Review: Meadowlark Audio Shearwater hotrod Speaker

Category: Speakers


Disclaimer:
Every piece of equipment I review had been used in my own system under the conditions of my listening room.

Description:
Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rods are 2-way floor standing transmission line speakers with slopped baffles. They deploy 1st order crossover and time-coherent design. All drivers and crossover’s elements are those of highest quality. They are 89 DB sensitive, and 12 SET watts will drive them good enough. 8 SET watts did not work for me though.

Sound:
Very detailed, airy and transparent with good solid state (Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro mono blocks, bi-amping). They could be on the dry side with some analytical SS-amps though.
Tubes are what Shearwaters really made for. They are easy to drive, and they combine spectrally reach natural tones with great rhythm and amazingly low, tight, and well-controlled bass response. Frequency response is linear and coherent through the entire range. In my system, Shearwaters Hot Rods are at home with either jazz, rock, classical, ambient or ethnic music.

Conclusion:
2-way lover’s two way. Could lay a solid foundation for a decent high-end system if paired with the followed tube amps: Cary 572SE mono blocks, Rogue 88, VTL-85, Mesa Boogie Tigris, Musical Research RM-200. Rather expensive when new, but you will get what you pay for.

Associated gear
Amplifiers: Cary 572SE Signature mono blocks, Rogue 88 power amp, Mesa Tigris power amp, ASL STM8 mono blocks, Monarchy Audio SM-70 balanced mono blocks, Golden Tube SM-50I mkII integrated, Dynaco-35 integrated, NAD integrated. Various Cardas, Granite Audio, and Audioquest speaker cables.

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Sonus Faber Concertino, B&W DM603.