I discovered this thread looking for other impressions of the Reference 3a products, particularly the DeCapo's as I have been looking for a reasonably priced stand mounted monitor. Heard a pair of Episodes a while back for a brief listen and was quite impressed especially the upper frequency extension and air.
This past Saturday I finally had a chance to audition the DeCapos after reading so many glowing comments over the years. I brought my tube amp for the audition to at least get an idea of what I might expect. This is the BE model with the battleship grey Nextel finish which isn't going to win over the heart of my significant other, THAT I know for sure. Well I must say this speaker really caught my attention in a way that I didn't quite expect and is rare for me. While I like many speakers overall upon initial listening, very, very few have that WOW factor or can engage me for extended periods. Price generally has little to do with this impression. These speakers most likely won't appeal to those that prefers the typical British monitor type sound. My initial impression is that they are quite special in what I value and I plan an extended audition when I get back from vacation. I didn't hear anything I didn't like other than a bit of brightness that I attributed to a break in issue as they were pretty much out of the box, not too many hours on them according to the dealer. They really convey the emotion of the performance than projecting a characteristic sound other than that liveliness and immediacy that I cherish and that disappearing act, excellent tonality and separation of instruments in space that gives a greater illusion of real. I really look forward to hearing them in my room, they look promising.
I called up the manufacturer and spoke with Tash Goka. I expressed my concern over the finish and my wife and if there were other options. It seems that there were two issues concerning going with the Nextel finish, sonics in absorbing both light and and sound which allows greater transparency. The other issue is inventory management of the different veener and automotive finishes previously offered. So it appears for now at least that the Nextel is here to stay like it or not. Tash was a breath of fresh air in patiently answering my questions and concerns, the brightness that I heard during audition that seemed like a break in issue but concern that it might not be. He assured me that the new tweeter is most definitely an improvement and that the super tweeter used on the Episode and Grand Veena were discontinued by their Japanese supplier so this came into play in development of the BE tweeter. I haven't heard many if any comments regarding brightness attributed to the Reference 3a line. Has anyone noted this with the beryllium tweeter in this line? I too would be interested.
