Acoustic Zen Adagio

Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Al at Primus Audio in Kansas City was kind enough to let me spend about 4 hours at his place last week while I was up there, and I got to compare four solid speakers in the +/- $2k-$4k range.
I listened to a pair of Von Schweikert VR-4Jr's, Dynaudio Focus 220's, Dali Helicon 400's and the AZ Adagios. I spent about an hour with each speaker, and listened to six widely differing tracks, relistening to what are key passages to my ear several times in each track.
The Adagios won hands down. The Dynaudios were very pleasant but not at all transparent, and the Dalis had a nice top end (I really liked that super tweeter above 12.5k) but were only moderately transparent. The Adagios were next; more on that in a minute. I saved what I thought would be the best for last: the highly-regarded 4-Jr's that I'd been dying to hear because of their reputation on the 'net. Unfortunately, they disappointed me with a bit of boomy bass (the room was well treated, for those wondering, but did have a 6dB rise around 60Hz, although none of the other speakers sounded boomy) and they sounded very slow and weighty. The soundstage wasn't what I had heard it to be, either; it was pretty narrow to my ears. Imagins was excellent though. Maybe the problem was I listened to them right after the Adagios.
In short, the Adagios were amazing for a $3700 speaker. Lightning fast with beatiful decay - thanks no doubt to the circular ribbon tweeter - and they had surprising bass for just two 5 1/4-inch woofers. (The manual says they are 6 1/2" drivers, but we measured them, and the actual cones are 5 1/4; the 6 1/2 includes the metal mounting plate around the cones.) My only complaint was the soundstage seemed a little narrower than I'd like, and they almost seemed *too* fast and light to my ears. They disappeared very nicely though, which surprised me since they don't have a narrowed front baffle, and I found myself eventually letting my mind shut down and just enjoying the music instead of constantly trying to "hear deeper" into the music.
Frankly, these were the only of the 4 speakers I heard that I thought bested my Murphy-modified nOrh 9.0's. At $3700 I don't see how I can not buy a pair, unless the Ridge Street Audio Sasons I audition this weekend can blow the Adagios away. The Sasons are $1500 more, but they'd have to be truly amazing for me to steer away from the Adagios as my next speaker.
I saw some inquiries about the Adagios a few months ago, but no followups with reviews, so I hope this helps those interested in the speakers.
I'd also like to hear other opinions from those who have auditioned or had the Adagios for extended listening periods.
Howard

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Topic - Acoustic Zen Adagio - aggielaw 20:45:00 05/13/06 (2)

Re: Acoustic Zen Adagio - PhilNYC 07:04:57 05/14/06 (1)

That TAS review... - ladok 16:34:34 05/14/06 (0)

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