Acoustic Zen Crescendo or Sony SS-AR1

Oracle needs to disclose his dealer status when recommending products/lines in which there is a financial interest.

Readers have a right to know what and/or who hides behind the curtain.

IMO

Aside from the question about a consensus (with respect to which I agree with the above posts), is it just me who is bothered that the OP considers a speaker in the $30K price range to be a "budget" speaker?

No public consenus, but from the perceptions of the Audio press during the past two years such as Postive Feedback, Audioreview and others claiming the Crescendo's can stand up too performance level's of $50K speakers which I find hard to swallow. Robert Lee informed me the Crescendo's can easily handle 1000 watts rms with no sweat. Very power hungry. Sensitivity on the Sony's is 88db, which can handle gobs of power as well. Anyone out there using a pair of high powered mono blocks on the Crescendo's? Talked to a retail dealer in California and he heard the Sony's at the show in Newport, was blown away. Midrange is on the warm side and very rich and smooth. Dynamics are outsanding.

>>07-20-11: Rcprince
is it just me who is bothered that the OP considers a speaker in the $30K price range to be a "budget" speaker?<<

He could be a member of congress.

In which case, $30K is just a dinner and a few bottles of wine.

Or a pair of full range speakers.

:-)

Heard the Crescendo's and didn't think very much of them. There are a lot of people who agreed with me. There is definitely no consensus on this.