Well I found myself in downtown Seattle yesterday and managed to put together 5 hours of speaker demo's..Heard the C7ESIII & PMC .22 I think it was,both driven by Primaluna...Harbeth was HUGE coming from Excite X14's and with some of my music just seemed a touch too civilized and the magical midrange about the same as the Dynaudio's,not for me..PMC's showed me how TRULY WONDERFUL the Excite X14's are..
In another store I heard the Special 40's driven by a SimAudio integrated and again was gobsmacked at how good the little Excites are.I see moving to the S40's as a slightly sideways move so their also out of the running..Going through the rather large selection of used gear I listened to a pair of Kestrel Hot Rods and Response 1SC's but the real jewel was tipped over sideways and covered in dust.A pair of Nola Boxer's(original series)...The cabinets were beat to hell but the drivers were perfect so I gave them a listen with the Primaluna and oh man did they sound good...Just enough of what the baby Dyn's do with a dash more of the golden glow I'm looking for..Not quit enough bass and the treble isn't as sweet as the Excites so I'm looking hard at the Boxer 2(NOT the 2s)which in my room should hit a solid 40hz,work perfectly with my amp and the stands I already have and offer more of the sweetness on top and better resolution with the series 2 drivers...
Now waiting on Nola to see if there is a stocking dealer anywhere near.If not I may just order a pair based on reviews and what I heard yesterday...
In another store I heard the Special 40's driven by a SimAudio integrated and again was gobsmacked at how good the little Excites are.I see moving to the S40's as a slightly sideways move so their also out of the running..Going through the rather large selection of used gear I listened to a pair of Kestrel Hot Rods and Response 1SC's but the real jewel was tipped over sideways and covered in dust.A pair of Nola Boxer's(original series)...The cabinets were beat to hell but the drivers were perfect so I gave them a listen with the Primaluna and oh man did they sound good...Just enough of what the baby Dyn's do with a dash more of the golden glow I'm looking for..Not quit enough bass and the treble isn't as sweet as the Excites so I'm looking hard at the Boxer 2(NOT the 2s)which in my room should hit a solid 40hz,work perfectly with my amp and the stands I already have and offer more of the sweetness on top and better resolution with the series 2 drivers...
Now waiting on Nola to see if there is a stocking dealer anywhere near.If not I may just order a pair based on reviews and what I heard yesterday...