Just received the speakers, and I must say, I was impressed before I even hooked them up! Build quality is very good. Solid construction, good fit and finish... these are very good looking speakers! A bit understated, but that tends to appeal to me anyway. Binding posts are high quality, gold plated with gold screws too.
After hooking them up, my impressions of the sound are very similiar to what has been posted on AudioAsylum. These speakers throw a HUGE soundstage, and I'm not talking about width alone. The A/6's project a very three dimensional sonic picture, with a very good depiction of height and depth. So far, bass reproduction is very good too. It seems to extend pretty low, but more impressively, it is very clean all the way down. So much so that it is pretty easy to distinguish between the cello and double bass sections on symphonic pieces--no simple feat! I like the treble too... Clean and detailed, but not at all harsh. Right now, the mids are just a tad soft and muddy... for example, the piano sounds a bit like the mute pedal is down all the time. I anticipate this will clear up with extended break in though... I'm probably overstating it too... The speakers, even right out of the box, are very enjoyable!
Reubent, I'd be interested to hear your observations. I was using Vandersteen 1B's before, and the sound of both speakers is similiar--they are both warm, very musical speakers. However, I prefer the non-broken in Fried's on two fronts: (1) the A/6's are truly "full range speakers" -- the bass is really, really good in terms of both extension and clarity. The Vandersteen's always needed to be paired with a sub to really get good low bass extension. (2) While the Vandersteen's might have been more precise in terms of placing images within the soundstage, the A/6's (to me at least) present a more realistic sonic picture. Perhaps because it does a better job with transmitting width, heigth, AND depth (the Vandy's seem more one dimensional to me).
In any event, for $300, these speakers are a no-brainer. Not to mention the fact that Shayne is a really great person to deal with--courteous, professional, and very fast!
After hooking them up, my impressions of the sound are very similiar to what has been posted on AudioAsylum. These speakers throw a HUGE soundstage, and I'm not talking about width alone. The A/6's project a very three dimensional sonic picture, with a very good depiction of height and depth. So far, bass reproduction is very good too. It seems to extend pretty low, but more impressively, it is very clean all the way down. So much so that it is pretty easy to distinguish between the cello and double bass sections on symphonic pieces--no simple feat! I like the treble too... Clean and detailed, but not at all harsh. Right now, the mids are just a tad soft and muddy... for example, the piano sounds a bit like the mute pedal is down all the time. I anticipate this will clear up with extended break in though... I'm probably overstating it too... The speakers, even right out of the box, are very enjoyable!
Reubent, I'd be interested to hear your observations. I was using Vandersteen 1B's before, and the sound of both speakers is similiar--they are both warm, very musical speakers. However, I prefer the non-broken in Fried's on two fronts: (1) the A/6's are truly "full range speakers" -- the bass is really, really good in terms of both extension and clarity. The Vandersteen's always needed to be paired with a sub to really get good low bass extension. (2) While the Vandersteen's might have been more precise in terms of placing images within the soundstage, the A/6's (to me at least) present a more realistic sonic picture. Perhaps because it does a better job with transmitting width, heigth, AND depth (the Vandy's seem more one dimensional to me).
In any event, for $300, these speakers are a no-brainer. Not to mention the fact that Shayne is a really great person to deal with--courteous, professional, and very fast!