Silverline Sonata II or III owners

Bill - I live in St. Louis, but just recently sold my Sonata II's to a fellow Goner in Texas. My experience was different than Ozzy's in that bass response was not heavy, but rather, somewhat tame for a speaker of it's size. Overall, I was pleased with the Sonata II, especially when paired with the right combo, which, in my case, I had the best results was when it was paired with a Pathos Twin Towers Ref. integrated amp. This is one of those synergistic combos that I may end up regretting moving away from (have since gone to monitors and a lesser integrated... working on getting a sub to flesh out the sound).

The speaker excels in transparency and casts a wide soundstage. Ideal with Jazz, female vocals (Diana Krall), acoustic, and orchestral. A little weak in the bass department, and is lacking chest pounding dynamics, therefore I can not recommended the Sonata II for rock or metal.

Works best with moderately powered SET amps or beefy tube amps (I heard it's good with Rogue 150 monoblocks).

I recommend getting Sound Anchor bases if you have kids, as I found them somewhat unstable with only the factory floor spikes. Overall a very good value on the used market @ approx. $2,500.

Yohjo,

You are describing the sound of the Sonata IIIs, which should be vastly different than the IIs since they use all Dynaudio drivers. And I was definitely using tubes on my Sonata IIs. I am not saying they are bad speakers, but just had shortcomings I couldn't get past.

Oz

I heard the Silverline Sonata 2's 4 yrs ago with a super Cayin 300B push pull intergrated. On jazz they were good, with classical they were flat, which may be due to the 300B tubes limitations.
On jazz, the male vocal had a "bark" in certain fq's, and like Oz also found the midrange "boxy"/"colored". Slightly, but enough to where some fatigue set it after a listening session.
Good speaker for good SET amps, and if you can find the Sonata at a good used price.

Bill,
I do use a tube amp...only! The Model II was lite in the loafers in regards to the bass. I felt both speakers were bright. The mid range is excellent and the imagining is top notch.
They just were not my cup o tea. They are easy to drive.
Speakers are such an individual taste thing, I have owned too many to list...and It makes me sick to say that, as it has been a big money loser! I think for an easy to drive speaker that is a good value to me, Coincident makes excellent speakers. Right now I have Acoustic Zen Adaigos and like them. It would be nice if they had more bass, but what they have is good. There's just too many speakers out there to listen to, for me to make good suggestions. I just feel pretty strong about my opinion on the Silverlines.
regards
Mike

I'd have to agree with Pdreher about being a little light in the bass (I have Sonata II's) when running alone but I've had a Rel Stadium II sub with them that really fills in the bottom and fleshes out the already good imaging. I'm using fairly powerful VTL monos (tubes of course, at 125W per side) which have a pretty good grip on them. Great on female vocals, jazz, etc, as he mentioned... I came from Audio Physics (Tempo 3's) before these (which I also liked a lot) but improved on the overall full and rich sound without losing the detail. Agree that on the used market between $2500 - $3k or so, they're a very good value. Added benefit of SET use which I am still planning in addition to my main amps... this flexibility is very nice. Can't say I've ever recognized the "cupped hands" effect and I thought I was pretty familiar with them but ... . If you were closer to the NY area I'd welcome you for a listen, but you're better off from where you are simply heading west to Alan. BTW I've just posted my system (poor digital pic quality but I'll fix that soon) and am also always welcome to comments/ suggestions. Good luck and Happy Lissnin'.