Several posts re the Oly's 3 by SF
just some personal observations as an owner of these extraordinary loudspeakers: first of all, IMHO, they are not compressed, veiled, slow, dull, small, or 'blah' sounding speakers, they are everything but that. That said, are they are as 'good' as the upper level SF offerings? I have no idea ! Not going there, as I have no present desire to do so. When I first bought and listened to mine I was not initially floored. My reference was a pair of bigger speakers with larger woofers, much heavier and more efficient but great speakers nonetheless. The Oly 3's required some adjustment on my part. Great WAF and as speakers weighing only about 100 lbs each I could handle them fairly easily vs wresting 200 lb speaks. The fit and finish is world class. The changes I made upstream made all the difference in the world which allowed the 3's to really shine. I added a 2nd external power supply to my First Sound dual mono tubed pre amp. Added an external power supply to my tubed phono pre amp. Bought a Pass X250.8 ss stereo amp. You can't make chicken soup out of chicken sh!t. 4 ohm speakers? Matters not, you need juice! You need quality upstream or any speaker just doesn't show what it can do. Listen to these speakers playing Ry Cooder's I Flathead, JJ Cale's Troubador (vinyl please), or Amy Helm's Didn't it Rain, at a reasonable volume and tell me these speakers are less than excellent and we will discuss them further. Or not. Again, my experience, my room, my ears. Just be sure to compare apples with apples before making blanket statements. These are room filling, nut jarring, smooth, detailed, soundstage champs that excell at making music. Plus they don't cost (used) a king's ransom, don't punish your ears, and won't break your back handling them. Phenomenal product.
just some personal observations as an owner of these extraordinary loudspeakers: first of all, IMHO, they are not compressed, veiled, slow, dull, small, or 'blah' sounding speakers, they are everything but that. That said, are they are as 'good' as the upper level SF offerings? I have no idea ! Not going there, as I have no present desire to do so. When I first bought and listened to mine I was not initially floored. My reference was a pair of bigger speakers with larger woofers, much heavier and more efficient but great speakers nonetheless. The Oly 3's required some adjustment on my part. Great WAF and as speakers weighing only about 100 lbs each I could handle them fairly easily vs wresting 200 lb speaks. The fit and finish is world class. The changes I made upstream made all the difference in the world which allowed the 3's to really shine. I added a 2nd external power supply to my First Sound dual mono tubed pre amp. Added an external power supply to my tubed phono pre amp. Bought a Pass X250.8 ss stereo amp. You can't make chicken soup out of chicken sh!t. 4 ohm speakers? Matters not, you need juice! You need quality upstream or any speaker just doesn't show what it can do. Listen to these speakers playing Ry Cooder's I Flathead, JJ Cale's Troubador (vinyl please), or Amy Helm's Didn't it Rain, at a reasonable volume and tell me these speakers are less than excellent and we will discuss them further. Or not. Again, my experience, my room, my ears. Just be sure to compare apples with apples before making blanket statements. These are room filling, nut jarring, smooth, detailed, soundstage champs that excell at making music. Plus they don't cost (used) a king's ransom, don't punish your ears, and won't break your back handling them. Phenomenal product.