Intuitive Summits & R.S. Audio Sasons?

Rx8man, I would like to spend my two cents. I have owned the Sason's for about 45 days. I can tell you they are in every sense of the word outstanding. I wrote a little review on these 6 months ago after I heard them at RSAD's place in LaPorte. I have owned two different pairs of Avalon's in the past and without a doubt feel that the Sason's are in a completely different league. I have also owned the Sonus Faber Amati's which do not come close to the Sason's ability to render you to musical nirvana. I strongly disagree with Ted's statement that they need 45 to 60 days of continuous play or they "sound like crap". I have 580 hours on mine and they continue to mesmerize me everytime I am in the sweetspot. It is true that they need a significant amount of break-in, however 500 hours gets you very close to their capabilities. The Sason's also do amazingly well in a wide size range of listening rooms. They are chameleon like in that regard. The sound room at RSAD is only about 12' wide and they sounded incredible in the narrow room. I have been in this crazy hobby for about 30 years and have been a musician for 35 years and can honestly say the Sason's sound like music. They provide that rare occurence of really connecting with the performers and the musical presentation. They are the most transparent design I've listened to, and their imaging and soundstaging capabilities are phenomenal, actually spooky. They are lightening fast and extremely neutral top to bottom. I owned the Sason's for a week and realized that my Vandersteen 2WQ subs and MH-5 crossovers needed to go. One word of caution- if there is a deficiency in your system, room or whatever, the Sason's will reveal it without mercy, they are all about the truth.

Ted, all I wanted to convey is that my impressions with the break-in period was quite different from yours. Germanboxers also bought a pair around the time I did and found the majority of break in to be complete around five to six hundred hours. I heard it myself. I would like to add that both of our pairs were " hot off the press", without any break in from the factory. His room and mine although similar in size, are very different. The placement of his speakers were also quite different from mine. I think there are a great number of variables involved with the process that can certainly affect break-in. You were stating your experiences with yours, I was stating my experience with mine. I'm ok your ok. FWIW, my pair of Sason's have never sounded like crap, not even from day one. They certainly sounded different than they do now, but not like crap. What does crap sound like? I think crap could have distinctly different sounds. For instance, " crap hitting the fan " would sound completely different than the sound of " one hand crapping ". Sorry I digressed. In all sincerity, I am glad to hear that the speakers have come into their own and your enjoying them Ted. I think we are both lucky.

Ted, I opted for the original larger model and like you am happy that I did.

Rx8man, the Avalons I owned that I mentioned in my earlier post were the original Eclipses and a pair of Eclipse Classics. Neither of these remotely approach the performance of the Sason's in my humble opinion.