For sale: one pair of Acoustic Zen Adagio Extreme speakers in walnut veneer. These speakers were bought in 2007 and immediately sent to Response Audio in New York for the Adagio Extreme upgrade. This involved expensive new parts and tuning for the crossovers, tweaks to the cabinets and replacing the binding posts with upgraded WBT models. These upgrades elevated the already renowned Adagio speakers to a new level. You can see a review of the Adagio Extremes here:
http://www.stereotimes.com/speak013008.shtmlThese speakers sound absolutely fabulous. They should sound great because the base speakers are $4500 and the Extreme upgrade cost $1695, making them over-performing $6K speakers. However, after almost 9 years, I have decided to try something different and want to let the Adagio Extremes go. I am asking for the pair--less than the cost of the upgrade alone.
What is the catch? Well, there are three. Firstly, one of the speakers has a bang on its top right corner (see the photo). The speakers sound completely unaffected and the damage isn't really noticeable from a distance, but they are obviously not in perfect cosmetic condition. Secondly, the original packaging was destroyed in a flood in 2013, so these speakers are not available for shipping. A purchaser would need to pick them up (I am resident in the Front Range area of Colorado). Lastly, there is a time limit. I have to move the speakers out of my living room for some minor construction work by 7 July. If they don't sell by then, I will simply move them down to my television room and leave them there. I know this will be frustrating to a potential buyer located somewhere else across the country. I am very sorry about that, but I just have too much going on at the moment to deal with shipping the speakers without proper packaging.
One last thing--perhaps a useful tip for others. Even if the speakers do not interest you, you may notice that they are standing on black colored platforms. These are 15" squares of ply, painted black, sitting on 15" marble tiles. The tiles are upside down, with the polished face resting on three Symposium Rollerblock Jr (bottom half only, with the ball coupled directly against the tile face). These, in turn, sit on a 15" square Auralex SubDude II platform. Except for the Auralex platforms (which are probably unnecessary), this is a set-up recommended by Barry Diament. It works incredibly well with the Adagio Extremes and I recommend others try it with their speakers. If you are interested, you will find long discussions about this on the Steve Hoffman audio forum and elsewhere.
SALE CANCELLED
The left hand speaker.
The left hand speaker from the side (sorry about the rotated image).
Damage on the top righthand corner of the right speaker (sorry about the rotated image).
The upgraded WBT speaker terminals (the image has rotated upside down for some reason).
