Interesting, I bought a pair right as production wound down, and still own them. I liked them at the time, as I was bereft of funds, but find them very underwhelming now. I have several older, very small, speakers that I prefer. I imagine that the current offering is in a completely different league from the original speaker. That's what makes horse racin' I suppose.
A Tribute to the Sequerra MET 7
I've been preaching the virtues of this speaker for years. I bought my pair around 2001 here on Agon... they were already a few years old. I think I have the Mk 2. I replaced some Vandersteen 2Ces...but man I didn't look back!
They are small, extremely dynamic and have amazing imaging. The tone is wonderful if the range is somewhat limited (as many monitors are). I have often gone to audio stores and listened to monitors many times their price. Almost without exception i end up thinking that they just don't sound as good as my Sequerras. I suspect that these are one of the great secrets of high end audio.
I've been waiting for years for someone to send me a tear filled email saying "thank god that I listened to you...I bought a pair and my life is now fulfilled." But I think they are just too unknown to really draw people unless they know Dick Sequerra himself. Also, you can't find them at stores...I think Dick only does factory direct sales. Oh well.
But truly. I now have a speaker that is 5x as expensive and 10x as large. I just hooked up my old Sequerras again and I'm still stunned with them. They are simply beautiful to listen to and I'm so glad that I never sold them.
Ok, I guess I need to end on a question...Has anyone compared the newer versions of the speaker (MK vi or the earlier versions like my Mk II? I believe that the later versions are slightly larger. I wondered if they retain all of their magic. I know Dick stills sells them direct for a pittance.
They are small, extremely dynamic and have amazing imaging. The tone is wonderful if the range is somewhat limited (as many monitors are). I have often gone to audio stores and listened to monitors many times their price. Almost without exception i end up thinking that they just don't sound as good as my Sequerras. I suspect that these are one of the great secrets of high end audio.
I've been waiting for years for someone to send me a tear filled email saying "thank god that I listened to you...I bought a pair and my life is now fulfilled." But I think they are just too unknown to really draw people unless they know Dick Sequerra himself. Also, you can't find them at stores...I think Dick only does factory direct sales. Oh well.
But truly. I now have a speaker that is 5x as expensive and 10x as large. I just hooked up my old Sequerras again and I'm still stunned with them. They are simply beautiful to listen to and I'm so glad that I never sold them.
Ok, I guess I need to end on a question...Has anyone compared the newer versions of the speaker (MK vi or the earlier versions like my Mk II? I believe that the later versions are slightly larger. I wondered if they retain all of their magic. I know Dick stills sells them direct for a pittance.
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I was a dealer for them in the 80s when they first established their reputation. I could not believe how awful they sounded. The only speaker with a perforated metal grill I ever saw. People would come in and ask for them and I would insist that they take one of the British speakers in the same price range that I carried home as well. The Met 7s always came back. I finally dumped them at my cost through Audio Mart. I still cannot understand what anyone saw in them. |
The diversity of opinion re. these speakers is fascinating. I own a pair of the early version with the metal grills. I use them for nearfield listening with my computer, with a Nuforce Icon integrated amp, and I think they sound fantastic. I have substituted a number of other speakers and always go back to the Sequerras. |
It is interesting... Mine do not have any grills whatsoever... I think that the grilled versions were the very first ones...rather crude in presentation from what I see on Ebay..etc. The cabinet looks much more low brow on those earlier models. The Mark II that I have has no grill and a rather nice cabinet...if simple. |
The Met-7 MKIIs do nothing extraordinarily well, and nothing extraordinarily poorly. What they are, is extraordinarily balanced, conveying the heart and soul of music in a very non-audiophile way. I bought a pair in 1989, and still have them, 20 years on. Along with the TC-50 and LS3/5A, the Met 7s deserve a well-earned place on the all-time classic budget speaker list. Issabre, the MkIIs came with a rectangular foam grill; no surround or hardware needed, it's a simple press fit. Dick still sells the grills (after 18 years, I finally got a new pair from him, as the old ones were getting pretty funky), or you could simply find some nice open-cell foam and cut your own to fit. Helps keep the dust and such away from the drivers when you're not listening to them. |
Here it is almost 2012 and I'm still listening to my Met 7, 8, 9, and 8 speaker line stage set up. Amps and pre amps and turntables and cartridges and DACs get up grades...and thes tall, ugly speakers sound more and more like real music with every new/better input they get. Sounds like real people with chests and real instruments. I'd love to talk with someone else who has a full set up. I run mine with atma sphere MP1 and M 60. |
