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“initially didnt want to spend more than my budget,...”

written by edleeds on 15/10/2003

Good Points
beautiful finish, almost like a piece of furniture. titanium drive units.excellent uncoloured sound,

Bad Points
speaker fronts

General Comments
initially didnt want to spend more than my budget, £600 maximum. spent weeks going to and from various uk audio outlets listening to the latest and most highly reviewed floorstanders. worst thing about this is you never or rarely get a dealer who has all of your hotlist, the ones you want to listen to, so it becomes difficult to compare speakers you have listened to a week before to a pair you are listening to today, and also, sometimes when you lived with a pair of speakers for some time, and you hear some that sound completely different, it kind of catches you out,you're hearing something different but not always better.Hope that makes sense.I eventually got my shortlist down to 2, wharfedales pacific and a dynaudio model,both floorstander and both fitting my needs, both sonically and visually.Whilst i was waiting another gentleman was waiting to listen to some audio equipment, we got chatting, i asked if he would mind if i listened in on his choices, he said no problem. The amp was a nad integrated,not sure of model number, the cd player an arcam, same again, not sure of model number. The speakers, monitor audio 8i's, Soon as i heard this combination i knew i had heard what i had been striving to hear for years.I immediately asked if i could bring my Rotel thx amps in, and use one of the shops nad 541i, cd players, with the monitors, they agreed.There was no going back, regardless of the price, i had to have a pair.When they arrived i was like a kid on xmas day,and was to say the least, depressed when i had them wired up.The sound was flat and one dimensional, i contacted the shop who said the pair i had heard in the shop had been subjected to over the 300 hours running in period, and that it was essential that they had this . They guaranteed that if i was not satisfied they would replace them.I dont think my hi fi was turned off for about a fortnight and yes, the shop was right, after several days, i could detect the difference, and now, after nearly 3 months they sing like nightingales, excellent loudspeakers,