Your Opinion: Coincident Vs. Silverline?


Hi, I'd appreciate your opinions on Coincident speakers and Silverline speakers in general for a system I'm putting together. I listen mostly to jazz and rock at moderate volume levels and what I appreciate is a transparent, detailed, musical presentation. My budget is flexible, the only stipulation is the speakers would need to be fairly close (12" max) to the rear wall and my listening room has furniture and all maner of things in a normal living room. Thanks!
steinway57
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I own Coincident speakers and have heard the Silverline Sonata's and some of their other models. Both are very nice and will give you speakers you can live with for a long time.

For your room I would go with Coincidents, the Side firing woffers will give you more flexibility. I have mine about 18
" from the the side wall.

The Super Eclipse are as good a speaker as you can buy . Great value for you money. Thier high Efficinency will also allow you a very wide choice of amps.

You cant go wrong with either brand.
I am making a similar search and am looking at similar speakers. I would love to go for Coincident, but simply can't accomodate them. On discussion with the dealer, the conclusion was the farther out from the wall the better, complicating that is the side firing woofers make them very deep anyway. I have narrowed down to Silverline Sonatas, but I also like the look of a small outfit Reimer and their Wind River speakers. You might look at their site too, similar tube friendly, high sensitivity
David12 . I belive you have beem misled. The side firing woffer are a plus, not a negative. I suggest you will be happier with a Super Eclipse VS the Sonata's. Have heard them both and the SE is better by far.
As a former Sonata owner, I can tell you that they absolutely will not work 12" from the wall as you propose. They also need a decent sized room because they have prodigous bass capability that will sound overblown if not properly set up. They definitely don't sound like the speaker for you.

Oz
Sorry, you misunderstood my answer, it was'nt meant as a criticism of the side firing woofer, only remarking that it made them of necessity, deeper and therefore more difficult to accomodate for myself and steinway57. I will relook at the Super Eclipse at your suggestion.
Thanks for your replies and advice. I have since spoken rather extensively with Alan Yun, owner of Silverline, and Alan adamantly says that his speakers CAN be placed close to the rear wall, as long as you leave about 5 inches or so from the wall; the length of your hand he says. Alan says that the rear port just disperses energy along the wall but it should not bounce into the listening room and cause boominess. In fact, I spoke with Alan today about his speaker with the rear woofer and, once again, Alan said it's fine to place that speaker near the rear wall, 5 inches or so away.
The Coincident will work just as well in clsoe wall. Mine are 18 incheds from back wall and 6" from sides. Not optimum , but they still sound great.
I have done this same comparison and the Coincidents are the way to go hands down. I have owned 4 Silverline models and 2 Coincident and kick my self everyday for selling my Coincident Super E III's, they are great speakers. The Coincident Partial E II IMHO are some of the best speakers for the money available. Silverlines are easier to drive, but are more hifi sounding to me. I am not a Dynaudio tweeter fan, I am much more of a Scanspeak guy. The Revelator tweeter in the Coincident is much more listenable to me than any Dynaudio product. Alan Yun is a nice guy and his speakers are OK, but if you truly want something that will sound good and keep you happy over time get the Coincidents...make sure you get the outrigger feet they are worth the cash.
Hope that helps.
Mike
I own Sonata speakers that I purchased from Ozzy62. I agree with him completely. I originally had the Sonatas placed a foot from the rear wall and three feet from the side walls, and I heard the boominess he is talking about. I moved them out to 22" where they sound very nice. My listening room is about 14 feet wide and 18 feet deep.

I visited Alan's Silverline showroom in Concord, California about two months ago and listened to his entire line of speakers. All of his speakers sounded nice; however they were placed in the middle of the room, not anywhere close to the walls. I will say that his new Granduer 2 speakers, that are retailing for $15,000, blew away the rest of the speakers in his line. I would very much consider them for myself when they hit the used market.
I can't speak for the Coincidents, but I do own Silverline Sonata II's. Mine are approx. 20" off of the back wall, and have no problems with booming bass. Most speakers will benefit from being off the back wall a bit. Both speakers have a good reputation... you probably can't go wrong.
I owned a Silverline Sonata Mk. I for a couple of years and I replaced it for a Coincident Total Victory. Tha Sonatas were quite good, with a very good mid-range, but the Coincidents sound better.