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integrale
04-02-2005, 02:07 PM
I posted earlier ("Doing the Impossible - Complete Madness") about setting up a bookshelf speaker system in my dorm room. Now, I've got some speakers. I also have a receiver (not an integrated amp, but it's what I've got and it works) and a CD player. They're fine, and I have some Monster cables.

I ordered a pair of 522LR Bookshelfs from Aperion Audio, and because I couldn't wait for them to arrive, I went to Tweeter and picked up a pair of Sapphire SBs. Now I've got them both set up, and I'm picking one pair to send back.

The Sapphires are more efficient than the Aperions, so there's a big jump in volume when switching between them. They also pump out a lot more bass, so I have to re-equalize quite a bit to make it a fair fight when switching between the pairs. The cabinets are taller, deeper, and narrower than the Aperions.

The Aperions seem polite to me, and I find myself turning up the volume all the time, wanting more. The cabinets are nice, but not flawless, as I've heard them described. The imaging from both pairs is incredible for such little speakers, but I was more taken aback by that of the Sapphires.

I was convinced that Tweeter couldn't carry decent speakers and that this brand I'd never heard of couldn't be any good, but I think I actually like the Sapphires better than the Aperion pair. Has anyone had any experience with either brand or model? My plan is to pit the winner of this pair against a Paradigm setup, either mini monitors or monitor 3s.

I'm especially curious about Sapphire - no one I know has ever owned them. Do the speakers last? Do they break in nicely? Does the company actually exist? How about Aperion? I keep getting the feeling that they're not the real deal - velvet bags for $360 speakers is a little over the top. They sound alright, but I imagine that they're a lot of presentation and little performance. Any advice?

IRG
04-02-2005, 04:21 PM
I posted earlier ("Doing the Impossible - Complete Madness") about setting up a bookshelf speaker system in my dorm room. Now, I've got some speakers. I also have a receiver (not an integrated amp, but it's what I've got and it works) and a CD player. They're fine, and I have some Monster cables.

I ordered a pair of 522LR Bookshelfs from Aperion Audio, and because I couldn't wait for them to arrive, I went to Tweeter and picked up a pair of Sapphire SBs. Now I've got them both set up, and I'm picking one pair to send back.

The Sapphires are more efficient than the Aperions, so there's a big jump in volume when switching between them. They also pump out a lot more bass, so I have to re-equalize quite a bit to make it a fair fight when switching between the pairs. The cabinets are taller, deeper, and narrower than the Aperions.

The Aperions seem polite to me, and I find myself turning up the volume all the time, wanting more. The cabinets are nice, but not flawless, as I've heard them described. The imaging from both pairs is incredible for such little speakers, but I was more taken aback by that of the Sapphires.

I was convinced that Tweeter couldn't carry decent speakers and that this brand I'd never heard of couldn't be any good, but I think I actually like the Sapphires better than the Aperion pair. Has anyone had any experience with either brand or model? My plan is to pit the winner of this pair against a Paradigm setup, either mini monitors or monitor 3s.

I'm especially curious about Sapphire - no one I know has ever owned them. Do the speakers last? Do they break in nicely? Does the company actually exist? How about Aperion? I keep getting the feeling that they're not the real deal - velvet bags for $360 speakers is a little over the top. They sound alright, but I imagine that they're a lot of presentation and little performance. Any advice?


As you seem to know, if one of the speakers is louder than the other, usually that one is preferred. If you are using a sound level meter, yuocan adjust for that accordingly. But it sounds like to me, you've listened to both, and there is a clear winner. So it would seem to make sense to send the Aperions back. As for the Sapphire, I have not heard of them. Where are they made?

I've been doing a fair amount of comparison myself, and just bought a pair of Monitor 3s today. I got a pretty good deal, $375 from my local dealer, vs. $480 for the new version4 that are now coming out. Not much of a difference to this new version, so you might want to check and see if youc an get a similar deal.

