Devor - KEF - Vienna Acoustic – Wilson?

Twoleftears > I've only heard the Liszt. Superb speakers! If I had a rich uncle, I'd have bought them on the spot.


BLINDJIM > KILLER HANDLE. COOL. THANKS
But then, that rich uncle would also have to like you too, right?

Nice new car…. OR…. A very nice pair of speakers? Life is just too hard way too often.

Did you get a feel for where the Listz land on the warm to cool or wet to dry ledger? Big, medium sized or little room?

At 4 ohms the springs flowing into them had either 120w or 250w. most speakers should be able to account well for themselves with those levels of available authority.



Stringreen > the Blade would be my choice. VPI uses Blades in their evaluation of their equipment.


Blindjim > much gratitude. VPI = Turntable, pretty much, correct?


I’m assuming you have heard the other speakers or most of them in making your choice for KEF?

Or were they just that impressive?

I’ve been noticing many audio appliance makers use several speakers with which to voice or confirm their products, especially amplifier makers. Three different types and or brands is not unusual.

IMHO ‘flexibility’ with regard to power, in a speaker system is for me a rather high priority. Along with its presentation and ability to convey the sonics coherently and cohesively in a well balanced delivery.

Speakers must recreate or geographically depict the venue persuasively .for them to be worthy candidates. Imaging, remarkable or journeymanlike, seems more key to the synergy of the complete system and room, although there must be a convincing soundstage for any speaker to grab my attention right off. imaging and honesty are always the two items which will pull me in, or leave me cold when I first hear any speaker.

Thereafter comes all the other integral aspects.

Additionally, being able to produce on a high or at its highest level, with but limited amounts of current/voltage is always a HUGE plus. Though not very often a deal breaker for me. Having the real world ability to drop merely 30 to 100 wpc on a speaker and have it really sing can not be seen as anything other than an enormous advantage.

All these asides sat down, the speaker’s actual performance that comes closest to emulating reality MUST be the deciding factor for its purchase IMHO.

How handily it arrives at naturalness and organics and with what degree of ease with respect to the amount and quality of power needed to get them there, seems to me to be the true deciding factor when choosing loudspeakers.

This is what I look for basically. And of course, how much of the bandwidth is delivered vs cost.

I’d sure not like spending upwards of $20K and then be forced to add another $5 to $10K or more, to address the bass properly. Although it seems a ‘given’ with the vast majority of passive loudspeakers.

Hey Blindjim,

Glad you are back up and running.

Hi!! Thanks for the kind regards.


Irma took a toll. Been involved in the clean up. And its been significant. It ain’t all done yet either.


As well, immediate health concerns have been a morass of incredible incompetence and needless delays.


I think it has come down to one of these four unless something unforeseen but very beneficial occurs. . other more $$$$ options would be the preff, but I’m sold on one not needing incredibly expensive speakers to reveal “Wow!” listening sessions. Besides, $15 to $20K ought to gather up some pretty competent reproducers despite whose name is on them. If a used pr. By a very very well regarded seller arise, all the better. Especially if they are in the state or at least the region

@blindjim,

I most recently heard the Wilson Sabrina's last weekend with the new Nagra Classic Amp (SS) with the Nagra Classic Preamp (tube). The other equipment was Transparent Cables/PCs/power conditioning and the dCS Debussy DAC playing thru Tidal. It was a very good for sure. Very revealing, nice pace, and very non-fatiguing over the four hours the system was in use. I have heard the Sabrina's a number of times and they've mostly been paired with ARC gear, which also sounds very good. I've also heard them with D'Agostino Momentum Monos/Pre a few years back, which I considered very good and have more recently heard them with an Arcam integrated with room correction (not as good as any of the other electronics I've mentioned previously). I very much like the Sabrina's and the Nagra worked very well with them. While I was there the Nagra Classic Amp was compared to the D'Agostino Classic Stereo Amp. I preferred the Nagra Classic Amp for its finesse and tactilness. The Dag was very iron-fisted (read bass controll) and overall less involving. Funny how a 40 lb. amp sounded better to me than a 108 lb behemoth. Weight, implementation, etc are all factors, but for me, the sound is the most important.

The Nagra equipment is not inexpensive. The amp is approximately $20k and the preamp around $16k. The Debussy is about $11k and the cables I have no idea. But I can say that this was a system that played very well for me. Some people deride dCS for it being to sterile. For me, I don’t remember hearing dCS before last weekend but thought that these pieces played complementary roles. It was very musical to me.

Jim, you said "but I’m sold on one not needing incredibly expensive speakers to reveal “Wow!” listening sessions". This is what this Sabrina/Nagra/dCS system did for me. But I've also heard the Sabrina's with ARC and felt the same. I hope to hear them with the T+A HV series integrated and multi source player. I've read that this combo works very well together but have not heard it yet. Hope to do so in November.

@blindjim 

KEF Blade Two comments – Jim, I took part of the following comments from another thread I was in back in June. --I heard the Hegel 360 at the Los Angeles Audio Show and it was very good; considerably better than the Rost although the Rost was pretty good too. They performed comparison tests between the Rost, H360, and their reference separates. The 360 was fairly close to the separates and it and the Rost have built-in DACs; the H360 is also 250 WPC. The demo speaker was the KEF Blade Two. I liked the Hegel sound. –I can also say that of the Blade Two; very even tonally with a bit of pop and sparkle. Though I liked them a lot, I took them off my list because they are $25k. But I also took them off because I like the Sabrina’s better. One observation is I’ve read that the Blade can be tough if you are close to sidewalls because of the side-mounted woofers. I think the Audio Doctor guys in New York have plenty to say about the Blade here in the Agon forums if I remember correctly.

Of course, on my last two comments, your mileage may vary.