[virtue]

Guys,

Jason has been running Usher S-520s at home and Stan Tracht who distributes Usher in the USA has been a friend (and Virtue fan) for a long time.

After nearly a year of discussion he agreed to let us carry the S-520 on our site.

http://store.virtueaudio.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=USHER%2DS520%2D1

This is one killer speaker for $400.... going up to $499 in around 3 weeks.  So CHECK-IT-OUT!

If you own S-520s or have heard them, with Virtue amps or otherwise, please post your listening impressions here!

Good surfing.

Seth

[Cheerwino]

Oh yeah, these were awesome in the Virtue room at RMAF!!!

[Jason T]

My wife Cami (Moma Virtue) is now using the 520's in her office and she loves them. 


 

[lonewolfny42]

Truly amazing speaker for the money.....really !!!

[dboulet]

I have a pair of yellow s520s ($400), and some B&W CM1s ($1100). The CM1s are currently sitting on the floor, collecting dust  .

[PMAT]

I walked into a local HI-FI store a couple of years ago and there were about 10 pair of small to large bookshelf speakers set up with a switching box. I was listening to the music and was drawn in by the very sweet sound to sit and listen. No one was around so I used the remote to switch speakers. Each were different and the magic was gone. I chose all the larger speakers to get back to the great sound. I finally picked the little Ushers and badda-boom there it was. They just sounded great and they don't sound small in any way. Like the wolf said, "truly amazing speakers for the money"

[dboulet]

John Darko over at Digital Audio Review just posted a new review of the S-520, in which he tries pairing it with a Sensation M901:

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/audio-reviews/speaker-reviews/item/187-usher-s-520-standmount-loudspeaker

Ultimately, he concludes that this does not prove to be an ideal match—and after spending about 6 months with this exact combo, I would tend to agree with him. The Ushers are a great speaker, but when paired with the Sensation they are lacking in dynamics and weight. I'm going to be looking for something more efficient to pair with the Virtue (Zu?  ), but I'm definitely not getting rid of the Ushers.

[droht]

I had the Virtue One paired with S520s for quite a while.  Best combo I tried in a small-ish space (and I tried many), and by far the most amazing total value.  Absolutely miss them both when I think about just kicking back and listening to some tunes.

Should be a great pairing for you Seth.

[EL84]

I can't say how they sound with Virtue amps but I have a friend who owns a pair of S-520s and they sound really good to me. The gloss piano black finish is superb.

[johnnydarko]

John Darko over at Digital Audio Review just posted a new review of the S-520, in which he tries pairing it with a Sensation M901:

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/audio-reviews/speaker-reviews/item/187-usher-s-520-standmount-loudspeaker

Ultimately, he concludes that this does not prove to be an ideal match—and after spending about 6 months with this exact combo, I would tend to agree with him. The Ushers are a great speaker, but when paired with the Sensation they are lacking in dynamics and weight. I'm going to be looking for something more efficient to pair with the Virtue (Zu?  ), but I'm definitely not getting rid of the Ushers.

Yup - those Ushers sure are amazing little suckers, but they need a fair amount of juice to keep the bottom end in line.  I should imagine the JT PSU would give the Sensation enough grunt?

[virtue]

It's my impression that the power supplies matter a little, not a lot, with low-end grunt.  When you put Sensation next to ICEBlock, you really hear the umph... but that's a 500% increase in wattage, a huge difference.  I think that conventional wisdom that some speakers need tons of juice to flesh out the bottom end, or a powerd sub, holds with the Ushers (like the Ascend Sierras).  Duke's AudioKinesis large, high-sensitivity speakers will truly grunt, grunt, grunt with our amps but I've not heard similar low-end rumble on small, low-sensitivity speakers like the ushers.  There are trade-offs in efficiency as the box shrinks.