B&W 600 series 3 is around $300 with dealer discount. Kevlar is a lighter, faster better driver than the 303's carbon fiber. But it depends or listening preference I suppose. I like www.creativesound.ca elf 1.5's for $125/pair. Different but in some ways much better than B&W since it is a single driver design. |
They are better than the Mission speakers that come with the Denon UD-M31 mini-system. On Sade's "Is it a crime" they have outstanding balance between cymbals and sax. The Tang-Band W3-871's are MUCH flatter than any Cain&Cain etc. single driver speaker recently reviewed in Stereophile. Like +/-2dB from 100 to 10K. +/-3dB from 10k to 20k. On studio mixed music, B&W is very good but on acoustic music the "rightness" of these single driver speakers is way better than B&W. You loose high volume levels since they are paper and maybe dynamic punch too vs. B&W. I spoke with the designer and he said these $125 ELF 1.5's are very close in performance to his JordanJX92's which he also did a design. Maybe in some ways better since the Jordans have a rising response curve and can get bright. ALl I can say is a lot of people can get unhappy with even $2,000 speakers but if you can live with lower volume levels and limited bass (I put mine on the mantle up against the wall so bass is good to 40hz) they make me question why spend more/ do I really need to. NOTE: the second driver is only to give bass boost with no phase shifts etc. So this is a TRUE single driver design. |
Johnnantis here is the site: superelf They used to be $64.00 + $58 for two cabinets = $122.00 I don't know if they have cabinets anymore. I guess the word I was struggling to find was "natural". That is why they have a satisfying sound. You can get a $2,000 speaker with bass, detail, and dynamic range but if it does not sound natural, I can't relax and listen to the music. |
