I have purchased SOTA swiss front end which I can't disclose. They are solid state. Got room treated , cables sorted , power supply regulated, a comfy couch and books to read for years.
Now I need a pair of beautiful and lively speakers to get me up and dancing when the track calls for it. A SOTA speaker that is worthy of keeping for years. Room size is 25 sqm/ 269 sqft.
Final contenders: - Zellaton - Stenhiem - Tidal- Marten- Wilson - Borresen
I don't need (you need to listen and decide) suggestions, I can't travel and we got no dealers with demos. So I'll have to rely on users honest opinions about each brand above and are they worthy of the cost.
No electrostatics and no horns please. Appreciate if you know how to get the most benefit at the upper botique level of speakers. Some might look fabulous and sound meh.
This is perhaps the most interesting thing I have seen/heard... A guy who wants to spend almost $100,000 dollars on speakers hides his identity and doesn't just spend $2,000 to audition in places like NY, LA, etc. where he is guaranteed the best anonymity. I have a feeling he might be in the Pandora papers for siphoning funds from his country... lol
You choose a wrong place to ask your question. Most here are trying to squeeze the best out of relatively small things. Most opinions here would not be based on real experience and hard to rely on or would be just trolling useless insinuations. My suggestion is to go after people who left any actual reviews on $70K range speakers and talk to them.
Not sure where in the Middle East you are but Dubai Audio tends to have good stuff available for audition and certainly has a number of clients that are willing to demo equipment that the store does not currently have on hand.
Might be worth reaching out to them (seems to be the best equipped dealer in the UAE from all the dealer interactions I have had there) and seeing what they are able to get you access to. If nothing else Ali and the team know this level of equipment very well and are a good point of reference. They sold me on the Devialet integrated amps and so should be able to guide you well based on what you have been listening to so far.
Thank you all , yes Dubai Audio is the more dominant dealer however they are biased to their brand list, like Wilson , Dan, Gryphon , Nagra and other small brands. I am not interested to any except Wilson Sasha/Alexia 2 if I am left with no international option.
The Raidho TD3.8 $100K Vivid Audio Giya G1 Series 2 Stenhiem Magico M3 Tidal Contriva's Marten Wilson My personal opinion with your electronics is if you can swing them get the big Raidho's. To my ears they are the most musical. I have listened to everything above, but not all in my system.
So many recommendations with absolutely no context of the components the op currently has? Why the secrecy? Feels disingenuous and makes no sense why you wouldn’t share if you’re truly serious and want to buy based solely on the recommendations of people you’ve never met (which is crazy in itself).
I see Black Rhodium is promoting its Deep Cryogenically Treated Silver-Plated copper stranded Flamenco speaker cables. 3m pair terminated with rhodium plated locking plugs £12,000.00 - 8kg per pair.
I have only heard speakers in this range at shows except for MBL which I have heard at a dealer. Shows are not the best place to make a decision but I have an opinion anyway.
The ones I've heard from your list that I really liked and that I think can work with many rooms and amps are Stenheim and Borresen.
I really like MBL too but they must match the room. And Magico M6 but they are much more costly.
Just an idea, if it is covid that is stopping you from flying to France or Italy and listen to some speakers, you could perhaps wait a few months and go then?
Just a thought, no virus ever stopped anyone going anywhere. People do that. People who want to control other people. We now return you to our regularly scheduled stream of irrelevant commentary.
@richopp All box speakers distort the reproduced sound.
"All speakers distort the sound." There, I fixed it for you.
I think we should try to find speakers we like regardless of the type. Some of the world's best speakers are box speakers so it is possible. They are all compromises but we may like some more than others.
I think we are drifting away from the subject. I did some reading and calls. Someone named TechnicalPie who's pretty much gone to most shows mentioned that Zellaton is in another league than other high end brands such as Magico, Wilson and others in terms of refinement of sound.
I am currently considering Zellaton Stage or Plural Evo. The Zellaton Plural Evos that cost as much as Magico M2 sounds better than M6 itself as someone claimed. This is hard to believe and confusing. Did anyone compare ?
However very little is mentioned on the internet. Appreciate some feedback.
I share the assessment that providing a GOOD answer to your question is tricky, however as I can relate to your situation let me try it.
Again, if you can realize demos, do so. In this price range it is worth it. If you cannot, I would approach the problem by figuring out the "house sound" (this will raise other questions and evoke funny comments) or better "line sound" of some brands and how good they work with your electronics. Hands down, there is some brand coloration up to a price range close to a fortune.
CH was the first brand that popped up in my head before you posted it. Congrats. They are on the neutral side.
The following part of the equation relates to your listening preferences. Magico e.g. differs considerably between the lines. If you start a google search you should find a very good post, if not please tell me.
