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Canadian speaker makers - the list
I posted this earlier under another thread, but it perhaps rates its own, so here goes.
Note: I don't guarantee the list is complete -- sorry if I missed anyone. Let me know if so. All links are up to date to my knowledge, again, e&oe. Many thanks to those who contributed makers I missed.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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Updated list
The list is now updated for a couple that were overlooked.
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Hemp Acoustics?
Man, I've got to try a pressed-hemp woofer...
Man, I've seen it all now...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
Hemp Acoustics?
Man, I've got to try a pressed-hemp woofer...
Man, I've seen it all now...
Ditto! Who's idea was it to try this to begin with?
(in my best Cheech and Chong voices)
Dude, Ive got a great idea man. Let's make speakers out of this stuff. psssst...puff puff.
Cool man, let's do it. If they ever blow out we could just pfffffffffffffft. ahhhhhhhhh..
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Websites
While many of these manufacturers also sell through B&M stores, I must say there is a vast difference in the quality of their websites. For my money, it's important to find out that a company stands behind their image as well as their products. And in some cases, higher-end prices don't always translate to a better website. I want to know that I can get specs, see photos, and find an email address to contact, before I buy. With so many choices out there for the customer, you'd think they would have better websites.
Just my 2 cents.
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Yeah, no kidding
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightflier
While many of these manufacturers also sell through B&M stores, I must say there is a vast difference in the quality of their websites. For my money, it's important to find out that a company stands behind their image as well as their products. And in some cases, higher-end prices don't always translate to a better website. I want to know that I can get specs, see photos, and find an email address to contact, before I buy. With so many choices out there for the customer, you'd think they would have better websites.
Just my 2 cents.
Quite a few are pathetic. Some of the biggies are not so great either. I've never been too impressed with the Paragon site for example, though it improved when they brought the Signiture series online.
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On a serious note, Focus Audio make some damn impressive speakers. I'd say the FS-888 and FS-688 sit among my favorite speakers at any price.
If you ever stumble across them, give them a listen.
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$3K for bookshelves?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
On a serious note, Focus Audio make some damn impressive speakers. I'd say the FS-888 and FS-688 sit among my favorite speakers at any price.
If you ever stumble across them, give them a listen.
I agree that they have beautiful speakers, esthetically speaking, but the prices are rather steep too. For a company that isn't in the mainstream (correct me if I'm wrong), they sure charge a pretty penny.
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welcome to hi-end audio...I don't like the pricetags either, except that I like these speakers better than a lot of $5 - $7K speakers I've heard.
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don't forget nuance... lol :P
www.nuanceaudio.com
other than that theres a new canadian speaker manufacturer that should be added to the list. They are part of JAM industries (harman kardon, infinity, and jbl are all distributed by these same guys) but this company has been around for about a year and a half now and they make some pretty sweet speakers. Ikon audio... anyone ever hear about them? www.ikon-audio.com
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Audio_man19
don't forget nuance... lol :P
www.nuanceaudio.com
other than that theres a new canadian speaker manufacturer that should be added to the list. They are part of JAM industries (harman kardon, infinity, and jbl are all distributed by these same guys) but this company has been around for about a year and a half now and they make some pretty sweet speakers. Ikon audio... anyone ever hear about them? www.ikon-audio.com
Steer clear of Nuance... anyone who thinks they're so good don't know much obviously, they're made of dirt cheap materials and just sound like plain ol' crap when weighed against REAL brand name speakers. During the demonstration, the guy was also showing me how you could punch the speaker cones and not hurt them... what idiot punches a speaker anyway? :P The biggest source of speaker damage is distorted signal and clipping, and the quality of Nuance's parts is such that they'd be friend in such occurrences. And have you checked out Nuance's website? No product info, no independant reviews, nothing.... why? Because there's obviously something about their stuff they don't want you to know.
Sorry about that little rant, it's just that companies like Nuance diminish the glory of otherwise reputable Canadian speaker makers. On that note, I have a pair of Sinclair Audio Brighton SBT-3600s, and they're fantastic, especially for their price point. Anyone interested in a great pair of Canadian designed and researched speakers should give them a look, you can't go wrong at their price point.
