I should have added that I've owned quite a few B&W speakers as well. I always needed to pair them with very neutral and fast amplifiers such as Classe, Bryston, Aragon, ATI, to "help" the speakers sound as lively as they could. I used Kimber 8TC with them to wonderful effect. Nordost cables also went well. Red Dawn if I remember correctly.
We used Tara Labs best RSC cables in systems that needed to be "tamed" because they were overly analytical sounding. The next part is very important ... This was a time when creating accurate, neutral sounding audio products was WAY more difficult to achieve. Everything but the most expensive gear leaned one direction or the other. And we used system matching, cables, and tweaks as tone controls.
I didn't just work there for a paycheck. I lived and breathed it. We opened at 10 a.m. . I was there every morning at 7 a.m.. we closed 5:30 or 6 p.m., I stayed until midnight for 2 a.m. many times. I would bring my family up and they would watch movies in the $300,000 theater room. That was for the equipment only. Well they did this, I would be in one of the other nine rooms switching and swapping gear and cables until we left. They would often be asleep in the Ekornes chairs. I would load them up and drive them home early in the morning. I used to love it when people said everything sounded the same. I listened from 7 a.m. until wee hours of the morning, 6 days a week. Just kind of intense listening literally trains you to hear every minute difference over a 15-year time period. It was so difficult attempting to help people choose gear without also coming off as having some special golden eared ability. When to be truthful , it did actually train you to hear more than the average person. I have owned many systems costing over $100,000. And the funniest thing about all of this, is now at 53 years of age oh, I am so much easier to please. I think I attribute this to three things. One is I no longer listen critically like I did when working in the industry. Two is my hearing is not what it used to be. And lastly, equipment in the audio realm, is SO much easier to make neutral and accurate with today's better technology.
I am now happy with a decent 2 Channel integrated amplifier from Marantz or Emotiva. I have been playing with small footprint class h amplifiers, mounted directly behind the loudspeakers binding post as of late. The jumpers for speaker cables end up being about 6 in Long. I still use Kimber TC series when I do need cables. I have found them to be among the most neutral in the industry since dinosaurs walked the Earth, LOL. Funnier than this , I'm using a laptop into a DAC, then to those small amplifiers. After letting room correction do its thing, I have as good of sound, to my old ears anyway as I did listening to hyper expensive to channel systems when I sold audio. I got rid of all my fancy loudspeakers with the exception of one pair I keep in the closet. For daily use, I switch out between five different pairs of DIY speakers I built. The Bordeaux rivals the best speakers I've heard until we get to small boutique DIY companies speakers costing in the $20,000 - $40,000 range. And those speakers compete with manufactured speakers in the $100,000 + range. And this strange and long story is my odd way of reviewing the Bordeaux loudspeakers.
We used Tara Labs best RSC cables in systems that needed to be "tamed" because they were overly analytical sounding. The next part is very important ... This was a time when creating accurate, neutral sounding audio products was WAY more difficult to achieve. Everything but the most expensive gear leaned one direction or the other. And we used system matching, cables, and tweaks as tone controls.
I didn't just work there for a paycheck. I lived and breathed it. We opened at 10 a.m. . I was there every morning at 7 a.m.. we closed 5:30 or 6 p.m., I stayed until midnight for 2 a.m. many times. I would bring my family up and they would watch movies in the $300,000 theater room. That was for the equipment only. Well they did this, I would be in one of the other nine rooms switching and swapping gear and cables until we left. They would often be asleep in the Ekornes chairs. I would load them up and drive them home early in the morning. I used to love it when people said everything sounded the same. I listened from 7 a.m. until wee hours of the morning, 6 days a week. Just kind of intense listening literally trains you to hear every minute difference over a 15-year time period. It was so difficult attempting to help people choose gear without also coming off as having some special golden eared ability. When to be truthful , it did actually train you to hear more than the average person. I have owned many systems costing over $100,000. And the funniest thing about all of this, is now at 53 years of age oh, I am so much easier to please. I think I attribute this to three things. One is I no longer listen critically like I did when working in the industry. Two is my hearing is not what it used to be. And lastly, equipment in the audio realm, is SO much easier to make neutral and accurate with today's better technology.
I am now happy with a decent 2 Channel integrated amplifier from Marantz or Emotiva. I have been playing with small footprint class h amplifiers, mounted directly behind the loudspeakers binding post as of late. The jumpers for speaker cables end up being about 6 in Long. I still use Kimber TC series when I do need cables. I have found them to be among the most neutral in the industry since dinosaurs walked the Earth, LOL. Funnier than this , I'm using a laptop into a DAC, then to those small amplifiers. After letting room correction do its thing, I have as good of sound, to my old ears anyway as I did listening to hyper expensive to channel systems when I sold audio. I got rid of all my fancy loudspeakers with the exception of one pair I keep in the closet. For daily use, I switch out between five different pairs of DIY speakers I built. The Bordeaux rivals the best speakers I've heard until we get to small boutique DIY companies speakers costing in the $20,000 - $40,000 range. And those speakers compete with manufactured speakers in the $100,000 + range. And this strange and long story is my odd way of reviewing the Bordeaux loudspeakers.
@augerpro .... "At their limits" is stoopid crazy loud. I've never heard them stress. Then again, I'm using monoblocks putting out an honest 500 w ch, with dedicated AC circuit, lines, and ground rods. So they are controlled well. But they sound great when played loudly. They are SO dynamic and immediate sounding, without ever sounding in your face, that lower volumes seem louder. More info is coming through. I think that is the greatest strength of the Bordeaux. They are very very revealing without ever sounding overly so or analytical or forward. They are very reminiscent of a live event, minus the extreme SPL levels and the hiss. The "jump" factor is there with them for sure.
That's encouraging. I have the original version which measured very well in HD, sort of uncommon with these AMTs, and that was the best behaved tweeter I've ever owned. Really just a beast, and quite smooth. When the new version came I wasn't happy with the higher rolloff and was worried HD may have suffered too. But it sounds like the new ones are well behaved as well.
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