I got sidelined by a home water supply leak (happily
outside the house),but I did give them a quick listen!
I have not done any specific comparisons yet, but what I am hearing is consistent with the comments Zeig has made!
For
a "quick and dirty" one song evaluation, I put on Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band playing "Count Bubba". This is a song one of the Big Bands I am in played earlier this Summer, so I know it and the sound of the instrumentation well!
I cranked them hard (pure direct at -1.0dB, if sensitivity ratings are accurate) to get the sense of performance levels. My biggest concern was things sounded a little "shouty" at the places where the entire band is popping out notes along with cymbals in force (like 2:45). I went into the GEQ and played with it - ended up happy after I knocked off just 1dB at 4kHz and -1.5dB at 8kHz (left 16kHz neutral at 0dB). To my ear, that took the edge off and I found my happy place! I am impressed these could keep up with the demands at that volume! This is big sound! The bass was solid (but not up to the full demands of the stand-up bass in my largish volume open floor plan LR).
Very nice.
The ride cymbal was crisp! Detail was very good. My own instrument, Bari Sax, was rendered about as good as I have heard!
After the minor EQ tweak, the only shortcoming that stands out to me - without A-B'ing them directly against another speaker is the high end doesn't have the extreme extension that comes with the Focal Be, Philharmonic RAAL, Canton Vento Ceramic, or (to a lesser extent) the Infinity Reference CMMD tweeters! However when you consider that those tweeters cost more than the price I paid for this pair of speakers, it is hard to complain. As soft dome tweeters go, they are absolutely no slouch!
A total no-brainer for anyone looking for a budget system. They easily eclipse the AJ Pioneer BS-22's, and the Sony Core Series CS5! I would, indeed, class these much closer to the Infinity Reference series.
