Timma
I googled "sapphire speakers" and found a description and review (of sorts) of Sapphire speakers was published in E-Gear, a publication I am not familiar with
http://www.sapphireaudio.com/images/egear_jan04.pdf. Like most reviews of audio products, this one had nothing bad to say, and must be taken with a grain of salt.
The ST3 is a full-range MTM (mid-tweeter-mid) design in a floor-standing tower with two 5¼" midrange drivers above and below a 1" dome tweeter. Also included are two 8" woofers mounted sideways. They are heavy - 65 lbs each! The 8" woofers are not separately powered, but the whole speaker is of high enough sensitivity, 93 dB, to allow them to be easily driven to loud volumes by most HT receivers. That is a plus. It's retail price is $1,500 a pair. If you can buy these for $600 a pair, then they might be worth seriously considering.
All the drivers have aluminum cones. What follows is a
broad generalization about speakers with aluminum drivers. They can sound great and they can sound irritatingly harsh. The dogma about aluminum speakers has it that they produce a highly detailed sound. This can be good if the recording quality is good, and can be trouble if the recording quality is poor. Often people say that rock music can sound unpleasantly harsh on aluminum speakers. I have heard aluminum speakers that are truly wonderful and those that are indeed harsh. Their individual design details can make or break them. So you may or may not like their sound.
You should definitely spend some time listening to them before you buy. If the dealer has a try it at home policy, take advantage of that. You may find that you like these speakers at first, but with time you find that they repel you. I can't say whether you will like these speakers or not. It is a matter of individual taste. By now you know that I only give general advice. Here goes.
When shopping for speakers there is no substitute for your own listening experience. There are many different speaker manufacturers out there. At any one store you may find only a few of these to listen to. Instead of recommending specific speakers to newcomers, here is a method to use in auditioning and selecting speakers on your own. Consider this list a starting point. Feel free to add to it.
- Find a store that encourages you to listen, by providing a variety of speakers in quiet listening rooms. Large chains (Best Buy, Circuit City, Tweeter, etc.) may not be the best places for that unless they have separate listening rooms. Don't be intimidated by fears of high prices and snobbish pretensions. If the store and its salesmen have any sense they will want your business.
- Listen to a variety of speakers, but pick a price range and stay within it.
- Be aware of the size of the room where you plan to put the sound system. Ultimately, after you have narrowed down your choices to a couple of different speakers, you may want to hear them in your home.
- Bring along several of your own CDs that you are familiar with to play when auditioning the speakers. Be sure to include some music that has relatively quiet passages with voice or single instruments, such as piano or guitar. It is often more revealing to hear how a speaker succeeds or fails with un-amplified single instruments or voices than it is to listen to music packed with sound such as amplified rock or a symphony orchestra playing at full tilt. Listen at both low and high volumes.
- Find the sweet spot where the sound from left and right speakers merges into one "soundstage" and listen carefully. Also walk around the room to listen from a number of different angles. How wide is the dispersion of the midrange and higher frequencies? Is the sweet spot narrow or wide? A quick and easy method to assess dispersion is to listen to pink noise or inter-station noise on an FM tuner and walk around the room.
- Be prepared to spend more than 5 or 10 minutes listening to each speaker you try. Sometimes, your initial impression changes after 15 to 30 minutes more listening. Some speakers immediately grab your attention and seem to sound great at first, but become tiring to listen to (listener fatigue) for longer times.
- Bring a friend. I have found that the next day I remember better what I liked and why if I have someone along to talk it over with. If you are very methodical (or compulsive) bring a pad of paper and take notes.
- Take your time until you know what you prefer. There are enough different speakers made to suit many different tastes. Only you know what your taste is.
