I really wont be happy until i have a pair of Wilson Audio WAMs, pushed by either all KRELL electronics, or Mark Levinson.
( last i checked, the WAMs go for $150,000 a pair )
Sigh someday…
Really? Have you ever heard the WAM’s?
Well, if you decide to ever spend that kind of money, at least listen to a pair of these first. http://www.gen-tech.com/gen1.1.html
My next speaker upgrade, if I ever have another, will probably be the 350SE’s on the same site. They are only 35k bucks. Driven by a pair of Classe’ Omicron amps bridged mono.
Isn’t it fun to dream.
yo scotth! are those speakers still available?..
i don’t know why you want to spend $35K for a pair anyway. for $35k, you can have about TEN pairs of BG’s 520dx’s (thats a pair for every room in the house and a water-proof pair for the poolside!).
I agree, the genesis ribbons sound very nice. So do the BG speakers. Thats cause they are both come from the same place!
check em out! hit this site: http://bgcorp.com/
(i dont know if this will link, you may need to cut and paste!)
I do believe there are still available.
Also, on you bgcorp idea… I am doing one better for ya. I have already located a local dealer and plan to go here a pair for myself in the next day or two. (can’t be tonight though, pool league).
I do know already that the bg speakers have a big bandwidth problem already (80hz cutoff). This would be a problem for ME purchasing them. However, I will see how they compare through the midrange to what I have now, and report back.
Truly, I would be surprised if they are a match for the non electrostat Hales I am running, but… I am willing to be surprised.
good on ya, scott!
be sure to follow proper break-in procedure, sit back and ENJOY!
do me a favor! if you find them do be as good as everone says, post an update with your findings. it sounds like you have a good knowledge of the technology, based on your posting on it. hope they work out for you! i am planing on buying a pair when i get a little extra $$ later this year. right now, i am fortunate enough to have a place where i get to hear them and play my own CD’s. cant wait to get my OWN set…
Oops, missed this part.
Why, huh? Ok, on the electrostatic front, the finest I have ever hear through the middle are the Quads. These have some SERIOUS deficiencies in other areas though, that I just couldn’t live with.
The Genesis are the closest I have heard to the Quads through the middle. And they have NONE of the deficienies. They make HUGE levels of very good bass and will play without strain far beyond sane listening levels, all the while still delivering the resolution and imaging of the finest small monitors. In short, they are very close to doing ALL the aspects of reproduction well.
I listen to a huge range of musical styles, trying to find a speaker that does them all well is tough.
I have the impression that you may not have had the chance to experience a very wide range of the best the market has to offer, or the style of music you listen to is narrow (this is NOT a criticism) enough that the bg speakers do everything you listen to very well.
Have you spent some real time listening to:
Quads
Martin Login
Magnaplanar
Avalon
Hales
Genesis
JM Lab
Wilson
Dunlavy
Mirage
Thiel
B&W
OH, I forgot, The Genesis speakers do have one serious shortcoming.
They are very low on WAF, (Wife Acceptance Factor) for two main reasons:
- The are HUGE
- Price
Since we seem to have a few people here with more experience than me, I’ll pose some questions:
-
Do you have any aftermarket isolation you’ve applied to your equipment? Isolation plates? Sorbothine feet? Anything that you would recommend? I’m looking for more isolation for my CD player and amp.
-
A reasonable turntable cartridge for around $200 to $300?
Thanks for any advice, of which I will certainly take as a place to start, and proceed to listen for myself.
Scotth, nice comment on the WAF.
- I don’t use any of those. I have gone to the trouble of finding a pretty good bass null in the room along the front wall, my equipment stack is there.
- I don’t run a turntable at all… (should I admit that?) so I am no help there.
yeah, tell me about it…
it occurs to me that i never answered the original question! no, i don’t really consider myself an “audiophile” in the context that it is most often used. i REALLY love music, and have it on always. i have extensive systems in all my cars, home (speakers in every room, including the shitter!), out on the porch, seperate system in the garage and bitchin’ speakers installed into all my motorcycle helmets. As for outright quality, the overriding concern is usually money and practicality-- the jeep, which is abused beyond belief offroad-- gets a cheap amp from kmart (hey, it SAYS 200 watts!), valuing volume and replaceability over outright quality. the sports car gets quality amps and headunits and speakers.
most true “audiophiles” would conclude i am an idiot. i dont know much about the equipment, but i know what i like. people who visit my home are impressed by the sound quality if not the equipment. i have some decent stuff (Denon, Audiosource, Pioneer), but i focus on the sound as the end product and don’t care too much about what makes it. i am not ashamed to admit i cant hear the difference between 5x and 2x oversampling!
