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Dutch & Dutch 8c’s

As I said, replacing an omni with a direct radiating speaker will never be straight forward if gotten used to the former.

The D&D 8c even makes 'constant directivity' from 100hz up a USP which seems to be the total opposite of the Arc's.
 
I’ve owned two pairs of obs2 along with a list of other speakers from Wilson, sonus faber, Avalon and boenicke.

I also moved from Obs to cardioid active speakers (Kii3 in my case).
I loved the Obs and their supremely musical presentation, but the clue is in our hobby's name" "hi-fi".
The resolving power of the cardioid alternative was so far ahead that any difference in presentation was irrelevant.
That's obviously not the conclusion the OP came to but, as has been said, we all hear things differently.
Mine are in a much bigger room to the OPs, but not sure how that tips things.
 
No comparison for me, obs are good but not in the same league. Same thought by a friend who’s a shahinian fan and ob user. But clearly not in everyone’s view.
Friends views have varied having listened at my place, ranging from best setup they’ve heard, anywhere any price, to preferring their sbl’s

Seems to be a recurring theme with some naimees though, can’t seem to get past the initial change of presentation and lack of colouration

Really should do something with the 8c’s again soon though, been boxed up for 12 months and seems a waste, another listening room would be the best upgrade...
 
Spent a few days with these recently. Ultimately, they didn’t work for me in my space. They are interesting and clever and could be excellent in a smaller listening room. I can highly recommend Lee from Strictly Stereo if you want to demo. Courteous and knowledgable, he was a pleasure to deal with.
Agree with your comments about Lee; highly recommended.

I tried the Dutch and Dutch after a pair of stand mount MBLs and whilst the quality of the sound, particularly the resolution, was first rate I could never forget that I was listening to hifi rather than music. I did like them more with rock than my preferred diet of mostly small scale classical. In the end I decided that I liked the resolution of the 8cs but couldn’t do without the sense of realism of a performer making music in front of me. I think we decided that it probably wasn’t possible to have both at the same time.

Since then I managed to get better performance from the MBLs by bringing them further into the room, but the bass was always going to be a limitation. For a while the best compromise came with a pair of Quad electrostatics. As it happens I have now achieved the best of both worlds with a pair of German Physiks. A most peculiar driver which goes from 190Hz up without a hint of strain, stunning resolution, superb imaging, but also with that extraordinary sense of realism. How it works still bewilders me but once one finds, after a far too long a journey, ones audio nirvana, who cares! It has to be said that the 8cs were much easier to accommodate, and with their built in amp a far cheaper option, and likely a fine choice for most tastes, but sadly not mine.
 
Which model of German Physiks came up trumps for you?
I had a very convincing dem of the HRS130 in my own home, but as this was likely to be an end game speaker (how often have we heard that!) decided to go for the Borderlands which use the same DDD driver but over a slightly more extended frequency range and with a 12 inch rather than, iirc, 10 inch woofer, and they are a lot heavier. They are built to order, so by the time I received them three months had past, which means that any comparison is based on memory.

All I can say is that they are “just right” for me and that I haven’t worried much about whether I could have gone for either of the cheaper models. I didn’t want to be in the situation of going for the HRS130 and always wondering what the Borderlands might have brought to the party. Mind you, I preferred the look of the HRS130s particularly as to sound their best in my room they are in a visually prominent position.
 
I had a very convincing dem of the HRS130 in my own home, but as this was likely to be an end game speaker (how often have we heard that!) decided to go for the Borderlands which use the same DDD driver but over a slightly more extended frequency range and with a 12 inch rather than, iirc, 10 inch woofer, and they are a lot heavier. They are built to order, so by the time I received them three months had past, which means that any comparison is based on memory.

All I can say is that they are “just right” for me and that I haven’t worried much about whether I could have gone for either of the cheaper models. I didn’t want to be in the situation of going for the HRS130 and always wondering what the Borderlands might have brought to the party. Mind you, I preferred the look of the HRS130s particularly as to sound their best in my room they are in a visually prominent position.
Interesting, thank you. I must confess, this is the first I have heard of them! But I will certainly investigate further.
 
Interesting, thank you. I must confess, this is the first I have heard of them! But I will certainly investigate further.
Very little presence in the UK. Way back, I looked at a picture of them and thought that can’t possibly work. How wrong I was! Just thinking how much I would have saved if I’d gone for them in the first place :(. They do make use of the room, as do all speakers to some degree, so home dem is mandatory.
 
Since the op is a Shahinian user I am surprised no one has mentioned the Diaphason, maybe price and size have something to do with that. It's just that I remember reading of someone upgrading from Obelisk/Hawk? and they were shocked by the magnitude of improvement these gave. I was an Obelisk user, with Naim 135's, that system is long gone now but my brother owns Estelon XB's, they very rarely come on the market 2nd hand, and for a good reason, might be worth you trying to dem them though.
 
Since the op is a Shahinian user I am surprised no one has mentioned the Diaphason, maybe price and size have something to do with that

Doubt they would work in a room 4m x 6m? They are HUGE.
Reminds me of the Wilson Watt Puppies that I encountered in a chaps living room, even smaller than that. Strangled at birth...

Of course, a prime selling point for the cardiod brigade is that they correct issues found in smaller rooms. Given the OPs room of 4x6 and the fact that obs put out a lot of bass, and also like their passive radiators well away from the front wall etc., I'm very surprised that the D&D didn't murder them, but it is what it is. My obs sounded vastly better once I got them into a big room (6 x 7m).
 
A few things are imminently changing in our lives and having super hi-end kit, cables and accessories don't seam appropriate. So a radical change was required.

Not that I've wanted to compromise or lost any sound quality, just found a different way of getting there.

Long story short; moving in a few weeks and a little pup will be joining our family.
 
A few things are imminently changing in our lives and having super hi-end kit, cables and accessories don't seam appropriate. So a radical change was required.

Not that I've wanted to compromise or lost any sound quality, but found a different way of getting there.

Long story short; moving in a few weeks and a little pup will be joining our family.

Nice :)
 
It will be interesting how they compare to your current system ($30'000 amp etc).

Speaker stands look a bit of a balancing act :)
 


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