I have posted in the past with the same components, however; different speakers. Recently I bought a pair of Egglestonworks Isabel and matching stands online from Perotta Consulting. I must say, Anthony Perotta is patient and knows his stuff and I don't think you can beat his prices, I will probably purchase an MBL cd transport from him in the future. Jim Thompson from Egglestonworks also gives the confidence of support for his speakers and actually cares about your feedback. That said, the Isabel replaces a pair of Piega C-3 LIMITED. The Piegas were a great pair of speakers, however; I could not get close to them, as in never fully relaxed or drawn into the music. It had nothing to do with the speakers, it was just not my cup of tea. The system the Isabels were hooked to are Krell pre & amp, CEC transport, Levinson dac, DCS Purcell Upsampler, Hydra, Exact Power voltage reg., Jena Labs balanced ICs, bybee filters and Mit MH-750 Magnum speaker cables. Being an Audiophile for over 35 years (I started young) to say the least I've owed way too many speakers, Spicas, several pairs of Magnaplanars, several Martin Logans, Wilson Watts with Entec subs, Avalons, Duntech (Australian Model)Black Knights etc. I am sure there is more. My favorite all time speakers were the Black Knights. The Dynaudio drivers to me translate the music in a natural and realistic way. I refigured my listening room and only smaller speakers would surfice and the Black Knights were sold. What followed, were all types of smaller speakers and I was not satisfied with any of them. Ten years have past since the Black Knights were sold and moving from speaker to speaker has proven fruitless until the Isabels. I heard the Egglestonworks Fontaines at the NYC CES and was floored by them. Very similar sound to the Duntechs minus the bass. I finally said what the hell and ordered the Isabels and stands. I could not be happier. The Dynaudio Esotar tweeter is smooth, natural, extended and sweet, the best I've heard. The Morel 6" driver is also very good and blends nicely with the tweeter. The Isabels has many strengths as in pinpoint imaging, soundstage height, width and depth are excellent(not just for a monitor, for any size speaker)texture, transients,transparency and such are top shelf. The downside an octave or so of bass is missing. It is not really missed in certain generes of music, but in some venues, you yearn for some low bass. I know I did, so I hooked up my Rel Strata 111 sub to the Isabels and my jaw dropped. Every strength of the Isabel noted above got better and now real deep bass. The search is over for me, Ilove them and they are not even fully broken in. If you are looking for speakers, Egglestonworks should be on the top of must listen to. One warning, use high end components to drive them and reap the rewards.
