Cain Abby vs Reference 3a De Capo i

I have a pair of Abbys and a friend uses de Capo's. I haven't heard them in the same system, but I have heard them with the same amp.

IMO the Abbys are not as good an all-around speaker as the de Capo - they don't have as much extension top and bottom, they don't have the dynamic capability of the de Capo, and there are obvious resonances that the de Capo doesn't have. What the Abby does have is a wonderful sense of life and presence in the midband, and they image like bandits. However, I think the de Capo would be a more satisfying speaker for most people over the long haul.

One thing that would help the Abby is a subwoofer or two, and not surprisingly they now make one for it called the Bailey. That doesn't help the high frequencies, though. A whizzer is no substitute for a real tweeter.

The de Capo is a speaker you can build a real high-end system around. My friend has done that, and with a sub and good room treatment he has a high end system that leaves little to be desired. In my opinion, in its unadorned form the Abby barely edges out of the "toy speaker" category. It looks great, and as I said above its sound has some grins, but I couldn't live with them as a main speaker.

Gmood1, "get reamed by paying for nothing more than a cabinet" actually describes my reaction to the Abbys pretty well. Lots of show, not much go IMO, and I have a pair with Terry's wire upgrade sitting in a storage room. They're just not my cup of tea, it's not a federal crime.

My definition of "real high end" is one where the gear disappears and leaves the music floating in the room. The Abbys don't do that for me, but the de Capo i's in the right setup do.

I've seen pics of Terry's version of the Abby with the tweeter built into the surround. I think a nearfield version with that addition and a pair of Bailey subs would probably sound pretty special. I know the Abby/Bailey combo got a fine review at 6moons.

As Miklorsmith says, it's all about personal sonic preferences. It would be a boring world if we all liked the same stuff.

About the Canadian thing, it's really more a matter of those two speaker companies (Coincident and Fab) making products that appeal to my musical and philosophical sensibilities. My amps have come from China, France, England and the US. In 2005 there are no borders when it comes to taste.