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Shahinian Speakers - current and past users - your views

I had Arcs for about 7-8 years, then Obelisks for about the same number of years. They were driven by an olive Naim 250, then by a black 250. I found the Arcs very enjoyable. The Obs were better in most respects, but I always had nagging doubts over the 'sting' or slightly harsh edge from their metal dome tweeters. When I heard a pair of ATC SCM 40s, the sting disappeared and voices, particularly female, suddenly sounded more real. The imaging improved immensely and everything sounded more accurate. I bought the ATCs and the Obs soldiered on in a second, then little used, system. The Obs were eventually replaced by B&W 804D3s, which I think are far more accurate, much better in the vocal range and way better at imaging.

Basically, I think that the Obs were voiced for use with orchestral music, but were not that accurate and that this showed with solo singers and more simple pieces. I also don't know why they stayed with their harsh metal dome tweeters.

Just my opinion of course and (tweeters apart) one that could also be influenced by the rooms in which the speakers were used. I have always found that speakers must match room acoustics and that the same speaker can sound awful in one room and great in another.
 
Had Larcs for several months and really enjoyed them, probably would still have them but found the treble somewhat overpowering especially with a lot of the music I enjoy. Bass was great for their size and the midrange was spot on. Just the overpowering treble that did it for me. Went on to try SuperElfs and they were also fantastic. Probably preferred them to the Larcs.....except the midrange just wasnt as clear as the Larcs or previous speakers that I owned. I enjoyed every other aspect of the SuperElfs that much, I tried to investigate replacing the woofer to try and improve the midrange. Unfortunately got too complicated for me and gave up on the idea. I use small/standmount speaker so upgrading further up the chain wasnt an option for me.
 
This will be a bit out of the order in questions, but will share my experiences briefly here. I have heard almost all of the Shahinian models save Diapasons, which I would love to hear someday.

In the last five years or so, I have owned Obelisk2’s, and Larc. I loved them both, the Obelisks are just fantastic, such dynamics, layering of instruments, can be a speaker one lives with for the rest of time. My last episode with them though, proved to be a tough match for my room, could not get the upper bass to work/sound well no matter what, placement, treatments, amps, etc. Even at that, I almost kept them because of all the other things they did right!

Decided to “downgrade” to Larcs and place them in a better suited room. I really got on well with them, and they are rather versatile in placement options, floor, stands, you name it. I liked mine on 24” stands, facing forward like a small mini monitor, or upright(probably my favorite), just a wonderful little speaker. They give a nice impression of decent bass for their size, quite impressive really, they just cannot move much air of course. Their metal dome tweeters can sound a bit stingy if one is seated above them, such as maybe if they are situated on the floor in front of you. This can be adjusted though by various amounts of toe or seating/listening angle. Just a very fun, enjoyable speaker. I may have to get another pair someday.

Basically, I love Shahinian, and wish that the US situation was better for them, here we have little to no dealer support, and strangely, one never knows what you can buy direct from the company itself at any given time. I called on another pair of Larcs, Vasken had none in stock and could not tell me when he would be making up another batch, or what they were even making next. That has happened on several occasions, all much prior to the current Covid situation. Strange business model. I would stand a better chance to get a pair of what I wanted from Richard Burns at Pear Audio, probably! Regardless, I do miss them on occasion, but am still an omni guy with a pair of Duevel Venus. Most enjoyable as well!
 
I ran Briks on a Mana stand for 18 years, found them to be almost perfect and genuinely felt that they would outlast me. They were on the end of a Naim 52/300 combo.

A few years ago the wife demanded a smaller pair and I settled for a pair of Arcs MK1. They are almost identical to be Briks but slightly more detailed at the top end but the Briks do bass better, but it is a damn close thing.

I find them to be best at 7ft apart, 15" out from the wall and slightly towed in. I have them pushed up against the wall when not in use.

The omnidirectional presentation is unbeatable and it sounds good no matter where you are sitting.

This is a combination I intend to live with until I get to meet my maker. Naim/Shahinian is the perfect Hifi marriage.
 