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Jam
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Audio_man19
don't forget nuance... lol :P
www.nuanceaudio.com
other than that theres a new canadian speaker manufacturer that should be added to the list. They are part of JAM industries (harman kardon, infinity, and jbl are all distributed by these same guys) but this company has been around for about a year and a half now and they make some pretty sweet speakers. Ikon audio... anyone ever hear about them? www.ikon-audio.com
It doesn't seem that JAM manufactures or designs speakers in Canada, though one of their subs is a Canadian distributor of non-Canadian brands. If I got this wrong, let me know.
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IKON could be legit
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Audio_man19
don't forget nuance... lol :P
www.nuanceaudio.com
other than that theres a new canadian speaker manufacturer that should be added to the list. They are part of JAM industries (harman kardon, infinity, and jbl are all distributed by these same guys) but this company has been around for about a year and a half now and they make some pretty sweet speakers. Ikon audio... anyone ever hear about them? www.ikon-audio.com
Their site isn't entirely clear but implies that their speakers are at least designed in Canadian. Any further info would be welcome.
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Doesn't matter, though
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greekguy
Steer clear of Nuance... anyone who thinks they're so good don't know much obviously, they're made of dirt cheap materials and just sound like plain ol' crap when weighed against REAL brand name speakers.
...
Sorry about that little rant, it's just that companies like Nuance diminish the glory of otherwise reputable Canadian speaker makers. On that note, I have a pair of Sinclair Audio Brighton SBT-3600s, and they're fantastic, especially for their price point. Anyone interested in a great pair of Canadian designed and researched speakers should give them a look, you can't go wrong at their price point.
Plain ol' crap they might well be but apparently they do make the speakers in Canada, so onto the list they go.
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Lol Back in the day i was a nuance sales rep. That being said i have some of there products, but I paid a resonable price for them and iv'e got a good bang for my buck. nuance used to be a very respectable speaker company with some pretty awesome stuff. It was mid to late 90s they really took there plunge downhill. The New lines are AWFUL! the tweeters are garbage now, and it seems like all they do is throw a bunch of subwoofers into a big box with the same tweeters and midrange that you would find in there lower models. apperently there latest model is called the "Grand Universe Extreme" and uses 6 10" powered subwoofers in each tower. Yet the main speaker section uses the same crap drivers as there lower entry level models. My advice is to avoid the modern Day nuance speakers. The older stuff was really sweet though.
THe new stuff is good for one thing only... a sh*tload of bass, and its sloppy , muddy bass.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greekguy
Steer clear of Nuance... anyone who thinks they're so good don't know much obviously, they're made of dirt cheap materials and just sound like plain ol' crap when weighed against REAL brand name speakers. During the demonstration, the guy was also showing me how you could punch the speaker cones and not hurt them... what idiot punches a speaker anyway? :P The biggest source of speaker damage is distorted signal and clipping, and the quality of Nuance's parts is such that they'd be friend in such occurrences. And have you checked out Nuance's website? No product info, no independant reviews, nothing.... why? Because there's obviously something about their stuff they don't want you to know.
Sorry about that little rant, it's just that companies like Nuance diminish the glory of otherwise reputable Canadian speaker makers. On that note, I have a pair of Sinclair Audio Brighton SBT-3600s, and they're fantastic, especially for their price point. Anyone interested in a great pair of Canadian designed and researched speakers should give them a look, you can't go wrong at their price point.
You know i checked out sinclair the other day at a local stereo shop, it looks like some pretty good stuff. As a matter of fact the guy told me that iKon and Sinclair are actually designed and built by the same guys, kinda like how energy mirage and athena are produced by API. Check out the Sinclair website and the iKon website... THE LAYOUTS ARE IDENTICAL! Also if you look at the photo with the brighton series and the photo with the iKon setups they look very similiar in the way there set-up.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Audio_man19
You know i checked out sinclair the other day at a local stereo shop, it looks like some pretty good stuff. As a matter of fact the guy told me that iKon and Sinclair are actually designed and built by the same guys, kinda like how energy mirage and athena are produced by API. Check out the Sinclair website and the iKon website... THE LAYOUTS ARE IDENTICAL! Also if you look at the photo with the brighton series and the photo with the iKon setups they look very similiar in the way there set-up.
