Acculine good decision?

[roshi]

Hey,
I've been looking for the right speakers for many many months now. I come to the conclusion that I do not want to spend much money, plus i don't want huge looking speakers.
I recently heard a MAD PA that is made up of Planar speakers and I loved the sound!!! I never heard such good PA speakers. Of course their array cost like 280K.
Anyways, so I looked some more into planar speakers and found the Acculine speakers. Reviews really like them and they are a lot cheaper than all the other speakers i was thinking about getting (Aperion, Paradigm Millenial, Def Techs).
Anyways I'm kind of looking for some feedback, especially from people that have heard them. Thanks a lot!

[mazersteven]

From the conversations I have had with a few forum members who's opinions I trust. I have been told that the Audio Inside Acculine series do sound good. From what I have been told their price vs. performance makes them a very good value.

http://www.theaudioinsider.com/products_new.php?cPath=21_32&osCsid=67cd41242e7ea2236d70b83231ec8dd6

[roshi]

Thanks a lot. It does seem like a good deal to me. The only question that remains is what kind of receiver I should get for them. They are 4 Ohm speakers, so I'm not sure.
I was thinking about the Yamaha RX-V1800. Not sure if it will handle the 4 Ohms well or not. Their website doesn't say much. Any opinions? I would go for an Onkyo, but they are too big for my media center.

[Pyrrho]

You must be thinking of the tower Acculine speakers (model A3), as the bookshelf versions are 8 ohms. I used to own Acculine A1 speakers, but I replaced them with the superior (and more expensive) Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE (U.S. version). Acculine speakers are made by Bohlender Græbener (BG). According to BG, all of their 4 ohm speakers are "compatible" with amplifiers designed for 8 ohm speakers. Presumably, this means that there are no nasty impedance dips, and that they have been more honest in their ratings of their speakers than some companies, which claim that their speakers are "8 ohms" when they should be rated as 4 ohms, in order to sell to people who would otherwise look for 8 ohm speakers to match their receivers. I, of course, make no promises regarding this.

The Acculine A1 speakers are good for the money, but don't expect miracles from them. Looking at the price of the A3, given that it uses the same woofer (two of them, instead of only one in the A1) and the same tweeter, I would recommend going with a good used speaker instead.

If you don't mind buying used, you might want to bid on some Aurum Cantus speakers on eBay. When looking for Aurum Cantus speakers on eBay, just be careful about bogus claims that it is a U.S. version when it isn't. Right now, though, the one I see on eBay is a real U.S. version (assuming the pictures are of it), but in the past, I have seen people lying about which version they are selling. Here is a link to help you tell what version it is:

http://www.kellsieavdesign.com/products/US_vs_CH.htm

Here is a link to a current auction that appears to be selling the latest U.S. version:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150244487946&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

Please note, I do not know the seller, and therefore guarantee nothing. I believe the review to which the seller provides a link is for the "generic" version, not the U.S. version, of the speaker. Having heard both the "generic" and the original U.S. version, I can say that the U.S. version is definitely superior to the "generic" or "international" version. It also shows up in the specifications, with the U.S. version being 1 dB more efficient, and going 5 hz lower at the - 3 dB point.

The Leisure 2SE, even the "generic" version, is vastly better than the speakers from Acculine. Of course, you should do some searching for reviews on your own, and, if at all possible, audition speakers before buying them.

[roshi]

Thanks for the input! The thing with upgrading is that there is always a bigger price tag on it. Right now I could get the entire 5.1 Acculine Set-up for 859$ plus shipping. Which seems like a really good deal to me.

[silversurfer]

Thanks for the input! The thing with upgrading is that there is always a bigger price tag on it. Right now I could get the entire 5.1 Acculine Set-up for 859$ plus shipping. Which seems like a really good deal to me.
For roughly $150 more, I would go with the SVS SBS-01 system.
http://www.svsound.com/products-sys-sbs_black.cfm

If anything, you would be getting a better subwoofer.

[Midcow2]

You might want to consider the Cambridge Audio S30. The are a small good looking speakers , reasonably priced that have great sound at $249-$299 per pair.

Then you might want to consider a SVS or Hsu subwoofer for you .1 They are very good sounding subs prives $429-$499.

[jsantos615]

I spoke with Jon at Audio Insider last week and they're blowing-out open boxes of the Acculine Speakers:

http://theaudioinsider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=723&sid=7ba177070d168e48d79acc8faea14186

Jon also mentioned that the HF Driver in the A3 is the same driver that Martin Logan uses in their Mosaic (quasi electrostatic) Series:

http://www.us.martinlogan.com/display_speaker/mosaic.html

Happy Hunting!