Tiny Shootout... Episode One

[Superfly]

In hooking up my parents with two stereo systems that need to be virtually invisible I just refoamed 2 sets of speakers and am taking 5 sets and several small Pioneer amps to their house tomorrow. Tonight after the glue was good and dry and the speakers have been reassembled and cleaned for tomorrows trip I thought I would do a mini preview. I'll update this with more info after placing them and driving them in my parents home, a practical test for speakers like this.

So the contenders... From biggest to smallest:

KLH 17 (not shown in pic)
BA A60
Infinity SS 2002
AR 8a
Minimus 77



The top two will be coming home. I wish they would take the KLHs as they sound very warm and smooth but I'm sure they are to big for mom.

Playing some Sarah McLacklan quietly as people are sleeping here are my initial results. KLH 17s omitted from this test as they are buried in the closet. No difference as they mop the floor with any of these in my book. So...

BA A60

Good speaker, liking it more and more all the time. Sweet top end and smooth delivery. Well balanced and clean The bad? Uninvolved mids, bass is there but lacks some soul, sounds a little stale.

Infinity SS 2002

Also a good sounding speaker, slightly more involving mids than the A60's but not as balanced and bass is boxy and colored. The surprise here is the extremely cheap looking Mylar cone tweeter. Has a nice snap to it and make the speaker bright and images nice. A real good near field speaker.

AR 8a

Close competition for the Infinity. Beats it in bass quality and mid smoothness. (Note: the AR is a good 2" more shallow than the infinity) Where the AR falls on its face is the paper cone tweeter. Rolls of somewhere to quick on top and is not all that musical. It is not horrible or anything but When the A60 or even the Infinity is switch in it is an obvious limitation in the system. To bad as if it had the infinity's better top end it would be better than the infinity. If it had the A60 tweeter it would be a really nice very small speaker.

77's

These simply suck in comparison to the rest. No bass, mids are OK but kind of nasal, tweeter is actually the very bright spot in this otherwise useless speaker. This is obviously not a fair test as this speaker is a third the size of the next smallest speaker.

Stay tuned for round two...

More pix - http://k-dogg.smugmug.com/gallery/1765563

DISCLAMER:

this test is one persons opinion and is not to be taken seriously

[thedelihaus]

Hey,

I totally take this test seriously. I respect your ear and your honesty, and value your opinion. I always keep it in mind that it is indeed your opinion in the end- I can choose to either take it or leave it, I can agree with you or politely disagree with you.

It's good and healthy for one to listen to (not only "hear") what others have to say about speakers, in order for one to evaluate, compare, learn, and finally decide for themselves what works best for them.

Thanks for a neat post, and thanks for your valuable review of them. Very helpful.

I mean that.