Mick P said:
I ran Briks on a Mana stand for 18 years, found them to be almost perfect and genuinely felt that they would outlast me. They were on the end of a Naim 52/300 combo.

A few years ago the wife demanded a smaller pair and I settled for a pair of Arcs MK1. They are almost identical to be Briks but slightly more detailed at the top end but the Briks do bass better, but it is a damn close thing.

I find them to be best at 7ft apart, 15" out from the wall and slightly towed in. I have them pushed up against the wall when not in use.

The omnidirectional presentation is unbeatable and it sounds good no matter where you are sitting.

This is a combination I intend to live with until I get to meet my maker. Naim/Shahinian is the perfect Hifi marriage.
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Nice to hear from you Mick, hope all is well with you!
 
I have had two sets of Arcs, two sets of Super Elves (still have one set) and now have a Compass upgraded with Mk 2 drivers. I am done with Arcs and will eventually move my Compass on (wife hinted it is too big - but has not enforced anything yet). Strangely my Compass sounds better than my previous Arcs but that could be down to my current amplifier's room correction capability. However I doubt if I will ever sell my Super Elves. It sounds so much better than my first pair (and my second set of Arc 1s sounded much better than my first set). The seller of my current Super Elves (also a Shahinian fan) warned me that this set are rather special and he was right. There seems to be a variability in sound with a model depending on when it was built, but none of them ever sounded bad.
 
DavidS said:
...Box loudspeakers beaming sound straight to you just sound wrong to me.
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^This.

Once you "get" omnis, there is no going back to straight-at-you speakers (says a Duevel user with only demo experience of Shahinians - Duevel top end more to my liking).
 
TimF said:
Nice to hear from you Mick, hope all is well with you!
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Seconded!

I may not always have agreed with your opinions but I've missed your contributions recently.

Glad your still "content"!

Best wishes and stay safe!

Peter
 
Chaps

Thank you for the kind words, I was quite surprised.

I am keeping extremely well and I am currently stuck in Spain due to all air flights being cancelled and borders being closed. Having said that, Spain is quite a pleasant place to be stuck and this part has one of the lowest COVID infection rates in Europe in contrast to most of Spain. So I am quite happy to be stuck here for a while.

Hifi wise I recently bought a pair wireless KEF speakers which act as a sound bar for the Spanish TV and are linked into the internet, so I listen to Spotify most days. The sound is nowhere near close to the Naim / Shahinian set up but the speakers do what I want which is to play decent background music. Listening to Jazz coming through the patio doors whilst relaxing on a sun lounger by the pool is a pleasant way of self isolating.

Going back to the Shahinian topic, I found that both the Briks and the Arcs killed any urge to upgrade, I was instantly happy with both of them. The main advantage of the omnidirectional effect is that the music sounds good anywhere in the room and you don't have to go through the sad old rigmarole of positioning the listening chair relative to the speakers. It is just so much more user friendly. The Naim / Arc set up just effortlessly communicates the music and that is precisely what I want.

Regards

Mick
 
Arcs here, for at least 20 years. Never felt the urge to upgrade them, though I have with the rest of the system. They much preferred a dynavector hx 1.2 to a naim 250, the dynavector controlled them in a way the naim never could. They also go much better with Phantom speaker cable over Naim nacA5. Just such an easy speaker to use and to listen to, and they don’t even look like speakers.
 
peterm said:
I bought John's Obs and am delighted with them!

In my room (larger and less resonant than John's) they sound excellent.
They give a very natural sound, I no longer listen to "the hi fi" but to the music instead.

In my room (with a high ceiling) they give a convincing image which, as widely advertised, remains stable regardless of listening position. If I listen from the kitchen through the (open) door to the living room it reminds me of when I used to go the New Orleans Jazz Club in Newcastle back in the late 60's and, having heard the music from the entrance as you tried to get in the door, you suddenly walked into the room and the music hit you as you were suddenly there.

I must say that when I first got the Obs home and tried them on my NAP250 I was minded to take them back and ask for a refund! There was no output from the tweeters. Having been brainwashed into thinking a 250 could drive any speaker I was taken aback!