having met some “audiophiles” and talked with them a bit, i have concluded that i am not one, and don’t want to be one! i just know what i like and know how to get it out of what i have. if it sounds good, i dig it!
i don’t buy the $100 wire or gold-plated terminals and i don’t mess around with turntables or tube amps, but my system sounds darn good to me! I have had the pleasure to listen to some mega-high end stuff, and i gotta tell ya, they are darn good too! are they $100,000 better? not to me! what i got is good enough.
i listen to about everything but rap and elevator music, and as i get older i am finding my taste widen a bit (it scares me, the stuff i have been buying lately!)
it will be time to start replacing some of my stuff and i will be forced to re-learn alot of stuff and research the new products available. oh no…
Ich Bin’s
For the turntable cartridge, try a Sumiko Blue Point. They’re about $250 now. That’s what we have.
Actually, I would conclude you are a pragmatic audiophile but not much of a technophile. Seems fine to me.
You have the love of the music, that IMHO is where it is at anyway.
My (somewhat hardball) question above are merely to see if you were just blown away by ONE really exceptional system and figured, “hey, how can it get much better than this” or really compared the BG’s to others.
In the same price range, I would certainly listen to B&W, Magnaplaner, and maybe Quads. Thats all I really wanted to suggest.
And no doubt about, after exceeding about the $2500 a pair threshold on speakers, they do keep getting better, but the price rises VERY steeply for incrementally smaller improvements in performance.
Oh, I didn’t answer the question either. I have to echo Gatopescado on this; I try not to obsess too much on any one thing; with some people, it seems to quickly deteriorate into having the appropriately obscure brand. I think some of these people enjoy spending money more than listening to music.
I own and play records because they give me access to what is becoming a cheap medium. Between garage, estate and library sales, I have stacks of records I haven’t listened to yet. I enjoy the sound of vinyl, but don’t claim it to be superior. My system doesn’t support that.
So, scotth, I wasn’t asking the vinyl question to come across as a snob. I think it’s natural for someone to want the things they purchase to define them, to show what they take seriously. While my system is nothing special, people walk in and know that music is a big part of our house. I mean, it’s where the television should be. In front of the couch, in the living room.
very interesting choice of speakers to recommend!
1 conventional cone
1 planar (but different design than BG’s)
1 electrostatic
i forgot to tell you i live in a cave in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t find all 3 of these in a hundred mile radius!
your question wasn’t hardball- you are pretty much exactly correct. i have only heard a few of the systems you listed. i have had some excellent “education” on the technologies that they use. actually, after reading your comments on what charecteristics you like about the various speakers you list, i think you will really be suprised with what you hear and what it takes (and more importantly, what it doesn’t) to run the Radias. let us know how the demo goes!
ps- REAL audiophiles play DARTS! (he he)
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by gatopescado *
**
You must live in the middle of nowhere, the first two are very common speakers.
and (on the ps) No they don’t! ha
I swung through and heard them this afternoon as promised.
They’re pretty tall, (say 6 feet).
They are very nice sounding speakers. Would I trade them for what I have now, nope.
My own personal thoughts on different aspects of their performance:
I will compare to a couple of other speakers to help make it relative. I will use for comparison, Hales T8’s (which I own), Quads (pick a model), and Martin Login Ascent
R520 T8 Quad Ascent
acuracy(mid) 9 8.9 10 7.5
coloration 9 10 10 7
dispersion 7 8 1 7
coherence 8 9 na 3
dynamics 5 10 6 5
bottom end 3 8 0 5
top end 8 9 10 7
slam 6 8 3 5
In short, they do many things very well. But, as all speakers, there are engineering trade offs to be made when you have a finite price.
The quads for example, what they do right, they are almost perfect. What they don’t do right, most clock radios do better.
I enjoyed them, dollar for dollar I like them better than Martin Logan. Quad is hard to really decide. The T8’s are much more expensive, so it isn’t really fair to compare them.
thanks for the review! you did a real nice comparison!
do you run a sub? the 520’s with a sub kinda make up for some of the low scores in the bottom end.
actually, it sounds like you really liked em’!
(hint: they sell a “di” version on uBid.com for mucho less dinero. check it out, and the price might just be right…)
have a good weekend, everybody!
well, it official now. Genesis is Tits-Up! Bankrupt! History! Pushin’ up the Daisys! Gone off to join the Choir Invis-bill!
What a shame.