Speakers To Replace Castle Edens


My Castle Edens (stand mounted monitors)  may be on their last legs. The woofer is bottoming out with more dynamic passages at louder than average volume. If I could find another working pair, or a pair with, say, damaged tweeters, I could take the woofers out and put them in mine. The company no longer exists, so getting a new set of woofers is rather remote.

 

The midrange on the speaker is gorgeous. It's detailed, tactile, rich, spacious. I was up at an audio shop with them and we compared it with several others, including some costing a few thousand.  We both agreed that the Eden was, by far, the best. Instruments and voices were 3-dimensional and placed distinctly in the soundstage. And the speaker is very communicative. 

 

So... the closest to these Castles I have heard is the Sonus Faber Minima, but that's $5400 with stands ($4000 w/o), more than my budget.  I'm going to listen to the Fyne 500SP, although from reading, I'm not sure if I'll like them. 

 

I've heard a couple of the lowest level Reynaud speakers. I know those who rave about the better ones, including an old friend who had a pair of Offrandes. The ones I've heard (Trente and Twins) were really warm, generous, and communicative, but not detailed and frequency response was uneven down below. 

 

The closest dealer to me, Bob Neill of Amherst Audio, is no longer the distributor. He thinks the Bliss Jubilé is a great speaker, more immediate and lively than the previous Bliss models, but not as warm as previous Bliss. They could be in my budget. But I'd have to order them without hearing them. From what others tell me and what I have read, I'd probably like them, but that's a gamble.

 

BTW, I live on the north shore of Boston. I don't know if there's another dealer within New England.

 

Any thoughts on this? 

analogj

Showing 4 responses by dekay

The Richmond are much fuller sounding than the Isis (I preferred the II model, but both were good).

DeKay

If you have a Sonus Faber dealer nearby ask them when they will have the new Lumina II in for demo ($1200/pair).

I owned Castle Isis (20+ years ago) purchased from their distributer in Niagara Falls and have also listened to Castle Pembroke floor-standers (sp?) plus the original and 2nd version of the Richmond.

I replaced the Isis with Renaud Twins MkII around 2002 and then switched to flea watt tube amps and wide band single drivers (which I still use).

On the cheap (if you can find them) you would probably like the Richmond or Richmond II.

I'm considering switching to SS for the living room setup and am interested in the Lumina II's based upon listening to a few "good" Youtube demos.

A local dealer (I'm in Los Angeles) either has or will have them in stock shortly per a blurb on their website.

Never been a SF fan in the past, but liked the YT sound of their new inexpensive stand mount.

One YT video/demo compared them to 2 other speakers.

 

DeKay

 

Go to hifishark.com and run a Reynaud search (Bliss Silvers currently listed).

 

DeKay

The Bliss seller entered shipping info in the ad.

You have to register to see the shipping quotes.

Also there are filters for searching (I use North America/United States or whatever it's called).

Perhaps try contacting them to see if they are willing to ship (if they have the original boxes).

Shark is my main search tool (been looking for Audio Note AX Two Sig's for a couple of years now).

 

DeKay