Interesting, I would never have thought that iKon and Sinclair are so similar... that said, yeah, for the money, I think the Sinclairs are great, and if you get them at a good price, it's all that much better. I've heard a lot of speakers, both at the budget and cost-no-object audiophile end, and I'd say I have pretty subjective taste... and when I heard the Brightons, I was sold. You'll be hard pressed to find such good speakers from other makers at their price point. Definitely great speakers for those on a budget.
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If you can find an Ikon dealer you should check these things out. Im dumping my nuance speakers for them. Ikon is similiar to nuance because they do make some big ass speakers, but the ikon subs provide much tighter bass response, the speakers have superior midrange to the nuance line, and not to mention they are half the price of the nuance speakers. That being said, there is one dealer who used to carry nuance that now carries iKon, and they push iKon the same way they pushed nuance, so to be safe i checked out 3 other dealers in ontario and found that they were "less nuanceish" and were more honest then the former nuance guys. The price tags were clearly placed on the ikons at the other places and they were not giving Roger Waters demos. I have a feeling that iKon might get a bad reputation because of the way this one store presents them and it will be a shame if this happens because they happen to be very good speakers.
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Have you ever heard any of the oldschool nuance speakers? they were very good at one time. The new stuff is all about exagerated highs, muddy bass and no midrange
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heres an interesting piece of information... Nuance (only component corporation) now produces Dahlquist speakers. check out this link... http://www.onlycc.com/Services.htm
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Old school Nuance stuff was okay to a point, but the new stuff is too overbuilt, seems it's built to take punishment more than produce good sound. And during the sales pitch, when the guy told me what they were retailing for, I laughed right in his face, there's no way anybody is going to pay retail on the damn things, nor are they even close to worth what they were asking.
I knew that Nuance bought the rights to Dahlquist in some way, probably just to add some credibility to their lacklustre name. Dumping your Nuance speakers wouldn't be a bad idea though, hell I'd even suggest a pair of Sinclairs over your Nuances, as they sound way better and also have much higher power handling.
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Yeah, my new stuff is comming in monday. Cambridge Speakers used to build all the woofers and tweeters for the nuance line and they went under last year, i was at a surplus store in cambridge today (cambridge surplus) and the nuance 8" woofers were selling for $6.95. I would imagine that the price nuance paid for these drivers was about half that, and nuance sells 3 way tower configurations with 2 of these drivers in each tower for $2000. Too bad they didnt have the tweeters there, I could have started building nuance speakers in my basement and make a killing lol.
The system I have coming to me consists of Ikon CM6800 fronts, CM6500 rears, and a CM616 centre speaker.
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Ahh, finally someone who knows the Nuance of old!
Now here I am going out on a limb and risk getting flamed for it, but they are good speakers. However judging by the vehemence people have about the Nuance name these days, they sure are not indicative of what Nuance has become.
I have had a pair or Nuance 220's since 1992. They were bought at one of the best specialty stores in Vancouver NOT from a white van, from one of the least high-pressure sales guys I have ever known. In fact I have bought several pieces of gear from this fellow.
The speakers are not overblown in bass, size or other characteristics to artificially enhance "value". Actually I recall that at the time they did not do any advertising but relied simply on high end shops such as The Sound Room where I got mine. At the time they were just under $1000, which was at the top of my budget range. They sound great as I said, and go well with my NAD, Technics, Harmon Kardon and Rega Planar/Grace setup.
Judging from what people say now about Nuance I would not want to buy from them now. Does anyone else remember the old days of Nuance?
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Maybe its a different company now. Many white van bastards and the likes use names or similar names from good manufacurers to trick new customers.
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