I have had my new speakers for four days. My early impressions are that they are detailed, transparent, dynamic and fast with realistic vocal timbre. They produce bass, on some material, that does not work as well as my previous speakers in my room; but this is only on a few discs/LPs. They are, however, a bit 'shut-in' sounding compared to my Cain & Cain Abbys. I am hopeful that this will improve. Also, they require more power, being 3dB less efficient, so I have the volume attenuator a few notches further along to get comparable dynamics and articulation. This is not a complaint, just an observation. It is interesting that they don't embarrass the Abbys, at approximately one-third of their price. This is a testament to the speaker-building skills of Terry Cain (and Fostex). Make no mistake about it, though, they are better in every way; it is just not as dramatic as I expected. They are much better at reproducing large orchestral pieces - the dynamics, imaging and soundstaging are spectacular.
I am disappointed with the quality-control at Reference 3a. The aluminum shipping cases, which are way cool, look a little beat up, and there was no evidence on the exterior of the cardboard shipping boxes to indicate undue abuse in transit. The mesh covering on the sides is dirty, scarred and has a few quite large bubbles. One of the binding-post plates is shiny and beautiful and the other is covered with some sort of grunge beneath which no shine is evident. Also, the Corian finish on both speakers has lines and swirls that cannot be polished out. Considering the cost of these speakers, this is intolerable. Lucky they sound so good.
