Amphion Helium410 Speakers Discussions | Drop

Amphion Helium410 Speakers

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Jun 23, 2018

The colors are tempting, but if you're looking for a pair of smallish bookshelf type speakers, I would *highly* recommend the KEF Q100, which are currently selling for $250 shipped through Amazon. Assuming you feed them with high quality equipment, they are spectacular for the price, and are a great value. I have four of them.

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Jun 23, 2018

cgalnyKEF stuff is usually okay, but their prices are typically ludicrous for what they offer. In defiance of that second comment, the Q100 for $500 is actually not bad as far as value goes. See here [http://noaudiophile.com/KEF_Q300/] for a review of the Q300 from a reliable source. The "good equipment" thing needs a bit of qualifying though: One can get excellent, meaning transparent to well beyond what the human auditory system can perceive, for not much money. Professional equipment, like Crown or maybe Behringer, does a great job with the vast majority of speakers. Absurdly difficult loads like Magnepans *might* require a bit more thought (I have not had time to research whether or not the notion that Magnepans require very well-designed amps has any basis in reality yet, so take that with a rather unhealthy amount of salt) into your amp, but still do not need vast sums of money to sound their best. With all of that out of the way, I would still recommend going for the Amphion, since it will not have the issues that Coaxial drivers do.

Jun 23, 2018

The_JniacThe KEF Q100 pair is $250 shipped (at the moment) from Amazon, not $500. For $250, in my opinion, nothing can match them (new price vs new price). Check the reviews. This is not my opinion alone.

Jun 24, 2018

cgalnyYou seem to be right. I do find it a bit odd that the list price on Amazon says $500, but then another Amazon listing says $250.

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Jun 24, 2018

The_JniacThey're actually $249, not $250 or $500. I've purchased hundreds of things from Amazon over the years, and its common for different sellers to offer the identical item for different prices. The KEF Q100 pair has been $249 on Amazon for months, which is amazing, because I'm fairly certain the model has been discontinued, and I assumed that by now the supply would have been exhausted.
They really are outstanding speakers, taking everything into consideration.

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coolerking

164

Jun 25, 2018

The_JniacHave you heard them? Please comment. I'm hard pressed that you would recommend a speaker on a single feature?
I do wish people would stop making comments such as " well beyond what the human auditory system can perceive." Yes you may point to a test in a controlled environment that resulting data would indicate this (and these experiments are not perfectly set-up anyway). But, this is about enjoying music over long periods of time, which is a deeply visceral experience, that produces a non-tangible, personal, subjective and spiritual enjoyment. This cannot be quantified. Of course there are bounds to this. But I just want people to think of this perspective. BTW - This is not an excuse for spending beyond one's budget on audio equipment.

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Jun 25, 2018

cgalnyNot what I meant. When I looked, there was one pair, sold by Amazon for $500 ($499.99), and another pair, also sold by Amazon, for $249.99.

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Jun 25, 2018

The_JniacOK. Nevertheless, they're readily available on Amazon for $249.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047K3X1M/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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Jun 25, 2018

coolerkingIn a vacuum, a single feature is not enough to make recommendations. This changes somewhat when making comparisons, such as in this case, where the KEF uses coaxial drivers which, as a whole, have a tendency towards dispersion issues. A recommendation from me is not an absolute "you should get this or you are an idiot who should not have financial independence" but is instead a "I think you should get this based on the information available to me and what I have gathered about what you need". As for the second bit, comments like that are necessary in a hobby that is laden with people who have zero understanding of psychology or perception. Controlled experiments demonstrate what does and does not affect the final experience, such as speakers/headphones and going from one transparent amp to another more expensive transparent amp respectively. They do not need to be absolutely perfect, but since they are testing something specific they can control the things that matter well enough that the results are valid. The long periods of time argument in particular is something that I have never actually addressed before, so here it is: The human perceptual system is largely a change/difference detection system. Sit in a chair, and you will notice it at first, but the awareness fades as the brain allocates resources to other things. If you think about the chair again, then the brain puts those resources back, and you notice it again. If a difference cannot be detected in a test where one is switching back and forth between two possibilities, it will definitely not be noticed over the long term. While it is true that individual personal experiences of the same thing cannot be quantified, they can be predicted somewhat by knowing the stimulus that causes a given reaction. Someone who likes a pair of speakers with X sound signature will probably like another set of speakers with a similar sound signature, and the sound coming out of the speakers can be quantified. You can test people who are sensitive to treble peaks to determine at what point the change ceases to be audible.

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bitweasel

Jun 28, 2018

cgalnyI have a pair of Q100s with about 20 hours of time on them. at the time I picked them up, there were Gallo CL-1s available for about the same price, and the Gallos are what sound more natural to my ear.
the Q100s sounded artificial in my system where the gallos do not. the gallos also do a phenomenal job of imaging.
I listened to both as nearfield monitors in my office, a small room without acoustic treatments and some rather harsh surfaces. Perhaps the 100s would sound better in a more conventional setting?
In any case, I've seen some interesting DIY designs using q100 drivers, including an upward firing design, so the q100s may eventually be back in use.
The Amphion H2 review in stereophile is very enthusiastic. the review compared them to the Creek 5350se integrated amp, a classic solid state piece of equipment.

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