Meadowlark Osprey??

With the size of the room, only something the size of the really huge Westlakes is going to cut it (the ones with the dual 15" woofers). Of course those are rich boys' toys...
An old pair of JBL4343s might work (just), if you can find a pair that is.
Or, there are those mythical beasts the Harbeth M40s (if you do get these, don't forget to invite TonyL and myself over for a listen ).

 

Joel's right! Buy some M40's or JBL 4346's and invite us all over!

LOL MO

Actually, I had a mate at school in Epsom who's dad had a Rolls Royce with a Merlin in it! He used to bring it to the school fetes every year, man it was huuuge!

Doubt it would have been quick enough for WM however!

 

oops

Did I say the Westlakes had dual 15" woofers.
Tut tut. Bit of a porky that.
The ones I'm thinking of have dual 18" woofers and a 12"midrange unit.
They are also 101db efficient and weigh in at a sprightly 200+kg each.
The cost is, I believe, in the region of a new mid-range German sports sedan .

 

The room

Well, having read the incredulity re: room size, I went back and measured, and it turns out that I have exaggerated a bit. Actual size is 38 X 19 X 9.5 Ft. sorry about that.

It's not as bad as it sounds. It is a typical Seattle place built around 1906, in which the living room and dining room are open and combined. In one side is the stereo and the living room, and in the other side the dining room. But it is still one contnuous open space. To make matters a bit worse, one of the long sides of the living room is cmpletely to a foyer and the unstairs. This open side has had me thinking that the side-firing Virgos may not be the best here.

Huge speakers are out of the question due to the typical WAF constraints, so I need to be happy with speakers that sound nice from where I typically listen.

Bruce

 

Since you are over the pond, maybe you should contact:

http://www.northcreekmusic.com/

These guys can provide advice and quality controlled drivers like no-one outside of a major purchaser/manufacturer. They can also provide bass drivers that will fill any space.

 

Re: The room

, but the

US Tannoys (forget the name) or Electro Voice Patricians might be more domestically acceptable. A little less fonk than the JBLs / Westlakes, but very good. Also Klipsch Heresies etc.
Large, highly efficient horn loaded speakers are the only way to go in that kind of space IMO. Please check some out at the very least.

 

Re: The room

So I guess that would rule out any of these then ?

 

Re: Thanks!

bec143
since you are in Seattle, go to Lk.Stevens and here some speakers there. I think you will get into another dimension. Just for curiousity, you know.
I'll pm you the address and phone number.

 

Took delivery of a pair of these this morning …



Paid a pretty good price for them on an Audiogon auction. They were ex-dem from a dealer in another part of the EU, so no import tax or duties to pay. Not sure how many hours they've had on them, but probably a few than I was expecting as it doesn't seem to sound totally virgin in the way that low hour Meadowlarks do from experience. Had them plugged in and music playing continuously for about 15 hours in total now since delivery. They're certainly sounding a lot better now than they did earlier on this morning before I left for work. The top end has really opened out now compared to before. There was a very noticeable cuppy colouration to sound in the mids which really manifested itself on sudden crescendos or in complex or multi-layered sections of music, this is starting to go away now. Bass in very articulate and surprisingly tight yet powerful on the right music, given the low hours, can't wait for these to run in properly. The ultimate low end stuff is lacking at the moment and can be a bit uncommitted or slurred but I'm still being amazed at what's being produced at the moment, especially in the upper/mid bass. Imaging is rock solid, one of my main concerns what with it being 3 way design, not a bad feat there. These speakers are a lot more forward too in the mids and with tons more presence than my usual speakers, something which I do like a lot and had been trying to strive for with upgrades/tweaks elsewhere, and I always thought it was the room sapping out the presence region – these speakers really do suit and load the room much better in a lot of other respects too. Emailed a guy about some ESL-63's a few days ago who got back to me but not sure if I want to go ahead with that particular speculate purchase, OK so it's the 989's that I really want to try but I'm really thinking right now that I might was well save my money for now as I really do think these Ospreys are going to be keepers for the real long term – we'll see…

Slight panick attack this morning when they arrived as there was a crease in one of the tweeters. I was going to take a picture of the creased tweeter and send it to the seller but the battery in my digital camera was dead and by the time it had charged up I'd managed to uncrease the tweeter which now looks perfectly unmarked – can't detect any negative effects on the sound either – imaging/dispersion seem even and no nastie rattles which normally show up I find with solo piano recordings.

One of the plinths is damaged. Looks as if the speaker wasn't screwed on flush with the back of the plinth which has subsequently put excess pressure on the front upper lip and split it. Nothing but a bit of wood glue shouldn't fix once I get chance to get hold of some.



Oh, and no spikes either, what is it about second-hand Meadowlarks arriving without spikes. Haven't had chance to e-mail seller yet, but will do in a moment.

 

Tone will be around shortly to teach you the secret handshake.

 

Cheers Graham. The Meadowlarks are sounding pretty good on the end of my Naims

 

there's a handshake ? didn't see that in my manual.

btw nice looking speakers, henry ! i know what i'll be looking for should i move house and gain a bigger room.

 

Am I the only one on here who thinks Meadowlarks are generally average at best, with a disappointing midrange aided by reasonable midbass performance.

Funny, everyone I speak to says the same but they never post to that effect.

Sorry, I'll pi$$ off again now

 

Not everyone merlin, but you're entitled to your opinion. The latest batch of meadowlark owners here wouldn't seem to agree...

 

... particularly at the prices we've paid recently for shearwaters and kestrels.

 

mike,
having heard what you've been listening to recently, most things could be considered average! certainly as you know my b&w's now sound distinctly 'average' whereas before i was content with them. i've never been wowed by the bass timing of transmission line speakers - probably a psycological thing and the meadowlarks i've heard certainly improve hugely with run in. also i quite like a slightly subdued treble as my ears are very sensitive around certain frequencies and can actually cause me pain if the mid / treble gets too excited at certain points. the meadowlarks i've heard don;t do this and so they have an advantage over certain speakers i've heard too. at the end of the day i wouldn't spend my money in that direction myself but can understand the attraction for some.
cheers


julian

 

I completely agree with Merlin, just slightly more than average, please forgive our indulgence, oh mighty Prozac owner, for we are not worthy, grant us forgiveness oh non overhung midrange master of glorious vocal projections. Please let us know when the Temple is open for our homage to be paid.
To be fair most speakers would sound average compaired to your current pair, even 802's I believe by a factor of 5 maybe ?

 

Tony,

I think you will find Merlins ex speakers have oddles of thwack

 

i must say that at the heathrow show we heard them at, driven with the sugden masterclasses they didn't sound anything special. with the crown and mac 'up em' the thwack was oddling for sure....

shame merlin's had to go back to those 'bose' things screwed to his wall.
cheers


julian

 

Julian,

I sense some other influence at work here