I'm looking for thoughts on the Tyler Acoustics...


Linbrook System II's. I currently own Soliloquy 6.2's and I am looking for a speaker with a more extended top end and some extra punch in the bottom registers. My current equipment is a Sonic Frontiers Power II SE, Sonic Frontiers Line 1 SE and a Krell SACD Standard. I listen to just about everything with an emphasis on Jazz, blues and Classic rock. For those of you who have heard these speakers, how would you describe their sound? I am looking for a little more detail then what my current speakers are offering. Thanks for any help.
gsselling
Nice!!!.....Glad to hear - that you like what you hear. :-) They will continue to get better, and better.

best.
I know most of us here are primarily 2 channel guys and I am too. I do love Home theater as well though and my Tyler Acoustics Linbrook Center is on it's way!! Ty sent me a picture of said unit and you may see it here. I am glad I decided to lay out the extra cash and have it finished in the Redwood Burl. The Linbrook II's are sounding better everyday!
Gsselling
Nice post over at AA! The Tylers are only going to get better. They are also very revealing of equipment changes - so, you'll really like what you hear when you get your main gear into the mix. Good stuff!

best.

paul
Hi Old Pet, I still don't have my main system based on tube equipment up and running but with my home theater stuff they are sounding really great. I am not ready to give a review of them yet but I did write a small post on Audio asylum that will give you a few impressions thus far. You may have a look at that post here: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/201565.html
Beautiful veneer!

Those Seas drivers are also the only ones I deliberately show off without a grille.

I'm sure the sound will impress you, especially after break in.

p.s., I'm a very happy Woodmere owner.
Well, my speakers have arrived, thankfully in one piece.:) I am extremely pleased with them and the service that has been provided by Ty of Tyler Acoustics. The speakers sound very good to me right out of the box on my sub-par home theater stuff. My tube amp is off being repaired so I am anxiously awaiting that's return. I provided another shot of one of the speakers here. More images will follow after I get the room cleaned up. ;)Another picture
Exactly Gsselling. I think I'm finally hearing more of my tubes warming up, which, is a compliment to the speakers.
Wow- the pic looks awesome. I just ordered the Linbrook Floorstanding Reference Monitors (Ebony Macassar w/the outboard crossovers and Cardas upgrade) and will have them in three weeks. I'm moving my gear into a small room (10' x 16') and I think the front ported monitors will be a great fit for the room. I'm anxious to hear your impressions of the LinIIs.
Hi guys, thanks for the responses!! I should be getting them tomorrow. :) Plinko, I'll keep what you said in mind but im thinking that what you are hearing is your upstream components warming up and not your speakers. I've never heard of a speaker sounding poor cold but it is often stated that certain equipment does. Perhaps the Tyler's are transparent enough to allow you to hear the differences and your previous pair was not?
Greg
Just chiming in: I bought my Taylo Refs used so I suppose they were broken in but one thing I notice is that they really don't sound good the first half hour/45 minutes with my tube amp. Then, things open up and they sound brilliant. Soundstaging is really good. I didn't notice this with my previous speakers. Everytime I play music, I think I made a mistake during listening for the 1st half hour or so.
Gsselling, Great purchase. Take Oldpets advise. His experience mirrored mine re break-in time and ultimate satisfaction (We have the same speakers). I initially thought Ty was going to get his speakers back! Not! :-)
Gsselling
Congrats on your speaker choice! I have the Linbrook Signature (one piece) They are wonderful sounding speakers. I have NO desire to "upgrade".
One word of advice - be patient. Ty's speakers take a long time to break in. 500 hours AT LEAST. When I first got mine, I had the sick feeling that I had made a big mistake. But as they broke in, my feeling quickly changed. I love 'em. :-)
Hi Cbd0815, I will betting them in a couple of days :)I will post my impressions after I give them a little run in time. Tyler has sent me a picture of them as they are in transit as of this moment. The finish simply looks stunning and you may view them here.
Greg- Have you recieved your speakers yet? I'm interested in early impressions...
Great choice in finish! Those should look gorgous and have the performance to match. Make sure to give them a couple of hundred hours of burn in time. The Seas drivers in the System II will take some time to sound their best.

