Usher CP-8571 II - Long term opinions?

I do not own these speakers, but I just heard them yesterday. To me they had light bass and very prominent treble. They are not forgiving of less than perfect recording. Very big cabinets and poorly utilized cabinet real estate, with only one woofer that seemed small for a cabinet this size.

It was a short audition but I wasn't impressed. They look gorgeous though. if you are buying a piece of furniture, these are beautiful. But I know, personally I would not be satisfied with their sound in a long run.
JMO

Audphile1,

Did you audition them with familiar gear? Or are your impressions more suited toward the entire system that you had auditioned?

I had heard the original 8571 and 8871 about 5 years ago in the Stereophile Show San Francisco. I was really impressed that I spent at least two to three hours each day in the USHER room listening to them. I had followed them at various shows afterwards, but never heard them as good as the setup in San Francisco. I think they were probably lucky and the room they had was a good one. At that moment, I had seriously considered bringing a pair home.

Regarding the comment about utilizing the real estate, I believe the cabinets of -8571 and -8871 are the same size. The only difference is the -8871 has two woofers while the -8851 has one. And of course, the price difference. The BE-10 and BE-20 are like that too. But I agree with you, seem like a waste of cabinet real estate.

Our local audiophile club had just auditioned the BE-20 last winter at a manufacturer's demo at a local store. They were first paired with all top of the line VTL electronics + VPI HRX turntable w/ an AirTight PC-1 (VTL demo). The sound was to die for, speed, detail, image, and seductive mids. I was ready to beg the dealer to let me camp out at the listening room for a week. After the break, NuForce hooked up their reference monoblocks (digital amps). I took the opportunity to sit in the sweet spot expecting to be in audio nirvana. But it didn't last 10 minutes before I dashed out the door. All the front end equipment was the same. But NuForce was a night and day compared to the VTL monoblocks. (Kind of like your experience)

Anyways, these USHERs are big speakers. I had recently upgraded my speakers from my long time reference Thiel 3.6 to Verity Parsifal Encores. I had been looking for new speakers for 3 years. It came down to CP-8871 II, BE-10, Verity Parsifals, or Hyperion 968s. I felt that these speakers each deserved their asking price. At the end, it came down to the size as my system is taking up space in our fairly small living room. When my listening gets built next year, I am planning on getting a pair of BE-10s in there!

FrankC

Thanks guys. I will make it a point to track these down for a listening session. It sounds like they are like many higher end models that are transparent and sound like what ever is upstream feeding them.

Hi Frank

To give them benefit of the doubt, they were not hooked up to anything i was familair with. They ran with Bryston amp and JRD Capri preamp with Bryston CDP.

Each one of us I guess is after a particular type of sound. If this is the sound you are after, I really am not excluding the possiblity you were impressed.
I found these Usher speakers the way I described. That's how they sounded to me. This isn't the sound I am looking for. I am in the process of upgrading speakers. So I walked away from them.

Bottom line is, you need to audition speakers for yourself. If you can sit there and enjoy the sound on the normal levels you are used to, with all kinds of material thrown at the system(speakers will most likely be the factor in the way the system sounds), then this is the speaker for you. I made 2 CDs with all kinds of music. These include audiphile standards, as well as your usual everyday stuff. When I heard them not doing too good on Patricia Barber "Modern Cool" which is an excellent quality recording. I then played SRV "Tin Pan Alley" and that was seriously lacking, I didn't even dare play some less than perfect tracks. I walked away. Unimpressed.
Prior to the Ushers I have heard Audio Physic Virgo III that I honestly liked better, but they didn't seem to do the dynamics the way I like, although they were more musically satisfying than the Ushers. Really, my impressions were that Ushers were detalied, but thin, with light bass. That tweeter there is something to be aware off.
If you are looking for a speaker with which you will most likely spend the next few years matching electronics to, and then still whether or not you'd be satisfied is questionable, the speaker on which you would most likely, at best, play 50% of your CD collection, then go for it. This is my perception of these Usher speakers. I may be wrong, because as Frank pointed out, I heard it with the equipment I wasn't familiar with, in the room I wasn't familiar with.

At this time, personally, I want to listen to music. Not the upstream components or where the recording engineer screwed up. Just me. You may be different and I respect that. High res speakers will and should reveal flaws. I am ready for it. But I felt that the Ushers may have been too much in that regard.

For what the Ushers cost on the used market, I think a better speaker can be had. But definition of better varies from one person to another though. That is why we have ideas of the sound we are looking for. And that is why we need to hear a particular speaker to form our own opinion.

I wouldn't dismiss the Ushers, or any other speaker, based on someone's opinion on the forums. The best thing to do is to listen for yourself and see if this is the speaker that suits your need.

Audphile1

You said "For what the Ushers cost on the used market, I think a better speaker can be had"

What's on that better speaker lise (say under$5K). I assume you passed on the Virgos. What's on your short list?

Thx,
Kenreau