NOLA Speakers

I owned Circes for about 4 years and loved everything about them except their looks. They took a long time to place correctly (closer together than other speakers) but they sounded great in my room with a wide range of music. Maybe they are more forgiving than other speakers, but they were always a pleasure to listen to, from early Bix to Nat Cole, to Charlie Parker, to Coltrane. They did sound somewhat boxless, but due to the close placement, the soundstage was not quite as wide as you might be used to. Bass was very solid but not as powerful as you might expect with those big 10 inch woofers. I drove mine with 110 watts per channel of tube power and that was more than enough.

Randy

I also had Alon V MkII's that had every possible upgrade, including the same Alnico bass drivers and tweeters as in the Circe, and finally outboard Circe crossovers with upgraded capacitors made by Alon/Nola. In the end, I just couldn't get them to sound the way I wanted for my listening preferences. On some music, they were outstanding, but on too much of the rest of my collection they sounded sort of dry and uninvolving, with somewhat of a disconnect between the bass and mid/treble. For whatever reason, these suffered a mid-bass suckout in the two rooms I used them in. However, based on some trial and error using tubed preamps, I found them to sound better when used with tubed electronics. I will say, the sound is very open and clear, and you do not get the impression you are listening to boxes. They are also very fast, but you already know that from using your Alon II's. If you are serious about purchasing a used pair, my recommendation would be to plan on tubed electronics, or at a minimum a good tube preamp, provide plenty of power (150wpc and up), and look at the newer Lotus Elite or Viper models. Current posted A'gon prices range from the Lotus Elite II at $1300 to the Viper Signatures at $3995, either would be an excellent deal if you like the sound, and the dual woofers in these models are said to integrate better especially since they are crossed over at slightly different frequencies. If you stay in the Alon line, I would recommend at least waiting for a good pair of Circes. As you move up the lines, you get Alnico magnets in the drivers, better bass drivers, and outboard crossovers, all of which improve performance.

I own the Alon V MKIIS with upgraded woofers but not the tweeters. First off, the speakers are slightly to the warm side of neutral. Not like the Sonus Faber speakers but overall slightly warm. They are open sounding so you do not hear a "box" sound. The bass is good to very good but not as deep as some speakers that I have owned including the Talon Raven C speakers, they were just amazing in the bass area. Overall they Alon speakers are coherent top to bottom with only a hint (if you can hear it sometimes) of hearing the cross-over point between the mid range and woofer (you may or may not be able to hear this and if you do, it is very rare depending on the recording). You should have Sound Anchor bases made for the speakers as they are not that heavy and you need to use better spikes for carpeting.

The Alons are very dynamic, open, airy, pretty fast and overall a very musical speaker. As always, careful matching with an amp will allow you to achieve better sound in your home and system. I have used SS amps, hybrid and tube amps. Tubes make these speakers really come alive and you need at least 100 wpc. I did bi-amp them with a Graaf 50 wpc tube amp and a modified Hafler DH-220 and that added another level to the sound. Bi-wiring the speaker is recommended.

They are pretty easy to place in the home and you can dial in a big center stage if you desire.

If you are looking to upgrade, Bill at Miller Sound in PA will do the cross-overs for a reasonable fee, but he always has more work then he can handle so you need to schedule time with Bill. I have not had mine upgraded but I am thinking of it.

If you need any more info on the speakers, shoot me an email.

Happy Listening.

Nola is actually Alon spelled backwards. I had the Alon 5 mark 2's. They were excellent. They had the most beautiful base that I have ever heard, along with all of their other excellent qualities.

I believe that Carl (at Nola) does upgrades to the old Alon speakers, you should call him about that, as he'll probably be able to take care of any used Alon speakers you might decide to get, if you go that route.