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.