Further study on pfm gave the answer, courtesy of Linus, an American pfm member, who said that he used an NAP180 with Obs to good effect and that Vashken Shahinian had told him that Naim 250 (and 135s) were a bad match to Obelisks due to their power supply regulator boards not liking low impedance loads at high frequencies. I imagine the larger Hawks and Diapasons would be even worse!

When I swapped from the 250 to a 180 I conveniently had to hand(!) everything worked fine!

Having now thoroughly "Avondaled" my power amps I am entirely happy (still wouldn't mind trying a Dynavector power amp mind!) but it bears out some of the many comments on here and elsewhere that Obelisks and Naim don't make a good match (unless you, counter intuitively, downgrade the power amp to a lesser model than you might assume to be a "match").
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The past couple of years were challenging ones and I hadn’t listened to the Obs 2 during that time. I was using a small bedroom system with a one piece Denon unit and Dynaudio Emit 10’s. This small system proved sufficient in my little bedroom. This thread came at the right time and motivated me to bring out the obs 2 and hook them up to my older Olive Naim 180/102/cd 3.5/2 hi caps. Right out of the gate, not surprisingly, and yet still surprising.. the Naim obs 2 were a great great magnitude more natural, beautiful, musical etc: night and day. I’ve always found the obs 2 to be very musical in a subtle way as opposed to a more hi fi oriented presentation. I last played them in a large reflective room that was challenging. Now playing them in a truly rectangular well damped space that proved a good fit years ago for Spendor sp 1/2 e’s.
As you noted, I do think the 180 works well with the obs 2 and does a much better job for me than the 250 which I had at one time. I also had the latest Dynavector amp several years ago and had really high hopes for it, but ultimately was underwhelmed. I’ve also used a VTL st 150 tube amp and it works nicely as well. Sometimes I wonder about something more conventional but in the end the obs 2 are right for me.
Hope everyone stays safe during this terrible pandemic.
 
Linus, good to hear from you, glad to see you are enjoying your Obs again! I do at times, still wish I had my pair, but doing very nicely with my Venus. Hope all else is good with you!
 
Compass for me, had them for over 10 years. In the rare rosewood finish, which to my eyes make them a stunning looking speaker. Never felt an urge to upgrade to Arcs. Amp wise, my Nait 2 does a fine job and so does my Elicit mk2, thanks to Dave at Audio Counsel who was a big advocate of that pairing.
 
Eyebroughty said:
Hi,

Not had a thread on Shahinian Speakers for a while, so I was interested in finding a few things out as I might be upgrading.

Just a few questions, thoughts on any or all welcomed.

1) How many have used them and stayed with the same model and not felt the need to upgrade up the Shahinian range or versions?

2) How many have used them and upgraded to other models or versions in the Shahinian range?

3) Of the Shahinian speakers you have, or have had, what makes you feel they are the best?

4) You have them, or have had them, but thought you needed to change other parts of your HiFi, source or amplification, to get the best out of them?

5) How many have used them and moved to other makes of speakers?

6) How many have heard them and did not like them and why?

I have heard all the range, mostly in other peoples houses, with Dynavector, Bedini, Naim, Linn and Quad valve and solid state amplification with analogue and digital sources.

In my own place I have used Arcs and Super Elf's and still have these, with analogue and digital sources, solid state and valve amplification, although my Arcs are on loan to someone currently.

What I like about Shahinian is they sound so natural with the music just flowing from them without the speakers taking centre stage, giving depth and soundstage that at times makes the music sound so real it transports you to the venue.

Everyone will have their own thoughts on how a speaker sounds, or should sound, so am sure there will be similar or different views from mine.

Interested in thoughts, opinions and anything else about them including which Shahinians you have or aspire to have and maybe what you use with them.

Cheers

John
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Started with MK1 Arcs, which I bought around 1999, second hand and I kept those until a few years ago when I bought, from another PFer a pair of Hawk bass modules with Super Elves as tops, which were, apparently the original Hawk configuration before the current top modules were designed. I loved the Arcs but these are better by a distance. More bass extension and although the omni-directional nature of the Arcs has gone, the hf unit on the Super Elves is far more revealing than the soft dome one on the older Arcs, good though that still is. They do what all Shahinians do, to my mind, which is make listening to music feel like an event like no other speaker.

