Reference 3A line updated

I purchased a pair of the latest back in August after a 3 week audition and have commented on other threads of my early impressions. Actually the finish is very neutral and doesn't bring attention to itself. What is more interesting is that there isn't more emphasis on what really sticks out like a sore thumb, the white acoustic lens, why not grey or black so it is less noticable?

In any case these speakers have set a benchmark for me in what one can expect from a monitor speaker at their price and way above. I listen to all genres of music. The gestalt of an orchestra, the intimacy of a solo singer, the joy of a solo piano performance, try Murray Perahia's "The Aldenburgh Recital" List Hungarian Rhaposodie #12. These speakers are just so convincingly musical, dynamic, resolving and just "right" sounding. Don't be put off by the "ugly" unless beautiful wood veeners are your Raison d'être for ownership, they're much deeper than their looks. I haven't heard any of the previous models. Maybe Tash might consider some color other than white for the acoustic lens?

Enjoy Brownsfan! They certainly have been a most enjoyable discovery to me. I am using them in my one and only system in a 18X20X10' room open to a 8X12X10' space. The real joy with these speakers Brownsfan is that they can be played at low volume and retain everything on the recording. In addition they can play really large with lifelike images and soundstaging on some recordings that defy explanation, wall to wall yet can focus like a laser on placement of instruments and individual vocalists in a large ensemble, much like I hear live. I suppose what I really enjoy most and what I immediately liked on first listen is that while not completely neutral they present a compelling natural tonality and capture the most subtle inflections of vocalists and musicians. Bottom line is that I am rediscovering all my music with a greater focus on performance over sound which is a big deal to me.

Hi Drubin

Well I would't say they are as smooth as some I've heard, particularly upper midrange and it is only noticable to me on SOME recordings. Say the ideal speaker, at least to me that would be smooth and most natural would be the Quad ESL. I have a friend with a pair of 2905 and you can clearly hear that at times the Decapo may have a tendency to maybe exaggerate or push forward the sound a bit. It isn't consistent and it doesn't bother me but it does deviate from what I would consider a very neutral speaker. Even with regards to my previous speaker, the Merlin VSM this can be heard. The Merlin is a bit smoother across the board. I would like to measure this in room to see what is going on. This is just such a minor thing and less a nit than it might be for others. The speaker just does so many other things that I DO like that I DON'T hear from other monitors. A matter of taste for sure. They so naturally produce tone and timbre without sounding either pinched, slow, lean or etchy at any frequency, great integration of the mid/bass driver with the BE tweeter. The mid/upper bass on this speaker is both very fast and well resolved which melds with the rest of the frequency range. Most small monitors sound either overly rich, bloated, MIA and/or missing the speed and articulation of this one. The VSM while also very fast is by comparison lean sounding in this area, at least with my Berning amp which on the Decapo is rich and totally convincing. The lower registers on the piano with the Berning amp is SO much more convincing in adding the weight, accurate pitch and harmonic overtones and decay heard on the instrument. The speed and believability factor is quite a big deal. I have a hard time believing it possible from a speaker this size in that the scale and dynamics are also retained.

So while the speakers aren't perfect Dan, they will be convincing to some and less so to others. I was comparing to a few other small monitors over the past 6 months including the Audience 2+2, Gershman Acoustics X2 and Gallo Stratus and to my ears across the board they were hands down my favorite. But then again I fell in love with them within the first minute of listening, they just sounded more right to me than any of the others although for coherency and imaging the Audience is about the best I've personally heard from ANY box speaker, a very special design but lacking the total package for may taste and they are quite inefficient. The Gallos were also very good in the areas of coherence, transparency and imaging but tonally they didn't get it right and I quickly became bored listening to them. The Gershmans are very sweet in the mids and upper frequencies, missing some of the transparency of the others with zero low bass and a mid/upper bass that was too plump and colored for my taste. The bottom line is that the Decapos will appeal to some more than others but if I were to use the term "neutrality" in describing the performance of a loudspeaker the Quad would come closer to fitting the bill, particularly in the midrange, they just get it the rightest :) Hope this helps clarify a bit more my tastes, and biases.

Hi Guppy, are you considering replacing your TSM's?

Well maybe a bit warm but it wouldn't be an adjective I would use in my set-up. To me they are in the "Goldilocks" zone particularly with the Berning amp which seems to compliment them so well, an honest, dynamic, fast, wide bandwidth design that neither adds or substracts the signal they are fed and seems an ideal electrical match with the DeCapo at the low feedback setting, a pre-requisite for purchasing the speakers. It is the only amplifier I have heard them with to date. It is precisely in the mid/upper bass that I am hearing some serious magic that was frustratingly lacking with the VSM. I can certainly imagine a warmer presentation depending on components, particularly amplifier, and cabling. I would be interested in knowing what you are using with yours Brownsfan. I've even read that they sounded "analytical" ane even "clinical" which would REALLY make me wonder the conditions for those conclusions.

Brownsfan all I can say is I would really love to hear your main system particularly with your musical taste. What a great reference to build a second system, very nice indeed!

It would be interesting to hear the difference between the Mundorf and Cast cap. Would also be interested in hearing your impressions of silver wire. Keep us posted Irish65. On a further note I really don't note any sort of "shouting" effect with the Beryllium tweeter at all. Just a bit of forwardness at times in the upper mids that maybe shouldn't be there. Then again these speakers are in no way laid back which again some are going to love and some not. To me they give the presentation a greater immediacy and sense of liveness. The Decapos CAN offer a more "laid back" presentation if it's on the recording. Most characteristically laid back speakers over time give me a sense that all the music is presented in that manner and it's not. The ideal speaker TO ME is going to tell exactly what is going on with the recording. In that manner the DeCapos are just superb, they REALLY do that as I am discovering going through recordings that are very familiar. Accuracy and neutrality are tricky words when describing a loudspeaker since ultimately none of them are completely either which is further compounded by the choices preceeding them. Its part of what makes this hobby so challenging and enjoyable, trying to find the pieces and putting them in the system to see what happens. I have been quite surprised at times expecting one thing and getting a result completely unexpected.