Anybody heard/bought Usher Mini Dancer 1 or 2


Looks like after dropping larger series 6 speakers that Usher has added more pricey Mini Dancer 1 ($3700) and 2 ($4800) the latter being a bit bigger and MTM design.Seems to make sense for those without cash or room for larger Dancers but building on reviews and sales of BE 718 monitor.Anybody had a taste?Would love to hear the Model 1 next to a Totem Forrest in same shop.
Cheers
Chazzbo
chazzbo

Showing 1 response by drchromy

I have had the Mini 2's for about a month now. They were preceeded by the 6381's and prior to that Energgy Veritas 2.4i. I am running them with Bryston 4BSST and after burning in for about 100 hours I must admit I was not expecting such a significance of improvement over the 6381's which I loved for about 4 years. I have had many speakers in my 15 X 18 media room from Maggies, Mirage, Mission, PSB. I prefer a dynamic speaker becasue my room doubles as a home theater. Most of my listening to determine if I like a speaker is 2 channel analogue. My room is accousticaly treated and with the help of an RTA relatively flat.
The Mini 2's compared to the 6381's have:
Much wider soundstage, in my room they do "disappear"
More refined high frequencies, much better detail.
Tighetr more detailed bass, maybe because front port vs rear?
More dynamic
Better imaging.
I originally bought the 6381's becasue I thought they had all of these attributes over anything I had at the time.
The Min 2's take those attributes to the next level, in my opinion and in my room.
I have listened to most highly rated dynamic speakers in the $10K range and felt these were in my opinion not only the best sounding but by far bese value. I heard B&W, Focal, Wilson, Silverline, Paradigm, Sonus.
Fit and finish as good as anything I have seen (or felt).
I also have the new Be616 center and it is also tremendous value. The home theater experience was also an improvement. The BE616 is great but the improvement over the previous 616 was not as dramatic as the improvement between the 6381 and Mini 2.
I have been involved in this hobby for over 30 years and although I prefer to support North American manufacturers whenever I can the Usher products for me, represent tremendous value and engineering and impossible to ignore.
DRC