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Usher BE-718 (happy or unhappy) users?

I bought a pair from someone on the Wam. They have remarkable virtues stemming from that tweeter. It's the best treble articulation I've heard in a speaker and that takes some getting used to. If I were to criticise them I would say they don't have the fruitier mid range of the Harbeths they replaced, they are certainly not 'warm' sounding. I think with a sub of comparable quality they would be astonishing. Build and design quality are up with the very best.
 
Thanks for your clear impressions. Apart from the obvious Sonus Faber look, they always have good to excellent reviews.
I am somehow in a struggle between replacing my nSats with a similar, analytical voice but more body and bass and less squeakiness (which is a trait that seems to increase in them along with ancillaries' quality), and trying a different, more immediate presentation, like perhaps the Harbeth you mention.

I have auditioned the Compact 7 ES3 at home, and still I cannot fully recall the reason why I eventually discarded them.

M.
 
My very first impression of the Ushers' sound was " it's treble-led". I was hearing it above all else, then realised it wasn't ramped up in level, it was a very different quality of HF than I was used to.
The construction and parts, including the crossovers, is exemplary. Those big hardwood side panels look like they are decoupled with a constrained layer too, there's a circumferential shelf brace inside and the cabs are very very dead as a result.

I bought them blind (deaf?) and initially felt it wasn't a sound I would be drawn to in a comparitive demo but looking back now I'm glad thats the way it happened, for they have really grown on me over months. The stand out for me is speech articulation.

Certainly made me curious about their bigger speakers with that tweeter...
 
Unhappy. Great tweeter, but the midrange can't keep up: sounds like it comes from a different speaker. Not a bad driver, just (for me) lopsided in that model. There's a trace of that even in the Focal Be range, too: ironically, the cheaper pro-audio Solo and Twin models pair a very similar tweeter with (I think) a much better mid/bass unit that sounds much more coherent: like I was expecting the Ushers to.
 
item said:
Unhappy. Great tweeter, but the midrange can't keep up: sounds like it comes from a different speaker. Not a bad driver, just (for me) lopsided in that model. There's a trace of that even in the Focal Be range, too: ironically, the cheaper pro-audio Solo and Twin models pair a very similar tweeter with (I think) a much better mid/bass unit that sounds much more coherent: like I was expecting the Ushers to.
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Thanks to both. I fear it will be difficult to borrow a pair even here because I know only one retailer who sells them (not meaning he has them in store), and I know I'd have to practically buy them and then return them in case they don't work here. It can be done, but as years pass, I am becoming more and more lazy and less willing to pack/unpack/drive...

item,
reviews are consistently positive, only hint of something negative I've read is a mention of a possibility of tweeter excessive presence.
I don't know. Thanks for your opinions, I'll keep an eye for a listenable pair.

max
 
Maxbertola said:
item,
reviews are consistently positive, only hint of something negative I've read is a mention of a possibility of tweeter excessive presence.
I don't know. Thanks for your opinions, I'll keep an eye for a listenable pair.
max
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Maybe all those reviews led me to expect something better! I know we had the (active) Focal Solo and baby Paradigm SE models in at the same time - all with Beryllium tweeters - and the Usher was very much the poor relation of the three. Classic example of a home trial telling you much more than reading a review . . .
 
item said:
Classic example of a home trial telling you much more than reading a review . . .
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Very true. A few weeks ago I could have a pair of Naim Ovator S-400s at home for an extended period of time, as the seller is a friend and he was hoping to sell them to me.
I had heard them in stores and audio shows without being too much excited, but at home - with proper placement and some care in details - the thing turned out very different. They remain a bit large and a bit expensive, but I now know what they are supposed to do in a domestic environment.
Each home demo I could do has always been very revealing, not necessarily in the way I hoped. The same went for the PMC Twenty 24, which were somehow disappointing in my living room after a brilliant impression at the Munich HiEnd Show in May.
 
I have be-718s - not the diamond ones, and I am very happy. Running with dual sealed subwoofers. Can't say I have found them treble-balanced, but are strongly detailed. Certainly the quality of my source has been important, but these speakers have quite revealing of what is fed in- most recently going to a linear psu for my squeezebox has brought changes that are clearly portrayed by the ushers.
 
krebetman said:
a linear psu for my squeezebox has brought changes that are clearly portrayed by the ushers.
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A LINEAR POWER SUPPLY FOR YOUR SQUEEZEBOX? Heavens, man: the bit police will have your guts for garters if you let such news circulate . . . .
 
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