Anyway, I like these speakers, good for the money. I compared them directly in the showroom to the Energy C-3 (which I also own, and will now sell) and the Paradigm Reference 20 v3, which is what I really would like, but at $800, it will wait. The good news, is that on some musical material I brought with me, I kinda preferred the Monitor 3. The Ref 20 almost seemed to have too much bass, and it seemed a little bloated. At first I thought a subwoofer was on, but it wasn't. The Energy's seem too thin in the lower and mid bass, and the Monitor 3 had a fuller and fatter sound. The Ref 20 did sound better to me on classical music though, and if I listened to a lot of that, or acoustical music, that would be the better choice, but it should be too for the money.

One thing I learned today is that the Energy Connoisseur line is going to have a Reference line of its own, slated to be better than their currecnt C series, but not as pricey as their Veritas line.

The reality of this all to me, is that these 3 speakers were all good, and none of them to me were night and day different than the others. Tough to tell in a showroom I am not familair with. All I know is that the Monitor 3 is a good speaker, and when I want to resell it in a year or so, I won't have any problem doing that. With lesser known speakers like Sapphire, that may be a problem.

By the way, I sold a JBL Center speaker channel on ebay (about 5 years old) for almost the same amount that I paid for it). Brands like Paradigm, B&W, hold their value well if you take care of them.

All of these monitors would need a sub (which I have, and am also upgrading) but I could see that the Ref20 wouldn't necessarily have to have one in a small room. I think better electronics would also benefit the Ref 20, whereas the Monitor series will be fine with lesser electronics like the NAD I have powering it.

Trust you ears, and go with what you like best.

integrale
04-03-2005, 01:43 PM
Thanks for the encouragement. There's a shop two blocks from here that sells Monitor 3's for $350 (because of the V4's coming out) so I'm gonna ship the Aperions back and test the new ones against the Sapphires.

Man, I really wanted to like the Aperions. But in reality, it's no contest.

Great point about resale value...that's something I look for in everything I buy, and if no one's ever heard of Sapphire, they're probably not a great investment. Off to the store tomorrow for the Paradigms!

Hasn't anyone heard of Paradigm? I think Tweeter's the only place who sells them. My guess is that they're made in China as Tweeter's store brand.

N. Abstentia
04-03-2005, 06:10 PM
Hasn't anyone heard of Paradigm? I think Tweeter's the only place who sells them. My guess is that they're made in China as Tweeter's store brand.


Did you mean Sapphire instead of Paradigm? I don't think there's anyone here who's never heard of Paradigm :)

integrale
04-03-2005, 06:55 PM
Heh...yup, my bad :)

I'm still loving these Sapphires, though. Darndest thing.

IRG
04-04-2005, 09:28 AM
Heh...yup, my bad :)

I'm still loving these Sapphires, though. Darndest thing.

Is there a link to the Sapphires? With Paradigm, these speakers are made in Canada, not China which is kinda nice. And $350 is a good price. I paid $25 more. Yes resale is something to consider. If you do resell every so often, get a speaker like Paradigm or B&W that have high recognition factor, provided you like them of course. All things being equal, the brand with high recognition factor will resell better. There are better brands out there, but who knows when or if they will be in business 2-3 years from now. Look at the posts on audioasylum - there are people wanting to know where such and such company went. Well they went bellyup after the owners/creators couldn't make a go of it or decided to pursue another project. Value of electronics/speakers would seem to drop very sharply once a company goes out of business.

JBL may not make the best speakers, but with 5 years of use, and then I basically resell it for what I paid for it - hard to argue against value like that. And it was a good speaker, so I have no complaints at all (how can you?).

I think B&W has the highest resale of any speaker brand, and Paradigm has to be up there. Sapphires? Might be a risk.

integrale
04-04-2005, 01:43 PM
http://www.sapphireaudio.com/sb.html

Those are the little guys. It looks like their headquarters is in Cambridge, MA. It'll actually be a week before I can get the Paradigms, but I'll report on what happens.