Talon speakers Hawk vs. Peregrine X

No experience with Talon's, but like you when I was in the market for new speakers 2 year's ago the severe discounts in the used market had me worried. I think it may of had something to do with a business decision they made when entering the market, and the used prices have just never recovered. I believe this is the jist of what I read in a thread quite some time ago.

Anyhow, I wanted to recommend to you another possibility that would be a good match for YBA electronics. JM Reynaud Offrandes. If you check out the reviews of these speakers on www.jm-reynaud.com a lot of the French press reviews were done using YBA gear.

I own the Offrandes and while I ahven't made it over to hear the Micro BE's I have heard the Alto BE's driven by Boulder gear, and to my ears the presentation was more alike than different, in particular in the highsand mids. Of course the Alto's had lower bass and more chest thumping bass, but I just kept thinking that intimacy of the vocals and music and the natural timbres reminded me of my system with the Offrandes.

The Offrandes don't have as much bass as the Alto's but I am positive they have more than the Micro's, so perhaps they could give you that fuller sound you are looking for. At my last place of residence I had them professionally measured for in-room response and the Offrandes were getting to 33Hz at -3dB. Not bad for a speaker their size.

So just wanted to throw out these as a potential option.

I hear passion and micro Be once. I have the same conclusion as Soliver. High is very good on Be tweeter but Micro just doesn't have enough bass to play real music. The music is not complete without some bass. The other side is a Dynaudio S3.4 drived by Integra, I like this combo overall better at lower price tag. You will need a good sub or wait for bigger box for Be line.

Disclaimer: I am a Talon dealer.

Hello...There are significant differences between the Peregrine X and the new Hawk. Drivers, enclosure, crossover, overall design, etc. are all very different.
Given the size of your listening room, you should not need a sub with the Hawks. Also, your YBA integrated will work very well with the Hawks.

Here is a link to a review of the Hawks:
http://www.soundstage.com//planethifi/planethifi.htm

If you want a true full-range speaker that is a monitor, I highly recommend that you take a look at the new Talon Falcon-C (essentially a Raven-C in a smaller enclosure minus the last octave of bass response).

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any further questions.

Best Regards...Mike,Jr - Father & Son Audio

Marketing, or lack of it, is probably at the center on the used prices but after the rave reviews on Stereotimes and other places the Peregrine X's price stability is now, apparently, solidly anchored for, at least, the near future. In addition, few people I suspect were willing to put down $13,500 for the Mark II versions of a monitor from a relatively new company. I have the Peregrine X Mark II versions. I use to have the B&W 801 series III purchased by me new in 1995. The X's bass is far more accurate and much faster. Anyone can tell the superior nature in an instant. The Talon sound at first takes some adjusting to, non-hyped and real sounding, but now other speakers just sound broke (if you listen to the Avantgard Duo's properly set up you will know that measurements are only part of issue or that the wrong things are being measured since the Avantgards are the most real sounding speakers I have ever heard in the mids and highs). Peregrine X Mark IIs' produce music in such a convincing way. The Peregrine X mark II will have deeper bass than the Hawks as you might expect from the larger monitor size. This was confirmed by Talon but given the quality of the bass from the entire Talon line I suspect you will be very happy with the joy of hearing bass that propels you into the musical experience rather than just providing a presence. Talon people know what I am talking about.