[Music Maven]

Hey guys - just an update:

I ended up getting a perfect pair of JM Lab Electra 906's off Audiogon for a pretty decent price.  I'm glad I went with them and they look and sound great.

Thanks for the posts you guys made above.  I love how these sound and think I'll stick with them for a while.

Great! JM Labs is one of the finest brands of France, and you were lucky to buy into the advanced-quality Electra series. I own an old pair of Profil 66's myself.

I hope you really enjoy them!

Jerry

[sethk]

rhmmmm :

That's an interesting choice. I've wanted to check out the Electra series but I don't have a JM Lab dealer in reasonable proximity.

I'm also a little surprised that you thought the Dynaudio 1.3SE was lacking (other than in the bottom octave), however, given it's low efficiency and your desire to listen at low volumes, I suppose it's not that surprising.

Also surprised that you thought the Thiels looked ugly / cheap - they may not be the most avant-garde but the amberwood and Morado Thiels that I've seen have outstanding craftsmanship and finish. They don't sound too shabby either, however, in the case of the 1.6 you really need to spend a LOT more on the front end than the speakers to do them justice.

Now that you have the 906, how would you contrast its performance with the standouts of the speakers you auditioned? Did you ever get to listen to the Usher 6 or X series?

Thanks for posting![/i]

[JackStraw]

Definitely make a point to check out the Meadowlark Kestral2. Tons of detail, and they truly disappear. Front porting of the transmission line makes placement less critical than others. Good luck!

Edited now that I noticed that you already bought speakers.  

Others looking into this topic, check out the Kestral2.

[TIC]

rhmmmmm,

I know you already bought speakers, but I thought I would answer your question about Audio Dealers in the Atlanta Area. I have purchased several items from

http://www.underwoodhifi.com/

The owner, Walter Liebermann, has a retail store in Roswell, GA (suburban Atlanta). He sometimes has some excellent prices on high-end gear. I have seen him publish outstanding deals on Triangle, Soliloquy and Opera Loudspeakers, to name a few. He recently ran an ad on AudiogoN for a pair of new Triangle Celius ($1999 list) for about $1200 if I remember correctly.

I hope to stop in his store next time I'm in the Atlanta area.

Enjoy,

TIC

[rhmmmm]

Hey thanks for the replies.  I thought my thread was dead, but randomly checked back today and there it is again.

I am enjoying my Electra 906's immensely still.  I have them hooked up with Audioquest Slate biwire now (might upgrade this later).  The Dynaudios definitely had better lows, darn good for a bookshelf.  The Electras are great for playing at fairly low volumes, which I do a lot because I have roommates.  They image well and have great soundstage.

The Thiel aesthetic comment was just my own opinion, I'm sure people think the Electra's are ugly.  I personally like the looks of the Nautilus 805 a lot, but still wouldn't buy them (unless I got an outstanding deal).

Also, I never got a chance to demo the Ushers.  I'm using these as bedroom speakers (right now) and figured bookshelf was the way to go.  The Gallos were nice, I still really liked those, but it seemed that I had to turn up the volume a little bit more on those to get them to image better.  

I'm definitely going to keep these for at least a year at this point, but will definitely audition more when the time comes to replace these.  I think I was a little biased because I had a really great audition with them earlier this year and for some reason, nothing else I heard came close for the price I paid.

[Audio-Enthusiast]

Sound to me that the Gallo Nucleus Reference3 is what you want.  "most focused imaging and three-dimensional soundstaging you'll hear at any price..." (TAS Issue 150) Editors' best buy of 2004 and they are stuning; a piece of art.  If I had the $$$ they would be on my short list.

Good Luck