Just a personal hint: Wilson Benesch often demos with CH and they do so for a reason. I am a classical guy and if your room is at least "ok" in terms of acoustics, my personal choice would be the WB Resolution. Sound characteristics also pretty neutral. WB speakers are often picky regarding electronics but with CH no issue. What is special about WB sound? The coherence is better than anything else I listened to (so on the other side of the spectrum to e.g. MBL). I am hypercritical in terms of coherence, timing. You will get more bass elsewhere, but here we speak about nuances on a very high level. My alternative would be Tidal Audio Piano.
To be clear, what you get in this chain is on the neutral side. I you like it a little warmer, SOME Magicos or other brands might be a better choice for you, if you are on the analytical side there are some options but I won't give recommendations here as listening fatigue then kicks in quickly in my opinion.
Keep us posted what you did and how it worked out.
go listen to the monitor audio platinum 300 Gen 2 or 500 Gen 2 they're going up against speakers four five times the cost and sounding just as good. the MPD tweeter that they developed is the best tweeter on the market right now goes up to 100,000 clean.Their driver technology is amongst the best on the market. magical just copied their sandwich driver technology.
A shame you won't consider ESLs. Sound Labs make classical music sparkle. For 70K you could get 945s and 4 subwoofers. IMHO no dynamic speaker can compete.
naturally, you'll get 100 answers. mine would be the following. YOU DON'T need to spend that much to get a fantastic speaker system. I'd buy Revel 228BE's, and one or two high quality subs, JL Audio, REL, SVS, etc. ...... and for under $20k, you have a speaker system that will run with about ANYTHING at $70,000.
Not on your list, but i own Focal Stella Utopias, 100k list but you may find them discounted or ex-dem at 70k
If you want to recreate the live experience, these are the kiddies. I considered Zellaton but the consensus was that they aren't man enough for my musical tastes, ie electronica, deep house, drum and bass, trip hop and a little akt rock. Combined with Boulder 2160 i get club- level performance, insane bass and extreme musicality- such a rich, complex, polished presentation. So no hesitation in recommending this combo
SUGGESTION ______________ Maybe you could *also* ask Christiaan Punter owner of HiFi-advice website.
He owns CH Precision gears (pre+power, L1 & A1.5) and makes a lot of comparisons. In my opinion, he does amongst the most thourough (subjective) reviews of gears. I discovered HiFi-advice quite recently, and found it is well worth following.
QUESTIONS______________ Christiaan Punter (HiFi-advice) will surely ask the same questions as me: 1. What are your electronics (that you cannot disclose...)? This paramater is of paramount importance; 2. How far from your speakers do you listen (in meters, pls)? 3. "i would ask myself "do i want a hifi speaker that is a bit highlighted?" "exciting", "a specifically ’big’ sound?" or do i want something that makes me forget i’m listening to reproduced music and gets out of the way. with a more coherent and flowing sound?" ( < Mike Lavigne) 4. What do you listen to? Acoustic, unamplified instruments (=> timbres do matter, very much => Harbeth?), or "A little bit of everything"?
FEED-BACK ABOUT SPEAKERS ______________ Your "Final contenders": - Zellaton //never heard; only heard the Swiss Ensemble 2 ways speakers years ago, which used the same zellaton cone. They were impressively transparent and fast-sounding. - Stenheim // I know *very well* the fantastic Alumine Two, 2 ways. Nevers heard the
Alumine
Three (USD 30K). So I did a WhatsBestForum member this suggestion. But maybe not the most comfortable speaker for near or mid-field, as they reproduce the isntrument with all its detail, timbres and dynamics. AFAIU from the Alumine Two model, the Stenheim do not emphasize treble, nor low-mid; they sound very flat; but they are extreeeemely revealing. (though for near or mid-field listening of acoustic instruments, nothing beats a Harbeth, imho - then prefer the M40.3). Therefore question 2 ! - Tidal- Marten- Wilson: * Tidal - I know a €80.000/pair model, power by Vitus; did not like the Tidal (transparent, but not enough body, and lack of naturalness), * Marten - until now, no speaker using ceramic cones convinced me on timbres. * Wilson - I know and like the DAW (a Harbeth M40.3, or 40.2 Anniversary, has still better timbres; but has less to offers on other aspects, especially imaging). - Borresen //never heard them.
@emerald You may want to find out what speakers CH Precision uses to voice their electronics. Also, reach out to other CH Precision owners (WBF may be best source) on how they derived at their speaker choices vs others.
Assuming similar speaker voicing throughout a brand’s product line, you can cycle through (buy/sell) used speakers until you find a brand you favor, then buy the final model you like. Also, online comments/reviews comparing Sonus Fabre speakers vs other brands may yield clues to help with your decision.
Audio sonic preferences amongst speakers are highly subjective, wishing you the very best in your endeavor
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