Coincident Total Reference = any thoughts

It must certainly be disturbing for purchasers of the TR to find that an essential component of the speaker, the midrange driver (of which there are 4) is not manufactured any longer, and the manufacturer has nothing listed on his website about this speaker. This impacts re-sale dramatically, as evidenced by the presence on A'gon of a 5 month old TR, mint, selling at 50% of retail price, for so long. I, for one, am in the mafrket for just such a speaker, but how does one get reassurance that, should a midrange driver be damaged, such as in shipping, that a replacement will be available? It would be good to get reassurances from Coincident that replacements will be available and I will try to do that. That said, any other commments about the placement sensitivities of this speaker would be welcome, particularly the minimal distances to front and side walls (or solid obstructions, when facing inside. I would greatly appreciate hearing impressions from any owners of the TR.

Even though it is not the same speaker I would have to assume that placement characteristics would have to be very similar to the Pure Reference. Go to www.high-endaudio.com for an authoritative and exhaustive review of the Pure Reference (this includes his thoughts on placement). I own the Total Reference and my placement is actually nearly identical to the placement that Mr. Salvatore recommends. Obviously, I arrived at my placement independently. I had my speakers long before his review of the Pure Reference.

I must say that I have been VERY happy with the Total Reference and have no desire to upgrade. I cannot believe that the sonic differences would be substantial enough to justify the extra expense. I have to believe that the designer's goals were the same for both speakers.

How about the availability of parts for the discontinued model? How is Coincident Customer Service/Customer Relations for items not bought from them?

I do not know. Call Israel Blume. I can tell you from my experience with Israel that he went WAY BEYOND the call of duty for me when I had a problem to the point he offered to fly down (to Virginia) to help solve the problem. I have had no prblems dealing with his company EVER. My ONLY complaint is the time it takes to get from Canada to the U.S. which is beyond the control of Coincident Technology.

The Total Reference was discontinued, not because it had any serious shortcomings or flaws but rather due to the manufacturer of the midrange drivers taking the position that unless we purchased many thousands of units, they would no longer make them due to the difficulty and high cost of manufacture. We had and still have about 100 drivers in stock, which is far more than necessary for repair or warranty work (especially in view of the fact that we have not as yet had a failure in the field) but not nearly enough for continued production of the TR. TR owners can rest assured that all drivers and components will always be stocked as is the case for all Coincident models no matter how old.

As a matter of continued support for all Coincident owners, consumers who purchase speakers directly from us (which is required for those in areas not served by an authorized dealer) Coincident offers a trade in program to upgrade to another higher priced model. For speakers in mint condition and less than a year old, this means a full credit of the purchase price towards the new model.

If anyone has any further questions about anything to do with Coincident, please feel free to email us directly. We will get back to you, almost always, the same day.

Israel Blume-Pres.
Coincident Speaker Technology