has anyone heard zingali overture 1's? de capo's?


anyone? you think they would match well with a vintage tube amp? i'm also considering decware radial's and reference 3a dulcet or de capo's. the radial's have been getting some remarkable reviews, as do the 3a's. any opinions about these speakers? i am primarily interested in midrange and transparency for 90% classical. ideally i'm searching for a esl57 sound, which i would get, but i simply do not have the floor space. thanks in advance for the input.
128x128jtnicolosi
I agree down the line with Ecclectique. A good friend has the de Capo i, and is driving them with a modern 15 wpc 300B integrated. They sound fabulous, with great tonality, tons of ambience detail and lots of volume. As mentioned they need solid stands and reasonable spacing from the walls (2-3 feet). Adding a sub turns them into a speaker that does full justice to orchestral music, but they do very well without. If you're looking to approach the quality of 57's, they're a great choice.
I owned 57's for nearly 20 years. I've had several speakers since then and currently have the de Capos in my system. I'm quite pleased with them.
I have the Ref 3a MM De Capo's. I chose them over the Dulcets because a friend told me they where a quantuum leap over the dulcets. I have been quite pleased with them. The recommendation of good heavy stands is right on the money, I used Skylan's and until I loaded them with sand the bass was good but now it's wow! I have used then with Audio Note Conqueror 300 B, ASL 1010, 47 labs Shigaraki and now my home system is using Rogue 120 mono blocks in Triode. The speakers perform well with SST but IMO perform better with low watt tube amps.
I've heard the Zingali 1, 2, and 4, and I just have not been able to get into this speaker line. And my preference is for horn speakers in general. They are absolutely gorgeous in appearance, but they sound thin and disparate to my ear. It's like the music is coming in parts, but not well blended as a whole. I too have heard them with the Audio Note 300B SET's, and I wish they did it for me, because looking at them all day would be a treat. I'm sorry, but I don't have experience with your other speaker considerations.
To further quantify my comments, I have to say that after hearing the Zingali's on three separate occasions, it was at last the fourth listen that finally grabbed me. This time, in place of the CD player was a Nottingham Spacedeck TT. The sound eased from the speakers in a magical way, much more fluid and engaging than I had ever heard previously from (nearly) this same system. I did not get to hear more than two songs, and both were jazz, but at last I heard the Zingali's (the Overture 2, in fact) sound as described by some fans. The midrange was indeed silky. I can't say what they would do with all kinds of music, but what a pleasure to hear them sound so good in this instance, thanks to the vinyl seduction!