How do Newforms sound?

I also owned a pair of 645s and while I liked them I wasn't as over the moon as some. For the retail price they are good value, but even better value are the Boeringer-Graebener ribbons you can buy new on uBid for around $1500.

To my ears the Newforms lake life and sparkle and the listening height requirements are a little severe for my liking.

I've never heard them and I don't like them already. Fiddler's post was rude. (I won't use that "s" word, but if the shoe fits . . . .)

Will, I'm sure you knew that people who owned them would say they're great, people who have heard but not bought them wouldn't like them and people who once owned but sold or gave them back would hate them. I think what you wanted to know was(were) the reason(s) people have rejected or sold them. Before I bought my Harbeths I emailed former sellers on r.a.m. and asked them why they had sold. Got all sorts of interesting and "informative" responses (too cold, too warm, too bright, too dark - i.e., nobody agreed on what was wrong with them - which told me something about their lack of coloration). I think that's what you want to find out, and some of the posts above have been responsive to your request.

Good luck.

Paul

I had Module 30s used with a sub. I really liked them. I compared them to my Merlins VSM-Ms and Green Mountain 1.5s. They offer excellent value, and come amazingly close to these much more expensive speakers. The 30" ribbon was a bit phasey, and the frequency balance changed when you stood up. This is a speaker you have to sit in front of to here a correct sound. No big deal for some, a big deal for others. I imagine the 45" ribbon is better about this. I thought they had excellent detail, imaged very well, and sounded very natural. I sold them to a friend who heard them and had to have them. I do think cone speakers will always give better dynamics than ribbons, stats, or panels. That's just physics. But I didn't think the Newforms were poor in this regard. One other thing....John Meyer at Newform has to be one of the best manufacturers on this planet. He treated me exceptionally well, and I would never hesitate to buy from him again.

"The 30" ribbon was a bit phasey, and the frequency balance changed when you stood up. This is a speaker you have to sit in front of to here a correct sound. No big deal for some, a big deal for others. I imagine the 45" ribbon is better about this."

I think phasey is an accurate description. Unfortunately, the 45" ribbon now sits on a woofer cabinet which houses 2 7" woofers so that to actually focus the ribbons you really must tilt the speaker forwards, a rather unwieldy solution. That's so weird.

My experience with the 645's is the exact opposite of Travis'. Not having heard his Newforms in his room with his associated equipment, I can't disagree with what he heard.

However, in my room, with my equipment, the 645's are simply phenomenal. The soundstage is as much as 30 ft. deep and wall-to-wall if the recording has the information on it. Imaging is rock solid and very precise. Probably the best imaging I have ever heard. The sweetspot is huge. I can sit directly in front of either speaker 10 ft. away and cannot hear the speaker. The imaging just becomes slightly off center.

The detail is fabulous. You can hear every stick hit cymbals, as well as the skin of drums when they are being struck. The only area that I would nitpick is that pianos don't always sound tonally accurate. But I think this could be atributed as much to my upstream components and to the recording itself as much as to the speakers. Plus, the piano is arguably the most difficult instrument for any speaker to reproduce. I have just ordered a Supratek pre-amp and I am very curious how this may affect tonal accuracy.

I did experience some "phasey-ness" early in the break-in period and also when I experimented with positioning the speakers. In my experience, room interactions were the culprit for the phasey-ness after the break-in period.

As far as tilting the speaker forward, I sit in a standardized chair and I certainly don't feel the need to tilt the speakers forward. When I stand up there is a frequency change, but I do not find it offensive. I usually stay fairly-well planted when I am listening anyway.

The thing that has bothered me more about every other speaker that I have heard is that if you move out of the narrow sweetspot, frequency changes occur and imaging just goes out the window. So I will trade the minor inconvenience of a frequency change when I stand up for the ability to sit virtually anywhere in the horizontal plane and still get an incredible soundstage.

The 645's are not perfect (what speakers are), but I truly believe that they are an incredible bargain.

(BTW, John Meyer is one of the greatest guys that I have had the pleasure of doing business with, audio or otherwise. I have never met him personally, but his customer service has been exceptional.)