The New Nola Boxer 2 upgraded to a 2S

I can’t give you a comparison of the Boxer vs Boxer 2 vs S2. I do however own the Boxer 2. They are,in my opinion, a stellar standmount speaker. They dig plenty deep,great mids,and non fatiguing but detailed highs. They also throw a very good soundstage,and image wonderfully.

Best of luck!

Were you able to audition your Boxers before purchasing? What drew you to them in the first place?

I was not able to audition these. What I did was read everything I could about The Boxer's and Nola in general. What drew me to them? I had a short list of speakers, and I very rarely see these come up used. To me,that is also a testimonial to the Boxer 2's. Usually folks don't sell thing they love unless they have to for some reason. Which is how I came across the pair I own. Where are you located?

Rocray,
That's exactly how I arrived at them. There aren't any Nola Dealers in South-East Michigan for auditioning either but the reviews and the blogs have convinced me to have a very close look.

As a retired guy who spends way too much time researching and reading on the internet, I created a list of stand mounted Bookshelf speakers that appealed to me for various reasons ranging from $1200 to $3200.

Timbre, imaging and sound-staging are my priorities. I can easily live without deep bass but a sense of scale and reasonable volume are mandatory. I generally listen to vocals, classical and acoustic pop. My source is a Sony SCD-XA-5400 ES going through a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC to a Schiit Mjolnir 2 (tubes) as a preamp then to a Marsh A400 Power amp.

A secondary (but important) consideration for me was trying to find speakers that were designed and manufactured here in the US or Canada if possible.

A few British speakers crossed the Radar but after shipping duties, tariffs and dealer markups they would have to be that much better than anything in their comparable price range to be considered and I haven't wrapped my financial ears around that yet. While I'm attracted to the Harbeths and similar British monitors sound; some part of me has always wanted to know why such simple cabinet speakers should cost so much. As much as I like their sound, I just can't find any love for a veneered crate in my listening room. Just my personal opinion. I have several friends with these speakers and their systems sound wonderful.  

Moving on, I struggled with Be vs Ribbon vs Soft Dome vs Hard Dome and finally gave up on which was best because in the end, superior speaker voicing by a gifted designer will determine the best combination of hardware for a given sound. It's my job to decide if that sound fits my room, the equipment on hand and I.

I'm downsizing from decades of BIG systems to this new arrangement and it's really exciting. So far it seems like the Nola Boxer 2 is an American made speaker that hits most of the buttons on my list but I need to hear them if I'm to buy a pair. We shall see. I am considering other speakers as well.   

rel2,
    Are there any updates?

Just heard them at RMAF probably will buy them to replace my Reference decapo be's or maybe the Harbeth 30.2's. Both speakers were really so much better than most of the stuff at RMAF. In many ways there were so many mediocre high priced speakers at RMAF this year. Anyway just my opinion I am not an expert BUT I do listen to a lot of live small group classical and jazz performances. Best wishes
Charlie

I meant that I also may also buy the Harbeth's to replace my current speakers. Sorry it has been a long day.

Have you heard the Nola Boxer 2 before...or only the S2?  Im trying to decide if the $1000 upgrade is noticeable and therefore worth it... 

What about the S2s stood out?

I’d wait for the Adantes.

Hi Mike, Just got off the plane coming back to Florida from RMAF. I'll be brief. I have never heard the Boxer 2's. So I can not do a comparison between the Boxer 2 and the 2s'. What I liked about the 2s' were their incredible natural relaxed sound. They just drew me into the music rather than irritate my ears and push me away. They are very dynamic and the timbre of instruments sounded real, sound-staging and imaging were excellent but I was shocked at how great they sounded on large orchestral music. I still don't get how Carl does it. I went back to listen to the Nolas at least 4 times while I at RMAF. Each time after a listening session I walked out of the room with a big smile on my face.  Sorry I can not be of more help. Best wishes
Charlie

Charlie,

Thanks for your response.  I am also hearing from others that they sound wonderful.  I'm about to pull the trigger on them... never heard them but dont think i can go wrong here.  When you look at Carl's range of speakers he is not fooling around.... 

Cheers

Any updated on Nola s2 ? 

I hope rel2 sees this,and gives us an update.

I love my boxer 1 just wonder the s2 will sound more better in every way