JM REYNAUD MKII-VS-COINCIDENT TRIUMPH

Alfed: I auditioned the Twins and the Triumph's both in shops and at home and opted for the Twin's. It was a very difficult choice to make as I liked them both (and wanted them both). The Twin's have a little fuller sound (though I felt that the Triumphs had more bass to them). Both pairs of the Triumphs that I listened to were also older versions (not the latest 92db one). I have 700-800 hours on the Twins now and they came into their best sound in the 400-600 hour range of play. They start out smooth and soft and steadily increase in detail (somewhat the opposite of most speakers in this regard). I had thought that they were done at around 200 hours but even 400-600 hours has shown more improvement in subtle detail. I run them with both a SS and a SET amp and they work well with both. Although they are rated at 90db @ 4 ohms they sounded better (full and balanced) to me at very low listening levels (more so than the old version of the Triumphs) and this was also a plus for me as I like to listen late at night and early in the morning. I could have been happy with either speaker, but had to choose one. If at all possible audition them both. Since you have narrowed down your likely suspects to the same models that I did, you may want to look into a pair of used Silverline SR17's as well. Though they retail for $2500, I have seen a few pairs go in the $1000 price range. I auditioned these as well (store only) and they would have been my first choice over the other two speakers. I just did not feel like waiting around to snag a pair at the right price.

I have had only limited opportunity to listen to the Reynaud's, but I have owned a pair of Coincident Triumph Signatures for about 6 months. Based on memory, I'd say the Reynaud are a bit warmer sounding, while the Coincidents are a bit more accurate. I use my Triump Sig's mainly for rear surround sound, but on several occasions have used them "solo" for extended listening. They are very clean, dynamic, have excellent imaging, and surprising frequency response for a mini-monitor (rated to the upper 40 Hz range, which is one of the reasons I chose them for surround sound duty). The speaker cabinetry is first-rate, particularly the version in cherry. The owner of Coincident, Israel Blume, has made a point of designing the cabinets to a relatively high resonance point (about 325 Hz), thereby negating the need for lots of internal damping material. The newer version of this speaker is very efficient at 92db, so it will work very well with lower-powered amps (particularly tube amps). MSRP on the cherry-wood version is $1100, but I got a new pair for $650 from a dealer listing on Audiogon. I suspect that you will be very pleased with either the Reynaud or the Coincident.