Post by Timn8ter on May 17, 2005 22:26:20 GMT 7
The July/August issue of Positive Feedback (Issue 20)
www.positive-feedback.com
should have a review of the Ling bookshelf speaker. Those of you in PI are especially fortunate as the cabinets are built locally making this speaker an exceptional bargain. I have only a rough draft of the review but here are some excerpts.
"The tweeters have a ton of sparkle, which was disconcerting at first. Not unpleasant, but not nearly as seamless as the Mission M31 speakers I was
using earlier that day. I fired off a message to Tim wondering whether some serious break-in was in order, and I wish I hadn’t been so hasty. During
the next few days, I became quite fond of the Ling’s silky treble response, in particular the stunning amount of top-end detail that was also free from
notable harshness. The M31 now sounds dull by comparison.
Where the Lings really excel, however, is soundstaging. They’re among the two or three best speakers I’ve ever heard in the $400 price bracket in terms of creating an image that extends well beyond their modest
dimensions. The width and depth of the
soundstage continued to amaze me throughout my listening, regardless of genre.
I didn’t even have to apply the “rule of thirds” to obtain that level of performance. All in all, the Lings do a remarkable impression of a floorstanding
full-range speaker. They’ll be music to the ears of anyone who wants big-box sound in a small room. The tightness of the bass is such that, even
if it might be slightly overpowering in truly tiny spaces, it could never be considered sloppy or boomy. On No Doubt’s “Rock Steady” (Interscope LP;
069493157-1), the thumping “Hella Good” nearly shook loose a few of my fillings. “Sounds of Soweto,“ a long-forgotten sampling of 1980s South African pop (EMI LP; EN5006), is decidedly low-fi in parts, yet the Lings
managed to find a surprising amount of air between the funky beats.
That leads me to an obvious application for the Lings: home theater. Hitched to my Sony GX49ES stereo receiver, these shielded monitors made an
outstanding case for a simple two-channel movie setup. Think you need a center channel? Think again. The Lings made me believe dialogue was coming
directly from in front of the TV, and their bass performance was positively room-rattling. A full five-channel setup for those so inclined would come
in at the absurdly low figure of $1000.
These speakers weren’t designed by committee, and they’re better for it. In a marketplace full of hi-fi bargains, the Alegria Audio Lings emerge as one of the most intriguing I‘ve yet run across. They’re smooth, refined and involving in a way that belies their $400 price point. With some added polish, I’d expect to pay three times that.
As they are, the Lings are handsome (if nondescript), high quality and throw an immense soundstage that rivals the best I’ve heard. I prefer to think of them not as homemade, but rather, craft brewed. The rough edges I encountered are easily forgivable considering the tremendous value they represent. Want something truly special -- an heirloom product at a mass
market price? Get to the nearest phone and order a pair of these right away before Timothy Forman either raises his prices or gets sick of working for peanuts. Enthusiastically recommended."
www.positive-feedback.com
should have a review of the Ling bookshelf speaker. Those of you in PI are especially fortunate as the cabinets are built locally making this speaker an exceptional bargain. I have only a rough draft of the review but here are some excerpts.
"The tweeters have a ton of sparkle, which was disconcerting at first. Not unpleasant, but not nearly as seamless as the Mission M31 speakers I was
using earlier that day. I fired off a message to Tim wondering whether some serious break-in was in order, and I wish I hadn’t been so hasty. During
the next few days, I became quite fond of the Ling’s silky treble response, in particular the stunning amount of top-end detail that was also free from
notable harshness. The M31 now sounds dull by comparison.
Where the Lings really excel, however, is soundstaging. They’re among the two or three best speakers I’ve ever heard in the $400 price bracket in terms of creating an image that extends well beyond their modest
dimensions. The width and depth of the
soundstage continued to amaze me throughout my listening, regardless of genre.
I didn’t even have to apply the “rule of thirds” to obtain that level of performance. All in all, the Lings do a remarkable impression of a floorstanding
full-range speaker. They’ll be music to the ears of anyone who wants big-box sound in a small room. The tightness of the bass is such that, even
if it might be slightly overpowering in truly tiny spaces, it could never be considered sloppy or boomy. On No Doubt’s “Rock Steady” (Interscope LP;
069493157-1), the thumping “Hella Good” nearly shook loose a few of my fillings. “Sounds of Soweto,“ a long-forgotten sampling of 1980s South African pop (EMI LP; EN5006), is decidedly low-fi in parts, yet the Lings
managed to find a surprising amount of air between the funky beats.
That leads me to an obvious application for the Lings: home theater. Hitched to my Sony GX49ES stereo receiver, these shielded monitors made an
outstanding case for a simple two-channel movie setup. Think you need a center channel? Think again. The Lings made me believe dialogue was coming
directly from in front of the TV, and their bass performance was positively room-rattling. A full five-channel setup for those so inclined would come
in at the absurdly low figure of $1000.
These speakers weren’t designed by committee, and they’re better for it. In a marketplace full of hi-fi bargains, the Alegria Audio Lings emerge as one of the most intriguing I‘ve yet run across. They’re smooth, refined and involving in a way that belies their $400 price point. With some added polish, I’d expect to pay three times that.
As they are, the Lings are handsome (if nondescript), high quality and throw an immense soundstage that rivals the best I’ve heard. I prefer to think of them not as homemade, but rather, craft brewed. The rough edges I encountered are easily forgivable considering the tremendous value they represent. Want something truly special -- an heirloom product at a mass
market price? Get to the nearest phone and order a pair of these right away before Timothy Forman either raises his prices or gets sick of working for peanuts. Enthusiastically recommended."
