Considering Selling My MLs

[attyonline]

I am considering the sale/trade of my Aeon i mains Cinema center. Looking at either Thiel SCS 4 bookshelves or perhaps a set of 900 series Focal speakers. I listen to about 50/50 music and movies. As a long time member of this forum, I know what the favorite speakers are here , but I am curious if any one posting here has sold their MLs and went with a more conventional box speaker, and if they came back to MLs again.

 

[Rich]

They always come back . . .

 

[mrmike]

Does almost count? I also owned Aeon i and Cinema i and wanted to upgrade. I really took a close listen to B&W D803. I would say the 803 had better imaging and the tweeter was the best I have heard but overall cohesiveness top to bottom was not as good as Aeon i's. I ended up buying Vantage with no regrets.

 

[Bernard]

I used to have Quad 57s, and knew that I would only change them for another pair of electrostats. When I first heard MLs I was hooked. I would not consider going to a conventional box.

 

[TrumpetDoug]

change is good?

"There is no box like no box":rocker:
Having said that the only speaker lately I have found that grabs my attention is the Gallos Reference. I still would not buy or trade without a significant take home trial period. Has anyone heard these Gallos? Quite interesting I think. I would love to compare them to the Ascents but I can't get a friend of mine to cart them over here. I would take the Ascents to his place but they won't fit in the ole Prius, and his listening room is a bit small for a speaker of this size anyway.

Doug - out

 

[slowGEEZR]

"There is no box like no box":rocker:
Having said that the only speaker lately I have found that grabs my attention is the Gallos Reference. I still would not buy or trade without a significant take home trial period. Has anyone heard these Gallos?
Doug - out

I have and they are, in a word, outstanding. Especially with the optional bass amp. The dynamic slam of these speakers is amazing. They sound very accurate and musical to my ears.

 

[Craig]

I've gone through several speakers in the past several years. It's been an evolution. I upgraded to Ascents from a Bose Acoustimass 5.2 speaker setup. Upgrade was an understatement. I then moved to Odysessy's then later traded in the Odysessy's on a new pair of Sonus Faber Cremonas. I had the Cremonas for about a year and then traded those in for the Summits when they came out and still use the Summits today. I'm happy with the Summits and have no intentions of selling them anytime soon.

The Cremonas were great speakers and I wouldn't mind owning a pair of those again. However, the Italian made Cremonas now costs 40% more then they did when I bought them mostly due to the US$ to Euro exchange rate increases. The Cremonas were nice but I would not buy them at their current prices. I probably wouldn't buy anything else European made because the prices are heavily inflated by the weaker US dollar. The Summits have only increased by 10% in the same amount of time.

Now is a good time to buy American and sell to Europe and this is what ML is doing with the new CLX speaker.

Some box speakers are more dynamic sounding but you will most likely need to spend more to equal the overall performance of an electrostatic type speaker especially if it's made in Europe.

 

[timm]

"There is no box like no box":rocker:
Having said that the only speaker lately I have found that grabs my attention is the Gallos Reference. I still would not buy or trade without a significant take home trial period. Has anyone heard these Gallos? Quite interesting I think. I would love to compare them to the Ascents but I can't get a friend of mine to cart them over here. I would take the Ascents to his place but they won't fit in the ole Prius, and his listening room is a bit small for a speaker of this size anyway.

Doug - out

Yes - I have heard the Gallo ref 3s many times. (I own odysseys for reference - and know the ascent very well). The reason I say 'many' times is because I have gone out of my way to audition them many times. Here is my impression: They do some really cool things in the imaging / bass dept. But, what I get from the logans is open-ness, height, and transparency. The Gallos give you imaging and good bass. However, after hearing them quite often - I start to think that maybe the bass creates a 'thickness' to the sound. This is on the complete other end of the spectrum from the house Logan sound. I think the Gallos will be more 'comfortable' with lousy recordings - rockin' down the house - and the like.... but in the end, I still like the aspects of the logan sound better....

 

[cyclone]

There's only one remedy.......have two systems!

 

[attyonline]

Am leaing toward the Thiels and since they are American made I should not have any sinking dollar problems.

 

[cstory]

Before sold my Aerius i's and bought a pair of Vista's, I listened to a few speakers that were in the same price range. They included a Focal (can't remember the model numbe but it was ~$3500 at the time) and the Thiel CS 2.4's. For me, the Focals weren't even close to sounding as good (speakers next to each other with same electronics) as the Vista's.

In a different store, in two different rooms, again the Vista's sounded better to me than the CS 2.6's. I liked the Thiel's better than the Focals, but the kicker for me was that the images from the Thiel's seemed small compared to the Vistas. It was like listening to music through an open window vs standing in the same room with the musicians. I think the larger soundstage is part of the ML magic that box speakers have a tough time pulling off.

Take a good listen to the Thiels and see what you think. They certainly are good speakers (for boxes )

Chuck

 

[Nielsen]

I had Audiostatic ES100 DCI before, then vintage IMF RSPM IV , Tls 80 and Compact II in a home theater setup. Then I bought ML Aeon I, and they are in the addict now, the wife want more space in our small livingroom. I now use my vintage Carlsson OA50.2
I tried to sell the Aeon I, but nobody wants to pay much for them, which I dont understand really, on this forum they seem to have very fine feedback. People say they are old models, and comparing them to Clarity which they think is the new model, and much cheaper! I dont get it, but maybe I am biased......
Now I wait untill we maybe move.......electrostatics always come back to haunt you, like an ex-wife.....