Help me out here, as I don't know what to do. I can choose between the following speakers: Intro, Credo and ES11. I currently have MA Studio 2's. Buying the Intro's would leave me some money, buying the ES11's would leave me more money (I can buy them fur UKP 75 incl. stands!!!) and buying the Credo's would leave me nothing. Any suggestions, as it is hard to listen to all these speakers!
The ES11 is an awesome little speaker that works well with Naim kit. I heard a pair on the end of 72/Hicap/250 and it rocked. I haven't heard the Intros, but understand the Credo really need at least 72/Hicap/140 to sing properly. The spare cash you'd get from buying ES11s might help in bettering your preamp.
One of the biggest hi fi mistakes I ever made was selling my ES11s last year. These are such sweet little speakers, they are good for all kinds of music, and are also good enough to use with some very expensive front end kit. If you can pick them up for virtually nothing, I think your decision has been made for you.
The Epos is generally a good speaker. It is however not the most detailed or fast speaker around. I listen to mostly to rock and pop and find them a litle lacking in low end tightness. I am just about to purchase a pair of Sara 9's. I recently compared them to Linn Kan 1's and Monitor Audio Studio 2se's. Both these speakers sounded better to my ears. The rest of my system is Naim.
Posts: 179 | Location: Canada | Registered: Sun 20 August 2000
There's another contender... I can get a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.1 (Hi Ross!) for UKP 275. This, I think, is also a great bargain. Oh, this sucks, I can't audition the stuff.
Perhaps I should tell you what I'm searching for. In general I really like the sound of my MA's, but I want the sound to be a bit more "open". Sometimes they (or the Naim?) sound a bit "dark". They do have good speed, but more is always good!
There are problems with the ES11 and I would be very suspicious of a pair with stands at £75. Remember these speakers were £330 when they came out and the dedicated stands were another £85. The prices were even higher when they were finally discontinued so why should someone want to sell 500 quid speakers for 75 notes? If you can, look very carefully at the rubber surround that connects to the bass driver. This can very easily come unstuck especially if the speakers have been driven hard (like mine have been...). If you can hook a finger nail under any part of this rubber surround then the speakers are in trouble. It can be remedied with superglue, but it is an indication that the speakers are past their best. Remember it is now very hard to get replacement drive units for ES11s. Sometimes you can get reconditioned drivers but they are not cheap (I think I was quoted £160!) and the similar looking ES12 drive units do not fit because the plastic surround is a different shape and size. Other than that the performance you will get will be very room dependent. In a big room with plenty of space behind them they are an excellent speaker with probably the best imaging you will get from a speaker with some flat earth pretentions. In a small room, or close to walls they are a lot less happy and the rear firing port can become problematic producing bass that is boomy with poor pitch definition.
Music is the answer.
Posts: 1273 | Location: London, England | Registered: Mon 31 July 2000
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