Afternoon, all.
Just received a pair of Spires and they're not near as warm-sounding as my outgoing Vantages. Both sets were purchased used, but the Vantages sounded great from the start. I'm wondering if the prev Spire owner had yet to run through the 72hrs+ break-in.
What I'm hearing now is fatiguing/overly bright - are these characteristics indicative of a fresh panel/woofer? The manual only mentions bass shyness - but I'm experiencing mid-range shyness, too.
Thanks in advance!
Prepare to be frustrated with your Spires (and i imagine w/most ML
speakers). They can sound fantastic with well recorded music, but
tend to emphasize the brightness of older and less impressive
recordings. I've seen too many postings of ML owners ditching certain
music altogether or relegating particular CDs to their car because the MLs
just didn't sound good on poorly recorded material. Below is an
opinion of a Scenario owner from audioreview:
"I spent hours comparing this speaker to several others in this price range, and the inescapable conclusion that I have for this speaker (and most other "electrostatic/ribbon/planar" speakers) is that it is rich in detail and resolution-though not warmth or smoothness-so long as that information occurs in the upper octaves. They are bright, sometimes verging on being edgy and sharp, for daily listening."
I think you need to carefully match your electronics to your
Spires. Their qualities...transparency, speed and clarity are
exceptional and desirable, but for everyday listening, realize
they can be fatiguing since most source material is not
well recorded and the MLs tend to be a shade a little
toward brightness.
I have this ambivalence with my Spires where sometimes i love the sound and other times
not so much. I find i limit myself to certain CD recordings or flip radio stations
to seek out the highest quality material. I don't want to spend more money on
electronics and am not sure if i did it would make much difference. It's just the
nature of the speaker.