BW Maxx
Hello everyone and thank you for all your replies and input. I ordered a pair of the Linbrook system II's last week as well as the Linbrook center. Tyler was a really pleasure to deal with and so far I am extremely pleased. I ordered them in the Redwood burl finish and if it looks half as good in person as is does in this photo IÂ’m going to be a very happy man. I cannot wait to get these speakers!!
Greg
Agreed give Ty a call. I've spoken with him a couple of times over the phone. Will take all the time in the world to answer your questions with zero pressure to buy

Maxx
Talk to Ty, tell him what you want, and ask as many questions as you have. He'll answer e-mails, too, in case you don't like getting on the phone cold, especially if you think that someone will be pushing a sale in your face. Ty's a great guy, and his products are worth every dollar. I've only owned the Taylo Ref monitors and sub, and a set of Linbrook monitors, but the Tyler Acoustics sound and build quality will please you.
If your looking for similar size and price range to the Soliloquy 6.2 then the Linbrook system II or or Tyler 7U would probably be the best options.

The Linbrook, Tyler and Woodmere all use the SEAS Magnesium for the bass and midrange. Where the Linbrook and Tyler basically differ is in the tweeter. Linbrooks use the SEAS Mellennuim and the Tyler line uses the Scanspeak 9900 Revelator except the minimonitors which use the 9500.

In Ty's opinion the Scanspeak is more extended and smoother, but the SEAS sounds more natural. You can choose either tweeter for the Tyler or Linbrooks.

Since you mentioned more extension and Bass punch being primary goals the Tylers sound just like what you are looking for.

For owner reviews go to Audioreview.com. For professional reviews go to Ecoustics.com and do a word search. Should find all the info you need there.

BW Maxx
Sorry, Newbee. I realize that I should have been complete in my response. I happen to love the sound of the Sonata III. I just thought that the II (or the Tyler's) would answer more readily to Gsselling's stated preferences.
Boa2, FWIW, when I was considering the III's I was running my Jubilee/Jems which have Dynaudio drivers - thats what attracted me to the III's in the first place. I was unfamilar with the Seas drivers capabilities. I had noted that the Silverlines started out with Dynaudio but had to change to Seas when Dynaudio stopped selling them to speaker builders (and Madisound). I was somewhat cynical of the conversion to Seas by Alan in the II's, although that was probably totally unfounded. Although apparently Dynaudio has relented somewhat and Alan has reverted. And yes, the sound of the drivers, at least in an A/B comparison between the JJ's and the Tylers, is very different.
Newbee,
The other point of difference (if you are comparing the Sonata II to the III) is that the II uses SEAS drivers (like the Tyler), and the III uses Dynaudio. VERY different sound between the two.
And I'm still planning on coming up for a visit!
Hope you're well,
Howard
I recently picked up a pair of Linbrook monitors. (Basically this monitor uses the middle three drivers from the Woodmeer). I am running them with an UltraVerve preamp and a little Music Reference 35 watt tube amp.

Very natural and musical. Full sound as well - Linda Ronstadt w/ Nelson Riddle filled the room with Linda's voice center stage with power and incredible clarity.

The Linbrooks replaced a pair of Proac 2.5's which are very non-fatiging speakers. The Linbrooks are equally easy to listen to but reveal a lot more detail.

BTW - Ty himself is about the nicest person to deal with around.

Good luck.

