Buchardt e50 reviews

I’m also interested in the E50, but having never heard a Buchardt speaker, I wonder what the house sound is like. For someone who has spent many years with British speakers (Harbeth, Falcon LS3/5a), would Buchardt be a reasonable choice?

@kofibaffour thank you. I was not familiar with that speaker manufacturer nor with Erin. I look forward to his review of the E50.

@bluethinker thank you for sharing your experience. Interestingly, I also have a Luxman 590axii as well as a Pass INT-25 and a Sugden A21SE, all solid state class A. I’ve moved on from Harbeth (Falcon LS3/5A now for more than a year), but have always felt that “rich” and “warm” are fitting adjectives for the Harbeth sound, so not sure what to make of you feeling Buchardt is more so, but good to know. The E50 may be different.

@bluethinker - I haven’t had the Sugden in the system for quite a while, but plan to put it into duty soon and will report back. That said, I would characterize the Luxman as more lush sounding, though not overly so. As I recall, the Sugden has a lot of drive and is more dynamic. However, it also has the unfortunate quality of too little attenuation at the low end of its volume dial, which means it’s a challenge to fine tune volume. This may be a factor in the drive and dynamics, I got a pair of Rothwell attenuators to help with this. More later..

i have all these amps because I enjoy different types of sound. I put one in and it’s not better or worse, necessarily, but different in a way that brings new pleasures. Expensive hobby, this is.

I’ve read or seen several new reviews of the E50, including Steve Huff’s and the Zero Fidelity review linked by @ryder. Lots of enthusiasm everywhere it seems, but the Zero Fidelity review, which is excellent, does give me pause.
 

The E50 appeals to me because (1) I like the way it looks very much, (2) I'm curious about the Puri-Fi driver, (3) several reviewers have commented that the E50 is impressive at low volume but will also play loud, and (4) I’m impressed by the Buchardt company and its business model. But the Zero Fidelity guy describes the E50 — paraphrasing here — as a bass-first speaker, suggesting that maybe the Puri-Fi driver is being asked to do too much work in the midrange. My audiophile history is mostly with speakers that excel in the midrange but are bass-shy (Harbeth, Falcon, 20 years with Quad 57). A speaker like the MoFi SourcePoint 10, based on limited auditioning, has just too much bass for me and the music I listen to. Will that be true of the E50? Buchardt’s return policy is extremely favorable, so I may just have to find out for myself. Still, bringing in new speakers requires a bigger commitment of attention and effort than other components,