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Silverline Sonatina II - MODs?

I love my Silverline Sonatina II's. Have compared them in my home to various (wonderful) Spendors, Proacs, Ref 3a, Thiels, Usher, LSA, probably others I forget. II's win.

The II's don't always win in every respect: e.g. small two-ways do a slightly better disappearing act. The II's are a bit polite which is awesome for some music, less so for others. Some other floor-standers go deeper than the II's, so I got a sweet REL sub (another long and happy RELationship ;-)

On balance the II's win chiefly because they do an amazing job of sounding musical and present while offering a lot of detail and NOT sounding harsh, and sound very lively with a 40 watt triode amp. They are almost like the tube-amp of speakers

Natural, musical, presence, coherent, detailed.

But hey you know the audiophile rules. I've had these for several years. Times up. I have to either replace them or mod them, right? Rules are rules. :-o

Ok so I occasionally hear that folks have had Silverine designer Alan Yun put in a more modern esotar tweeter, or update a crossover, etc. I'd like to hear your war stories. How did it work out? What got better? worse? same? What do you recommend given your experiences? Perhaps others have tried modding the II's besides Alan Yun?

Sometimes we "tube roll" an amp, to see what different tubes sound like. Should I "cap-roll" the Silverline crossovers?

Fun. (If I can find the time, sigh.)
artmaltman
9 responses Add your response
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
yu're there...you could go out and drop 10k on speakers(and dropping 10 cold is a rush)....a couple days pass... and you'd still be in the silverline neighborhood. nice system.
Post removed 
blindjim
3,092 posts
 

Little else needs be said here.
queg
55 posts
 
I'll add something. Not sure about the II's, but the binding posts on my Sonatina I's are not very good. I bypassed them and direct-soldered my anti-cables to the internal wires. Reversible but a bit risky. Upside is greater detail and dynamics (which helps, considering their overly smooth, laid back character). Binding posts are for equipment sluts in IMHO. They are the condoms of the speaker swapping crowd. My speakers were already in poor condition (original bases replaced, corner damage) so I'm not concerned with re-sale. Although a bit underpowered, they sound great with 300b SET monoblocs.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Well, this is speculation based on the results of my Bolero's which have the Esotar tweeter in them. Changing to the Esotars would be a mod if done by Alan that you could sell me. But I suspect it would be expensive and you'd never get your money back if you sell your Sonatina's. I wouldn't touch the cross overs! That's were Alan does his magic.
garyjames
48 posts
 
If you like the silverline sound, there is a pair of boleros on audiogon for 4K. I expect that they exceed anything that you could do to mod your speakers. I have a pair of boleros that I like very much. I have not heard the sonatinas, but have heard the sonatas and generally agree with the reviewers that suggest the boleros are more refined than the sonatas. Good luck

gary
jimmm18
13 posts
 
I had a pair of Sonatina II's I purchased with bad midrange drivers. I live near silverline and brought them to Alan to replace the mids. While I was there he modified the crossover which gave them a more transparent sound, more like the newer silverlines. This was when the III's were just released. The difference between the II's and III's was very noticeable in the short audition I heard. You may just want to sell yours and pick up a used pair of III's.

Anyway Alan is a tinkerer and is always modding his own stuff. I think I remember reading a post by someone who was disatisfy with the sound of his II and Alan replace the tweeters with higher quality ones. It maybe that no 2 sonatina's are exactly alike. Guess you could contact him and see what he suggests.
shakeydeal
979 posts
 
I had the Sonata IIs and they were dynamic and would play loudly. That's about it. Not very transparent and they had a boxy midrange coloration which would show up on some acoustic music. After it was identified, I couldn't overlook it. They were gone in a couple of weeks after that.

As others have said, don't modify these unless you have Alan do it. They will be a tough sell otherwise. If it were me, I would move on. Good luck.

Shakey
artmaltman OP
769 posts
 
Shakey, I have a later pair of Sonatina II's (serial 1818, something like that) and don't hear that boxy quality that you talk about. If anything other speakers sound boxy by comparison. However I have had to play with positioning and cables quite a bit to open them up - and extensive break-in - and ultimately I'm keeping them way further out into the room than I had hoped. And the spikes do seem necessary even on wood floors (yes with cups :)

Im curious about mods mainly thinking that surely Alan learned even more about crossovers over the years... I like the Sonatina's a lot - preferred them over a stream of Proacs and Spendors and Ref 3a and Thiels that I had in my home - but everything can be improved, right?

No rush though :)

I am also tempted to get a 17.5 because I'm curious whether a 2 way speaker would be even more coherent, and what if any sacrifices are entailed.

Wish the Supreme was in my budget :-(

Not seeking any more large speakers (e.g. Sonatina III). Either mod this one or go for a two-way.

Art
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