Jeff
If you're talking about the one-piece Linnbrook with two 8-inch woofers, and the tweeter surrounded by the two 7-inch mid ranges on top, as opposed to the two piece monitor-on-top-of bass module (all same drivers but rear ported) I can make some comments. I have the two piece system. I would get the one piece system if I had a smaller room - the bass modules on the two-piece system are rear ported and so deep (in dimension) that the front of the speaker (and monitor) needs to end up being something like at least 6-8 feet from the back wall, otherwise the bass is very heavy.
That said, obviously I like these speakers because I own them. I actually have three monitors for front and the two big ones in the back for a surround system (for 5-channel I only play the 5 monitors).
Anyway, they are coherent but you need to get yourself about 7-8 feet away from them at least for good driver integration. So again, big room. They still sound good up close though, which is always the hall mark of a good speaker. Bass is not overpowering - if some makers sacrifice quality for 'boom,' Tyler goes the oppposite way. Bass quality is excellent, and with good recordings you will feel it hit your chest. The mid range and treble is really outstanding. And as mentioned before you can get away with cheaper electronics, though these will sing better and better the more you feed them with better stuff. As for build quality, assuming pure weight is a good factor in deciding speaker quality, see how many 150 lb speakers you can find out there for less than 10 grand... if you would like more specifics feel free to email me. I suppose I should mention that I am on Ty's home-demo list for peopple that want to listen before buying.
Thanks
Newbee- you make a valid point as I was comparing monitors to full range. I was speaking more to the overall "sound" though I did use a sub (ACI Titan II) to fill out the full range on the Taylos. To clarify my point in the overall sound comparison I seem to find the Silverlines more coherent if you will and the Tyler monitors more about individual detail. They both image incredibly and have huge soundstages. I was surprised that the floor standing Sonata was the equal of a monitor in imaging.

I have heard neither soliloquy's or the linbrooks.
Entrope, Are you comparing the two way Taylo's, or the larger 2 piece, 3 way, Taylo system with the Silverlines? Have you listened to the Linbrook Systems II, or the Signature's which are not only three way but have different tweeters and woofers than the Taylo's? Don't get me wrong, I think the Silverlines are great speakers, had they been front ported, as apposed to rear ported, I'd probably have purchased a pair of the III's, I just wanted to clarify for the poster the fundamental differences in the speakers you are referring to, in case he has not researched this for himself.
I second Boa2 on the Silverlines. Just acquired a pair of used Sonatas after using Tyler Taylo ref monitors for a while. I find the Silverlines more coherent than the Tylers-at least in my system though the difference is small in that regard. I guess I would say that with the Tylers I heard all the instruments and vocals but with the Silverlines I hear the music.

The best bass ever in my room, however is the Legacy Classic. Not as refined as Tyler put serious punch in the gut and a very clean, extended top end.
I owned the Soliloquy 6.2, and have heard the Tyler top-o-the-line Woodmere. The Woodmere is an outstanding speaker, but obviously well above the price range in which you are looking. The Tylers actually reminded me of another speaker that I've owned, which is the Silverline Sonata II. I would guess it had to do with the SEAS drivers, which are used in both. For about $2600 on the used market, I think you would find in the Sonata II exactly what you want. Considerably better hi frequency extension than the 6.2, and tight, defined bass down to 25Hz.

I find the primary difference between the Soliloquy and the Silverline (and Tyler) sound to be that the Soliloquy has a more sculpted, sharper-edged sound. Not sharp as in fatiguing, but just more carved out at the frequency edge. The Silverline (and the Tyler) sound more blended to my ear, with softer edges, and a sound that seems to just float off into the room, as the speakers completely disappear.

Where the Soliloquy hits you with a bare fist, the others put the gloves on. The impact is definitely still there, it's just that it's softened a bit, and yet with a noticeably refinement to the sound. Also, the midrange on both the Silverlines and the Tylers is phenomenal. Both are highly efficient, and can work with any amplifier. I think that for the type of music you enjoy, either would work famously. I only mention the Sonata II because they are a $6500 speaker that can be had for much less on the used market, and the performance value is outstanding.
All the best,
Howard
I've never heard the Tylers, but I do own some Sol's(5.3 i).
I am with you regarding the Sol's lacking an extended top end and detail. I found Dali line of speakers (Helicon's) to be exactly what I was looking for.
I can not comment on your specific model (Linbrook?), but I will say that I heard Tyler Acoustic speakers at a friends house and they are great! Huge soundstage, almost like a Magnaplaner type sound but more dynamic. He only runs mid price ($1000-1500 front end components) audiophile equipment also, no "esoteric" priced gear. I think the speaker models he had were in the $2500 range (do they make a model called the "Castles"??). Very dynamic and lifelike sounding and beautiful workmanship also!! Matching stands were also great! I have heard many of the Linn upper range speakers, and while good, the Tyler Acoustics really sang and were very real to life sounding. The fellow is a "harpsichord" musician. He really knows classical music well.

Good Luck!

R.