We had a great time chatting. Cheap mexican food is always good too. The group is kind of split between HT nuts and audio nuts. When playing music, you could tell that the HT guys lose a bit of interest....but wake up when a HT clip is playing. :)
Some people have asked, and I have sent out some emails, here are my brief impressions:
All the speakers we listen to were very good. A lot of preferences would come into play when choosing any of them.
The highs of the Usher Be-718's were very nice I would have to say, at this point, they are probably my favorite speaker out of the bunch. Bass response seemed to be lacking when compared to ther others, but when paired with the F112 or VTF-3.3, it didn't matter....they sounded very good to me. I also like the way they look the most. I still have them and will do some more listening with the Sierras before returning them on Wednesday.
The Dyn S1.4's are a bit on the warmer side of things, bass seemed less punchy or tight to me when compared to Sierras, sometimes making the mids not as clean, but overall, very well balanced. I think at least a few if not most liked this speaker the most overall during the session. The look is kind of bland compared to the others. Should have tried this one with a sub.
I didn't lke the tonal quality of the Kef 201/2's as much as the others. I thought at times the highs or upper mids did not sound right at time...maybe over emphasized. They do have LF and HF adjustments on them, but we left them stock. They did seem to image the best of the group.
I think that most were surprised that the Sierras were able to hold their own with the group at anywhere from the 1/3rd to 1/5th the price of the more expensive speakers. I think the bass characteristics were the best of the group. Maybe a bit more forward than the Usher. Instrument seperation seemed the best to me. They did not play as "big" as the Usher, Dyn, or Kef....of course, they are also smaller.
The Outlaw imaged very well in comparison to the rest of the group, also the bass was surprising for its size. Well balanced tonally. When it came to more dynamic music, the sound was compressed compared to the other speakers. Personally, I am not fond of the metal grille. It was the smallest speaker of the group.
We also did some listening to the JL Fathom F112 and my VTF-3.3, but really can not get a whole lot of the comparison. The subs were not calibrated equally, and in totally different locations in the room.