While I do not have the ribbons, I have the subs and the line stages. I love them too. I was unhappy with the met 7's alone, strongly preferring other mini's. But coupling them with the 8's and the sticks/ribbons is a whole different ball game. I think the thing about these speakers that knocks my socks off is they DON'T knock my socks off. They just show you what your source is doing. Very much like my Tab's did...if in a different flavor. I loved my Tablettes. Heard vandersteens that were nice. The old Energy line, B&W 802, 801 and the harbeth ls35a setups with a Nait made sweet music too. But none of these were invisible like the Sequerras. The thing that really does stand out about Dicks speakers is how DYNAMIC they are at low volumes. Few people listen at high levels, where most speakers are able to convey a dynamic message. These do it at a whisper. I have never heard another speaker at any price that could be dynamic at such low volumes. |
I have the full set Met 7 Mk2, Met 8, Met 9 Mk2, Met 10/8 and think they are great too. I have heard a lot of the real kilobuck systems at shows and still think the Sequerras hold their own. Need some room for them to shine. I am considering moving on because I have a small room but love the full range and great dynamics. |
I've owned Sequerra Met-7 speakers since the early '80s. They were part of my introduction to high-end audio. I've owned several sets of these over the years -- I bought them to compare, test, polish as needed, and then resell. I find the tonality, the sound staging, and the imaging of these beauties to be simply lovely. I think they're very revealing, so if the other components of your system aren't so good, the result doesn't work. (I felt they worked particularly well when I owned conrad-johnson tube gear). I finally parted with my original pair of Met-7s last year, replaced by a pair of Met 7.7 Mk V, which to my ear is slightly sweeter in the mids and slightly more authoritative overall. I've paired these with my Met-8 subs, which provide just enough foundation. (They don't steal the show). It's perfect for me As to the size, I calculate that the later Sequerra designs are about 30% larger. The Met 7 original ("Mk I's") are 8" tall , 5.25" wide and 10" deep. each w/ a time-aligned 4-1/2" woofer and a 1-1/2" coaxial tweeter. The Met 7 Mk II 's and later measure 11.125" x 7.875" x 11.125" each w/ a time-aligned 6” woofer and 2" coaxial tweeter. For the near future, I'll keep a few pictures up on Photobucket if anyone would like to view them: http://s300.photobucket.com/user/pbartoo/slideshow/Audio/Sequerra%20Met-7%20Mk%20I%20%20%20%20Mk%20I... Enjoy. |
I have, for no reason I can explain, Mr. Sequerra’s very own Met7 MK6 BGEX speakers. He only made 2 pair of these. They were his reference speakers. Why he picked me to sell them to I will never know. I also have his T1 tweeters and a pair of of NFM Pro Minis. The only speakers that come close to the Met7 BGEX version are Eminent Technology 16b which I also own. The Sequerras are better, better than Golden Ear, better than KEF LS50. The BG EX stands for Bob Grodinsky Experiment. The little eMEt7 MK1 are good, but nothing compared with The MK4, 5 and 6. The stereo Mojo review of the MK6 is ridiculous, ignore it. See the speakers here https://www.facebook.com/deutsch2 |
I have a pair that I bought a few years ago second-hand at a flea market for the price of a large pizza. S/N 0207 and 0208. In very well-loved condition. I emailed DS about them, asked when they were made and told him they were incredible. I never got a response. Can someone tell me how the green/red LEDs work. The greens light up when pushed and everything is good, I suppose. The red is "Danger Will Robinson!" and come on when REALLY pushed. I'm running a Pioneer SA-7800 with 65wpc right now. and am not pushing. But I could ;). |
I just pick up a couple of pairs of Sequerra's at an auction. They are the Signature 1 pyramid woofers with the smaller midrange/tweeter boxes sitting on top. They are very early versions, serial numbers 19 and 20. I also picked up an early pair of NSM-PRO's. These sound fantastic and were a steal. I can't believe that I hadn't heard of these before. I have some questions. I emailed Dick Sequerra from the link on his website but haven't gotten an answer. Does anyone know....Are the top and bottom boxes meant to be wired in parallel or were they meant to use an external crossover? Does anyone have an idea of minimum and maximum power to use? What is the sensitivity? What the heck are the cabinets made of? They seem industrial as the pyramids weight far north of 100 pounds each. The bottom woofer has a standard dust cap but the top ones have a metal structure that sticks out an inch or so where a dustcap normally is. What is the purpose of this? Finally, what might these be worth, (although I can't imagine selling them). Any help would be appreciated. |
They should be wired in parallel. Everything inside should be left just as they are. Don't fuss with anything. If they work you have a wonderful system. The drivers are no long available. The metal that is place where the dust cap is is called a phase plug. If you want to talk with Dick you need to call the number and leave your name and phone number. he is 87 or 88 years old now, but still very busy. Oh! Those speakers used to play very loud, but I wouldn't push them to hard. MSM Pro - do you mean Near Field Monitor Pro? |
I Have a had a pair of MET 7 ‘s since 1985 or so ....wnd they are wonders ...recently bought a pair of Boenicke w5 ‘s ...and they have all the same atributes as the Met 7’s ease of placement .soundstage and musicality ...they have been in use since 1985 and still are in A+ state no deterioration of speaker surrounds etc And they still are able to bring a smile to my face |
