50 year anniversary r200 signed by matt polk

msg

Yeah, but... they're closer to China than we are.

Braddles63

Exchange rates are the main issue with prices atm. Don’t have supply issues except when Covid intervenes. Australia doesn’t have the population so quantities aren’t what they are in Larger countries so the freight rates per unit is higher.

Braddles63

F1nut wrote: »

Side note here - what's the deal with Australian and that weird lack of wide availability of gear and the high cost?

It's a freakin' island on the other side of the world.

Yeh but it is the largest island in the world. 😅

nooshinjohn

Technically it’s a continent, but we don’t want the aussie’s getting a big head…

mantis

Braddles63 wrote: »

I’ve been running them every day since the 16th either with music when I’m home or with the tv when not. Minimum 6-8 hours a day. I suspect they are what they are now.
I’ve tried them in two rooms and two systems.
Don’t get me wrong they are good. Very forgiving and easy to listen to. Maybe a little too refined at times. But it lacks the character of a stand mount imo. My R700s is lighter on its feet overall. Has more air around vocals and controls its bass better. Now I’m all my years if you were to compare a stand mount and floor stander it should be the other way around. Especially considering the crossover parts in the 200. For me they tried too hard to make the 200 sound big. You shouldn’t have to pull a stand mount speaker halfway out into the room for it to have some balance.
But once they are in the right spot they do sound good. But not great. So at this stage I’m a bit disappointed.

Thanks for sharing and the pictures, nice room you got there. I think the best way way really evaluate them is to remove the R700's all together and Run Audyssey. Then make sure they didn't get set to Large and if they did , Manually set to small and cut them around 80-100hz. Blending them in with a good subwoofer probably would yield the best results. They might be doing some strange things in the room response. You could be getting very different reflections due to they are shorter than the R700's on those stands your using.
I have net heard any of these Reserve speakers yet and really want to.

Braddles63

Called into a HI-FI shop today and by pure chance they had the R200 and the 200AE side by side. Both hooked up to the same entry level Yamaha 2 channel amp using the same speaker cables. One to speaker A and one to B. Identical stands. Was just in an open floor environment part of the shop so not the ideal acoustic environment but same for both speakers.
I could stand back and the sales guy switched back and forth between the two for a few different songs. I could here a difference in the two quite easily. The AE were slightly more extended in the top end and slightly more prominent midrange. Sounded more mature and refined. Not night and day difference but noticeable. Just thought it was worth putting it here.

I posted the above in the comments section of Andrew Robinson review of the R200AE.

heiney9

So what was the final consensus? I have an opportunity to buy a pair of R200 AE's. I don't really need them. Perfectly happy with the R200's. I do love the cherry veneer.

Are the AE's better enough to do the upgrade? Casual, near field listening in an office/bedroom rig.

H9

stangman67

Don’t think the AE’s got very high marks from various opinions I have read on here

pitdogg2

heiney9 wrote: »

So what was the final consensus? I have an opportunity to buy a pair of R200 AE's. I don't really need them. Perfectly happy with the R200's. I do love the cherry veneer.

Are the AE's better enough to do the upgrade? Casual, near field listening in an office/bedroom rig.

H9

Depends on your price to acquire the speakers. It's not like a ton were produced in all likelihood. Plenty of room on that board to put some better caps and resistors if you wish.
If the price is good pull the trigger.
😬

VR3

They didn't work for me near field. They required to much volume to open up. I don't listen very loud at my desk. I usually keep volume between 1 and 20 on the digital scale.

heiney9

VR3 wrote: »

They didn't work for me near field. They required to much volume to open up. I don't listen very loud at my desk. I usually keep volume between 1 and 20 on the digital scale.

Near field in my case is about 3 feet on stands in a small room.

Braddles63

Sold mine. Lost a heap of money.

VR3

I sit 3 ft from my monitors on foam pads. They required way to much volume to open up in that application.

Hermitism

You sit on foam pads?

msg

lolol

rooftop59

Hermitism wrote: »

You sit on foam pads?

I'm sure you're familiar with hemorrhoids there herm...

VR3

I mean technically the chair is a foam pad.. So.... Yes

heiney9

My new listening space will allow much more distance for listening as well as allowing them to be out in the room a bit more. I'm thinking both my current R200's as well as the R200AE will work better than my current situation.

Just not sure if spending $700 on another pair of similar speakers is worth it. I wish I was already set-up in the new space w/my current R200's to know if it was worth it to upgrade.

H9

P.s. It drives me crazy knowing there is a better version of the R200's out there. I want them, but do I need them

msg

Ah, and therein lies the conundrum.

We wouldn't be here at all if we went by "need" logic.

Buy. Satisfy your curiosity. Sell the ones you like least.

I didn't get a chance to fully audition the R200AE, but I noticed that they did sound sweeter out of the box than the R200. I hated the R200 at first. Both, with their port design, really needed a ton of room in my experience with them.

Sound wise, maybe there's another speaker you'd like better, something less lateral-move-y. How much of your purchase decision would be to satisfy the collector in you? If zero, I'd pass, personally. For me they weren't better enough. Would have liked to have kept them, but I kept coming back to the fact that they wouldn't see use, since my systems are pretty well settled otherwise, and the R200AE simply weren't going to displace those other speakers.

treitz3

Which one did we listen to at Troy's pad?

Tom

VR3

The standard 200.

The ae is the better speaker

treitz3

Ah, I haven't heard it. Therefore, I cannot comment. Thanks for answering my query.

Tom

txcoastal1

treitz3 wrote: »

Ah, I haven't heard it. Therefore, I cannot comment. Thanks for answering my query.

Tom

Shut up Tom

treitz3

I feel the love....

Tom