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RE: That 1.7 review is nonsense

Posted by RGA (R) on March 28, 2012 at 02:36:09

In Reply to: RE: That 1.7 review is nonsense posted by BenE on March 24, 2012 at 16:10:13:

Ben

Again I want to be clear - cause sometimes I get into these debates and I'm coming at it in absolute terms not with the eye on the price.

So I repeat - out of all the loudspeakers I have heard (edit: in the price range) I would rank the 1.7 in the top 5. I've heard a helluva lot of speakers in that price range so it's high praise. I, in fact, like them more than the people selling the things. I found myself defending them to the owner of the store carrying the line!

I know what it is the fans of them are hearing (or not hearing) that makes them fans. I don't quite buy into them (in absolute terms) otherwise I'd own them. If I was looking in the sub $2k range they'd be in the running. And they enter the running after I heard how good they sounded with an entryish level AN amp (Soro SE). The Soro is ballsier than the OTO. I was surprised in fact at how good the combination was given everything I always read about them needing kilowatt $50,000 amps to sound good.

I also get the sense that plenty of reviewers are too afraid to call them out for fear of backlash. You have to say they're the best at the price or else suffer the wrath of endless forum debate. There is a guy on the main page angry at Stereophile that ARC isn't represented well and that if ARC isn't there then the entire review industry is on crack cause apparently nothing is better and any amount more expensive than an ARC is rubbish jewelry.

The thing about being known for the super high priced stuff is that the only way to get close to the sound of their top system is via their mid/low level systems.

I said this awhile back on the speaker forum with regards to house sounds. Vandersteen makes $50k loudspeakers and ones under $5k. If you own the $3k model and you LOVE it and think it's the best thing around - you go out and you hear a similar voiced speaker in the $50k model but it's far better - the Vandersteen sound is there but on a whole other level.

If you don't buy into the Vandersteen sound then you will likely find the $50k model obscene. The thing is though that that model is only really relevant to the people who buy into the sound they're after. It applies to AN, Harbeth, Sonus Faber, B&W, Magnepan and most everyone else.

AN makes SETs - chances are if you like SETs you are going to like AN - you may like Shindo more or something else but you're generally buying into the sort of presentation it offers and whatever it is that SET possesses - be it superior transient response, more natural no switching non feedback presentation or soft second harmonic distortion when pushed beyond its limits - nothing else will do.

So while the AN digital gear that is crazy prices the only way you can remotely get anywhere close to the sound of the DAC 5 is by buying whatever you can afford - for me that would be a Dac 2.1. You can't get the sound from anyone else at any price because no one else makes CD replay in the same way with the same parts.

It goes to speakers. If you like the sort of presentation that Magnepan puts out then you will probably place a higher personal value on their top of the line models. An owner who has a 1.7 will buy the 20.1. But I would simply pause and say that while the 1.7 kicks a lot of ass at $1900 - largely because most of the boxed designs suck at $1900 it is quite a different market at $15,000. Plenty of brands here that don't even offer stuff at $1900.

And that is why I can say the 1.7 is a winner cause against the competition it destroys most of it - but the 20.1 isn't up against a bunch of meatballs.

Edits: 03/29/12

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