Scott, Natalie is correct. I own the Coincident Digital Master, with Troubass subwoofers.
Think of them as Israel's take on the Wilson WATT/Puppies. Truncated, pyramidal, two way time aligned satellites, using a good sized subwoofer as its stand. A simple, first order crossover makes them very easy to drive. A lot of people who know this hobby much better than I do tell me that they consider this perhaps Coincident's best effort, ever. As I have never lived with any other of his models, I am not sure. But, I do know I will probably never get rid of them. Israel has told me a few times that I would be a fool if I even think of parting with them.
Compared to the newer Coincident speakers, I would say there are some advantages and disadvantages. While they are tube friendly(including SET), they are less so than the 14 ohm impedence, 94+ db/2.83 V sensitive products he has been putting out. On the plus side, they sound richer, and more musical than the other Coincidents I have spent time with. I find the older Coincident line much more interesting, especially in terms of design, than the newer stuff. But, this is a business, I understand. The one thing I need to do is upgrade to the Scan Speak Revelator one day, it is a true upgrade from where I am.
By the way, the little brother of the Digital Master, the Troubador, is sometimes up for sale here on Audiogon. I assure you, you can buy a better speaker, but for the usual $650 I see them for, I don't think you can beat them. They are like a shorter(1/2 as tall) version of my satellite, but they feature a nifty tweeter coincident(ever wonder where the name came from???) with the midrange. Yes, you should mate them with the Troubass subwoofers if you can find any for sale(now they are hard to find) to make a full range loudspeaker system. The Troubass serve as stands for the Troubador. The Troubador may not be the most refined speaker in the world, but a winner nonetheless.
Currently, I am driving the Coincidents with Atma Sphere M60 monoblocks. And, as Fatparrot stated so much better than I will be able to, this match is as good as I have ever encountered.
Now that Fatparrot let us in on Ralph being a big fan of Coincident, and Natalie has told me in the past that Coincident mates splendidly with OTL, it seems as if they should show together. Atma Sphere will certainly benefit from getting away from the horns they normally show with, and Coincident will be at its pinnacle. Incidentally, I must offer my public thanks to Natalie for steering me in the direction of Atma Sphere to go with the Coincidents. Match made in heaven. I am forever thankful!
Fatparrot, thank you for the kind words. I think the Total Eclipse is a big step up over the Super Eclipse. I have reservations about running the metal coned midrange drivers into the treble regions. They are prone to a nasty ringing. But yes, I do think that Coincident speakers across the product line share in sonic signature.
On the Vandersteen side, I have had 1s, 2s, and 3s in my system. And, I have always enjoyed the 4. That is why I am such a big Vandersteen fan. As it stands, I have a local person who has a pair of 4s he wants to part with for an absolutely incredible price. But, I have bought enough audio this year, and I am not sure if I would be allowed to put them in the family room. They are big, Big, BIG!
I would say that at the 2001 Stereophile NYC HiFi Show, the Vandersteen 5 were paired with Cary V12 monoblocks. Please do not think I am exaggerating when I say the sound was positively stunning. The match with the big room and the Carys was perfect. And, so was the sound. It was the best I have ever heard at a show.
I think John_1 hit the nail on the head when he described the Vandersteen 5. Kudos! If you have the right room, taste, and electronics, you may find heaven. Otherwise, you may have dropped a lot of money on something that will not work out.
