I'm not a dealer, and will tell you these are one of the three best speakers I've ever heard - at any price. I almost bought them on the spot when I auditioned them at Primus Audio in Kansas City a couple weeks ago.
The new ring-style ribbon tweeter is pure magic. I've never heard such amazing decay and quickness. The woofers are not as large as the manufacturer claims - we measured them and I seem to recall the cone itself is only about 51/4" rather than the 6 or 61/2" AZ claims. As it turns out, the 51/4" woofers were clearly the way to go - they're fast enough to keep up with the ribbon tweeter, but put out surprising bass for such small drivers! Not only was the decay, quickness, and pace the best of any speaker I've ever heard, the "cleanness" of the high end was astonishing. I've heard several speakers that use "conventional" ribbon tweeters, and the Adagio's tweeters bested all the others.
The bass, in addition to being adequate in quantity, was very tight, as you'd expect in order to keep pace with the ribbon tweeter. The Adagios are a very well-balanced speaker. I would want a sub to mate with them for rock music, but for most everything else no sub would be required in my opinion.
The soundstage was presented behind the speakers with excellent depth. I perceived a somewhat narrow soundstage, but Al (owner of Primus) said earlier in the day he was getting wall-to-wall soundstaging on some recordings. YMMV, I guess.
The cabinets are furniture-grade quality, and will have a high WAF in most homes. The transmission line opening is in the front of the speaker, which helps those who don't have much room to pull the speakers out from the wall behind the speaker.
All in all, I was amazed at what AZ was able to do for a sticker price of $3700 ($4300 now, I hear.) The Adagios are a steal at either price.
For those wondering why I didn't buy them on the spot, I had an audition the following weekend with the Ridge Street Audio Sason. I now have the unenviable task of deciding which is the better value to me: the Sason at basically $6k (with stands) or the Adagios. Sucks to be me, but I know this: whichever I decide on will be in my system for YEARS. They're both that good.
Howard
