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Why is Shahinian not more popular

I am a German living in Moscow, and only recently got to know the speakers of Shahinian. I first received a pair of Obelisks in the summer of 2001, and liked their sound and presentation so much that I upgraded to the Diapason when Audiogon-member dogman7515 offered them for sale. I drive them with a MacIntosh MA6500, a German Audionet CD-transport and the Chord DAC64. Everybody who listens to these uncoventional, omnidirectional speakers is amazed, and I already have my best friend shopping for Obelisks as well. Having fallen in love with the Shahinian-speakers, I took a look around, but was astonished to see that there is almost no discussion of these speakers on Audiogon. Nor, it seems, are there dealers of Shahinian in the US. Why, dear Audiogons, are they not more popular with you? To those of you who own Shahinians: What is your experience as far as room acoustics are concerned? And what are your experiences with bi-amping and bi-wiring them? A review in the German journal Image Hifi stated you'd nee to dampen the wall behind Shahinian-speakers (Diapasonns, in that case)to get decent soundstaging. And finally, does anybody know what Shahinian is doing like? A German Hifi-dealer told me the rumor that Shahinian might be in trouble and bankrupt soon.
Thanks for your insight. Florian Hassel
hassel

Showing 2 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
They sound too much like music and lack the "flash" of "hi-fi" speakers. They are more a speaker that you come to love rather than sells you the minute you hear it.

They are also a little harder to set up due to their radiation patterns. Someone that buys a pair second hand may not know what it takes to really make them tick. Talking to a dealer or Richard Shahinian might solve those problems.

Another problem is that there really isn't a so called "dealer network" to sell, advertise or market this product. This makes it low demand due to lack of familiarity and popularity.

Another factor is that the speakers are not only placement sensitive, they are also somewhat equipment sensitive. They need an amp that is powerful yet offers very quick and well controlled bass. Otherwise, they tend to sound a little slow and thick on the bottom end. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Duke, Shahinian may not WANT dealers for very specific reasons other than production volume. It is possible that the dealers he has dealt with in the past may not have been reliable and / or known how to really market / set up his products. As such, it would be better to have NO dealer than a dealer that will end up damaging your product reputation to do poor representation. Especially if you are already running at or very near production capacity.

Having said that, i don't think that he would run into that situation with you. I think that you cater to a more select market and do a better job of it. If most "dealers" had the love of music in their heart and customer service that you offer, we wouldn't see all of these negative posts about bad dealer experiences that we do. Hopefully, Richard will reconsider his stance and work with you. While i don't think that the Shahinian's would do direct competition with the Sound Labs, i do think that it would give you a smaller and slightly more conventional speaker to work with that had many of the "airy" qualities that "panel" type speaker lovers look for. Like most panels though, they do require quite a bit of TLC to get them to work right due to their radiation pattern and rear mounted bass driver. Sean
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