Silverline Sonata III & McIntosh MC275?

Tvad

RE what problems

Glad you asked.

Marty & my own IIIs were bought new... not preowned. Were your IIIs new, demo's, or used when you got them?

Both he and I found better bass response pretty easily and sooner than your experiences indicate. Marty tried only two sets of amps, I used 3, one being borrowed, and two receivers. in each of my own trials I found the IIIs to provide good to very good bass response. I’ve said as much many times in the past.

The consideration your own IIIs may have had internal issues could well be something to consider.

I don't expect speakers of this size to rattle the room all by themselves either, so my expectations of their bass production were elevated by their actual performance once they were entirely run in.

BTW What is your room size? Any bass or room acoustical treatments? Or do you think that plays a part here at all?

Naturally, as I was then quite pleased with any one of several amp combos.... until I added the DD15 sub... and let's face it, that sub addition is not a fair comparison for many floor standing speakers in general will benefit from such an addition. I mentioned it solely for disclosure.

I believe there are more factors to obtaining good bottom end sound than just the amp & speaker combo, as we all know now, or should.

Consequently, I feel somehow the non positive experiences you went through, using several amps, and transformers, says to me either your particular pair of IIIs had issues somehow, or the items you disclose are simply subjective more than any shortcomings of your Sonata IIIs.

Add in just the subjective aspect each of us presents to that equation and the actual synergy of each match becomes more so, an often diluded prospect. Then there's the room size (s) itself to consider which we have not thus far here.

If I were to fault the IIIs for any one thing, it would not be their bass response being flabby or loose... well not mine at least... nor would I say they are difficult to mate to an amp.

I'd more point to the mid range as not being quite as prominent as I would prefer, yet still very good in it's own right. AS it affords as much detail and resolution as I've heard with any other loudspeakers, but not quite as pronounced as my preffs generally are.

Lot's of people have bought these Silverline speakers, and I've noted only a couple who were disappointed or said they were difficult speakers to integrate into a system… and that’s one reason why I bought them myself.

I suspect that says something, when the majority of owners are satisfied, that’s a very good thing IMO.

I'd also re-itterate if at all [possible take your amp and listen to other speakers before hand... My best guess says the IIIs out perform the originals overall. The press online says that too.

The Mac 275 will drive them for sure, so it seems a safe guess that what ever is being obtained now with the Is, should be improved upon by replaceing them with the IIIs.

That’s the gist of this thread, isn’t it? Are the IIIs better than the originals, and will they do well with the current power train setup?

Regardless the actual choice for replacing the Sonata Is, and it doesn't have to be Silverline either, I hope it's a step up for the poster.

Jim, In defense of Tvad, although he has his own voice and can speak for himself, this thread is getting a bit long. Now I'll make it a bit longer rather than hear you guys wrangle.

In my opinion Tvad has exacting expectations (don't we all!) and the level of bass resolution with tube amps, at least the ones he tried, were not up to his level of expectations. Thats all.

None of us have definitive opinions about anything. Faced with the alternatives between the III's and the Bolero's I picked the Bolero's because they did what I wanted speakers to do using tubes. I doubt that either of you would be happy with them no matter how they were driven because we have very different expectations. If I had been confident that the III's might have sounded good (to me) with tubes I might have given them more consideration. But I guessed they wouldn't and I just didn't want to have to use SS amps, even Pass's (or according to my preferences, some of his old Threshold SA series amps).

I think what the OP should draw from this is that the III's are like a fine instrument, their sound is greatly affected by the choice of amps, and while they may be a much better speaker than the I's or II's he will have to be committed to finding the right amps to drive them, and hls Mac may or may not be the right amp for him. If he is not prepared to change it out he should either learn to be happy with what he has (my first choice, because he already is happy) or pick a speaker which may not be so critical of its source.

FWIW.

newbie..
understood

I reckon then I'm a lot easier to please than T... or got very very, lucky with the amp choices I made. Six one way, half dozen the other I suppose.

Either way, it is the buyer's choice to do with things as he or she sees fit. I'd sure not have gone thru all those itterations Tvad did. I know that much, and would have just sent them to Alan instead.

I'm sure sorry if I've acted adversarially here. I just like what I am getting from my own deal overall, and have had no such problems. Too, I've long since given up on attaining perfection in an imperfect world.

That path leads me to much greater ese and enjoyment way more often than not...

Thanks new...