to drive, and the midbass to midrange seems to be smoother, but again, that is just based on former impressions.
I would love to get an opportunity to listen to Hawks and Diapasons someday, but things would certainly have to change system wise, let alone money wise! I believe I can safely say that I will be stopping at the Obelisk 2 level, and really, I cannot complain as these are some of the very best transducers that I have heard.
While Richard Shahinian is obviously a classical guy, and seems a lot is made over what types of music can be listened to on Shahinians, I cannot for the life of me understand this. I rarely listen to classical, and the Obelisk just do amazing things on jazz, rock, just about any kind of music I have thrown at them. A speaker does not have ears and doesn't hold prejudice against the music it is fed!
With the above said, do not let metal drivers worry you, or the types of music that a Shahinian will play, it is all good. Just be sure to feed them well with a good, fairly robust amplifier and good source. Enjoy! Tim
