My speaker history from the eighties to now:
1) self made 2 way, ScanSpeak drivers
2) kit speaker, ScanSpeak
3) Martin Logan Aerius-i, new
4) Merlin VSM-SE + BBAM, new
5) Von Schweikert VR3HSE Gen III, new
6) HGP Lyra SoNova (www.hgpaudio.com), new
7) Tidal Audio Contriva (www.tidal-audio.de), new
3-7) all impressed me for the price, or I would not have bought them :-)
The Tidal Contriva is my current speaker and I don't see any changes coming, as it combines the strenght of the speakers I owned before and outperforms them overall significantly.
I started with 2 way speakers I built myself, ScanSpeak drivers in a very ugly box I put together, no crossover, just a cap for the tweeter. They sounded - well, interesting :-)I then took out the drivers and bought a kit with a crossovers for those drivers, did not convince either, but worked for a student budget. The ML Aerius-i was the first speakers I got when I had a job, so I could afford to listen and choose. They were great for the money in my opinion. The Merlin was very special too, but too small after a move. The von Schweikert were really good for the money, but not in all aspects up to the strong points of the Merlin. The HGP I got for a really good price and hoped to get the bass of the VS and the resolution of the Merlin. It got some of it but not all. Enter the Tidal Contriva, I am still marveling at this speakers performance everytime I listen to music. For me a dream come true!
1) self made 2 way, ScanSpeak drivers
2) kit speaker, ScanSpeak
3) Martin Logan Aerius-i, new
4) Merlin VSM-SE + BBAM, new
5) Von Schweikert VR3HSE Gen III, new
6) HGP Lyra SoNova (www.hgpaudio.com), new
7) Tidal Audio Contriva (www.tidal-audio.de), new
3-7) all impressed me for the price, or I would not have bought them :-)
The Tidal Contriva is my current speaker and I don't see any changes coming, as it combines the strenght of the speakers I owned before and outperforms them overall significantly.
I started with 2 way speakers I built myself, ScanSpeak drivers in a very ugly box I put together, no crossover, just a cap for the tweeter. They sounded - well, interesting :-)I then took out the drivers and bought a kit with a crossovers for those drivers, did not convince either, but worked for a student budget. The ML Aerius-i was the first speakers I got when I had a job, so I could afford to listen and choose. They were great for the money in my opinion. The Merlin was very special too, but too small after a move. The von Schweikert were really good for the money, but not in all aspects up to the strong points of the Merlin. The HGP I got for a really good price and hoped to get the bass of the VS and the resolution of the Merlin. It got some of it but not all. Enter the Tidal Contriva, I am still marveling at this speakers performance everytime I listen to music. For me a dream come true!
