Silverline Speaker Opinion

Uncledemp - While I can't speak to the Minuets and a Silverline house sound, I did want to jump in and say I recently took delivery of a pair of new Silverline Prelude Pluses.  They have less than 50 hours on them now so some time still remains on burning them in.  I can tell you I am enjoying them a lot.  For the price, they are a steal...at 2x $ they'd still be a steal, in my O-pinion.  Definitely worth making a trip to hear them if you have the time.  Good luck.

Hello again Gary -
Nope...broke one of the cardinal rules of audio - I bought speakers without auditioning and didn't even have a 30 day return policy as safety net.  To explain, I got a bug to try a different speaker.  Mainly something more efficient than the Totem Forests I've been running for going on 9 years now.  Add a silk dome tweeter and an affordable price, (i.e., under $3500) to the list.  Initially, I was thinking monitors but came back to floor standers since I had the space.  The Silverline Pluses ticked off a lot of boxes for me.  I really didn't even consider the v2 Prelude (though I read about them as much as possible) because the Pluses had more features that I wanted.  When I saw Underwood HiFi advertising them on A'gon, I gave Walter a call.  His delivered price was very attractive.  Before making a decision, I read as much as I could on-line though there's not a lot on the Pluses.  Much more available info on the original Preludes v1 & 2 but these are a significantly different design.  Frank Alles of StereoTimes was very gracious and helpful.  Tried to contact some A'gon owners and did get some encouraging feedback from a few. So I took the plunge.  Now have around 60 hours on them.  They are more detailed (in a good way) than the Forests.  Soundstage is huge and ambient effects are impressive - there's a LOT of air when called for by the recording. They don't do bass as well as the Forests (at least not yet; but the Forests have many hours on them and are thoroughly broken in and optimally placed).  Total surface area of the 4 mid/woofers on a Plus is greater than that of the single mid/bass driver of a Forest, however.  Still experimenting with placement and planning to live with them a while before deciding whether a sub(s?) is/are necessary.  Right now though the Prelude Pluses do put out plenty of slam and good bass reproduction from things like ZZ Top's Tres Hombres, Bela Fleck's Cosmic Hippo, everywhere on Blacklight Syndrome (Bozzio, Levin, Stevens), and Donal Fagen's Morph the Cat.  On such recordings, I don't feel like a sub is needed.  But, the frequency balance is different than the Forests...bass not always as evident.  A different "sound" was  something I was after in new speakers and they definitely give that.  As a bonus, the Preludes are also better than the Forests in some areas...more refined and sweeter.  You can "see" more of the music.  OK,  hope that ramble is of some little help.  Good luck in your search and getting to a place to hear them.

Hey there Gary, no problem.  I have the Pluses set up about 36" from the wall behind them; that's 3 feet from the wall behind them to their back panel.  They are both at least 4 feet from sidewalls.  If you look at my system page, they are positioned just to the outside of where the Forests are in the photos.

PS Gary...

Do read Frank Alles' StereoTimes review(s).

You might try contacting Alan Yun (Silverline Audio) directly and see if you can negotiate some sort of in-home audition.  He will sell direct.  Not sure if he has demo units, however.

A few additional comments...
I didn't mention imaging in my lengthy note above, but it is crazy good.  Center fill (which the Forests also did very well) is really solid.  "Palpable" is an adjective that comes to mind.  Stage depth is more evident than I've heard before, though I'm not saying the Pluses produce it for every track of every recording.  Sometimes it just seems like those audio cues are missing from the recording.  This brings up another point - these speakers seem to make differences in recording quality album to album and even track to track more noticeable.  

I realize a review of the Prelude Pluses was not the intent of your initial post so I hope these comments will give you a some more data points to use in your purchase decision.

Gary,Wolf - I had definitely read Wolf's posts about his experience with the Prelude speaker.  I haven't tried Vibrapods under mine but do have them elevated about 4" (on a wood plinth + the height of Alan's spikes).  Found elevation to be good with the Forests too.  My Pluses are also single-wired and, based on input from Silverline, the speaker cable is connected to the lower posts.  I'll probably experiment with a diagonal connection as per Audioquest in the future.  

Gary - 6 feet into the room should give plenty of space behind them for projecting stage depth.  BUT if you do go with Preludes I wonder if a little nearer that "front" wall will help with bass given they are rear ported.  Obviously, rooms differ and experimentation is needed.

Wolf - what REL subs are you running?  Thanks.  

Hey Wolf - your impeccable taste duly noted.  Thanks for info on the RELs.  

Have passed through the hundred hour mark on the Prelude Pluses and well on the way to 200 hrs.  Finally hooked them up to the tube gear I had bought them to use with (78 wpc EL34 mono blocks; 6H30 & EZ80 rectifier pre-amp). I am no longer thinking I need to get a sub. Lower mid-range and bass are fuller with these tubes than I expected and actually seem better than with the much higher powered solid state gear I used during the breaking in period. Go figure. I think these Preludes are an amazing bargain.  

Uncledemp - I've never heard the higher end Silverline speakers.  Given what Alan Yun can do for $2G and less, however, I bet they sound fantastic.  I do think the narrow baffle of the Preludes is a contributor to their specific sound but don't think that means there's not magic in his other designs.  

Wolf - thanks for your, ummm, persuasive pro-subwoofer argument.  I definitely find there are days when I'd at least like to think I'm having more fun than might actually be the case (but at what point does that become delusional psychosis?)  Mental health issues aside, a sub could definitely be a next step in the upgrade path.  At this point, though, it isn't critical (IMO); fun factor with the Pluses is pretty high.