The first time I heard any pair from the brand was in the mid-90s at the hifi store I then worked at. To begin with, I didn’t like them at all and after about half an hour I took them out of the demo room and replaced them with something else. Problem was I couldn’t then find any other speaker that did what they do! B&W, KEF, Linn, Naim, all sorts came and went and I couldn’t wait to put the Arcs back. Fortunately, at the time I had Royd speakers at home which I think are about the next best thing so I just had to wait until some came up at the right price. Over the years until 2018 when I left hifi as a career, I’ve been able to listen to most things and nothing comes close for that sense of making music come alive and at the right scale; a solo acoustic artist sounds realistically sized, as does a big orchestra. The Clash are doing nicely at the moment though!

If I could afford Diapasons, I’d have them in a heartbeat. I heard some at the distributor’s house once and it’s by far the most enjoyable sound I’ve ever heard.

On a final note, I’ve always been a little baffled by the reputation that they’re hard to drive. Like any speaker, they respond well to a better amp but Obelisks were perfectly happy being driven with an Audiolab integrated, even though an oft-repeated sentiment here is that they’re a nightmare to drive. They aren’t, unless you want PA volume levels.
 
Another fan here. For years I was out off a bit by the omnidirectional talk, which I now feel misses the point. At the same time I couldn't find anything that gave me the scale I wanted for orchestral music or the presence of a piano in the room. Eventually, I rolled up at Audio-T in Reading for a goo audition of their Arcs and Obelisks, being pretty impressed by the latter. This lead to home demo of them in my Naim 500 system and then of the Diapasons. I bought the demo pair within a heartbeat. They're the only speakers that do everything I could have hoped for and across all genres (I have obscenely wide-ranging tastes). As I think I've posted here before, everything else is just loudspeakers (referring to Shahinians in general - the Obelisk II in particular is a tremendous achievement). I'm immensely grateful to Dick Shahinian. He really got the music.
 
The Obelisk2 is a remarkable loudspeaker and I can't believe I've had mine for 10 years (I was an early adopter). Prior to that I had a pair of Obelisks bought at 4 years old and these did need a decent amplifier to get the best out of them. At the time I had both a NAP250 and a pair of NAP135s that had been serviced and upgraded by LesW but neither of these amps could get the best out of the Obs. I have not heard the NAP300/500 series with these speakers so cannot comment on those.

My thoughts on this is as follows - the Obs hang around 2 Ohms in the treble region. Now this is where the ear is at its most sensitive (about 100,000 times more sensitive than say a 30Hz deep bass note). Many amps are not too happy with driving such a low load impedance so any increase in distortion in this region will definitely be heard and not sound clear/nice.

My Obs2 with amps that I've had for over 12 years will play anything and as in the post above I have a very wide range of musical interests. During the day they sit against the wall out of the way and for a listening session just pull 'em out about 30" or so and about 12' apart centre to center and the speakers 'disappear' leaving a 3D sound stage. The impression is rather like a seat at a live venue and you can sit or walk around the room and even outside for a very realistic live experience. The bass goes unbelievably deep for such a small(ish) speaker and those deep organ pipes causes the floor of this detached house to vibrate through yer bones and teeth.

Cheers,

DV
 
Darth Vader said:
The impression is rather like a seat at a live venue and you can sit or walk around the room and even outside for a very realistic live experience. The bass goes unbelievably deep for such a small(ish) speaker and those deep organ pipes causes the floor of this detached house to vibrate through yer bones and teeth.
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When I was having he first dealer demo, they wandered off to make the obligatory cup of coffee, leaving me on my own, and I couldn't resist sneaking around the room, listening in different positions, totally amazed....
 
TimF said:
Linus, good to hear from you, glad to see you are enjoying your Obs again! I do at times, still wish I had my pair, but doing very nicely with my Venus. Hope all else is good with you!
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Hi Tim, good to hear from you. Hope all is well. Enjoy those speakers!
 
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